Well, it has been a few days since I last blogged, but life does happen and it certainly has happened in a big way for the past few days. But I am here blogging tonight, and I think I'll manage to get another chapter read tomorrow, so I'm trying to get back on track.
Today's chapter in Jason Whittaker's Producing for Web 2.0: A Student Guide is entitled "Content Management Systems" (CMS). This is a valuable chapter for me because the Writing Center at Michigan State University uses a CMS for the website. Our web developer had a hard time trying decide between using Drupal or Wordpress, but he finally decided on Drupal. From what I've read today, it is a good choice. Whittaker does a good job of discussing what it is a CMS is suppose to do for an organization that chooses to go with one. What I DON'T like about the chapter is Whittaker's insistence on limiting his detailed discussion of a CMS to Joomla! simply because it is what he has the most experience with. He does mention that most CMSs have a lot of the same features and that all include modules, bots, and other plug-ins that can be added to the basic installation of the core CMS to increase it's functionality, but since we use Drupal and not Joomla! I felt as though all the detailed walkthroughs were pretty pointless. While it is true that I could do a lot with Joomla! if I chose to, it doesn't help me know or understand how to do the same things with Drupal.
All that being said, I will be the first to admit that I learned a LOT about CMSs. Whittaker also listed a website that offers even more background information on content management systems (click "more" below if you are interested in learning the history behind CMSs). My recommendation is that if you want to have an interactive site that allows users and is more interactive, then learning about content management systems is a must, and Whittaker does a good job in this chapter of giving the basics. This is a chapter I'll refer to often.
Today's chapter in Jason Whittaker's Producing for Web 2.0: A Student Guide is entitled "Content Management Systems" (CMS). This is a valuable chapter for me because the Writing Center at Michigan State University uses a CMS for the website. Our web developer had a hard time trying decide between using Drupal or Wordpress, but he finally decided on Drupal. From what I've read today, it is a good choice. Whittaker does a good job of discussing what it is a CMS is suppose to do for an organization that chooses to go with one. What I DON'T like about the chapter is Whittaker's insistence on limiting his detailed discussion of a CMS to Joomla! simply because it is what he has the most experience with. He does mention that most CMSs have a lot of the same features and that all include modules, bots, and other plug-ins that can be added to the basic installation of the core CMS to increase it's functionality, but since we use Drupal and not Joomla! I felt as though all the detailed walkthroughs were pretty pointless. While it is true that I could do a lot with Joomla! if I chose to, it doesn't help me know or understand how to do the same things with Drupal.
All that being said, I will be the first to admit that I learned a LOT about CMSs. Whittaker also listed a website that offers even more background information on content management systems (click "more" below if you are interested in learning the history behind CMSs). My recommendation is that if you want to have an interactive site that allows users and is more interactive, then learning about content management systems is a must, and Whittaker does a good job in this chapter of giving the basics. This is a chapter I'll refer to often.
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