Open source applications

More and more companies are tending towards using cheaper solutions as for building and developing websites. Hence the rise of numerous open source applications. Along with that, there are also more companies being founded who specialise in a certain area of expertise in these applications, or who focus on one aspect of a certain CMS, such as template or component development.

The biggest advantage of these open source applications, is that they're (free) accessible for everyone, and most of the time there's a very large community behind it where you can find support.

On of the most popular open source CMS systems is Joomla, and is being used all over the world by a very wide audience. This network of users and developers is expanding every day, and hundreds if not thousands of extensions are available for it, which you use to expand your own website. And that's why open source applications are getting more popular: now there's a possibility to build a low-cost website with complex applications added to it, and which can have an added value for your company.

Overwhelming possibilities

This overwhelming collection of available extensions can often be a problem when it comes to making your choice of which extensions to use. For a Joomla starter it's not always easy to make the right choice for what's exactly needed on the website you're developing.

Let's assume that a company wants to start up an online shop. There are numerous open source shopping carts available to choose from, each with it's own available (configuration) options. But let's assume that this company also want to present some company information, and some more background information about their products and services. Most shopping carts aren't really developed for this, so it's best to look for another solution which makes it possible to implement both aspects.

Simple to use

A good example of what you can use here is Joomla!, which is mainly a content management system. Simply explained it's a software package to create and maintain the content of a website. When we're talking about a 'simple' website this means: creating and maintaining text, images and perhaps files. The main advantage of using a CMS, is that there are practically no technicalls skills required.

But there's the small catch: a CMS is easy to use. But in some cases, problems can arise when installing 3rd party extensions and templates. And if PHP, MySQL, FTP & CSS is not really your cup of tea, then it can be very useful to have some professionals nearby who can help with this.

How to start?

Make sure that you have a clear view on the main purpose and contents of your website, and the applications that you'll need.

Then you can start looking for components and modules which can do the trick for you. To save yourself some headaches, it's advisable to provide a summary to an expert who's capaple of getting you the right extensions, and who is capable to install and configure these extensions.

You probably also should consider whether you want to expand your website at a later stage. It's perfectly possible that you would like to start with a basic webshop, but that you would like to offer more online payments in the future for example. It's best to hold these factors into account in order to choose the right components for your website. Later on it would be easier to install some plugin with a few mouse clicks, rather than to install a new shopping cart with more options.

From standard to branded

In a matter of a few hours you can build your own website which is connected to a (simple) webshop or product catalog. Creating all your content would probably require some more time and effort. This depends on the amount of available products and services. The best thing is that you can add al your products yourself, which is actually the purpose of a CMS.

In the end, the entrepreneur himself chooses how far he wants to go concerning the cost of a website. A typical Joomla installation contains a few standard pre-installed templates, and in many cases extra components have their own layout (like a webshop for example). First thing to do after you've installed Joomla, is to change it's template to another one which reflects your company or brand.

Modifying a template can sometimes be time-consuming, because it's all in the details. There's a very wide range of templates available, but in most cases it's advisable to apply some modifications to make it more unique. Even with commercial templates there are some modifications needed to get everything to your wishes. In the end it's all up to you how far you want to go with branding your Joomla website.

From simple company presentation to... ?

If you know where to begin, it's possible to get a website fully operational and online in less than a day, even with a branded template and a few pages with their content. So this wouldn't have to cost you thousands of dollars. Of course, we're talking about a rather 'static' website here, with not too many options.

Here are a few examples where Joomla could be suited for, and which are quite easily to integrate in Joomla:

• Webshop, with possibility to accept online payments
• Selling of used vehicles
• Online ordering system
• Online reservation system
• Real estate portfolio
• Photo galleries
• User forums
• Connection with Social Networking sites (Facebook, Twitter e.d.)
• Advertisements

This list is far from complete. No matter what you think about of what you want to create, there probably will be a solution already available.