Open source is a method of software development. It is a freely distributed software comprising both the source code and the compiled form. It is distributed without any discrimination. The code is always well advertised and can be obtained freely, by downloading from the Internet. The source code must be in such a form so as to allow modifications by the programmer. A license may be required to distribute the modified source code. There are many open source content management systems available today.
Joomla!, which in the Swahili language means ‘all together’, is such an open source software. It is a content management system. The Internet is a publicly accessible network. Any organization, individual or government agency can advertise themselves through web sites on the World Wide Web. Joomla! allows us to freely build such websites. The first release of Joomla! software was on September 15th 2005.The latest release is Joomla! 1.5RC. Even non-programmers can easily download and install the software. Once it is installed and running, one can edit, modify, add pictures and update or manage critical information. The website can be made up of an endless number of web pages. One can build school or family websites, magazine websites, newspaper websites, online commercial websites or even one's own professional web page.
The Joomla! Package allows for extensions, for example, Plugins, which incorporate additional functionality. A good example would be the ‘Wikiblot’, which allows dynamic hyperlinks to Wikipedia articles. The Extension Library consists of a large number of such extensions. Unofficial web developers also construct extensions and templates.
Joomla! has many communities in forty languages, both official and non-official. It has nearly one-lakh members contributing over nine lakh posts.
There are a large number of free and professional Joomla templates for web site building from the JA Template Club. Examples are JA Larix: a shopping template, JA Mageia: a template for professional corporate identity, JA Olyra: an office template, JA Teline: a news portal, JA Koniga: a Joomla! blog template. An official Joomla! template tutorial is available.
Joomla! is a multiuser, multilevel environment. It is written in the PHP programming language and uses MySQL database It includes other features like RSS feeds, blogs, page caching and website search. The Joomla! Developer Network or JDN helps to understand and work with the Joomla! API. Developers can easily build e-commerce systems, business directories, product catalogs, reservation systems, community portals etc. There is also a Developers Blog.
The Joomla Forum is a place where discussions take place about announcements, required support etc. One can interact with the Joomla! Team here.
The Joomla University online produces high quality guides and tutorials. Many Joomla! educational packages, DVD, webcasts will be available in the near future.
Joomla! with its unique features is used all over the world, and is thus a truly powerful revolutionary software Joomla! has won the award for the best open source project for 2005. It has also won the Open Source Content Management System Award in 2006.
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