Nucleus – review of a new open source blogging platform
Apr 3, 2008 by Melanie Bremner Blog Systems, Content Management
Nucleus CMS www.nucleuscms.org is an open source content management blogging platform with many features and plug-ins available to grow your business online.
Nucleus CMS is available for free under the GNU General Public License. NucleusCMS was created by the Nucleus Group in 2002. It was later developed and expanded to be the extensive version that exists today, by the international community called the CMS Team. Nucleus CMS was developed to have multiple weblog content visible on one page. It is designed with the ability to have multiple authors and administrators logging in to post or change configurations as necessary.
You can set up several categories to have a commenting and a voting system provided to enable your readers to share their thoughts and opinions of your posts. All of your urls are optimized for both reader and search engines. You can set the system up to automatically display your posts for future dates. This comes in handy for times when you will be going on vacation or will find yourself unable to post on a regular basis.
There are many changes you can make to create your own unique look through skins, templates, and CSS files.
Many plugins are available to add to the features of your site such as NP_Newsletter, NP_blogstats, calendar, chat, weather forecasts, amazon search, and so many more. Plugins are designed by members of the community and are added daily to the growing database.
This system is simple enough for anyone to learn and expandable enough to allow you to build almost any website you imagine.
Is this software compatible with your server?
NucleusCMS can be used on any web server that has PHP and MySQL installed. In some hosting packages this software can be automatically installed with a few configuration settings within the Fantastico control panel. Otherwise a manual install will have to be done by uploading the files to your server via FTP.
You will need to know where to access your files, usually under the file manager option in your control panel, to FTP your extracted files into the correct folder. You can use this software as a standalone site, meaning you can choose to install in the root directory of your domain, and have the store as you main index; or you can choose to install in a sub directory as an add on, an example being http://yoursite.com/blog
You will need some HTML and CSS knowledge to edit skins and templates or to do some of the settings.
Getting you blog installed and online
If you are downloading and installing the software manually you can obtain the download at http://nucleuscms.org/download.php You will need to unzip the folder with your favorite zip utility such as WinZip. If you are using Windows XP you can just right click on the zip file and choose the unzip option. Often times if you just double click the folder it will unzip as well.
Once the folder has been unzipped to your desktop you will be needing to upload your folder to your server using an FTP client such as Filezilla, CuteFTP, or SmartFTP. An FTP client enables you to transfer large amounts of files quickly and directly into where you would like it to be on your hosting server without any long time manual hassles of uploading each file alone.
Once you have entered you host address, username, and password (all things that should have been in your welcome email when you signed up with your hosting account), the FTP client connects your computer directly to your server.
Depending on what hosting company you are with, your files might be listed under www. or public-html.
Drag the nucleuscms folder with your mouse to the left hand side and drop it in the folder on your right (whatever folder you created for your blog) or into your root directory if you plan to have it for you main page/site layout.
Make sure to upload .php files in ASC II mode. It may not work otherwise. As long as you are doing a simple extraction and you upload the folder as created you should have the files remain intact as required.
You will need to change the CHMOD settings (permissions) on a few files. The following are the changes needed:
- config.php - change to 666 (allows to update automatically instead of manually)
- /media/directory – change to 777
- all files under /skins/directory - to be able to change and edit SkinFiles plugin change to 666 or to be able to create new files change to 777
Next you will need to create a MySQL database. You can find the icon in your control panel like the following picture below:
In order to create a new database all you need to do is enter the desired name for the database in the New Database field, then click the [Create Database] button. You will also have to create a username; this is so you will have access to the database. You should see the option underneath for name and password.
Then go to the next option and make sure you add the username to your database, and checking to make sure all privileges are given.
Next you are going to need to open a browser and type in http://www.yoursite.com/yourpath/install.php
The install script will prompt you for the following information:
Do not use spaces when you are creating a user name for administrator properties, you will receive an error that it is wrong and cannot be created.
There will be a list of urls for directories that are automatically populated by the system and should not have to be changed.
When you have filled in the proper settings you will be able to click to enter your admin section of the NucleusCMS control panel ( example: url should be http://yoursite.com/weblog)
Before you will be able to login to your NucleusCMS control panel you will need to delete the following files or you will be denied access: install.sql and install.php and you need to change the permissions for the config.php back to 444
The following screenshot is what the inside of the NucleusCMS control panel looks like:
Step 4. Installation troubleshooting
Although the only problems I encountered when installing was the username not being recognized when using a space between words, there are a few security concerns you may want to read.
MySQL passwords: since you must connect to a MySQL database from a PHP script the password for that database must be stored inside a PHP file. On multi-user systems, this might cause an inevitable security risk.
On some systems other users will be able to read your log-in information. Contact your system operator to find out how secure it is to store sensible information inside PHP scripts.
Comparisons with other blogging software
If you are a new user to the blogging world with little programming knowledge, this system may not be the most suitable for you. As it requires some knowledge to configure and create unique looking templates and skins it may cause certain frustrations for a new user.
I found that this system is more suitable for a multi-user setting like in a corporate environment.
If you would like a simple easy to install and use system, I would recommend the WordPress blogging platform.
Alternatively, you can try also Movable Type blogging platform (althought more complicated than Wordpress).
WordPress has many more themes/templates available as well as an extensive list of simple plugins you can just FTP to your server and click to activate from within the Word Press control panel.
Some of the plugins and themes for the NucleusCMs require changes in configurations before they will work properly for your individual needs.
There is a list of plugins you can obtain for NucleusCMS at http://wakka.xiffy.nl/plugin
If you would like to see more options for templates/skins for NucleusCMS you can visit http://skins.nucleuscms.org
There are new skins being added regularly so you may want to bookmark the URL for future visits.
Although the control panel of the NucleusCMS I find to be a little easier to navigate through than Word Press.
If you do come across any questions or concerns with wanting to know how to configure a certain file, the NucleusCMS has a great forum with many members who love to share tips, tricks, and new ideas.
You can join them here http://forum.nucleuscms.org
Conclusion
If you are just getting your feet wet in the blogging world there are many blogging platforms you may come across to decide upon. You need to know what exactly you would like to do with your blogging software. If you would just like a simple means to blog information for your readers with the intent to have your blog as a side page,
Nucleus may be a good platform for you to work from.
If you have more than one employee in your company, the NucleusCMS platform provides the easiest way to accommodate multiple users on the same system, allowing for easier administration and maintenance.
If you would like to create a more detailed site with many extensions and little programming or configuring on your part, then WordPress may be the blogging software for you.
Whatever choice you decide, blogging is a great means to reach many visitors and relay important information they could use.
Blogging is quickly becoming one of the prefered methods of marketing for your business due to the ease and enjoyment one can have with adding plugins, trying out new themes/templates and creating a new unique look that has the ability to have unique content posted right onto the main frame for search engine optimization.
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Melanie Bremner has been running an online business teaching software programs to new beginners for the last 6 years. She creates lesson plans with easy to follow instructions in which she teaches to her students in an online classroom for which anyone globally can participate. She is presently living in Toronto, Canada.
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Tags: blog platform, cms, nucleus, open-source, php, review
(1 votes, average: 4.00 out of 5)
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October 20th, 2008 at 3:04 pm
Schreiben sie zum Beitrag: Online-Kleinanzeigen: Um mitzuspielen, muss man nicht eBay heißen
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