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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©2010 MyTestBox.com :: web software reviews, news, tips and tricks. All Rights Reserved.

Wordpress blog software has its origin in Michel Valdrighi’s b2 software. In 2003 b2 became the genesis of WordPress www.wordpress.org, a fork project using the b2 source code, which simply had fallen behind web standards and on which no further development was planned. Matt Mullenweg and Mike Little, two bloggers, began developing WordPress and were soon joined by Valdrighi. It took a year, but WordPress’ versatility and open source nature, combined with a decision by the developers of Movable Type to radically raise prices for their software, led WordPress to be one of the frontrunners in blogging software.WordPress’ value lies in its easy customization. It seems like there is a plugin for everything: Akismet (akismet.com) catches spam, podPress (podpress.org) turns a WordPress installation into a podcasting platform, etc. And it only takes a little knowledge of PHP to write your own plugin. WordPress is routinely used as a content management system for websites not meant to act as blogs – it can be used to create a directory just as easily as it can be used to post updates to a blog.

There are some video-tutorials for WordPress 2.3, 2.5, 2.6 and 2.7 at the end of the full article. Check them out!

Just What WordPress Needs

To run WordPress, all you need is a server that supports PHP and MySQL. While the WordPress developers recommend Apache or Litespeed web servers for users who plan to subject their WordPress installation to more than typical abuse, it’s not necessary. If you’re planning to install WordPress, you don’t even need the most recent versions of either PHP or MySQL: PHP 4.2 or greater and MySQL 4.0 or greater will work just fine.

Getting WordPress Running

For those individuals without much technical savvy, WordPress can be an ideal CMS for a single simple reason: one-click install. Many web hosts have begun offering accounts with what is essentially an automatic installation process: users simply select WordPress as their CMS of choice and the host takes care of setting it up.

If you’re interested in handling the installation procedure yourself, it’s still not overly complicated – as long as you know a few basics about setting up a website: to start, download the installation package from WordPress (wordpress.org/download/) and unzip it. From there, you’ll need to create a database for WordPress on your web, along with a MySQL user with all privileges (for both accessing and modifying the database). Rename the file “wp-config-sample.php” to “wp-config.php” and open it in the text editor of your choice. Fill in your database details.

At this point, you’ll need to decide if you’d rather have WordPress on the root of your domain or on a subdirectory. To integrate WordPress into the root, move all the files contained in your unzipped installation package (excluding the directory itself) into the root directory of your web server. If you’d rather have your WordPress installation on a subdirectory, move the entire directory into the root directory of your web server (including the directory itself). You can rename the directory if you wish.

Lastly, you’ll need to access and run the WordPress installation script in a web browser. If you installed WordPress in the root directory, you should be able to access the installation script at http://yoursite.com/wp-admin/install.php, where ‘yoursite’ is your domain name. If WordPress is on a subdirectory instead, access the installation script at http://yoursite.com/wordpress/wp-admin/install.php. If you renamed the directory, you will need to use the new name in place of ‘wordpress.’ After running the script, WordPress should be installed.

WordPress in the Real World

The learning curve for WordPress is practically flat. It’s one of the simplest content management systems to install and use, and while it might take some searching to find the exact plugin you want for your personal installation, there are thousands available online – as well as many people who are willing to write custom plugins for a reasonable rate. While Movable Type (WordPress’ main competition) comes with some plugins pre-installed, there are just a wider variety of options available with WordPress.

Movable Type blogging platform is the key competition for WordPress. The most important difference is the support offered for Movable Type: there simply isn’t as robust of a community involved in Movable Type. At least not yet. There are far fewer plugins and even fewer forums where you might find help with a question, which essentially translates to far fewer uses to which you can put Movable Type. While both are free options, you can find more flexibility with a WordPress installation. Furthermore, while Movable Type is free, there are far more restrictions on its license. Lastly, Movable Type has more extensive requirements for installation – WordPress needs just PHP and MySQL, but Movable Type requires Perl and one of three server options, in addition to PHP and MySQL. Blogger has been suggested by some as an alternative to WordPress, but Blogger has minimal usability in comparison. It offers perhaps 20 percent of the functions WordPress offers before you start adding plugins – and there’s really no simple way to add plugins to Blogger.

Once you’ve passed the installation process, actually using WordPress is also fairly simple. Users must log in, as a basic security precaution, but are then presented with a dashboard of options, such as “Write a post.” There are plenty of forums and bloggers familiar with the use of WordPress who provide much more in-depth support than a company could purchase, as well.

WordPress in the Wild

A number of major blog networks, such as b5 media (b5media.com), run entirely on WordPress. b5, for instance, runs well over 300 blogs with WordPress. Other fans of WordPress include Stephanie Booth (climbtothestars.org), Karl Long (tcritic.com), Daniel Scocco (dailyblogtips.com) and Robert Scoble (scobleizer.com). Let’s not forget Techcrunch, Venturebeat, GigaOm and ReadWriteWeb blogs (ones of the biggest blogs outhere) which uses the same WordPress software. WordPress Multi-user (WordPress MU) is used on Wordpress.com website (millions of blogs). Oh, and my mom – who’s age I’m not allowed to reveal – uses WordPress to update her website.

Concluding WordPress

If you’re looking for a simple CMS (content management system), especially for blogging, I’d recommend using WordPress software. It’s easy to install and fast to use. And it’s got options for new bloggers and professionals alike – from one-click installs to writing your own plugins, WordPress is only as complicated as you need it to be. Even better, there’s a strong community able to provide advice and help far beyond what a commercial option might provide.

Update 1

WordPress 2.5, the culmination of six months of work by the WordPress community, people just like you. The improvements in 2.5 are numerous, and almost entirely a result of your feedback: multi-file uploading, one-click plugin upgrades, built-in galleries, customizable dashboard, salted passwords and cookie encryption, media library, a WYSIWYG that doesn’t mess with your code, concurrent post editing protection, full-screen writing, and search that covers posts and pages.

For more details check their blog: http://wordpress.org/development/2008/03/wordpress-25-brecker/

Checkout also this video-tutorial and comparison between Wordpress 2.3 and 2.5

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Update 2

Wordpress 2.6 has just been released!

Version 2.6 “Tyner,” named for jazz pianist McCoy Tyner, contains a number of new features that make WordPress a more powerful CMS: you can now track changes to every post and page and easily post from wherever you are on the web, plus there are dozens of incremental improvements to the features introduced in version 2.5.

You can read more on Wordpress blog (what’s new, what was improved) or watch the video.

[There is a video that cannot be displayed in this feed. Visit the blog entry to see the video.]

Update 3

Wordpress 2.7 is here! More videos below…

[There is a video that cannot be displayed in this feed. Visit the blog entry to see the video.]

[There is a video that cannot be displayed in this feed. Visit the blog entry to see the video.]

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Thursday Bram is a freelance writer and media consultant. She shares offices with a computer scientist and two cats, all of whom she hopes to train to take dictation.
Thursday graduated with a B.A. in Communications from the University of Tulsa and is currently pursuing her M.A. at the University of Baltimore.
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©2010 MyTestBox.com :: web software reviews, news, tips and tricks. All Rights Reserved.

Movable Type blogging software is here (open-source this time). An interesting application for the weblogs and the blogging dummies! Six Apart Ltd., a 6 year old company from San Mateo, California, launched a well rounded package a few years ago for those who wanted to host their own blog. Its 4.01 version is still free for individuals and non-profit organizations. Therefore, this blog software is available with its source code. However, the company prohibits any redistribution or any commercial use of the same.
Its features are largely aimed at the beginners with little or no experience in programming. If you plan to install Movable Type on your website, it would be helpful if you have a little knowledge of Perl Scripts and Linux. (Well, I did not have almost ANY such background and I was able to do it) Basically, Movable Type is server side software made in Perl that can be customized as per user requirements. It can be best associated with MySQL on your server. If you plan to host it yourself, ask your hosting service to give you complete details about cgi folder and where the scripts are located.

Techno Savvy Gigs…

Movable Type is written in Perl and is essentially server side software. You need to install it on your server or the network, in order to test it or view its functionalities. Although once the files are uploaded in the correct folder, the script automatically generates the necessary database files. You can also easily set up number of blogs; however, you would need to access the file system on the server. You may need to access the file systems on the server and adjust the permission settings once again.
MT 4 is a lot easier to install than its predecessors but little bugs still remain that needs to be fixed. On the other hand, it has its own advantages as well. It uses the flat text file database that means it is useful even on systems that do not use SQL as database. It also has support from mail services like Sendmail.
Once the server side is set up, you can now configure the client side with “Blog Config”. The Core Setup allows you to create a new blog. You can set your preferences to allow anonymous comments, email new comments or allow comments by default. After logging in as Admin users you can add more users, set up templates, add blogs or edit the existing ones.

Getting Ready To Be Dynamic…

Installation process for Movable Type can be quite a daunting task. You need to download the complete zip file and unzip it on your local machine.

Log on to your FTP server and locate your root folder where all your files are located. It can be ‘www’ folder located on your server. In my case, it was ‘web’ folder.
Create a new folder may named as ‘blog’ or ‘myblog’. Choose suitable ftp software like CuteFtp or may be your Windows Browser to upload all the files from your local machines to this folder on the server. If you are on a lousy connection, it can take forever to upload the files. Be sure to be on a stable connection and definitely not on a dial-up.

Once the files are uploaded you can chmod them. This you can do by two ways.
1. Select all files >> Right Click >> Choose Properties / File Attributes >> Select
Read, Write & Execute for Owner Permissions
Read and Execute for Group Permissions
Read and Execute for Public Permission
2. If you are working on hosting server directly, then may be you can do it in a single click. File Manager >> Select All >> click Chmod. You shall be provided with permissions for all folders as well as individual folder. Set the permissions as stated above and click “Set All Permissions”. Saves you from a lot of mundane jobs.

Once the files are uploaded you shall get the Movable Type welcome screen. Now you can easily configure the basic settings to make your blog up and running. It shall check the server settings automatically and ask for the database server settings.

You shall need to configure the database at this point.

Choose the Database Type as MySQL and database server as localhost. Give you database name, username and password.
If you have no idea about what is being talked about, talk to your hosting provider about the details.

You can get an error if you specify a wrong database name.

Once the Database is set up successfully, you shall get message to configure your email settings (select an option and then click Continue).

Configure your email settings by clicking “Sendmail” (for Unix/Linux installations). Enter your email and send a test mail. You shall have to specify the sendmail path (usually something like /usr/lib/sendmail for Unix/Linux installations – ask your hosting provider if you’re not sure).

Click on continue to create your administrator login account. Specify the username, screen name, email address, password and password recovery keyword or phrase.

Next, you shall need to specify your blog name. It can be www.yourdomainname.com/blog-name. Set the publishing path as well as per the directories located on your server. It will then initialize the database.

Once the installation is successful, you shall get a bulleted list of successfully completed task.

All you need to do is to sign in which shall take you to the admin area. If at the later stage, you need to login into the admin area, all you need to do is to type www.yourdomainname.com/mt.cgi. Now the playfield is all yours, browse around and change the settings. Now you can customize it as per your website. You can also choose from the different templates provided with the installation.

Facing Trouble….
Although the installation process is well-documented and does not pose much problems nevertheless, every hosting service is different. For example, if you are hosting with GoDaddy, you shall have to note the database server name which is not named as ‘localhost’. You may have to specify it as “mysql” with some hosting services. Most of the people may get stuck at the Database configuration. It is wise to seek help of a geek friend or email your hosting service.
You may also face the file permission problems while using FTP software or Windows Browser. I uploaded all the files from Windows Browser but I had to actually login at the hosting admin panel to chmod them and set the file permissions.
Moreover, upgrading to MT4.0 might give you some problems, especially if you are not a techno-geek. Try a fresh install, if you can.

The Real Movable Type
Moreover, as compared to its earlier version Movable Type 4.01 is more action oriented. You can create, design and manage your blog in better fashion. It is more content-centric and the dashboard offers you ready links like “Most Recent Comments” or may be “You have 6 drafts”. Now isn’t that really cool! You can finish off pending tasks quite easily without searching for them or keep them pending forever.
You can also expect all the important information on the right-hand side with all the important links. MT 4.01 makes navigation quite simple. It also allows multiple blogs to be listed on single site. Administrator can set up multiple blogs with one interface. Most of the other PHP applications allow only one or two or a couple of blogs to be listed. MT does away with that limitation. All you need to know is to access the file systems on the server to actually install these blogs and call their proper labels and archives.

Facing Competition…
The basic advantage of MT over Wordpress is that it comes with ready plug-ins that you need to install additionally in Wordpress. Plug-ins for MT 4.0 are simples and the MT community keeps on pouring new plug-ins everyday.
ExpressionEngine is competing blogging software but comes with a price. It is capable of technically driving multiple sites under multiple domains. Moreover, it also offers online 24/7 technical support.

Another popular competition is Wordpress blogging platform.

Movable Type does not essentially need any particular operational maintenance on the server. You can tighten the security by isolating the CGI scripts in the dedicated directory. You can also enhance its performance by running it under FastCGI.

Conclusion
Movable Type is fairly simple and easy to install software that does not require you to be a black belt in programming (althought it can be more complicated to install comparing with Wordpress blogging solution). All you need to do is to upload the files in the relevant directories and follow the set up procedure. Most of the users face problems while installing or rather configuring the database. (Well, you can’t really blame the novices!) Ask you hosting service for proper database names and paths. I also messaged them to give me the location of cgi-bin directory. They showed Perl, PHP Script SQL database – Enabled under my Manage Hosting panel but I could not see the directory under file manage. (I had to upload the file on my server in a new folder as “myblog” and it worked fine. Amazin!!!
MT community is pretty active while pouring in new plug-ins and you are free to customize your blog the way you want.

All the Best!!!
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Mircea Goia was born in Romania and immigrated to US in 2005.
He lives in Phoenix, AZ and works as web developer. Aside, he works also on several entrepreneurial Web projects.
He shows a keen interest in commercial Web development such as social networks, viral marketing and online video.
His artistic hobby is filmmaking with special interest in directing.
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©2010 MyTestBox.com :: web software reviews, news, tips and tricks. All Rights Reserved.