Jul 21

Guidelines to choose the best CMS

Web Development, open source, php by surajit kayalNo Comments »
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The content management system you choose can really make a huge difference in how much time you (or your clients) spend keeping a site updated and maintained. There’s a huge variety out there—some estimates put the number at around 1700 different options. Some are great…some, not so much.

Below are ten useful guidelines to consider when choosing a CMS, followed by rundowns on ten great CMS options available and how they stack up based on the guidelines.

1. The CMS you choose should be really good at whatever the main function of your website is.
2. A CMS needs to work intuitively.
3. The backend needs to be standardized.
4. The backend needs to be logical and well-organized.
5. The right CMS shouldn’t have a ton of extra functionality you’ll never use.
6. The right CMS should be easy for non-geeks to use.
7. It needs to include a WYSIWYG editor.
8. The pages it creates should be fast-loading and have simple code.
9. The template engine should allow you complete creative control.
10. The right CMS should have adequate support and documentation.
 
Dec 11

ScreenToaster: An Open Source Online Screen Recorder

Web Development, open source by surajit kayalNo Comments »
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The ScreenToaster is an online screen recorder. The software is completely free and enables you to make tutorials, demos and even screencasts. One can record all the proceedings on the screen without any download. The application is compatible with all major operating systems, such as Windows, mac OS X and Linux. The software also enables one to share videos on the Internet through Flash as well as embed them on blogs/webpages. You can even send the recordings through e-mail.

Oct 30

Future of osCommerce

osCommerce by surajit kayalNo Comments »
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osCommerce is about 8 years old now - quite a respectful age for a software product. Many businesses use osCommerce for their Internet sales. And it works pretty well, and supports their growth. But the “official” version developed by osCommerce.com is out of date and, on its own, can not compete with the present day’s rivals, such as Magento and X-Cart, and others.

We share strong beliefs in the 3.0 version of osCommerce, but realistically - upgrade to the latest (not yet available!) version will look more like re-development of an existing web site for almost any online business relying on osCommerce today. More than that - the features that are to be released in version 3.0 - at least from the store owner’s point of view - are already available in other Ecommerce solutions and new osCommerce will just catch up with them.

So, why do we believe in osCommerce and why do we offer it to our customers? There are three main reasons here. Quite simple ones.

Our experience in providing businesses with Ecommerce solutions of various scale based on osCommerce is the first reason. We know a LOT about how to build successful online stores. Our customers shared their knowledge with us during all 6 years since we have created our first osCommerce site. And we have accumulated it to be able to re-use that experience again and again.

Community of osCommerce developers is the second reason. It not only produces great add-ons to osCommerce, but also offers help to everyone - a developer or a store owner - in case assistance or just an advice is needed. Support is always there. Even if the osCommerce team will not produce a new version in the next year or two (and it has been like that already for the last several years) - the osCommerce community will keep moving the project forward.

Total flexibility is the third reason. We just like it, and use it on every custom project to provide our own customers with Ecommerce solutions tailored to fit their exact needs.

These are the three reasons why we keep using osCommerce for almost all our projects, and why we believe in its future. We believe the osCommerce project will continue to develop further, providing flexible and successful solutions to the business.