PHP-based content management systems (CMS) have been around for many years. Many PHP CMS systems were originally developed to serve as community sites for special interests, especially video game enthusiasts. Many have since graduated from their simple roots as community site servers to more robust content management solutions that can be very useful in place of more expensive CMS systems for small-to-medium Intranets and external websites.

The benefits are clear: all are OpenSource, very easy to customize, most do not charge a license or support fee, and there are large groups of users who contribute modules for each platform that can extend the features and functionality. However, a word of caution: since so many sites on the Internet today use these systems, and since all of the source code is open for public inspection, many have been vulnerable to simple security exploits, including cross-site scripting (XSS) hacks and SQL injections. Most of the more developed and widely used PHP CMS products are fairly stable and secure, but adding modules from 3rd parties can lower the overall stability and security, and common setup and deployment mistakes can lead to a vulnerable system that can be easily defaced. Additionally, some PHP CMS systems may not scale well for large volumes of content or traffic.

All security and scalability concerns aside, PHP CMS solutions are a fantastic way to perform early prototyping for a collaborative web portal environment, and are especially useful for Intranets or private Extranets.

Here’s a quick round-up of 5 of the top PHP-based CMS systems that are good to know…

Drupal

Site: http://drupal.org/

Summary: Drupal is probably one of the most well-known and highly regarded PHP-based CMS systems available. Drupal documentation can be found in nearly any technology-focused bookstore, and it has a solid reputation for stability, security and scalability.

Features include:

• Content Management System
• Blogs
• Collaborative authoring environments
• Forums
• Peer-to-peer networking
• Newsletters
• Podcasting
• Picture galleries
• File uploads and downloads

Joomla

Site: http://www.joomla.org/

Summary: Joomla is also a highly regarded PHP CMS, although perhaps not quite as well renowned as Drupal at the moment. Joomla features a very easy to use content management system out-of-the-box for easy creation of an entire web site, including page flows, navigation, image upload, etc. It can also be extended further with modules to allow forums, shopping carts, image galleries, etc.

Mambo Server

Site: http://www.mamboserver.com/

Summary: Mambo Server is a very solid PHP CMS system that mainly focuses on website content. Mambo’s administrative interface is especially easy to use, and a great start for people who aren’t as web-savvy.

Features include:

• Provides a basic level of content approval for registered users
• Page caching mechanism to improve performance on busy sites
• Media (images, documents) upload and management
• Content display scheduling
• Content syndication (RSS)
• Search engine friendly (SEF) URL’s
• Internationalisation (interface translation)
• Content macro language (aka mambots)
• Simple but powerful template system
• Simple polls
• Content voting/rating system

PHP-Nuke

Site: http://www.phpnuke.org

Summary: PHP-Nuke has been around since 2003, and has mainly focused on providing a complete out-of-the-box community portal system for integrated blogs, discussion forums, and file transfers. PHP-Nuke is most frequently used with phpBB to support video game enthusiasts

Features include:

• Integrated FAQ system
• News
• Surveys
• File Management/Download
• phpBB bridge for forums

PHP Fusion

Site: http://www.php-fusion.co.uk/

Summary: Similar to PHP-Nuke, although perhaps not quite as widely used, PHP Fusion is primarily used as a community site system.

Features include:

• News/Blogging
• Integrated Forums
• File Downloads/Management
• Integrated Web Links Management

Know of any other OpenSource PHP-based CMS systems that should be on the list? Let me know!

Filed under: CMS, Consumer Web, Enterprise Web, PHP