Xoops

Xoops is an object oriented content management system. The acronym stands for eXtensible Object Oriented Portal System. It is a free, open source software designed to be the frame work for building community websites, intra company portals, corporate portals, and web blogs of any size. It is written in PHP language for the MySQL database and is extensible by many modules that are available, both freeware and commercial. Released under the GNU General Public License, Xoops relies on it's community for sustainment, contributions, and growth.

Many great features exist within the Xoops program for both it's developers and it's users. Some of the features that appeal to the developers include CAPTCHA built into Xoops core, a control panel with the option for customized themes, support for custom frameworks such as PEAR and Geshi, and support for editor packages, including FCK editor and Tiny MCE. Xoops is an open source software that seems to strive to provide support to it's users. Like other free content management systems, it lacks any direct line of communication for technical questions. However, there are many links to various trouble shooting forums found directly on Xoops official website as well as a section of frequently asked questions. In terms of features that appeal to Xoops users, they have an extended profile module, private messaging module, and DHTML as their default. CAPTCHA allows for registration and commenting systems and more than 20 languages are supported this software.

Although there is little criticism that has been published concerning Xoops content managing system, Xoops themselves admit that there is room for improvement. On their blog, they state that they are aware that there are still small glitches and bugs in the system and ask the users for help in finding and fixing those errors.

Even though there may be a few technical problems with this software, Xoops is gaining popularity, while receiving a lot of recognition and numerous international awards. It is the most downlaoded and active content management system on SourceForge.net. However, when selecting a content management system, one's choice should be based on the individual needs of their website.