Frog Content Management System (CMS)
Description:
The Frog CMS is an open source solution that was developed in August 2009 to accommodate many content needs. Frog uses a simple hierarchal design that allows users to easily retrieve web pages with specific content on it (Archambault, n.d., para. 1; Goodrich, n.d., para. 3). It is a PHP/MySQL solution that offers elegant user interfaces, flexible page templates, and basic user management/permission configurations. It uses PHP directly that allows for maximum use and is supported by the Frog community if any help is needed (Archambault, n.d., para. 1). This CMS can integrate with many other systems so that content can be directly feed to the organisations culture, allowing many other benefits and developments.
An organisation will be able to make good use of this system because it incorporates much basic functionality that is easy to use and any organisation culture would adapt too easily. Basic but effective navigation can be created to reflect the organisation and their needs. Additionally, this creates consistent pages and enables the CMS to directly serve the user community it is for (Simpson, 2005, para. 8; Yan, 2004, pp. 357-358). The Frog CMS is a perfect solution for an organisation that wants to organise information into a hierarchal way for their users. It is a simple solution to host content over the internet that is well supported in the community (Goodrich, n.d., para. 4).
Features:
The Frog CMS enables you to have simple features that match your design and information requirements. Simple navigation and building blocks can be created to create specific content that meets your needs (see Figure One: Terminal design studios website). A page template can be customised to assign hypertext colours and create a look and feel that enhances the content towards its users. These types of features are very useful because a consistent page layout is maintained and means content can be added easily (Yan, 2004, p. 355).
Figure One: Terminal design studios website (Kondziela, 2009, para. 1)
Frog has an unlimited hierarchal page navigation structure that allows the most critical pages to be organised to display this content first. It also allows content to be split into different sections creating an effective visual effect especially if there is lots of content (Archambault, n.d., para. 3).This means pages can be created specifically for your user community and is kept clean and simple.
The CMS also has several easy-to-use plugins that enhance its functionality to its users. For example, your organisation can implement a file manager plugin to allow important documents to be uploaded. Plugins are widely available and are continuously being developed for this open source solution to do much different functionality (A3webtech, n.d., para. 5). There are many social media, RSS feed and image enhancement plugins that enhance the way users interact with the CMS. Generally, a CMS should provide these features so that an effective architecture can be created to enhance a user’s experience with the system (Archambault, n.d., para. 2; Goodrich, n.d, para. 4). The Frog CMS offers a simple way to implement features so that users can use a system designed directly for them. A CMS of this type is well suited for organisations that want a low cost solution and have content that wants to be viewed easily using the web (A3webtech, n.d., para. 16; Neus & Scherf, 2005, pp. 219-220; Yan, 2004, p. 362).
Benefits:
Overtime the Frog CMS will be financially and culturally viable for your organisation. This open source solution is regularly being updated and the community is gradually fixing bugs (Goh, Luyt, Chua, Yee, Poh & Ng, 2008, p. 82). Hosting this solution is very cheap as there are many web companies that allow pure PHP/MySQL products to be live easily. The Frog CMS is a simple customisable and contains pure PHP code which will help your organisation over a long period of time (Archambault, n.d., para. 3; Goodrich, n.d., para. 8). The main advantage this product offers over others is that design and other functionality have already been built into the solution making customisation simple and easy to do (A3webtech, n.d., para. 5). Other CMS products offer a complex way of designing functionality to meet your expectations whereas the Frog CMS has been designed towards effective usability and efficiency.
Frog’s site management is also simple and effective. It offers a very simplistic set up to manage user permissions and security compared to other CMS’s (Goodrich, n.d., para. 8). This means the Frog CMS is easy to maintain and will align with the organisations information accessibility policies. An open source solution that offers an organisation an up-to-date package that is created to the current international computing standards (Goh et al., 2008, p. 83; Neus & Scherf, 2005, p. 224). One down side towards a software package of this type is cost and expertise. Your organisation must be able to hire an administrator that has skills in PHP/MySQL to maintain and keep developing your solution (A3webtech, n.d., para. 5). Although the Frog CMS is free to download and design a solution, there are sufficient costs with designing and implementing a perfect solution with your organisation (Yan, 2004, p. 357). Customized Solutions Australia has a dedicated team that can assist with making this solution your own.
Tool Evaluation:
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References:
A3webtech. (n.d.). How a CMS works. Retrieved 26 January 2013 from
Archambault, P. (n.d.). About: What is Frog CMS? Retrieved 26 January 2013 from
Goh, D., Luyt, B., Chua, A., Yee, S. Y., Poh, K. N., & Ng, H. Y. (2008). Evaluating open source
Goodrich, R. (n.d.). Frog CMS. Retrieved 26 January 2013 from
Kondziela, A. (2009). Terminal design studios website. Retrieved 26 January 2013 from
Neus, A, & Scherf, P. (2005). Opening minds: Cultural change with the introduction of open-
Simpson, D. L. (2005, November). Content for one: Developing a personal content
Yan, H. (2004). Digital content management: The search for a content management system.
