What is osCommerce?

osCommerce is an Open Source based online shop e-commerce solution that is available for free under the GNU General Public License. It features a rich set of out-of-the-box online shopping cart functionality that allows store owners to setup, run, and maintain their online stores with minimum effort and with no costs, fees, or limitations involved.

osCommerce has attracted the largest community for an e-commerce solution that consists of over 115,500 store owners and developers worldwide with add-ons being contributed on a daily basis. To date there are over 3,600 add-ons available that have been created by the community to extend the features of an osCommerce online store.

osCommerce combines Open Source solutions to provide a free and open e-commerce platform, which includes the powerful PHP web scripting language and the fast MySQL database server. With no special requirements, osCommerce is able to run on any PHP 4.1+ enabled web server running on Linux, Solaris, BSD, Mac OS X, and Microsoft Windows environments.

With over 6 years of operation, osCommerce has built a showcase of over 11,000 online shops that have been voluntarily added to the live shops section, and powers many thousands of more online shops worldwide.

CMS USAGE

To create:

• Corporate websites or portals
• Online commerce
• Small business websites
• Non-profit and organizational websites
• Government applications
• Corporate intranets and extranets
• School and church websites
• Personal or family homepages
• Community-based portals
• Magazines and newspapers

CMS Functional Components

CMS Functional Components_一般功能模块：

• Dynamic form builders_论坛
• Business or organizational directories_商业或组织目录
• Document management_文档管理
• image and multimedia galleries_图片或媒体展示
• E-commerce and shopping cart engines_电子商务或网上商店
• Forums and chat software_聊天室
  
• Calendars_日历
• Blogging software_博客
• Directory services_目录服务
• Email newsletters_Email 通信
  
• Data collection and reporting tools_数据收集和报告工具
• Banner advertising systems_广告条管理
• Subscription services_订阅服务
• and many, many more…

What is CMS?

Content management system

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

A content management system is a computer software system for organizing and facilitating collaborative creation of documents and other content. A content management system is often a web application used for creating and managing websites and web content. Alternatively, content management systems (CMS) can also be used for storing and publishing documentation such as operators' manuals, technical manuals, sales guides, etc. There are many open-source and proprietary CMS solutions available. The market for content management systems is quite fragmented.

Web Content Management Systems

A CMS system is essentially a way of separating your visual presentation from your actual content – whether that content includes photos, text or product catalogs. This separation allows one to accomplish several key things, including:

• Automated Templating: Create standard visual templates that can be automatically applied to new and existing content, creating one central place to change that look across all content on your site.
• Easily Editable Content: Once your content is separate from the visual presentation of your site, it usually becomes much easier and quicker to edit and manipulate. Most CMS software include WYSIWYG editing tools allowing non-technically trained individuals easily create and edit content.
• Scalable Feature Sets: Most CMS have plug-ins or modules that can be easily installed to extend your existing site's functionality. For example, if one wanted to add a product catalog or chat functionality to a website, he or she could easily install a module/plug-in to add that functionality rather than hiring a web developer to hand code that new functionality.
• Web Standards Upgrades: Active CMS solutions usually receive regular updates that include new feature sets and keep the system up to current web standards. These updates are usually designed for easy installation over/on-top of your existing website.
• Community Support: Most active CMS solutions have developer support forms. Since CMS users/developers are beginning from a common base, it's more than likely that developers are encountering the same development challenges and can solve those challenges as a community.
• Lower Cost Maintenance: CMS hosted sites are often easier and cheaper to maintain. Since any CMS powered website would have a community familiar with the tools of that specific CMS, it would be quite easy for a new developer to dive right in and begin updates/maintenance.

History

The term was originally used for website publishing and management systems. Early content management systems were developed internally at organizations which were doing a lot of content publishing. In 1995, CNET spun out its internal development offerings into a separate company called Vignette, which opened up the market for commercial systems. As the market evolved, the scope of content management systems broadened, and the term is now used to refer to a range of technologies and techniques, including portal systems, wiki systems, and web-based groupware.