Note, the name ModCMS has been changed to BurstCMS.

ModCMS is a PHP 5 content management system that is in its early stages at the time of writing. It is being written by me.

The problem

Current content management systems either specialize into a certain area like blogging (Wordpress, Blogger, etc.), forum (PHPBB, Vbulletin, etc.), or a wiki ( Mediawiki, PHPWiki, Tikiwiki, etc.) or they will attempt to create something that can do everything (Joomla).

A CMS that attempts do everything wastes space for a user that doesn’t need all those features. The large CMS will be harder to use due to all the configuration options for things that are not used. A CMS that specializes cannot always fit the needs of a user. If a user wants a blog and a forum and doesn’t want to use an all-inclusive CMS, the user will have to install two content management systems that would require a visitor to have two user accounts. One to post at the forum and another to comment on the blog (assuming an account is required for both).

Introduction to ModCMS

The answer is ModCMS. ModCMS stands for Modular Content Management System. Here are some reasons why you would pick ModCMS over another management system.

Advantages

Space Saving

Hard drive space is minimized by having modules share module components. A module component is a small class that does one thing. If both the blog and forum allow BBCode in the posts, why have two sections of code that both do the same thing? Both the blog and the forum can utilize the same module that parses BBCode. It also makes it easier to modify the BBCode behavior in both sections.

The Package Manager

ModCMS takes a page out of the *nix book and implements a package manager coded in PHP. The package manager is a module that assists with the installation of other modules. The module reads an XML file that contains information about all the modules that have been submitted to the ModCMS website. When the user chooses to download a particular module, the module will read the XML file to find the source code of all the modules. The code is downloaded and saved.

Integration Of User Accounts

If a user wanted a blog and a forum, that user might install Wordpress and PHPBB. However, that means that two accounts are needed for Wordpress and PHPBB. A lot of times, it is only those that administrate or moderate the CMS. However, there are sites that require you to register to post at their blog or forum. In those cases, everybody suffers.

An all-inclusive CMS would solve the problem, but it might contain features that the user doesn’t need. ModCMS is clearly the solution in this case.

Advanced Permissions System

Many content management systems have permissions that tell which users can do what. However, few of them are advanced as the permissions system of ModCMS. ModCMS allows you to decide which groups of users can do what. You can allow your Wikipedia-editing, typo-hunting friend (voyagerfan5761) to view and edit your blog drafts. If a user on your forum writes all of his or her very useful posts in small, yellow font, you can disallow rich text formatting for that user.

This system is still in its planning stage. More information on this later.

Compatibility With Other Popular Content Management Systems

What is the use of having a plugin API if nobody utilizes it? That is why modules based off other content management systems (Wordpress) will strive to support their plugins. Perfect support cannot be guaranteed, but it is always better than nothing.

ModCMS is currently in planning stage and a stable isn’t expected soon.