Note: These instructional material will be good until Midterm

IT 324 – WEB SYSTEMS AND TECHNOLOGIES 2

Overview
This course covers several Content Management Systems that will be used to develop an in-depth
understanding of the general processes used to set up CMS sites and the applications and platforms which can
be used to create dynamically updated content management system.
Course Learning Outcomes
CLO1. Understanding the role of content management technologies to acquire, organize and present web
content.
CLO2. Generate content suitable for targeted Web based audience.
CLO3. Understanding the process of planning out goal specific and effective web site structures.
CLO4. Compare and contrast content management systems.
CLO5. Create, modify and maintain a CMS website.
This compendium is divided into four chapters that will discuss the different types of CMS.
Chapter 1 Overview of Content Management System
Chapter 2 Getting Started with Moodle
Chapter 3 WordPress
Chapter 4 Administering Joomla
Course Requirements:
Students are expected to submit the following requirements or outputs during the major exam.

Chapter Title Requirement/Output

1 Introduction to Content Management System
Evaluation/Activities
2 Getting Started with Moodle
Quizzes (every 2nd & 4th week
3 WordPress of the month via Edmodo)

4 Administering Joomla Major Exam (via Edmodo)

Midterm Requirements Develop Content Management System using Moodle

Final Requirements Develop CMS website using WordPress or Joomla

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Overview
This lesson provides you a thorough understanding of Content Management Systems (CMS).

Learning Outcomes:
At the end of this chapter, you are expected to:
 Identify the features of a CMS that would fulfil the requirements of web technologies application.

https://medium.com/swlh/what-is-a-cms-39bfdcb7201a

What is a Content Management System and How Does It Work?

A Content Management System (CMS) is an application that is used to manage and publish web content,
allowing multiple users to contribute, create, edit, and publish without having to beg a developer.
Typically, CMS software offers an interface that does not require HTML skills or other technical knowledge.
Content managers and authors can make changes without the help of a developer. However, customizing the layout
and site experience may still require some coding.

How a Content Management System Works?

Websites are built with databases. Think of them as huge, complicated Excel sheets. However, instead of
logging into the servers and trying to make changes one field at a time, groups and individuals have created content
management systems to help users communicate easily and efficiently with the database using a secure and easy-
to-use interface. Most CMS’s are managed by companies or communities and updated as the web evolves.

It also provides version management and authoring workflow to keep large, global sites consistent. If you
further break down a content management system, there are two major components that help will you create your
website.
 A Content Management Application (CMA) is the front end component of a content management system
(CMS). The CMA interface allows users to create and manage corporate or website content.

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  The Content Delivery Application (CDA) acts as the back-end portion of the website, taking the content that
you enter into the templates and turning it into a working website that visitors from around the world can
access.
The following are the basic features of a CMS:
 Content creation (allows users to easily create and format content)
 Content storage (stores content in one place, in a consistent fashion)
 Workflow management (assigns privileges and responsibilities based on roles such as authors, editors and
admins)
 Publishing (organizes and pushes content live)
Additional features of CMS can be viewed from this link (https://youtu.be/SG714ofWrlU)

Benefits of a Content Management System

1. One major advantage of a CMS is its collaborative nature.
 Multiple users can log on and contribute, schedule or edit content to be published. Because the
interface is usually browser-based, a CMS can be accessed from anywhere by any number of users.
2. The second major advantage of a CMS is that it allows non-technical people who don’t know programming
languages to easily create and manage their own web content.
 The WYSIWYG editors of a typical content management platform allows users to enter text and
upload images without needing to know any HTML or CSS.

Why do you need a CMS?

We've already alluded to some benefits of using a CMS, but let's look at some specific ways it can impact
your set-up process, team's productivity, and visibility online.
1. No Coding Knowledge Required
By enabling non-developers and other users to build websites without coding, CMS systems have
helped revolutionize web design. Gone are the days of relying on web developers and designers to establish
an online presence for your business.
You can create and manage content, customize the design of your site, and install extensions to add
functionality to your site — all without coding. (It's important to note that most platforms do allow you to add
custom code for more granular control over your site, too.) As a result, users with limited technical resources
and time can still build a powerful website for their business.
2. Easy Collaboration
Multiple users can access and work in the back end of a CMS at the same time. That means on any
given day, your marketers can be producing content, your IT professionals implementing security protocols,
and your developers adding custom code to your theme. In fact, they could all be working on the same
landing page.
In short, a CMS can help improve workflows and productivity across your team.
3. SEO Features and Extensions
CMS platforms offer built-in features as well as add-ons to help you optimize your site for search
engines. Using built-in or third party tools, you can:
 Customize page titles and meta descriptions
 Choose SEO-friendly URL structures
 Create XML sitemaps
 Add image alt text
 Create 301 Redirects
 Include breadcrumb navigation
 Optimize page load times
Implementing these best practices will help improve your chances of ranking on Google and other
major search engines.
4. Predesigned Templates
Most CMS platforms like CMS Hub come with a selection of predesigned templates you can use to
quickly customize the appearance of your site. They can also affect the behavior of your site.

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 Choosing a responsive template, for example, will ensure your site looks good on any device, without
requiring you to write a bunch of code. Not only do templates save you design time before launching your
site, they can also make a website redesign much faster and simpler down the road.
5. Simple Updates
As discussed above, a CMS enables you to make changes on your site faster and easier — from
major updates, like a website redesign, to minor updates, like changing the image on your home page.
Rather than hiring a freelance developer or trying to edit the code yourself, you can go into the dashboard
of your CMS to update and edit the content of your website. This allows you to keep your content dynamic
and relevant.

Great CMS Platforms

From open source projects to hosted website builders, all of these content management systems can help
you build a website.
1. WordPress
WordPress is by far the most popular content management system. In fact, the WordPress
CMS powers 43.3% of all the websites on the internet (including the Themeisle blog).
There are a ton of reasons WordPress is so popular. It’s free to download and use. It’s also easy to learn,
flexible, and search engine friendly. Plus, thousands of themes and plugins make it one of the most customizable
platforms. That definitely aligns WordPress with our core CMS definition and more!
Moreover, WordPress is easy-to-use for newcomers, while allowing developers enough freedom to play
with code. Beginners can start at a basic level and pick up skills as they go along. It’s suitable for almost every type
of website. If you ever run into difficulties with WordPress, you can embrace the strong WordPress community to
help you troubleshoot.
Note. Though the names are similar, WordPress.org (the CMS) is different from WordPress.com (a service built
on the CMS).
2. Joomla
Joomla is a free-to-use CMS that has an impressive set of features baked into it and supports 70+
languages. It’s a good fit for any website that needs comprehensive content management, especially educational
sites or complex websites like social networks.
Several front-end and back-end templates are available to help you build a solid foundation. What sets
Joomla apart is the extensive user groups and user management options, and many built-in features like search
management and CMS marketing tools. You’ll also be able to collect and manage user consent.
Joomla is developer-friendly. At the same time, it offers a user-friendly interface, making it true to our CMS
definition. If you’re keen to know how it compares to WordPress, look up this comparison.
3. Drupal
After WordPress, Drupal is the second most popular CMS. If you ask tech-savvy folks what is a content
management system, they’ll most likely cite Drupal as an example. That’s because it’s the one CMS that requires
the most technical chops.
Drupal is also free, though you’ll need your own hosting. With an advanced administration panel, it gives
complete control of the content presentation and user and permission management. Out of the box, it’s fast loading,
secure, and supports 100+ languages. Ready-made templates for different industries like tourism and eCommerce
make website-building easier for users.
4. Adobe Commerce Powered by Magento
If your sole focus lies in eCommerce, Adobe Commerce (powered by Magento) offers a complete CMS
marketing, online store, and content publication solution. It comes in two versions – a free open source community
version, and the premium service sold by Adobe. What makes it attractive to large businesses is its top-notch
speed, security, and scalability. Throw in multisite support, and it can be the perfect platform for any business that
needs distinct sections, such as chain stores.
The fast checkout and easy integration with major payment solutions will surely delight online store owners.
So will the intuitive admin interface, analytics out of the box, themes, and CMS marketing extensions. However,
unlike WooCommerce users, Adobe/Magento users may require basic web development knowledge.

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5. Squarespace
Squarespace is a ready-to-use solution for building just about any kind of website. It’s so simple, anyone
can make a website – physical store owners, professionals, bloggers, artists. Besides that, it comes with intuitive
social media and CMS marketing integrations, as well as a drag-and-drop builder, beautiful templates, and one of
the cleanest dashboards you can find.
Squarespace is a paid tool. Though you get to choose from a wide range of impressive templates and
modules, you’re pretty much stuck with what you get. The templates themselves are optimized to suit all types of
websites.
Unlike the previous tools, Squarespace is a hosted website builder, so you don’t need to purchase your own
web hosting. Everything comes packaged in for a monthly fee.
6. Wix
Wix works much the same way as Squarespace. However, it differs from Squarespace because it includes
a free plan (even though you must use a Wix subdomain). It also offers a greater number of templates to start with.
Wix’s step-by-step wizard turns website building into a fun activity. The Wix setup guides you through the
template selection process, ensuring you get a template that’s appropriate for your website. It also integrates social
media and includes blogging features. Nonetheless, you’ll be stuck with a Wix-branded website, unless you’re
willing to pay to remove the branding.
7. Ghost
If all that you’re looking for is a clean writing experience for both bloggers and readers, try Ghost. It allows
you to focus on writing your posts. It’s user-focused, with a minimal interface, and uses Markdown in the Editor.
You can choose from dozens of pre-made themes, use the free, built-in membership functionality, and manage
email newsletters directly from the dashboard.
Ghost is a wonderful CMS solution for publishing a blog, online magazine, newsletter, or for any creator
who needs the most powerful integrations and publishing tools. The Ghost user showcase clearly displays that
some of the top brands in the world find Ghost exceptional.
8. Shopify
Content management systems don’t only focus on blogging and content creation. Many of them (like
Adobe/Magento listed earlier) offer a well-rounded ecommerce content management environment for building an
online store, designing product pages, and including everything else you would want on a website like a blog, FAQ
page, shipping information, and customer support portal. Shopify is just that, offering a complete CMS marketing
and ecommerce platform without the need to find your own hosting.
Shopify users sign up for the platform and pay a monthly fee to receive the entire website builder, shopping
cart functionality, and website launch necessities like hosting, a domain name, and an app store for expanding
upon your design.
Shopify isn’t strictly for bloggers or creatives, but for individuals and brands interested in selling digital or
physical products online. That could very well include bloggers and creatives, but you definitely wouldn’t use
Shopify for just posting content like videos or articles. However, it’s by far the easiest CMS to build a website to
sell products, especially for non-developers.

Additional information of different CMS platform can be viewed from this link: https://youtu.be/dRqJxDLOY4E

Application 1:
CMS Product Survey
1. You will create a matrix of five different content management systems platforms of a variety of different
types, license models, and use cases. This assignment is completed individually.

Assessment 1:
1. Identify what are the benefits of Content Management System?
2. Why do you need CMS? Explain.
3. Watch this video clip from this link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nrbpOmNC_mM
After watching, write a brief paragraph summarizing what you learned from the video clip.
4. What are the different CMS applications?

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Overview
This part begins with an overview of Moodle and briefly explains its conventions, terminology, and tools.

Learning Outcomes:

At the end of this chapter, you are expected to:

 Able to create, gets you ready to begin building your very first Moodle front page, and creating your
online course; and
 Impress your friends and colleagues with your eLearning skills and Moodle knowledge.

Getting Started with Moodle

Moodle is a large, Web-based software package that enables instructors, trainers, and educators to create
Internet-based courses.
It is an acronym for Modular Object-Oriented Dynamic Learning Environment, provides you a robust system
and an organized, easy-to-use interface for learning over the Internet. One of the greatest advantages in sticking
with Moodle is that developers have kept the look and feel consistent over the years, and they promiseto continue to
keep it consistent so that each upgrade doesn’t feel like it’s a piece of new software.
Moodle is referred to as a course management system (CMS), learning management system (LMS), virtual
learning environment (VLE), or more recently a learning content management system (LCMS).

Discovering Moodle and What You Can Do

Using new software applications isn't always easy and can even be overwhelming if you focus on the ever-
changing Internet and all the new software and gadgets that keep appearing. When you want to use a newsoftware,
you must think about the time (and possibly money) you need to invest initially to set it up, and then there's the
pressure of learning the new software. If the thought of using a new piece of software — such as Moodle — makes
you reflexively reach for a bottle of something, take a deep breath and allow me to ease you into learning a few
basics about Moodle. Before you know it, your worries will be left behind.
Building Your Course Front Page
If you want to explore Moodle and perhaps are excited to start developing your first Moodle course, youneed
to know a few details about Moodle to navigate it and speak the language. The following sections help getyou
started.
Creating a Moodle Account and Logging in to your course
You need just a couple things to get started with Moodle:
 An account with a username and password: Aren't you glad to learn that Moodle is secure? You need
a Teacher, a Course Creator, or an Administrator account in order to have editing privileges andcreate
courses.
Moodle Feature and Functionalities
Moodle has several features, it is very similar to a Learning Management System (LMS). Moodles’
modulardesign makes it easy to create new courses, adding content that will engage learners.
The Following are the features and functionalities of Moodle:
 Easy to Install. Bitnami Stacks are built with one goal in mind: to make it as easy as possible to install open
source software. The installers completely automate the process of installing and configuring all of the
software included in each Stack, so one can have everything up and running in just a few clicks.
 Independent. Bitnami Stacks are completely self-contained, and therefore do not interfere with any software
already installed on the system. For example, you can upgrade the system's MySQL or Apachewithout fear
of 'breaking' the Bitnami Stack.

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  Integrated. By the time you click the 'Finish' button on the installer, the whole stack will be integrated,
configured and ready to go.
 Relocatable. Bitnami Stacks can be installed in any directory. This allows you to have multiple instances of
the same stack, without them interfering with each other.

Moodle Course Management Features

 Assignments: used to assign online or offline tasks.
 Chat: allows real-time synchronous communication.
 Choice: instructors create a question and a number for learners.
 Dialogue: allows for one-to-one asynchronous message exchange between instructors and learner, or
learner to learner.
 Forums: threaded discussion boards for asynchronous group exchange on shared subject matter.
Participation in forums can be an integral part of the learning experience, helping students define and evolve
their understanding of subject matter.
 Glossary: create a glossary of terms used in a course. Has display format options including entry list,
encyclopedia, FAQ, dictionary style and more.
 Journal: learners reflect record and revise ideas.
 Lesson: allows instructor to create and manage a set of linked "Pages". Each page can end with a question.
The student chooses one answer from a set of answers and either goes forward, backward orstays in the
same place in the lesson.
 Quiz: create all the familiar forms of assessment including true-false, multiple choice, short answer,
matching question, random questions, numerical questions, embedded answer questions with descriptive
text and graphics.
Using Moodle as for Learner Management Features
 Participants: you can view activity from all participants enrolled in the course. Learners create a personal
profile that can include a picture, helping connect students socially in the online learning community.
 Calendar: keeping a calendar of events is important to both the learner and course instructor. Events can
be created for different categories. Upcoming Events appear on the course homepage, alerting the learner
across all courses they are enrolled in of different category events. Alerts are color-coded by category.
 Admin: the Administration control panel puts all important learner management functions a single click
away. Teachers and Students can be manually enrolled or removed from a course. Configuration of course
Backup and Restore is achieved on a single screen.
 Scales: Instructors may define custom Scales to be used for grading Forums, Assignments and Journals.
Standard scales include assigning a value from 1-100% for each submission (or no grade), and indicating
whether the learner was demonstrating one of three characteristics in the activity: Shows mostly
CONNECTED knowing; shows mostly SEPARATE knowing, equally separate and connected.
 Grades: the Grades feature in Moodle provides you a quick view of all Forum, Assignment, Journal, Quiz,
Lesson and Workshop grades. The grading scale applied to a learner’s submission is shown, alongwith a
cumulative total, on a single page.
 Logs: with moodle you can monitor when and what course resources the learner has accessed. Moodle's
Logs provide detailed learner activity.
 Files: you can centrally locate all course resources within the Files area of Moodle so they are available
when creating new activities.
For Learner Experience
 Login: occurs on a familiar screen. Initial account set up may be handled by the learner or administrator.
 Enrolment Keys: Instructors can require an “enrolment key” to allow participation in a class. Enrolment
keys are provided to learners separately from the log in process. Courses requiring an enrolment key are
indicated in “Course categories” description.
Moodle Security Features
The MOODLE course takes security seriously and is continuously improving MOODLE to fix any security
issues that may arise. It has the following basic security measures:

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  Update MOODLE regularly on each release. Published security holes draw crackers’ attentions after release.
The older the version, the more vulnerabilities it is likely to contain.
 Only give a teacher permissions to trusted users and avoid creating public sand boxes with free teacher
accounts.
 Disable register globals. This will help prevent against possible XSS problems in third-party scripts.
 Ensure that administrators and teachers use strong passwords. This protects against “brute force” cracking
of accounts.
 A URL: The URL depends on your organization or a third-party company that will host your Moodle site.

Step by step installation of Moodle CMS will be followed.

References:
https://kinsta.com/knowledgebase/content-management-system/
https://blog.hubspot.com/blog/tabid/6307/bid/7969/what-is-a-cms-and-why-should-you-care.aspx
https://www.sitecore.com/knowledge-center/digital-marketing-resources/what-is-a-cms
https://www.moodle.com.org
https://www.valamis.com/hub/what-is-an-lms
https://themeisle.com/blog/what-is-a-content-management-system-cms/

Prepared by:

ENGR. ROGER R. ABULENCIA

Instructor III

Approved by:

ENGR. AIDA F. ELIVERA

Dean, College of Computer Studies

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