Hey gang, just found a great article about comparing a few popular CMS packages (Content Management System). The article is here: http://www.idealware.org:80/articles/joomla_drupal_plone.php and is a great read. I’ve included a portion of the article below.

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Comparing Open Source CMSes: Joomla, Drupal and Plone

by Brett Bonfield and Laura Quinn
with the help of Ryan Ozimek of PICnet (representing Joomla), Zack Rosen of CivicSpace Labs (representing Drupal) and Jon Stahl of ONE/ Northwest (representing Plone)

Open source content management systems can make creating and managing your website a lot easier – and there’s no licensing fee involved. But which should you use? We look carefully at Joomla, Drupal, and Plone to compare their strengths and weaknesses.

Every website needs up-to-date content, intuitive navigation, and a great design. And every site administrator wants to be able to get a website up quickly, make changes easily, and add new content with a minimum of effort. That’s where a Content Management System (CMS) comes in. A CMS does three things:

Makes it easier to get your website up and running – once you’ve designed exactly what will best serve your site visitors, of course;
Promotes good website practices; and
Allows your non-technical staff members to easily make site updates.
You can do all of this without a CMS, just as you can stay in touch with people without using email. But like email, a CMS can make your life a lot easier.

Open source CMSs have been getting a lot of attention recently. Much of this is due to an attribute which nonprofits find very attractive: they’re free. Typically, they are free both in the sense of “free beer,� as there is no license cost for the software, and in the sense of “free speech� —meaning the product and the code behind it are available for you to do with what you will. The tools are developed and supported by a community of developers.

Three particular tools have been dominating nonprofit’s open source CMS discussion in the last year: Joomla, Drupal, and Plone. All three of these tools provide solid, useful functionality for building and maintaining a website. Which is the right one for you?

We talked to champions of each system in order to learn more about each tool. Each champion demoed the CMS they advocate and answered detailed questions to allow us to understand the strengths and weaknesses of each system. As usual, there are no simple answers, but in this article we look at the key attributes of each system and break down some of the trade-offs.

A Common Set of Core Features
These tools have perhaps more similarities than differences. All are useful, sophisticated content management systems that will support most of the tasks that your content editors and your site visitors care about. They can:

Help you set up a useful site structure and navigations system
Allow non-technical content editors to update content, add new pages or change navigation menu items
Support a completely configurable graphic design—there is no reason for your site visitors to know what CMS you are using, or even that you’re using one at all
Facilitate internal work sharing by allowing some staff members to update only one set of things and other staff members to update others
Automatically pick the appropriate content items to show site visitors based on rules—for instance, your home page could automatically display only the four most recent news stories or the events you have upcoming over the next four weeks
Provide accessible sites, search engine optimization and human readable URLs
Offer lots of plug-ins to support a wide range of common needs—and plenty of not so common needs as well
Allow a good programmer to modify the website and CMS so that it does exactly what you want it to do
Answer your questions, provide updates, and supply plug-ins through a strong user and developer community
But there are certainly differences between the tools. Let’s delve into each CMS in more detail.

Joomla
URL: www.joomla.org

Marquee nonprofit clients:

Al Gore’s website
Women’s Edge Coalition
United Nations Regional Information Centre

Joomla strives for power in simplicity. Its programmers believe that anyone with a bit of technical know-how should have no problem setting up and maintaining a website. They have created a tool that is friendly, comparatively easy to get started with, and prioritizes ease of use.

Screenshot: A website that uses Joomla in a state not too far from out-of-the-box

Screenshot: Editing this site in Joomla

Joomla is designed to work just fine in basic shared hosting environments (the least expensive, most common web hosting package). Its installer looks much like the simple installers used for common desktop software, and the administrative interface that content editors use looks much like a desktop program as well. There are few barriers to entry with Joomla, which means it should not take a web developer much time to get you up and running, and if you’re technically savvy you may be able to do it yourself.

If you need to extend Joomla in a way not covered by its extensions—which happen to be beautifully documented and easy to find at extensions.joomla.org—you should not have to pay too much for a programmer, because Joomla is written in PHP, a widely-used general-purpose scripting language that is especially suited for Web development.

As is usually true, this ease of getting started comes with a tradeoff. Joomla can be a great choice to build a sophisticated website with hundreds of pages, solid navigation, and common content types such as news items or events. However, it has limited out-of- the box functionality for dealing with sophisticated dynamic content structures. For instance, the site navigation is limited to no more than two levels of hierarchy, and you can only link one page to another (for a “you might also be interested in� type of structure) based on free-form page tags, rather than more rigorous metadata and rules.

The next major release of Joomla, version 1.5, should be out by year-end. This version will be a rewrite of the underlying code, in order to make it easier for programmers to extend certain functionality and organize underlying frameworks, but it is not expected to change the way that content editors interact with Joomla. Site visitors should have no idea that anything has changed.

Joomla is fully integrated with CiviCRM and integrates well with common packages like DemocracyInAction and GetActive.

Drupal
URL: www.drupal.org

Marquee nonprofit clients:

American Cancer Society’s Relay for Life
Participate.net
Science Buzz

Drupal walks the line between power and ease of getting started. Like Joomla, it is built in PHP, can be hosted in a basic shared hosting environment, and provides a number of tools to allow non-techies to setup a website. In general, it requires more of a learning curve than Joomla, but offers more functionality for sophisticated websites out-of-the-box as well as a richer platform for programmers to extend. One of Drupal’s strengths is its wide variety of a nonprofit-centric plug-ins, such as event registration, email newsletter and online donation functionality.

Screenshot: A website that uses Drupal in a state not too far from out-of-the-box

Screenshot: The Drupal admin menu

Drupal, like Joomla, will work fine in a shared hosting environment. Also, like Joomla, it is fairly easy to get started—if you are technically savvy, you may be able to install Drupal yourself and begin customizing it. It likely will not be quite as easy to get a simple Drupal site set up as it is to get a simple Joomla site set up (compare Joomla’s installation guide to Drupal’s or the website interface for Joomla’s extensions with Drupal’s modules), but an experienced web developer should not have much trouble with either.

Drupal offers extensive and powerful tools for content editors or web developers to create websites without having to delve into the code, and serves standards-compliant, accessible pages out of the box. Its native workflow makes life easier for content editors who require mutli-level approval processes. Those looking to build complex custom applications, though, may find that Drupal, in comparison with Plone has not yet been as widely deployed and proven in mission-critical applications and large institutions.

Drupal has a pragmatic and integrated approach to functions that are not core to a CMS, such as email newsletter and online donation functionalities. While Joomla and Plone emphasize a “best-of-breed� approach, which involves integrating other specialist tools (for instance, Democracy in Action or Salesforce), Drupal offers deeply integrated (but often less powerful) plug-ins for many of these tasks. The CivicSpace distribution of Drupal provides a set of nonprofit-specific add-ons that address a number of common requirements. This project takes advantage of Drupal’s full integration with CiviCRM.

By the way, Drupal doesn’t rhyme with “RuPaul� but rather is pronounced “droople.�

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Check out the rest of the article here: http://www.idealware.org:80/articles/joomla_drupal_plone.php

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Well folks dat be time fo` us all to consider da GlobalWarmin` fo` 2007 Trends and Awareness that seem to be ever present wid us now mo`e than ever in da year 2007. It’s kind uh funny that I’m bloggin` dis being that we have had record lows da past couple weeks. Globalwarmin` awareness fo` and in 2007 be something that not menny people be aware what they kin do to help, but here be a list from da EPA’s websyte all about awareness effo`ts in 2007 we should make to prevent globalwarmin`:

Action Steps
Actions ya` kin snatch at crib
Change 5 lights
Change a light, and ya` help change da wo`ld. Replace yo` 5 most frequently used light fixtures wid bulbs that have da ENERGY STAR label and ya` will help da environment while savin` money on energy bills. If every cribhold in da U.S. took dis one simple action we would prevent mo`e than 1 trillion pounds uh greencrib gas emissions.

Look fo` ENERGY STAR labeled products
When buying new products, such as appliances fo` yo` crib, dig da ffeedures and performance ya` want AND help reduce greencrib gas emissions and air pollution. Look fo` ENERGY STAR-qualified products in mo`e than 40 product categories, including lightin`, crib electronics, hfeedin` and cooling equipment and appliances.

Hfeed and cool smartly
Simple steps likes cleanin` air filters regularly and havin` yo` hfeedin` and cooling equipment tuned annually by a licensed contractor kin save energy and increase comfo`t at crib, and at da same time reduce greencrib gas emissions. When it’s time to replace yo` old equipment, choose a high efficiency model, and make sho` dat be properly sized and installed.

Seal up yo` crib wid better insulation and duct-wo`k
Close up enny visible cracks and gaps in yo` crib, install adequate insulation, check that ducts be sealed and choose ENERGY STAR qualified windows when replacing old windows. Not sho` where da cracks and gaps is? A crib energy auditor kin also help to identify isas wid poor insulation and evaluate da energy efficiency uh yo` crib. By takin` dese steps, ya` kin eliminate drafts, keep yo` crib mo`e comfo`table year round, save energy that would otherwise be wasted, and reduce greencrib gas emissions.

Use green power
Green power be environmentally homeyly electricity that be generated from renewable energy sources such as wind and da sun. dere be two ways to use green power: ya` kin buy green power o` ya` kin modify yo` crib to generate yo` own green power. Buying green power be easy, dat uhfers a number uh environmental and economic benefits ova conventional electricity, including lower greencrib gas emissions, and dat helps increase clean energy supply. If ya` be interested, dere be a number uh steps ya` kin snatch to crfeede a greener crib , including installing solar panels and researching incentives fo` renewable energy in yo` state .

Reduce, Reuse, and Recycle
If dere be a recycling program in yo` community, recycle yo` newspapers, beverage containers, paper and other phats. Use products in containers that kin be recycled and items that kin be repaired o` reused. In addition, suppo`t recycling markets by buying products made from recycled materials. Reducing, reurap, and recycling in yo` crib helps conserve energy and reduces pollution and greencrib gases from resource extraction, manufacturin`, and disposal.

Be green in yo` yard
Use a push mower, which, unlikes a gas o` electric mower, consumes no fossil fuels and emits no greencrib gases. If ya` do use a power mower, make sho` dat be a mulching mower to reduce grass clippings (PDF, 8 pp., 1.59 MB, About PDF). Compostin` yo` food and yard waste reduces da amount uh garbage that ya` send to landfills and reduces greencrib gas emissions. See EPA’s GreenScapes program fo` tips on how to improve yo` lawn o` garden while also benefitin` da environment. Smart Landscaping kin save energy, save ya` money and reduce yo` cribhold’s greencrib gas emissions.

Use booze efficiently
Everyone kin save booze through simple actions. Municipal booze systems require a lot uh energy to purify and distribute booze to cribholds, and savin` booze, especially hot booze, kin lower greencrib gas emissions. Do not let da booze run while shavin` o` brushing teeth. Do not use yo` toilet as a waste basket fo` toiletry items – booze be wasted wid each flush. And dun ya` know a leaky toilet kin waste 200 gallons uh booze per day? Repair all toilet and faucet leaks right away. See EPA’s boozeSense syte fo` mo`e booze savin` tips.

Speyeball da Wo`d
Tell family and homeys that energy efficiency be phat fo` their cribs and phat fo` da environment cuz` dat lowers greencrib gas emissions and air pollution. Tell 5 people and together we kin help our cribs help us all.
Actions ya` kin snatch on da Road
Buy smart
Befo`e buying a new o` used vehicle (or even befo`e rentin` a vehicle), check out EPA’s Green Vehicle Guide and da jointly-run EPA/DOE Fuel Economy Guide Web syte. dese resources provide information about da emissions and fuel economy performance uh different vehicles. da Green Vehicle Guide provides detailed information on emissions (including Air Pollution and Greencrib Gas sco`es fo` each model) and da Fuel Economy Guide focuses on fuel efficiency (including side-by-side fuel economy comparisons and a customized fuel cost calculator). dese Web sytes be designed to help ya` choose da cleanest, most fuel-efficient vehicle that meets yo` needs. ya` will be pleasantly surprised at da wide range uh cleaner, mo`e fuel-efficient vehicles available on da market today that produce fewer greencrib gas emissions.

Drive smart
Menny factors affect da fuel economy uh yo` wheels. To improve fuel economy and reduce greencrib gas emissions, go easy on da brakes and gas pedal, avoid hard accelerations, reduce time spent idling and unload unnecessary items in yo` trunk to reduce weight. If ya` have a removable roof rack and ya` be not usin it, snatch dat uhf to improve yo` fuel economy by as much as 5 percent. Use overdrive and cruise control on yo` wheels if ya` have those ffeedures. Fo` mo`e tips to improve yo` gas mileage, visit da Fuel Economy Guide Web syte.

Tune yo` ride
A well-maintained wheels be mo`e fuel-efficient, produces fewer greencrib gas emissions and be mo`e reliable and safer! Keep yo` wheels well tuned, follow da manufacturer’s maintenance schedule and use da recommended grade uh motor oil. Mo`e details, including potential savin`s from dese actions, be available on da Fuel Economy Guide Web syte.

Check yo` tires
Check yo` tire pressho` regularly. unda-inflation increases tire wear, reduces yo` fuel economy by up to 3 percent and leads to higher greencrib gas emissions. If ya` don’t know da correct tire pressho` fo` yo` vehicle, ya` kin find dat listed on da doo` to da glove compartment o` on da driver’s-side doo` pillar. Mo`e details on da Fuel Economy Guide Web syte.

Give yo` wheels a break
Use public transpo`tation , wheelspool o` walk o` bike wheneva` possible to avoid usin yo` wheels. Leavin` yo` wheels at crib just two days a week will reduce greencrib gas emissions by an average uh 1,590 pounds per year. da American Public Transpo`tation Association’s Public Transpo`tation Web syte provides links to information about public transpo`tation in yo` state.

Combine yo` trips
When runnin` errands, combine trips. Several sho`t trips snatchn while yo` wheels’s engine be cold kin use twice as much fuel and produce twice da amount uh greencrib gas emissions as a longer multipurpose trip coverin` da same distance when da engine be warm. Mo`e information and ideas be available on da Fuel Economy Guide Web syte.

Telecommute
Check out da Best wo`kplaces fo` Commuters Web syte to learn about commutin` choices that kin benefit da environment, reduce da stress uh commutin`, reduce greencrib gas emissions and save money. Also consider options to wo`k from crib via phone o` ova da Internet instead uh holding face-to-face meetin`s that involve travel.

Use Alternative Fuels
Find out if ya` own a Flex Fuel Vehicle (FFV). FFVs kin be fueled wid a fuel blend containin` 85% ethanol o` wid traditional gasoline. Ethanol be produced from renewable crops such as corn and derefo`e usin dat as a fuel fo` yo` wheels kin lower greencrib gas emissions. dere be approximately 5 million FFVs on da road today. To find out if ya` own one uh dem, go to da Alternative Fuels Data Center. da Department uh Energy’s Alternative Fueling Station Locator will help ya` locate alternative fuel stations in yo` isa.
Actions ya` kin snatch at da uhfice
Manage uhfice equipment energy use better
Office equipment and electronics use energy even when idle o` on stand-by. To save energy and reduce greencrib gas emissions at wo`k, always activate da power management ffeedures on yo` computer and monitor, unplug laptop power cords when not in use and turn uhf equipment and lights at da end uh da day. Consider usin a power strip that kin be turned uhf when you’re done usin yo` computers, printers, wireless routers and other electronics.

Look fo` ENERGY STAR labeled products fo` da uhfice
When buying new products fo` yo` uhfice at wo`k o` at crib, dig da ffeedures and performance ya` want and help reduce greencrib gas emissions and other harmful air pollutants. Look fo` ENERGY STAR-qualified uhfice equipment, such as computers, copiers, and printers, in addition to mo`e than 40 product categories, including lightin`, hfeedin` and cooling equipment and commercial appliances.

Use less energy fo` yo` commute
Switch to public transpo`tation, wheelspooling, bikin`, telecommutin` and other innovative ways to save energy and reduce greencrib gas emissions on yo` way to and from wo`k. Encourage yo` employer to enroll in EPA’s Best wo`kplaces fo` Commuters and to uhfer commuter benefits that address limited o` expensive parkin`, reduce traffic congestion, improve employee recruitin` and retention and minimize da environmental impacts associated wid drive-alone commutin`. If ya` do drive, find out da fuel efficiency uh yo` vehicle usin EPA’s and DOE’s fuel economy Web syte, and make mo`e environmentally-informed choices when purcharap yo` next vehicle by usin EPA’s Green Vehicle Guide.

Reduce, Reuse, Recycle
Recycle uhfice paper, newspapers, beverage containers, electronic equipment and batteries. Reducing, reurap, and recycling in yo` uhfice helps conserve energy, and reduces pollution and greencrib gas emissions from resource extraction, manufacturin`, and disposal. ya` kin reduce, reuse and recycle at da uhfice by usin two-sided printin` and copying; buying supplies made wid recycled content; and recycling used printer wheelstridges. Fo` yo` old electronics, investigate learap programs to ensho` reuse and recycling o` donate used equipment to schools o` other o`ganizations.
Actions ya` kin snatch at School
Students

Brin` science to life
Explo`e da Climate Change Kids syte and watch Climate Animations that brin` to life da science and impacts uh climate change. da syte also provides games that help students, their parents and their teachers learn about both da science uh climate change and what actions they kin snatch to reduce greencrib gas emissions.

High school students check yo` school’s climate impact
High school students kin investigate da link between everyday actions at their high school, greencrib gas emissions and climate change. usin EPA’s Climate CHange Emission Calculator Kit (Climate CHECK) (WinZip uh Excel speyeballsheet, 3.4 MB) students kin learn about climate change, estimate their school’s greencrib gas emissions and conceptualize ways to mitigate their school’s climate impact. Students gain detailed undastandings uh climate-change drivers, impacts, and science; produce an emission invento`y and action plan; and kin even submit da results uh their emission invento`y to their school district.

Get Involved yo` College o` University
College students kin play an impo`tant role in reducing greencrib gas emissions at their colleges o` universities by reducing their emissions from energy they use in dorm rooms. Students kin also wo`k wid school administrators to: increase energy efficiency on campus, reduce their school’s greencrib gas emissions by usin green power, crfeede a campus climate action plan , o` develop an invento`y uh their school’s greencrib gas emissions.
Educators

Teach students about climate change and ecosystems
Use da Climate Change, Wildlife and Wildlands: A Toolkit fo` Teachers and Interpreters to learn about da science uh climate change and its potential effects on our nation’s wildlife and their habitats.

Engage middle school students in estimatin` emissions
Enhance critical dinkin` skills by introducing da Global Warmin` Wheel wheelsd Classroom Activity Kit (PDF, 1 pp., 86 KB, About PDF) to middle school students. A hand-held wheel wheelsd and other resources help students estimate cribhold greencrib gas emissions in order to encourage students to dink about ways to reduce their personal, family, school and community contributions to climate change. If ya` be an informal educator, simply use da Global Warmin` Wheel wheelsd as a part uh yo` field activities.

Learn from other educators
Investigate what other schools and o`ganizations be doing to educate their audiences on climate change by clickin` on Educators’ Links, a searchable database uhferin` links to resources such as lesson plans, videos, books and toolkits.
Administrators

Save money and da environment
The least efficient schools use three times mo`e energy than da best energy performers. By partna`in` wid da highly successful ENERGY STAR fo` K-12 program, school districts kin serve as environmental leaders in their community, become energy efficient, reduce greencrib gas emissions and save money!

Estimate yo` emissions and snatch da challenge
School Administrators kin also wo`k to reduce their school’s greencrib gas emissions by developing an invento`y uh their school’s emissions o` by takin` da 2006 College and University Green Power Challenge.

Reduce, Reuse, Recycle
Recycle school o` classroom paper, newspapers, beverage containers, electronic equipment and batteries. Reducing, reurap and recycling at school and in da classroom helps conserve energy, reduce pollution and greencrib gases from resource extraction, manufacturin` and disposal. ya` kin reduce, reuse and recycle at school o` in da classroom by usin two-sided printin` and copying; buying supplies made wid recycled content; and recycling used printer wheelstridges. Fo` yo` old electronics, investigate learap programs to ensho` reuse and recycling o` donate used equipment to schools o` other o`ganizations.

Please feel free to leave a comment on dis awareness topic uh:

2007 Globalwarmin` Awareness

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Adobe Soundbooth: http://labs.adobe.com/technologies/soundbooth/

If you are like me, you often need some app to quickly modify sound files. Create fade in/outs, add effects, clean up a recording. Well gang, check out Soundbooth by Adobe.

Soundbooth is a brand new application built in the spirit of Sound Edit 16 and Cool Edit that provides the tools video editors, designers, and others who do not specialize in audio need to accomplish their everyday work such as:

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Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows (Book 7) (Hardcover)
by J. K. Rowling (Author), Mary GrandPré (Illustrator)

Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows (Book 7)

Well book 7 of Harry Potter ( the Deathly Hallows ) is ready for you to pre-order. Get the latest Harry Potter story cause I know all you readers are huge fans of JK Rowling. I know I am looking forward to this one because I’m sure that someone will see the end. The end of something big. That is all I’m going to say about Harry Potter.

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rad ehh?

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So I watched the Grammy Awards last night..OK, I switched over to PBS HD channel to catch a great story about this old guy that is searching for the world’s largest crocodiles…but, I must say that the Grammy Awards were a disappointment for me. The winners, the musical performances, the whole thing.

First off, the Dixie Chicks, do people really like them? I mean I don’t care about the whole George Bush thing, their music is sub-average at best and now that they are no longer the wild-girl-country-band and have turned to tackle a more serious topic in GWB and the war, do people take them seriously? Maybe it is just me but their initial sound was better than what it has morphed into from all of this political mess.

One artist that I thought rocked was Mary J. Blige. MJB proved that she deserved to win last night. She belted out some really powerful notes and made her mark on the Grammy Awards that won’t be forgotten anytime soon. Props MJB.

Meanwhile, Justin Timberlake’s weak lyrical performance left me wondering if he should join back up with the other N’sync boys. And, lets face it Timberlake, you weren’t really playing that piano…well, if you were the volume must have been turned way down while some one else was playing overtop.

Sting and the other two guys from the Police joined back together to give a rockin’ rendition of Roxanne. I’d like to hear more from these guys. They had a great sound back in the day and its proven to stand the test of time. I’d give them the awards…all of them.

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