If you are trying to decided on a content management system, or CMS, for your website you may get a headache from all the options that are available for you to choose from. Plone and WordPress platforms are both very popular and have their own unique set of advantages and disadvantages.
All About Plone
1. Basics
Plone is a free CMS, or content management system, that is based on the Zope application server and the Python programming language. Large organizations are the most common users of this software. The development on this content management system began in 1999 and is ran by the Plone Foundation.
2. Features
Plone offers it’s users some wonderful features, but knowledge of the technologies used are definitely needed in order to utilize them. These features include:
RSS feeds
Wiki Support
Inline editing
Versioning
Time Based Publish
Search Engine Friendly URLs
Point and click installers
Graphical HTML editor
Simplified CSS
Multiple mark-up format support
Video support
Ecommerce options
Advanced image editing
Microformat support
Drag and drop content re ordering
This is just a short list of the robust features offered on Plone.
3. Pros
Plone CMS has many pros for it’s users to enjoy. One of the biggest is that there is no administrator interface separate from the public site. This makes it very easy to make changes right in the place that the change needs to occur. Plone’s track record in the security department is also outstanding. Plone has the lowest number of hacks or infiltration of it’s users sites than any other CMS.
4. Cons
The largest con of using Plone is the amount of time it takes to learn the new programming language, Python. This is only true if you are not already familiar with this program. Another con, which may be a pro for some cases, is that Plone is designed to work best for large businesses and organizations.
5. High Profile Users
Currently there are over 2,000 high profile websites that power their online presence with Plone. Some of the most legendary are the Federal Bureau of Investigation, Brazilian Government, Yale University, NASA, and Discover Magazine. The main draw for these types of organizations to use Plone for their websites is the amazing security they offer.
WordPress Overview
1. Basics
WordPress is a very popular content managing system and open source tool for blogging. They shine through other CMS platforms with their extensive theme and plug in options available to it’s users. Over 20 percent of the top 10 million sites on the internet use WordPress to power their website.
2. Features
One of the largest features that WordPress has is that it gives you the ability to change from theme to theme extremely easily and without changing the structure of your site. Some other wonderful features that WordPress has to offer is
Built0In Comments
Easy installation/upgrades
Multilingual
SEO control
Large list of plug ins
Extensive theme choices
Large community of users
3. Security
The security of WordPress sites have been a big topic in the technological world lately. The common HTML and PHP programming language makes it extremely vulnerable to hackers. This is due to the fact that just about anyone can have a deep understanding and knowledge of how WordPress operates in just a few hours. There are certain plug ins that can be installed to help with security measures.
4. History
WordPress began with a CMS written in PHP by Michel Valdrighi. Matt Mullenweg and Mike little took this platform and tweaked it to create WordPress. It first appeared in 2003 with version 0.7. Since then many updated versions of WordPress have been released and they are currently working on version 4.2.
Differences Between Plone and WordPress
1. Language
The programming language that Plone and WordPress use are extremely different. WordPress uses PHP and HTML, which are extremely common and well known. Plone, however, uses Zope and Python. These languages are much less known in the tech world which makes Plone more difficult for most people to understand and operate.
2. Security
The security reputation for each of these CMS platforms are also quite different. Plone has somewhat of a “legendary” security reputation. They are used by very large and high profile organizations, including the FBI. Their impeccable security is due to the fact that it uses the Python programming language, which is not widely known, so it is not vulnerable. WordPress, however, has a questionable past when it comes to security. The language that they use to operate is an extremely common one. This allows hackers to have extensive knowledge of the way it works, which lets them find it’s weak spots.
3. Common Users
The most common users of Plone are large companies and organizations that have many different branch websites to manage. This is much different than WordPress which is most used for individual blogs and small businesses. Large businesses can also use WordPress without problem, but Plone is better equipped.
