Introduction

Introduction to the Mambo CMS

What is Mambo?

Mambo is a simple and professional Open Source (OS) Content Management System (CMS) software that that anyone can use for free to easily manage a Web site. It is simple enough for small Web sites, yet powerful enough for large-scale commercial Web sites. These are some of the advantages to using Mambo:

• It is easy to set up and use.
• It has a simple and unique Administration interface to manage Web site content.
• It is flexible enough to create custom Web site designs using the template system.
• It is easy to add content and images.
• It is designed with simplicity and flexibility for everyone. From the non-technical Webmaster to the advanced Programmer, it is designed to make it simple to add content.

Power in Simplicity

Mambo is one of the finest Open Source Web Content Management Systems available today. Mambo makes it easy to communicate and publish on the web. Have you ever wanted to design and publish your own Web site with the ease of point and click, but never understood how to achieve this?

Well, don't fear! Mambo is just the ticket for you!

Mambo takes the worry out of creating Web pages without having to understand how to program. If you know how to use a standard word processor, like Microsoft Word or Open Office Writer, then you can manage a Web site using Mambo! Through the Mambo Administrator Web Interface, just enter your content, add a picture or two and click the save button!

Simple... Quick... And easy!

What is Open Source?

Open Source is a catch-all term, describing several parts of the Free Software licence movement. Here are some organizations that have contributed to defining Open Source licences:

• The Free Software Foundation: http://www.fsf.org/
• The GNU Project (GNU's Not Unix): http://www.gnu.org/
• The Open Source Initiative: http://www.opensource.org/

What can I use Mambo for?

Mambo can be used for many different types of Web sites, such as:

• Portals
• Commercial Web sites
• Intranet / Extranet
• Non-profit Web sites
• Personal Web sites
• Integrated Flash Web sites

The key feature is the ability to allow any authorized user to add and edit content directly on the Web. Multiple people can manage content within a Mambo Web site. They do not need to know any programming languages, such as HTML, to update their site because an 'online WYSIWYG editor' (What You See Is What You Get) is included for formatting the text and inserting images. There is no need to 'upload' your documents with hard to understand FTP (File Transfer Protocol) programs. Just Save and Publish your content and your Web page is online for everyone to see!

Mambo can be used for the following applications:

• Updating 'Home' and 'News' Web pages, with news, articles and images
• Creating your own dynamically created content menus like 'Products > Hardware >DVD Recorders, Products > Hardware > CD Recorders'
• Uploading MS Word, MS Excel and Acrobat PDF documents for online viewing
• Managing header, footer or side Banners (advertisement etc.)
• Creating Polls
• Managing Web links
• Managing FAQ (Frequently Asked Questions)
• Managing News Flashes
• Managing multimedia Flash, .jpg, gif, bmp and .png images
• Managing News Feeds, from different news source Web sites
• Managing Contact and email form pages
• Managing Users with special access levels
• Managing Archive pages
• Managing 3rd party developer's Components, Modules and Templates. For example: E-commerce, forums, image galleries, calendar and agenda components, help desk etc.