Managing & Customizing OpenCms 6

When software products contains so much functionality as is the case with OpenCms, then at good introduction and overview is a great help.

The book is available both as paperback and eBook

Managing and Customizing OpenCms 6" is an excellent starting point for if you are going to build a website with OpenCms. Actually it can be of use in the decision process as well. The first chapter outlines the various types of content management system, and defines what constitutes an enterprise class content management system is and why OpenCms fits into this category.

This book is more focused on usage and administration than Matt Butcher's previous book on OpenCms 5. This focus makes the treatment more thorough. For example the chapter on installation of OpenCms on Windows and Linux now includes a number of gotcha's that will save you time when you are about to install OpenCms for the first time.

The coverage of the OpenCms workplace and administration is fairly complete and generic. It is therefore primarily targeted at super users and system administrators. The end users (writers, editors and the like) are likely to need a more detailed description of the tools they will be using on a daily basis coupled with details on the setup, design and layout for their specific web site.

Building a web site in OpenCms includes customizing one of the existing templates that are available on the net or building one yourself. Which ever approach you choose it is highly recommended to go through the example which is included in the book. The example is simple and yet it shows the fundamentals which a developer needs to know and demonstrates the powerful API and tags provided by OpenCms. Understanding the basics, even if you just want to customize an existing template, will save you a lot of time.

The book provide pointers to other resources where you can go on to delve deeper into all capabilities that OpenCms provides to programmers. Trying to make one book that would cover all aspects of it would result in a "War and Peace" size of book.

"Managing and Customizing OpenCms 6" takes a different approach by focusing on serving as a thorough "getting started" book which will serve OpenCms administrators, super users and developers well, and decision makers may find it useful as well.

Review copy kindly donated by Packt Publishing.