- EZ Publish
Infobox Software
name = eZ Publish
developer = eZ Systems
latest_release_version = 4.0.1
latest_release_date = release date|2008|08|20
operating_system =Cross-platform
platform =PHP
genre =Content management system
license =GNU General Public License
website = http://ez.no/eZ Publish (pronounced "easy publish") is an
open source enterprisecontent management system developed by the Norwegian companyeZ Systems . eZ Publish is available for free download under theGPL licence, as well as under proprietary licences with commercial support. [ [http://ez.no/products/proprietary_license_options eZ Software licenses] ]Areas of use
eZ Publish supports the development of professional, customized web applications. Typical applications range from a personal homepage to a multilingual corporate website including role-based multi-user access,
e-commerce functions andonline communities . [Kraemer, Kai, [http://ez.no/community/articles/web_2_0_for_the_enterprise Web 2.0 for the Enterprise] , 8.10.2006]According to eZ Systems, eZ Publish is used for tens of thousands of web applications of varying type and size worldwide, among them MIT (specifically the controller's office), [ [http://controllers.mit.edu/ The MIT controller's office] ] Vogue magazine,
NASA , theUS Navy DASN and the Swiss public broadcasting organisationSchweizer Fernsehen . [ [http://ez.no/customers/case_studies eZ case studies] ] Further examples eZ Publish-based projects are listed on the eZ Publish reference page. [ [http://ez.no/customers/references References / Customers ] ]Handling
eZ Publish is managed via a
Web browser , thus additional local software is not necessary. It also features a rich text editor that allows formatting content similar to aword processor (e.g. Word). This enables content editing and contribution without HTML skills. Content management can also be done through the eZ Publishfrontend .Business model
By providing the software for free, eZ Systems follows an approach called "best of both worlds". [eZ Systems, [http://ez.no/de/company/news/the_blue_chips_of_enterprise_content_management_ez_systems_rated_third press release 10/6/2005] concerning the survey "Blue Chips in the ECM sector"] eZ Publish may be used and modified according to the
GPL . In addition, paid professional support is available, which includes an automatic maintenance service (eZ Network) and a bugfix guarantee. Furthermore, a "Professional Licence" is available, [ [http://ez.no/products/licenses eZ Systems licensing] ] granting the right to use eZ Publish under licence conditions different from the GPL. With this model, eZ Systems strives to combine the advantages of commercial and free software. The company has received several awards for this business model, including the "Norwegian Prize for promoting Free Software" [newsforge.com, [http://newsvac.newsforge.com/newsvac/05/10/05/145206.shtml press release on the Norwegian Prize for promoting Free Software] , 5/10/2005] and was named by EContent as one of the 100 most influential companies in the IT industry. [Manafy, Michelle, [http://www.econtentmag.com/Articles/ArticleReader.aspx?ArticleID=18639&IssueID=380 Introduction: 2006 EContent 100] , 15/11/2006]eZ Systems has a network of certified partner companies that perform application implementations. Currently there are approximately 200 partners worldwide. [ [http://ez.no/partner/worldwide_ez_publish_partners eZ Publish partners] ] The company employs about 80 people in Norway, Ukraine, France, Canada and Germany. [ [http://ez.no/en/company/about_ez profile of eZ Systems] ] Its community includes tens of thousands of programmers, designers and professional users [ [http://ez.no/developer/forum/statistics statistics of ez.no] ] .
Functional range
The eZ Publish functional range targets the quick, professional and secure realization of web applications. Functional criteria are (besides standards such as sitemaps, search and printing function):
* a logic for content versioning;
* a media library; and
* role-based rights management.Furthermore, custom changes can be made to eZ Publish. For this, the system's architecture provides "Extensions", which are meant to contain individual functions. This allows for the upgrading of the kernel even after customizing new versions. Finally, there are several hundred [http://ez.no/community/contribs contributions] provided by the community. eZ Systems integrates such contributions into the kernel on a continuous basis. This is done especially to avoid mixed installations of the kernel and custom
plugin s, which could lead to serious problems (e.g. for migrating an existing installation to new versions of PHP, as such plugins are usually supported unpredictably).Technology
eZ Publish is written in
PHP . The recommended web server is Apache.The
database abstraction layer enables the use of nearly any common database by using drivers, thus rendering changes to the core system unnecessary.MySQL is recommended [ [http://ez.no/ezpublish/requirements Requirements / eZPublish ] ] , but drivers forPostgreSQL ,Microsoft SQL Server [ [http://projects.ez.no/mssql mssql / eZ projects ] ] and Oracle [ [http://ez.no/doc/extensions/database Database / Extensions / Documentation - Doc ] ] are also available.eZ Publish is cluster-ready and enforces the separation of content and presentation via XML storage of all content.
eZ Components
Future versions of eZ Publish will be based on eZ Components. [ [http://ez.no/community/articles/interview_the_future_of_ez_development Interview with members of the eZ Systems board] , 16/3/2006] eZ Components is a library of standardized modules for speeding up application development. It includes functions for compressing binary files, optimizing performance through caching, connecting to several databases, debugging,
RSS , generating graphs for analysis, converting images, supporting email and validating user input. [ [http://ez.no/ezcomponents eZComponents ] ]eZ Components are conceptualized as an alternative for the PEAR project. They are published under the
BSD licence . Nevertheless, commercial support is available from eZ Systems. In addition, eZ Systems is developing "eZ Platform", which will be a development environment for PHP 6. [eZ Systems, [http://ez.no/company/news/ez_systems_announces_ez_platform_for_php_application_development press release on eZ Platform] , 22/6/2006]Criticism
eZ Publish has been criticized for its rather complicated licensing. [ [http://www.openadvantage.org/articles/oadocument.2005-04-19.7797700074 Other open source content management systems — OpenAdvantage - Freedom, Choice, Control ] ]
External links
* [http://ez.no eZ Systems official homepage]
* [http://www.gadgetopia.com/post/4245 The Joy of Working With eZ Publish]
* [http://www.martinbauer.com/ez_publish_overview/ eZ Publish Overview] Author: Martin Bauer (4/07/2007)
* [http://www.sitepoint.com/article/ecommerce-website-ez-publish Build an eCommerce Website with eZ Publish] Author: Bård Farstad
* [http://www.sitepoint.com/article/table-less-css-ez-publish Build Table-less CSS Layouts with eZ Publish] Author: Bård Farstad (24/1/2005)
* [http://www.sitepoint.com/article/rebuilding-gradlink-ezpublish Rebuilding Gradlink Using eZ Publish at sitepoint.com] Author: Martin Bauer (17/12/2004)
* http://www.sitepoint.com/article/ecommerce-website-ez-publish Build a WebDav-Enabled Intranet With eZ Publish] Author: Bård Farstad (12/11/2004)
* http://www.sitepoint.com/article/review-learning-ez-publish-3 Learning eZ Publish 3] Author: Harry Fuecks (4/10/2004)
* [http://www.sitepoint.com/article/ez-publish-3-1-take-spin eZ Publish 3.1: Take It For A Spin at sitepoint.com] Author: Rob Purser (23/6/2003)
* [http://www.sitepoint.com/article/version-2-version-3 eZ Publish Evaluation: Version 2 Vs. Version 3 at sitepoint.com] Author: Sebastiaan van der Vliet (18/8/2003)
* Sitepoint.com, [http://www.sitepoint.com/article/bard-farstad-ez-systems Interview with Bård Farstad] on the vision and the background of eZ Publish (22/11/2002)
* [http://ez.no/community/contribs/import_export/oasis_open_document_extension eZ Publish Oasis Open Document import export extension]
* [http://www.planetezpublish.org/ Planet eZ Publish] News & blogs from various sources about eZ PublishReferences
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