Intranet Journal
The online resource for intranet professionals

PHP-Nuke: The Monster of Content Management Systems

7/30/03

PHP-Nuke is a huge CMS that is constantly being expanded by its wide community of users. Why do I call it a monster? Simply because PHP-Nuke dwarfs most of its rivals, with features ranging from news management to mailing lists and a private messaging system.

That said, it's a very refined monster; it is simple to manage and very stable. And this is where the monster analogy really slips up, and should probably be abandoned altogether: it's a monster that weighs very little. It consumes few resources on the server, and even with many simultaneous users it runs speedily and efficiently. But is it right for an intranet system? This review should help you to decide.

Features

PHP-Nuke is a modular system, which means its individual features can be turned on or off at will, or added at a future date. Each module has its own set purpose, and below a few examples of those that would be most useful on an intranet:

• News/Messages: Information can be communicated to staff via the front page of the intranet, and is then automatically archived for future reference. These news items can be subdivided into topics, e.g., general company news, new products, and staff notices. The user of the intranet can then choose to view only the topic or topics that interest them.

• Encyclopedia: This can be used as a knowledge base for information useful to your users. Records are stored alphabetically, and can be browsed through or searched.

• Private Messages: A customized version of the phpBB forum system, which facilitates the sending of messages between users, is built into PHP-Nuke. It operates similar to most e-mail clients, allowing users to access an inbox, outbox, a list of sent items, and the ability to save old messages. You can even include little smiley faces in your messages. This is all quite jolly, but in reality it lacks the flexibility of e-mail. In order to see if a user has any messages, he or she would have to remember to visit the intranet site regularly. While this may encourage its use, it's little compared to the in-your-face "you have mail" jingle of an e-mail client.

• Themes: The intranet you create with PHP-Nuke can easily be branded to match your corporate identity. Fourteen themes are included, but you can create your own using any Web site editing software (chapter 7 of "PHP-Nuke Management and Programming" shows you how). While aesthetics aren't likely to be your top priority when choosing a CMS, a well-designed interface is key to ensuring your users can quickly find the information they require.

Installation

The PHP-Nuke installation process is quite straightforward, but requires some knowledge of Linux. If you do not have physical access to your server, then you'll need to upload the system via FTP. The PHP-Nuke site only provides the system as a Linux (.tar.gz) file, not as a Windows (.zip) file. The bottom line is you won't be able to set up PHP-Nuke under Windows without special decompression software.

That small inconvenience aside, it's wonderfully easy to configure. The database is set up automatically by an included configuration file, and from that point on all management takes place via your Web browser. The only requirements for the server are the Linux operating system, the Apache Web server, PHP programming language, and one of the common database servers — all of which are supplied with most Linux distributions. However, as the system is written in PHP, it is likely to run perfectly well on equivalent operating systems and Web servers.

The installation documentation is brief, but adequate; especially if you've installed software on Linux before, you should have no complications.

Usability

Most of the features included with PHP-Nuke are enabled by default, and so will appear on the front page of your intranet site. The downside is the interface appears cluttered, with the eye being drawn all over the place. You'll also probably want your users to focus on the most important information, such as company news or staff notices. It is therefore essential to display only the components (or "blocks") that you require. These can be turned on and off using the administration system. Some blocks, such as short surveys or site statistics, may distract the user from important news and information.

The front-end of a PHP-Nuke system as it appears to a user. There's text on the left, right, and center. While good interface design is highly subjective, it seems like a good idea to remove some of the "blocks" from the left and right and completely customize the design.

Ease of Administration

The administration system looks fantastic, and is quite straightforward to use. From the above control panel, all aspects of the system can be customized. Each discrete "block" that appears on the site, such as the "big story of today" or a user survey, can easily be positioned on the page using the Blocks section of the administration system. At the click of a button, an element of the interface can be repositioned without using any Web design software.

The main menu of the Php-Nuke administration system, visible only to the manager.

When an article is submitted for inclusion on the intranet, basic HTML knowledge will be needed for formatting. No WYSIWYG (What You See Is What You Get) editor is included. That said, only a small number of HTML tags are used, such as <b> for bold or <i> for italic, so it shouldn't take long to train staff in their usage.

The "Blocks" section of the PHP-Nuke administration system.

The statistics module is a nice feature for evaluating the popularity of your intranet. It will tell you not only how many times each news article has been viewed, but even at what time of day the system is most popular. Receiving feedback from your users is essential to understanding their needs, and this is provided for in a number of ways. Short multiple choice surveys can be used to gather opinions from users. While a possible distraction when placed on the front page, they are excellent when linked to an article. After reading an article, the user can cast their vote on any important issue of your choosing, for example, whether the water cooler is the right color. These results are then automatically represented as a graph.

PHP-Nuke supports having multiple users who can modify the intranet, and you can assign each users a different level of access. For instance, you could assign one staff member admin access, but only to the newsletter module.

Conclusions

PHP-Nuke is a well-thought-out content management system. But it's also a well-thought-out newsletter manager and communication system, and potentially a lot more. With little configuration needed, all of these features are available straight out of the box, meaning you can have your new intranet up and running rapidly.

Documentation is an area clearly lacking. There's a great unofficial online guide at http://www.karakas-online.de/EN-Book/, but clearly it would be useful to have a "help" button if ever one runs into difficulty. This is partially excusable because PHP-Nuke is very intuitive in its use, and it is likely that a documentation project will be launched in the future.

One issue that hangs over any modular, open-source system is the integrity of third-party modules. You can find add-ons all over the Internet that will transform PHP-Nuke into everything from an auctioneer to an employment agency. However, all of these add-ons (being free-of-charge) are provided without warranty, and so you can have no guarantee of their integrity or stability. It's therefore a good idea to stick with those which have been tried and tested, and keep up to date with new releases on the PHP-Nuke Web site.

If you're looking for a complete system that can be ready in minutes, this is likely to be the answer. Like all the systems reviewed in this series, it won't cost you anything, so while you cannot rely on technical support, there is a very helpful online community of users. If you're looking for a simpler framework for a news management system, then Drupal, which we reviewed in May, would also be a good solution.

For more information, vivit the PHP-Nuke Web site at http://www.php-nuke.org.