Introduction

This article reviews the birth and development of the promising compiled-XSLT engine, Apache XSLTC, and the fierce competition among developers of XSLT engines to be the performance leader.

I Had A Dream

All great revolutions begin with one person, one dream, one idea, and one vision. And such is the case with Jacek Ambroziak: originator, visionary, and father of the Apache XSLTC project. Exactly one year ago Jacek collected together his thoughts and personal perspective as he departed the project in a document I refer to as the XSLTC memoir. Like all noteworthy breakthroughs, this one was inspired by the serendipitous convergence of three bodies of knowledge: the Java Virtual Machines, Compiler Theory, and XML transformation — which all came together for Jacek one dark and stormy night back in early 2000. From there, the project was born at Sun Microsystems’ XML Technology Center. And life was good, for a while.

To Compile or Not To Compile

An ancient question, stretching back to nearly the dawn of computer science, has been, to compile or interpret? Procedural languages have long explored this issue especially with the C and C++ language compilers that have dominated the last few decades. Java is both compiled and interpreted, depending upon how hard you look at it.

Does compilation always improve performance significantly? No. For any given problem, this is called the "Compile Conjecture." In a nutshell the answer is in the testing: if when all is said and done, the final optimized XSLT engine, or whatever software product, spends only 10% of its CPU time in the generated compiled code and 90% in generic algorithm code, then the increased complexity by using the compiler tactic is probably not worth it.

One of the oldest examples of "problem to compiled code" is the Unix tool lex, which is basically a regular expression generator creating optimized C code on the fly to fulfill the task of transforming a byte stream into a token stream. In this situation all possible efficiency is useful due to handling a large number of bytes. So the key question to ask is what type of software problems benefit from compilation, and does XSLT fit into this model?

Overview of Apache XSLTC

Apache XSLTC began in early 2000 at Sun Microsystems, first with Jacek Ambroziak and eventually turning into a small team. XSLTC is most significantly differentiated from other transformer engines by its distinctive two-phase operation. The XSL stylesheet is first compiled into a Java class called a "translet" ("transformer servlet", not related to a web application servlet). This stand-alone translet can be loaded as a Java class and run in a different process or even on an entirely different machine. The core translet accepts a DOM-like object for input and produces a SAX-like output stream. Adaptors are provided to convert to all conventional standards.

While XSLTC demonstrates a significant speed advantage over other transformers (300% to 500% over Xalan-J), it is still a young product and has limited range of compliance and a limited feature set. However, its true claim to fame may be its small memory footprint. While this is an advantage in space limited situations, it could potentially be a deciding factor in large high-volume web applications where sometimes thousands of requests are fulfilled simultaneously. On a per-thread basis, a translet can easily consume one-tenth the space of a conventional XSLT engine. This characteristic mitigates a major concern to date of using any XSL technology in high-volume sites.

Few generic products can easily gain acceptance as a proprietary offering from a commercial firm. Sun Microsystems made the decision to donate this software to the Apache Xalan effort in hopes of it seeing wider acceptance and usage. Without this decision, XSLTC would have probably become just a footnote in XSLT history. XSLTC is presently bundled with Xalan-J, yet is still a clearly individual component. Both Sun and IBM contribute key engineering resources to this project.

Gregor: A Second Generation Design

But Jacek Ambroziak has wiped the plate completely clean and started a new XSLT engine, which he calls "Gregor", at his new firm Ambrosoft. As Jacek says, "In the case of XSLTC (and especially Gregor) it is not only compilation but sets of particular algorithmic ideas that matter a lot for performance (speed/memory)".

In early testing, Gregor is tentatively showing nearly ten times the performance of Xalan-J and twice that of XSLTC; but it is not a complete product yet. Benchmarks can be misleading (See the "Metrics of Metrics" section below).

In the end, the question always remains, "are their sufficiently radical and advantageous architectural approaches that can improve performance yet unexplored and untapped?" In the case of XSLT engines, the answer is "probably", since it’s a very young field.

To Be King

The race among XLST engines is not an easy one. There are many disjoint objectives: performance, quality, compliance, small size, etc. It is not always clear which architectural strategy will produce the best results.

Developing Performance and Superiority

Each XSLT engine tends to discover key algorithms and data structures that have produced superior results. Slowly, over time, the various projects assimilate each other’s tactics. And yet they also break new ground in order to differentiate themselves, much like any competitive software field.

Compilation to bytecode is the key approach being discussed here. However, Michael Kay, author of Saxon, believes other tactics such as tree-rewriting, tree-building, sorting, memory allocation, and in general optimization at the semantic level (that is, rewriting the stylesheet) have a much greater impact on performance.

Xalan-J pioneered the usage of an internal data structure called DTM (Document Table Model); XSLTC will soon use this same tactic, achieving more commonality between the two Apache products.

XSLT is a rapidly moving target. An XSLT transformer is dependent upon numerous additional standards such as XPath, W3C XML Schema, XML Namespaces, EXSLT, DOM, SAX, and potentially other proprietary APIs. While in its pure form XSLT seems theoretically sufficient and complete, in practice extensions such as those provided by the community extension project EXSLT are essential. All these factors make it difficult to be an XSLT contender. A project must be under continual development and evolution or otherwise will lose its edge and fall behind.

Hardware Acceleration

Still need more horsepower? You are not alone. DataPower has been pursuing the high throughput XSLT market for some time: first with their just-in-time compiled XSLT product, XSLJIT, and more recently with a dedicated hardware accelerator called XA35. I spoke in depth with a Eugene Kuznetsov about this product, and tried to squeeze out of him the secrets of why dedicated hardware makes such a difference. He was pretty tight lipped, but I have a sneaky suspicion that associative memory, or something similar not found in the classic von Neumann CPU architectures, may play a key role. In any case, if indeed XSLT processing is significantly accelerated by dedicated hardware, we may see a day where specialized XSLT coprocessors are designed into CPUs much like math coprocessors. In the mean time, such hardware accelerators a

re viable solutions for the most challenging situations.DataPower also supports a Java interface that handles the remote communication allowing the accelerator to appear as a simple software component.

The Metric of Metrics

Benchmarks, especially XSLT benchmarks, are fuzzy because usage is a complex issue. The key question is what constitutes typical usage. Benchmark programs are characteristically composed of endlessly detailed case situations and caveats making clear comparisons nearly impossible. The state of affairs is reminiscent of earlier procedural compiler benchmark comparisons, where the general trends seem clear but details are debatable.

One further element that adds complexity is the separation of XML parsing and serialization processing from XSL transformation processing. While this is fairly straightforward to separate out if all engines use a DOM object for input, what if a particular engine exhibits better performance using SAX? Should this transformer be assigned a DOM to SAX conversion time penalty?

Finally, the reported benchmarks below are only for performance in time (that is, speed or throughput) and make no reference to footprint, breadth of compliance, or other characteristics.

A summary of the dominant XSLT engine, plus the new Gregor, is shown below. All performance numbers are normalized to be 100% for Xalan-J. Much of this data is obtained from the particular XSLT development team itself. It is expected that the data is biased toward their own product because the teams have, inadvertently or otherwise, adjusted the test suite to emphasis the features and functionality more in line with their perception of the customer base and usage. And, further, they’ve optimized their product accordingly. Basically, this is a Darwinian divergence in progress and the correctness of their assumptions will directly influence the market acceptance.

Conc

lusion

Compilation to bytecode is just one of many tactics being utilized in the XSLT performance race. It is possible that additional significant gains will also be obtained in other areas such as intelligent pre-optimization of stylesheets, clever internal data structures, or even a more hot-spot like run-time optimizer. Most likely the field will remain competitive, each product achieving improvements and gains on a year-to-year basis, new contenders coming onto the scene, and some old ones slipping off.

Performance is difficult to quantify and predict and highly dependent upon the exact customer usage. For performance in critical situations it is recommended that a small handful of the dominant engines be tested in a particular application before a final decision is made.

7 Basics of Good Web Design
By George Peirson (c) 2009

Whether you are just starting a web design project, looking at revamping an existing site, or just wanting to double check the usability of your current web site you should consider these 7 Basics of Good Web Design.

These basics are aimed at new visitors/customers; your repeat customers will be judging your web site on different values. Just like wearing the appropriate clothes for a job interview, these basics will help you pick out the “look” of your web site so that you make a good first impression.

1. Fast Loading Web Site – Any way you look at it, a fast loading page should be your number 1 concern. The web is all about speed, fast searches, fast purchases, fast information. You can’t have any of that with a slow loading page. Ask yourself this question – have you ever been on Google doing a search for something important and a link you clicked on didn’t open up immediately? What did you do? Patiently wait for the page to open or move onto the next link on the list? My favorite sites open almost immediately.

So, a few suggestions: Make sure that your images are properly optimized. Don’t use very many large images, save those for a different page. Keep any auto-running multimedia to a minimum, offer links to run media instead. Check your code for anything else that could affect your page loading times. Since text loads almost instantly go ahead and use all the text you want, just keep everything else under control.

2. No Meaningless Splash Page – Do you appreciate a fancy animation page that doesn’t tell you anything and you have to wait for before the web site will open? Neither do I. The last thing I want once I find an interesting site is to wait through some animation before getting to the first page. This doesn’t mean that I don’t want multimedia on a site, I do. I just don’t want an animation before the first page that forces me to wait for it to finish before getting onto the site. It’s like having to wait for a salesperson to finish their memorized speech before you can ask them a question. No thanks! I like animation, just in the right place and at the right time. Plus, if I am a returning customer, I will have already seen that animation and don’t need to see it again.

My recommendation is to use a smaller animation contained in your main landing page which also includes your main message and links to the rest of your site. It will make for a faster loading page (smaller file) and your visitors can go ahead with accessing your site without having to wait for the animation to finish.

One final note, never, ever put your logo as the only content on your landing page with a link that says “Enter Site”. This just screams Unprofessional and will drive away potential visitors in droves. The last thing I want to do is to click on another link just to get into the site. This is a total waste of my time. I usually will skip a site if I see this.

3. No Annoying Web Gimmicks – Now that you have your visitor on your site quickly the one thing you don’t want to do is to drive them away just as quickly. So, don’t put anything annoying on that first page. No loud background music that makes them quickly hit the volume control or the back button on their browser. No flashing animations while they are trying to read your content. No popup, flyout, expanding ads that cover your home page. Basically, leave the gimmicks alone until you are sure that your visitor will stay on your site. Most casual visitors will leave your site in just a few seconds, no sense on driving them away more quickly.

Multimedia is great on a web site, just don’t bombard your visitor with it first thing. If you want audio, then put in a nice picture with a link, like a picture of yourself with text saying something like “Let me tell you how to make $50,000 this month!” If they are interested, they will click on the link and listen to your message; if they are not interested in audio, then you should be using a different pitch anyway.

Also, monitor what advertisers are putting on your site if you sell ad space. I am sure you have seen those ads with the animated dancing figure, cute the first time you see it. But after seeing it 10,000 times with every imaginable character I have added the company to a list I keep of companies I will never do business with. So their animation has gone from “look at me” to “you annoy me” in my mind. Ads like these will impact your visitor’s experience. So even if your site is perfectly designed, one misplaced ad can ruin all of your hard work.

4. Have a Clear Message – Too many web sites are a mish-mash of content. This is especially true of blog pages. Certain types of sites lend themselves to stream of consciousness content, but most don’t. Make it easy for your viewer to understand what your web site is about, don’t make them guess. Have a clear topic headline, followed by clear and concise text. This is also where a picture is worth a thousand words, but only if the picture directly pertains to your message.

You want your visitor to quickly understand what your message is. If they like your message, they will take the time to read the rest of your page and look around your web site. If they don’t like your page, then it won’t do you any good having them stay on your site anyway. So, don’t make your visitors guess, let them know what you are about quickly and cleanly and you will have happy visitors. And when thinking about a sales page, a happy customer is a buying customer.

5. Coordinated Design – This one should be self evident, but it is surprising how many sites change their design for every page. You want your visitor to be comfortable in your site and one way to achieve that is by having a coordinated web design. Having a consistent logo, using a consistent color scheme, keeping your navigation in the same place. All of these help to create a coordinated design. This does not mean that you can’t change colors or the “Look” on different segments of your site, but if you do, the changes should not be so drastic that it feels like you have moved on to a different site.

If you select one place for your logo, one place for your navigation, one look for your buttons or other common graphic elements and stick with those then you will be well on your way to a coordinated design. If you change colors for a different section, but keep the same logo location, the same navigation location, the same button shape, then your visitors will not become lost as they move from page to page.

6. Easy Navigation – Once you have grabbed your visitors attention you want them to be able to easily move around the different areas of your web site. This is done with easy to use navigation. There are three standard, accepted locations for navigation elements on a web page: along the top, on the left side, and at the bottom. I will usually put my main navigation either along the top or along the left side. I will then put text based navigation at the bottom of the page, this text based navigation is more for the search engines than anything else, but it also makes it easy for your visitors to move to the next page when they have reached the bottom of the current page.

Most people start reading a page from the top left and then read towards the bottom right. So navigation at the left or top will be seen as soon as someone enters your page. Also navigation at the left or top will not move or change position if the browser window is adjusted in size. The worst thing you can do is to put your main navigation on the right side of the page and have your page set for a large screen size. Let&

#8217;s say that your page is set for 1024 across with the navigation on the right, and someone views your page at 800 across, they will not see your navigation at all. The left side of your page will show perfectly, but the right side will be hidden outside of their viewing area. Of course by using floating or popup menus you can overcome some of these design limitations and keep your navigation visible at all times.

Unless you know that your audience will enjoy it, don’t use Mystery Navigation. This is where your navigation is hidden within images, or spaced around the web page in some mysterious random order. This can be fun on gaming sites, or social networking sites, but in most cases the navigation should be easy to see and easy to use. If you do want to use Mystery Navigation, I would recommend keeping the text based navigation at the bottom of the page, just in case.

7. Have a “Complete” web site – And finally, no one wants to go to a web site only to find that the site is “Under Construction” and the content they are looking for is not there. These are words that you should never use. If a section of your web site is not ready for prime time yet, then simply don’t show it yet. It is better to have your site look complete and professional, then to have it look like a work in progress that should not be up on the web yet.

You can easily tell your visitors that you will be having more content in the future without having your site look like it is unfinished. Just use phrases like “Content Updated Weekly” or “New Products Added Monthly”. Both of these will tell your visitors that it would be worth their time to come back and visit later, but neither one will make your site look unfinished. So no matter how small your web site is, give the impression that you have taken the time to complete the site before putting it up on the internet, this makes for a more professional presentation and a better visitor experience.

In Closing – By following these simple 7 Basics of Good Web Design you will be well on your way to having an easy to use and successful web presence. Just keep in mind what you look for when you first land on a web page after doing a web search in Google or Yahoo, or other search engine. If you want fast loading pages, make sure your pages load fast. If you want to be able to find what you are looking for quickly and easily, then make sure you have easy navigation. Just keep your first time visitor in mind, put yourself in their web shoes and make your web site an enjoyable place to visit and success should follow.

24 Essential Pages to include on Your Website
By Ivana Katz (c) 2009

Wondering what pages to include on your website and why? Here is a list of important information that should be included on your site.

Before you start thinking about what to write, it is important that you create a plan, which outlines what each page will contain. That way you won’t repeat yourself or forget vital information. The most common pages on successful websites include:

1. Home Page (First Page)

This is your “sales” page and should provide information about what you can do for your customers. It should also give your visitors a brief overview of what they can find on your site.

2. Products / Services

It is useful to have a separate page for each product/service and write as much detail about each as possible. Start each page with a brief summary of the product/service, then provide whatever information you can. When people are searching for information on the internet, they want to know it NOW. They don’t want to wait until tomorrow when they can speak to you on the phone.

3. Contact Us

Place contact details in as many places as possible. Make it easy for your customers to contact you. Create a special “Contact Us” page and include your details in the “About Us” page and also at the bottom of each page. Information to include: business name, physical address, mailing address, telephone, fax, email, emergency number, website address.

4. Pricing

Whenever possible include the price of your products/services. Even if you can’t be specific. It is helpful to put at least a range of prices, eg. Carpet cleaning ranges between $40 – $60 per room.

5. Testimonials / Product Reviews / Before & After

Include testimonials from your current customers to show your potential clients that you are trustworthy, reliable and that you offer great service and/or products. Make sure the testimonials are real and if possible provide contact details of the person who supplied you with the testimonial. If you don’t have any right now, get them! Simply email your customers and ask for their feedback on your business and service.

You could also include before and after photos. Show the problem picture and beside it show the picture of resolution, with an explanation of your product’s benefits.

6. Frequently Asked Questions

This has proven to be a great time saver for many companies. Instead of having to answer the same questions over and over again, place them on your website and keep adding to them. The more information you have on your website, the less time you will need to spend answering questions by email or phone.

Frequently Asked Questions should address your customer’s concerns that may otherwise be an obstacle to making a sale.

7. Response form such as “Subscribe” or “Enquiry” form

An absolute must if you want to build a mailing list. Most people don’t like giving out too much information, so ask only the basics, such as Name and Email Address. Then keep in touch with your customers on a regular basis by sending out information that may be of interest to them. You may even wish to develop your own on-line magazine (ezine). There are many fantastic free or inexpensive programs that can handle this for you.

8. On-line Magazine or Newsletter

This is a great marketing tool. Not only does it help you keep in touch with your customers, but provides your website with fresh content. You can set up your Ezine in 2 different ways:

(a) Email subscribers on a regular basis, or
(b) Publish it on your website.

Or both. Include information about your business, industry or anything that may be of interest to your customers.

9. Resources/Articles

Add value to your business. Provide information that is complementary to what you do. For example, if you sell wedding dresses include information about reception venues, wedding planners, wedding cakes, flowers. By adding extra information you encourage more hits.

10. About Us

This is a very important page as it tells your customer about who you are and why they should buy your products, services and/or trust your organization. It can also feature your business hours (if you have a bricks and mortar store) or when they can speak to someone on the phone. Many companies also include their mission, details of their staff (photos, biographies, qualifications), recently completed projects, ACN or ABN, logo, directions to your store/office. It is also useful to include details of trade associations you belong to, trad

e and insurance certificates and any awards you may have won.

11. Guarantee

Offer a money back guarantee. The longer the guarantee, the more effective it will be. It could be 30 days, 60 days, 1 year or lifetime.

12. Survey

Find out what customers think about your website, business or product.

13. Events Calendar

This can relate to your business or industry. If you are an artist, you can feature dates where and when your art will be displayed or if you are a singer, where you will be performing.

14. Search My Website Feature

Some visitors to your site may not know exactly what they want, but if you include a search function on your site, they can look for it very easily. Like search engines, this feature will allow your visitors to type in a word or phrase and then search for it on your site. It’s like having your own mini search engine, only instead of it searching the world wide web, it just searches your website.

15. Return/Refund Policy

To make your customers feel more comfortable when making a transaction at your website, you should provide them with your return/refund policy. Ensure it is easy to understand and spelled out step by step.

16. Privacy Policy

Privacy continues to be a major issue for customers shopping online. Concerns about how their information is going to be used is a major barrier when making a sale. Internet shopping experience is built on trust and privacy is the number one ingredient in trust.

17. Site Map

A site map shows visitors how the site is laid out and which sections are where.

18. Copyright Information

Your website should carry a copyright notice to protect its intellectual property. It is generally in the form of “Copyright (c) 2004, Your Company Name”.

19. Links

Here you can place links to the manufacturers of your products, trade associations or complementary services. When you place links to other businesses, you can request they do the same for you. This will not only bring you more visitors, but may improve your search engine ranking.

20. Media Information

Include any information, articles, photos of your products, staff etc that have appeared in the media – print, TV, radio or internet.

21. News

This can include news about your products/services or about your industry.

22. On-line store

An on-line store allows you sell products directly on the internet 24 hours a day/7 days a week. When building an online store it is important to take in a number of key concepts.

• Make sure that when visitors arrive at your store the navigational mechanisms are simple and effective.
• The actual process of placing the order must be simple.
• Make sure you accept common and convenient methods of payment.
• Continually test your store so you understand your customer’s shopping experience.

23. Blog

A blog is a journal that is available on the web. The activity of updating a blog is “blogging” and someone who keeps a blog is a “blogger.” Blogs are typically updated daily or weekly using software that allows people with little or no technical background to update and maintain the blog. Blogs are a great tool because they help with:

(a) Communicating with your customers. Blogs provide a way for you to communicate with your customers directly. And it is a two-way communication. You can post a message on your blog and your visitors can easily respond.(b) Search Engine Marketing Blogs give you an increased presence on search engines, like Yahoo! and Google. If you use Blogger (Google’s Blogging Tool), every message you post creates a new page on Google so in a very short time you could have lots of pages pointing to your website.

(c) Stay Ahead of Your Competition Blogs are relatively new and chances are your competition does not yet use them. So you will be seen as an expert in your industry when you post your knowledge and expertise.

(d) Media & Public Relations Blogs are excellent PR tools. You can post your Media Releases and articles and have them picked up by the media.

(e) Free or Low Cost

24. Photo Gallery

Even if you do not wish to sell your products on-line, you may wish to showcase your goods or services in a special photo gallery – show how your products or services are being used by your customers. They say “pictures speak a thousand words” and on your website it is particularly important.

Don’t give your customers a reason to visit your competitor’s website and provide them with all the information they may possibly need or want.

CMS Toolbox: 80+ Open Source Content Management Systems

A content management system, or CMS, is the easiest way to get a content driven site up and running fast. Frequently, they’re also used for building social networks. We’ve rounded up more than 80 popular CMSs due to reader requests. For the sake of brevity, we haven’t delved too deeply into CMSs for personal blogging or wikis (although we recommend Wordpress and Mediawiki, respectively).

Editor’s note: Selecting a CMS is about selecting the right tool for the job. However, the most highly recommended general purpose CMSs tend to be Drupal and Joomla. We welcome your own recommendations and experiences in the comments.

Joomla – popular, award-winning CMS that will help you build powerful online applications.

XOOPS – extensible, easy to use; ideal tool for developing small to large dynamic community websites, blogs, portals and much more.

Drupal – equipped with a powerful blend of features, rich set of modules, very popular.

e107 – totally customizable content management system written in PHP using MySQL database.

Plone – ready-to-run, easy to set up, extremely flexible, and ideal for project groups, communities, websites, extranets and intranets.

Zope – an open source application server for building content management systems, intranets, portals, and custom applications.

PHPnuke – established CMS featuring web-based administration, surveys, customizable blocks, modules and themes with multilanguage support.

Dotnetnuke – port of PHPNuke into Microsoft .NET platform.

Typo3 – flexible and extensible CMS with an accomplished set of ready-made interfaces, functions and modules.

PostNuke – fork of PHP-Nuke to make it more secure, stable, and able to work in high-volume environments with ease.

SyntaxCMS – simplify publishing , create and edit site content online, and approve it before publishing to the web.

jLibrary is a DMS (Document Management System), oriented for personal and enterprise use.

V2 CMS – simple CMS, easy to install and modify.

Website Baker – PHP-based CMS designed to make website creation easy.

Jahia – use the Jahia community edition for publishing, managing files, and workflow.

eZPublish – created by eZ Systems, which has a team of professional software developers responsible for creating and maintaining the CMS.

Magnolia – makes Enterprise Content Management simple by being user-friendly, battle-tested, enterprise-ready and open-source.

WebGUI – built to give average business users the ability to build and maintain complex web sites.

OpenCMS – helps content managers worldwide to create and maintain beautiful websites fast and efficiently.

PHP-Fusion – a lightweight, small and versatile CMS.

Collaborative Portal Server (CPS) – most complete platform for building Enterprise Content Management applications, built on top of the Zope application server.

SiteFrame™ – lightweight content-management system designed for the rapid deployment of community-based websites.

TribalCMS – includes multilanguage support, template architectures, AJAX User Interfaces and unique administration.

Xaraya – create sophisticated web applications; designers enjoy considerable flexibility.

Krang – designed to publish magazine websites.

MMBase – CMS with strong multi media features and advanced portal functionalities.

Pligg – based on Menéame (Spanish Digg clone), Pligg enables you to create Digg-like sites.

elevateIT – an extension of ZOPE/Plone server.

Cofax – manages your text and multimedia content, and simplifies the presentation of newspapers.

DBPrism – first open source CMS based on Oracle XMLDB repository.

Flux CMS – XML/XSLT based, easy to use, extensible and suitable for developers to fill specific needs.

Apache Lenya – Java/XML based CMS that comes with revision control, multi-site management, scheduling, and workflow.

Rubricks – CMS for Ruby on Rails fans, boasts simplicity and speed.

Silva – built on top of Zope, enables you to export to Word, stream media, store content as XML, and manage hierarchical and traditional websites.

YACS – build your online blogging communities.

Clever Copy – A scalable website portal and news posting system.

Fundanemt – focused on usability and aimed at small and medium sized websites.

Dragonfly CMS – feature-rich open source content management system, based on PHP-Nuke 6.

ContentNOW – simple to use, flexible, multilanguage, modular CMS.

Bitweaver – suitable for large-scale community websites and corporate applications.

Elxis CMS – professional free open source CMS released under the GNU/GPL license.

Etomite – allows you to remotely administer your website from anywhere.

fuzzylime – simple way for you to run your site and keep it up-to-date.

iGaming CMS – build your own gaming websites.

MODx – CMS that helps you take control of your online content.

PHP comasy – simple, multilingual and fast content management system.

Mambo – very well-known CMS. Can be used for everything from simple websites to complex corporate applications.

Jupiter – one
of the most lightweight portal systems available.

Ovidentia – integrate an environment for publishing content on the www or a groupware portal.

Jaws – build your own modules on the powerful Jaws framework.

Geeklog – out of the box blog solution with support for comments, trackbacks, multiple syndication formats, and spam protection.

CMS Made Simple – make a home page for your family or your multinational corporation.

Eazy portal – solution allowing you to maintain your own online community.

Papoo – accessible content management system

phpWebSite – develop an interactive, community-driven website.

RunCms – portal system that includes most things a webmaster would expect from a CMS.

Exponent – allows site owners to easily create and manage dynamic websites without necessarily directly coding web pages, or managing site navigation.

SPIP – publishing system, use it freely for your own site, be it personal, co-operative, institutional or commercial.

Silverstripe – powerful enough for any website or intranet design and simple enough for anyone to use.

Pheap – created for folks who don’t like complex CMSs like Joomla and Drupal.

MDPro – an innovative and imaginative content management system.

TYPOlight webCMS – specializes in accessibility and uses XHTML and CSS to generate W3C/WAI compliant pages.

PlumeCMS – have multiple websites, multiple authors with different rights.

Xepient Open-Point – create a professional website quickly through the browser.

SlashCode – the original code for the Slashdot geek news service.

YaWPS – is a hybrid between a content management system and a web portal for medium or small-sized websites.

APC ActionApps – allow authorized users to easily update the content of their website.

Pagetool – suitable for people with limited technical skills to modify and contribute to an organization’s web site

OpenACS – toolkit for building scalable, community-oriented web applications.

ttCMS – build your community website with calendars, surveys, member management and authentication, file downloads, forum, articles, and announcements.

MySource – enables technically unskilled users to build and maintain their own web solutions.

Ariadne – web application server and content management system.

Mason CM – makes it easy to manage the workflow of information as it moves from staging to the live site.

Managee – comprehensive web based CMS.

ESY Web Builder – an intuitive content management system that allows non-technical people to create and manage websites and extranets.

PHProjekt – a groupware suite, for the coordination of group activities and to share information and documents via intranet and internet.

PROPS – extensible publishing system designed specifically for periodicals such as newspapers and magazines

Midgard CMS – internationalized set of tools for building web sites and networked applications.

Pivot – web-based tool to help you maintain dynamic sites, like weblogs or online journals.

Online video is a huge trend – so huge that’s it’s proving hard to keep track. From video sharing sites to video mixers, mashups and converters, we’ve brought together more than 150 of our favorite sites in this category. Enjoy.

Live Video Communications

Stickam – The best site for live video communications with multiple people. There is no major competition for Stickam just yet.
Blogtv – Blogtv is a recent discovery to the public. It allows you to do a live video show, and you can stream it live, as well as archive it for later use.
ooVoo – This allows you to carry on video conversations with live video through a Skype-like program.
Mogulus – This site is basically an all in one broadcast solution for video. You can create, edit, and add things similar to broadcast companies could add.
Ustream – Allows you to stream live video and you can also embed the player in to your own website.
HeyCosmo – A downloadable application that allows you to connect with other people in many ways, even play games and more.
Operator11 – Go live with your camera and create your own channels. You can also send video comments and remix your videos.

Online Video How-to

Better YT Video Quality – This guide helps you with getting the best possible video quality on YouTube, can be applied to other sites as well.
Make Internet TV – This guide has step-by-step instructions for shooting, editing, and publishing videos on the Internet.
How to put your readers at the scene – A scene-setting guide for online web journalists.
Tips for shooting better online video – learn the equipment, shooting and editing basics from this collection of tips.
Online video tips – a Squidoo lens with several useful online video shooting and editing tips.
Home video tips – Chris Pirillo’s tips for shooting better videos at home.
Camcorderinfo – Every online video comes from a camcorder, so here is the best place to get opinions on your next camcorder purchase.
5 Ways To Create a Great Video Podcast – A great article that applies to both video podcasts and video production in general.

Online Video Editors

Eyespot – add effects and transitions to the videos you upload, or use some of the large amount of free video clips and music from Eyespot’s media partners.
MuveeMix – Upload your movie, mix it with music, add cool effects and share it on MySpace, Friendster, Blogger, and other networks.
Motionbox – This service features the ability to link to a very specific point or “segment” within the clip itself.
Cuts – Insert sound effects in your videos, add captions, loop the best parts and in minutes you can share your creation with the world.
JumpCut – a free service that enables you to upload, edit and share your videos. Offers keyframe-based editing, effects, transitions and actions.
VideoEgg – A video editing platform that you can add to create a social network and offers opportunities for monetization.
Mojiti – Select videos from popular video sharing sites, personalize them with your annotations and share them with others.
Photobucket – Edit videos within a browser using Flash and remix photos and home videos with other elements, such as music, video captions and transitions.
StashSpace – Upload, store and edit your videos online. You can also record videos directly from your camcorder or digital camera.
BubblePly – Video annotating service where anyone can add text bubbles that are synchronized with video.
Veotag – Service that lets you display clickable text, called “veotags,” within an audio or video file.
Vidavee Grafitti – add graphics and text into any video; the service is called a “legal form of artful vandalism” by the creators.
Vmix – Vmix is a community and a hosting provider for your videos, aimed at creative authors who want to create remixes of their music and videos.
MovieMasher – a combination of a video editor with a timeline and lots of various effects, a standalone player and a media browser.
MixerCast – Mix your media with professional video, images, music, and network your MixerCast everywhere.
Fliptrack – Make a free musical photo slideshow and music video. It’s easy to do and you do it online.

Online Video Converters

Zamzar – converts all sorts of file formats, including several video formats.
Media Convert – a media converter with a huge amount of options; resulting videos can sometimes be out of sync with audio.
Vixy – a simple converter that can only convert Flash apps from the web to several other video formats.
Hey Watch! – an online video converter focusing on file formats that works on portable multimedia devices, like the iPod.
MediaConverter – a video converter that can be slow and needs polishing, but can sometimes yield really good results.
Movavi – another video converter that allows you to upload videos and convert them to formats you wish to use.

Video sharing

YouTube – YouTube is the king of the video sharing sites, it has more users and videos than the others. Any video you can think of it probably already on YouTube.
Google Video – Since Google bought YouTube, Google’s Video player is mainly used for for-pay content like TV shows. Also there is a search here that indexes all of the video sharing sites on the internet (well, most of them).
Blip.tv – Blip.tv is the perfect video sharing site for video podcast makers. It&#

8217;s designed to let them easily upload all types and qualities of media and then send them to their feed for the users. They also let you add ads to you video so you can make some money.
Ourmedia – A great site where you can upload audio, video, images, and text and share them with the world. The OurMedia community contains over 100,000 members.
Veoh – Watch long form, television quality content and publish your own videos.
DailyMotion – Video sharing platform with multiple video search options. You can join groups of people who publish videos based on a common interest.
Metacafe – A site that helps you discover the best videos through a community that filters, reviews and rates new videos every day.
UnCut – Video uploading and sharing community by AOL. Embed all the videos you want in your blog.
ClipShack – video sharing community that allows you to upload video clips, make friends, keep a collection of your favorite videos and comment on clips.
5min – Video sharing site with a particular vision: collecting videos that can visually explain anything in 5 minutes.
Brightcove – Search, click and watch. Music videos, news, travel, recipes, adventure. Thousands of channels, including the best in online video.
Viddler – Viddler lets add tags and comments to video that will show up at specific times. It also has unique features like flickr and twitter integration.
Revver – The first video sharing site that provides users with the possibility to earn money from the videos they upload.
Vimeo – Vimeo is a video sharing site that has an emphasis on it’s users. The video’s you find there are more likely to be home movies or shorts by aspiring film makers, and also a lot of lip dubs.
Yahoo Video – Yahoo’s version of online video. Similar to Google video, but done the Yahoo way.
HelpfulVideo – Share your knowledge and skills with others for free or little charge via video clips.
BroadbandSports – A video sharing site specifically for sharing sports related videos.
Travelistic – A video sharing site that allows users to post video content specific to travel.
Livevideo – Video sharing site that lets you create personal channels. Upload your own videos and share them with the world.
Kewego – A video sharing network where you can upload your own videos and view videos by others.
Godtube – It’s a Christian version of YouTube. All things Christian welcomed.
Coull.tv – An interactive twist to video, this site allows you to view video and add interactive elements to it by using your mouse.
Mediabum – Video sharing site focusing on funny videos.
VMIX – Another video sharing website; All content is screened, so be sure everything you upload is legit.
Grouper – Video sharing site with a big selection of content; enables you to create playlists and easily upload videos to MySpace.
Break – Break is a video site and more for comedic based content.
Videosift – a Digg-like site which lets you submit, vote, and comment on videos.
GeeVee – GeeVee is a video sharing site specifically for sharing videos of game play in video games.
Stage6 – A video site that uses the Divx player so you can upload High Definition video, of course this also means longer upload times, and you need DivX support (usually a browser plugin).
Tube Battle – vote for the best videos, organized by category.

Video hosting

TinyPic – Host videos and images for free; it is possible to upload videos in the most popular formats and link videos on MySpace, eBay, blogs and message boards
Vidilife – Upload videos and store them online. There is no limit in terms of length of the files you can upload.
Dropshots – Good site that lets you upload videos, share them and embed them on other sites.
ZippyVideos – Upload and store video files (maximum 20 MB) in the most popular video formats.
Supload – Free service to host video clips and images. Maximum video file size allowed is 20 MB.
Rupid – Another provider of free video hosting: you can host your videos and share them with others.
Pixilive – Free images and video hosting for MySpace, eBay, Facebook and other sites. Maximum size for videos is 10 MB.
Mydeo – store and stream your videos online. You will be able to embed a video on any website and send streaming video messages .
YourFileHost – Upload files anonymously and share them with others. You can upload any file format up to 25 MB.

Video organization and management

Aggrega – create and organize your own music video channels and share them with others.
Feedbeat – a fantastic service that lets you create playlists with videos from different sources – YouTube, Google Video and others. Each playlist gets its own subdomain on feedbeat.net.
Ajaxilicious – an online movie catalogue which enables you to manage your movies and share them with others via RSS.
Cliproller - create custom video channels and add as many as you like to your personal Cliproller page.
CozmoTV – CozmoTV is a site that allows you to create and organize channels of video already existing online.

Vidcasts & vlogging

BlogCheese – a simple way to create and share a video blog – all you need is a webcam.
Revision3 – A video podcasting network that’s home to many well made video podcasts, including Diggnation, which is Kevin Rose and Alex Albrecht’s video podcast about the top stories on Digg.
Jabbits – Social video blogging: Use your webcam to record your Post or Jab with an easy-to-use recorder.

="http://www.askaninja.com/" title="Ask a Ninja">Ask a Ninja – got questions? Ask a ninja! One of the most popular vidcasts in the world, and definitely the funniest.
Galacticast – a weekly Sci-fi comedy podcast, episodes usually consists of lots of really geeky parodies.
Scriggity – A news podcast, where the viewers send in the news that they think should be on the shows.
SuperDeluxe – A site to find videos that focus mainly on comedic content.
DL.TV – Some of the the old TechTV crew back at it again with their own own show on all things tech. One of the best video podcasts for tech geeks.
Webnation – Amber Mac’s bi-weekly video podcast with news and interviews relating to current events in the tech world.
Tom Green’s the Channel – A daily video podcast that is recorded live and is hosted by Tom Green. He usually has a celebrity guest on the show.
GeekBrief TV – a daily podcast hosted by Cali Lewis, it’s a 3-5 minute update on the latest tech news.
This Week in Tech – famous tech vidcast by Leo Laporte, one of the most viewed vidcasts in the world.
The Broken – tech show for teh 1337 h4×0rz.
Digg Podcasts – a long list of popular podcasts, containing most of the vidcasts on this list and many more.

Video mashups

Virtual Video Map – YouTube videos on a Google map. Find out where do all those cool videos come from.
RealPeopleStuff – a site that combines CraigsList and YouTube, offering video clips related to ads.
TagTV – enter a tag and get results from Flickr and YouTube. Clean and simple design makes TagTV a very neat way to browse photos and videos.
I Love Music Video – combines YouTube with info from your Last.FM account. Great way to get videos (at least until Last.FM signs an evil deal with all those content providers and starts offering music videos).
MusicPortl – information on bands and musicians containing biographies, Flickr images, related blog posts and YouTube videos.
Magg – aggregates videos from several video sites. Also works as a search engine.
RateMyDanceMoves – Hot or Not-style site, presenting you dance-related YouTube videos to vote on.
ReviewTube – a site that enables you to add captions to YouTube videos. Nice idea, but relatively poor execution – the captions frequently overlap, making the text unreadable.

Mobile video apps

Youtube mobile – a stripped down version of YouTube tailored for use on mobile phones.
Shozu – a free service for your phone that makes it easy to send and receive photos, videos and music
Abazab – a universal video player that also works on your mobile phone.
Srobbin Mobile Video – An unofficial search for Google video on your cell phone.
Yahoo Mobile – Yahoo mobile allows you to search, find, and play videos right on your cell phone.
MobiTV – MobiTV allows you to watch television video from popular networks of all kinds.
MTV Mobile Video – Anything MTV related all for download to watch on your cell phone.
ESPN MVP – If you are a Verizon Wireless customer and have the V Cast service enabled, you can watch sports clips and more.
Moblr – Moblr allows you to view videos uploaded to the site directly on your cell phone.
Mobunga – This site allows you to download videos to your mobile phone, as well as iPod and PSP.

Video search

Blinkx – Perform searches within the most popular video networks, such as CBS, Reuters and CNN. Users can search for content and create TV channels that splice relevant content together.
PureVideo – Search within the most popular video directories and video sharing sites. PureVideo features up to six channels and each channel contains about six source sites.
SearchVideo – Search engine and directory created by AOL. Users can also search within specific video channels like MySpace and YouTube.
Search For Video – search engine and video directory that displays results from hundreds of video channels. Search For Video also provides an add-on for Firefox.
Yahoo! Video Search – Yahoo! has a video search engine that gathers videos from Yahoo! directory and from many other online sources. You can also search within specific domains or sites.
TubeSurf – Video search engine that gathers results from popular video directories, such as YouTube, Yahoo! Video, MySpace and Google Video. TubeSurf is also available as an add-on for Firefox.
ClipRoller – Search across popular video sites, such as: YouTube, Metacafe and more. As you continue to search for videos, ClipRoller learns your preferences and delivers content you like to watch.
Pixsy – A video search engine that lets users search content across dozens of video sites. Users are allowed to save searches and single videos.
ScoopVid – Search engine that enables you to either search for videos or browse through channels and categories.
Google Video Search – Google’s Video search recently was updated and now searches many video sites other than just YouTube and Google Video.
AOL Video – once known as the great media search engine, the AOL-purchased SingingFish, AOL Video kept some traits of the crowd’s favorite place to look for hard to find videos, but true fans claim that the site is not as good as its predecessor.
Truveo – Search videos or browse by either channel or category.
Altavista Video – good old Altavista isn’t what it used to be, but it does have a video search section.

Online video downloading services

VideoRonk – Search and download your favorite videos from YouTube, Google Video, Metacafe, DailyMotion, iFilm, MySpace, Vimeo, Blip.tv, Revver and more.
VideoDL – Download online videos available on YouTube, Google Vid

eo and Break.com stright to your computer.
Vixy – Grab videos from popular sites and convert them into various video formats (including iPod and PSP).
KeepVid – Download videos from many video sharing sites, including YouTube, Google Video, MySpace Videos, DailyMotion, Blip.tv, Revver and other services.
VideoDownloader – Get videos from video sharing sites. VideoDownloader is also available as a Firefox extension, allowing you to seamlessly integrate it within your browser.
YouTubeX – Download videos from YouTube. It doesn’t have a lot of options in terms of video sites among which you could choose, but it is very easy to use.
DownThisVideo – This site lets you download videos from YouTube, GoogleVideo, MetaCafe, Vimeo and other services.
KissYouTube – A service that provides two interesting and effective ways to download videos from YouTube.
YouTubeDownloads – Another site that lets you download videos exclusively from YouTube (other sites are not supported).
Kcoolonline – Download videos on your hard disk from more than 90 sites, including YouTube, Google Video, Metacafe, iFilm and MySpace, Yahoo and many more.
YouTubia – A YouTube clone that lets you download and save YouTube videos within your IE or Firefox browser.
MediaConverter – A platform that lets you download and convert videos straight from YouTube.

Miscellaneous tools

Hellodeo – Record videos from your webcam and post them on any web page.
Flikzor – Send and receive video comments on your profile, blog and more.
Flixn – Record a video message right in the web browser and share anywhere including MySpace and eBay.
GabMail – Service that enable users to send unlimited numbers of free video email messages.
Bubble Guru – A site for recording webcam video messages and getting them onto your website or sending to others.
CamTwist – Software package (for Mac computers) that lets you add special effects to your video chats.
WebcamMax – Software that lets you add videos, screen, pictures, flash and effects to virtual or real webcam and broadcast on all messengers (Windows
only).
StumbleUpon Video – Just press “Stumble!” and a random video is presented to you, you can also ask for random videos with in categories like Humor, or Cats.
CrowdRules – video answers to your questions.
ClipSync – interact with other users while watching the same video as them.
ClipSyndicate – publish broadcast quality news on your web site.
Broadbandsports – a big collection of sports-related videos.

We get many free services like below and many more. Please refer to the below link for more details.

http://partneradvantage.sun.com/partners/membership/eligibilitymatrix.html

1.EZQual: Virtual Lab for Free

Application Development with Sun, the Easy Way

Sun’s online Virtual Lab environment makes it easy to develop, port, and test your application. The Lab features pre-installed SPARC or x86 processor-based Sun servers with Sun Studio Development Tools, Java SE, Sun’s Cool Stack, MySQL, Solaris 10, OpenSolaris and more. Access this secure development environment over the Internet utilizing Sun’s Secure Global Desktop Software. And, with available email Developer Support, we make it easy for you to deliver the performance, security and stability that your customers demand on the Free and Open Solaris Operating System.

2. GlassFish Technology Partner Offering

The GlassFish Technology Partner Offering provides opportunities for partners to connect with the thriving GlassFish community – to dialog and drive business with the thousands of developers and enterprise professionals who access GlassFish community resources every day.

Offering Benefits Includes:

• Profile in GlassFish Technology Partner Showcase
• Banner Advertising on GlassFish Product Pages and Blogs
• Links on Sun.com GlassFish Product Pages
• Mailings to Opt-In Mailing Lists
• Training Discounts

3.Partner Directories

The Sun Partner Directories offer partners increased sales potential by enabling potential customers to search the databases by location, partner type, horizontal/vertical segment, specialties, partner designations, or partner name. Additionally, the Directories incorporate banner placements capabilities increasing visibility and awareness for participating companies. The Directories also provide increased relationship development opportunities, as they can be used to find complementary partners with whom one can build joint Sun, strengthening Sun’s offerings to the end user.

We invite you to browse the Sun Partner Directories and Sun Software Library to better understand the potential in these tools.

Specific program offerings vary based on your membership level.

4. Logos and Branding

As a technology leader for more than 20 years, Sun is a powerful brand in today’s IT environment. And Sun looks to partners to help provide complete end-to-end solutions and drive complimentary customer relationships. Hence Sun offers partners the opportunity to effectively leverage Sun’s brand equity and reputation for innovation with logos that accurately reflect the connection they share with Sun.

Thus Sun offers partners of the Sun Partner Advantage Program the exclusive opportunity to utilize specially developed logos:

• Partner Program Name and Logo:

Get, use, and profit from the Sun Partner Advantage Program logo and name in partner-branded marketing materials or business communications.

• Java Powered Logo:

Branding your applications with the Java Powered "cup and steam" logo tells the world that your products provide a rich, exciting digital experience.

• Solaris Ready Logo:

When you display the Solaris Ready logo your customers know your solutions are interoperable with the Solaris Operating System on UltraSPARC and x86 server platforms.

Specific program offerings vary based on your membership level. If you are already a Sun Partner, use the login box at the right to access the Membership Center. If your company is a member of the Sun Partner Advantage Program, but you do not have your own password, add yourself as a contact.

5. Developer Support

Kick Start Development with Free Support

The Developer Support offering provides free technical support for independent software vendors (ISVs). This offering covers "how to" configuration, installation questions and API questions among others and is offered 5 days a week (Monday through Friday), 8 hours per day. Developer Support helps ISVs get started quickly, create efficient software designs and get products to market fast.

Developer Support is available to Sun Partner Advantage Program participants in English worldwide with the exception of Russia and Japan.

If you are already a Sun Partner, use the login box at the right to access the Membership Center. If your company is a participant in the Sun Partner Advantage Program but you do not have your own password, add yourself as a contact.

http://partneradvantage.sun.com/partners/membership/eligibilitymatrix.html