Open source
There are currently over 550,000 copies of the SilverStripe CMS and Framework in circulation worldwide. Many of those copies were downloaded by software developers who have actively contributed—and continue to contribute—new features and bug fixes back to the open source product we use as the "base" when we build a website for you.
The SilverStripe CMS and framework has seen over ten years of evolution, and was "opened up" in 2006 when we removed our proprietary licensing model in favour of an open source license. Open sourcing our software has led to support from Google, Sun/MySQL, Microsoft, public global software awards, and a vibrant developer community that is quickly growing in size and skills. Our experience building both the SilverStripe tools and building the SilverStripe community leads to better benefits for your business.
Our software has no license fees, and doesn't rely on software with license fees, which means the project we build for you will remain cost-effective. Our documentation and code repositories are public which allows developers around the world to stay familiar with the software as it improves. And ongoing support for prior versions of SilverStripe is likely to continue for a very long time.
Currently, our CMS and application framework are being translated into dozens of languages thanks to the efforts of developers all over the planet. (If we had a closed-source model, the employees of SilverStripe would have needed to provide the translations, and although we're growing rapidly, we simply don't have the ability to translate the software into every language the community speaks!) Please see translate.silverstripe.com for more details.
Open-sourcing our base product has made it more secure. Since we released the source code, we have received numerous notifications and patches relating to security issues and potential attack vectors from our active community of developers. Two particular areas of focus are SQL injection and cross-site scripting. With hundreds of thousands of copies of our open source software in circulation so far, this has led to the identification and resolution of issues that would be very difficult to solve with closed, proprietary software.
And because the SilverStripe platform is open source, you are not locked into a particular vendor. SilverStripe partners and members of the SilverStripe Developer Network all over the planet are able to service your needs should you require local development resources. Of course, we are happy to continue to enhance your site after the initial build, but you can feel safe in the knowledge that because our software is open source, you can get support from other organisations or move development in-house, should you wish to.
Our CMS
A website editor is a busy person. The editor must be able update the site easily and be confident that changes come out the way the editor intended. Editors may also manage other staff with various technical skills contributing content to they site, and editors don't have a lot of time to train all the contributors.
With the SilverStripe CMS, website editors don't need be familiar with complex web applications—or even know HTML. You can get started in very little time—a typical training session with one of our clients takes no more than an hour or two. You and your staff can quickly start taking advantage of powerful features. For example, you can:
- Create new pages and drag and drop them where you want them to be in the sitemap.
- Edit and style content in an editor that uses a formatting toolbar that is familiar to anyone who uses word processing software.
- Easily insert links, images, Flash animations, and video into your content.
- Copy and paste content directly from Microsoft Word.
- View a draft of your content changes before publishing them on the live site.
- Publish multiple changes to your site with one click.
- Assign different user roles and permissions for each section or page of your site.
- View older versions of a page, and roll back to a previous version, if needed.
In addition to these editing features, the SilverStripe CMS generates search-engine friendly and accessible websites. Your website will be easily found by search engines and used by visitors with different abilities and technical setups. All these features are included in the SilverStripe CMS out of the box.
SilverStripe 2.4 Site Editing Overview from SilverStripe on Vimeo.
To see SilverStripe CMS in action, watch the above video for content editors, or try SilverStripe CMS for yourself in our online demo.
Places you may also like to visit:
- Silverstripe.org
This is the home for our open source CMS and Sapphire application framework. If you you want to learn about or get involved in our developer community, or learn more about how to develop with our tools then this is the place for you. - Download SilverStripe CMS
Get the latest stable release of our open source software—free. - Understanding the BSD License
Here you'll find more information about our chosen open source license, Berkeley Software Distribution (BSD), and what it means for you. - Philosophy
What we believe in and why we do what we do.