Discussion on Urdu Content Management
There is an ongoing discussion about the choice of a back-end system for the proposed Urdu portal. I have been asserting the need of a content-management system (CMS) for the creation, integration and management of Urdu content. I have practically no prior practical experience of using a CMS. I have just done some web browsing to gather some information. Following is the minimum set of features that a CMS should support in order to be useful for the Urdu portal:
- Support of layout templates
- Interactive support for adding/removing sections
- Online WYSIWYG editor for editing content
- Customisable for displaying Urdu content
- User registration
- Integration of content such as Urdu Wiki, Urdu forum, member blogs etc.
The content-management systems Drupal, Mambo and Typo3 all have excellent support for these features. Further these CMSes also contain built in applications such as chat, eCommerce etc. One big problem with the above mentioned CMSes is the learning curve associated. Installing these CMSes is not very difficult. I installed Drupal and Typo3 without much problem but I did not go much beyond their default generated web sites.
I did not think about evaluating WordPress earlier because I always thought of it as a blogging platform, which probably is not completely true. People have actually been using WordPress in their content-management solutions. The overwhelming argument in favour of WordPress is the available know-how. There are already a number bloggers i.e Asif, Danial, Ejaz, KO etc. who have been using WordPress and are familiar with its intricacies. A lot depends on these fellows to give Urdu portal a head start with their knowledge of web technologies. The main page of a WP-based web site consists of posts, which is not exactly what we want in a portal. Again I would expect on my WP-expert friends to come up with a decent customisation of WP. Following articles advocate the use of WP as a CMS:
- WordPress 1.5 as a Web Site CMS
I would also leave the issue of a more powerful CMS for the future. The content-management needs of the Urdu portal are surely going to get more demanding with time. A migration to some other CMS may be necessary by then. On the other hand WP is also under continuous development. It can also be hoped that it stays capable of managing the content of the Urdu portal.
Comparing the features of two or CMSes is not an easy task. There are dozens of factors/parameters that have to be considered in such a comparison. CMS Matrix is a web site that makes this comparison a lot easier. You just have to select the CMSes to be compared from the given list and it provides a side-by-side comparison of their features. I selected WordPress, Typo3, Mambo and Drupal for such a comparison. It could clearly be seen from the comparison that WP lags behind the other full-fledged systems in terms of content-management capabilities.
Another web site opensourceCMS provides information about the open source content-management systems. It also provides a CMS-rating which based upon the user’s votes.
Layout
A horizontal and a vertical menu bar should support the web site navigation. The content should be presented in the form of sections distributed in a two column layout. Following web sites/portals present such a layout:
- ہم سب دوست
- پہچان
- Small and medium enterprise development authority
I have deliberately chosen only the sites that use Unicode Urdu. Impelementing the proposed layout in WP would probably require a fair deal of CSS/HTML/PHP wizardry and I hope that our experienced friends will help us.
Font
I think we should, at this point, also debate the issue of which Urdu to use in the Urdu portal. Most of the Unicode Urdu-based web sites are using either Urdu Naskh Asiatype or Nafees Web Naskh font. I would vote for Urdu Naskh Asiatype. This font also works on Windows 98. Some people may think of tahoma. Personally, I do not like tahoma but that is only my opinion.
Content (or wish list)
The content of the Urdu portal will keep evolving just like its layout. I can think of the following content presented by the Urdu portal to begin with:
- Urdu Wiki containing technical resources about installing Urdu support and Urdu blogging etc.
- Urdu forum. This is going to be completely based on Unicode Urdu. I will gladly help Qadeer in setting up this forum
- Blog feed aggregator (Urdu planet). This should be left to Zack.
- News feed aggregator (for news from BBCUrdu.com etc.).
- Links to newspapers columns and editorials with their summaries
- Literary section
- Book reviews
- Interviews
- Classics
- Poetry
- Urdu chat
You are encouraged to supplement the above list. I have added a section to Urdu Wiki for the purpose of collecting ideas about the types of Urdu content to be incorporated.
And finally there are some very useful suggestions about creating an Urdu web site by Mr Amjad Sheikh.
May 18th, 2005 at 2:04 pm
Thank you, Nabeel, for a good analysis. I agree that Wordpress would a good first start as a CMS but we should try out the full-blown CMSes over time since they might be needed later.
Regarding font, Asiatype or Nafees are both fine. Asiatype is probably better for the reason you cite. However, Asiatype requires a careful selection of background and foreground colors otherwise it is difficult to read. Tahoma should only be used as a backup for those readers who don’t have Asiatype or Nafees fonts installed.
News feed aggregator would require that the news sites have RSS feeds. Other than BBC and Jang, is there any other Urdu news website which uses Unicode Urdu?
May 19th, 2005 at 3:22 am
Pehchaan Urdu News is the one that I know of.
May 20th, 2005 at 10:55 am
Zack: I have spent some time investigating the use of WordPress as a content-management system. I will soon write a post about it. I was thinking about the central layout of the proposed Urdu portal. One possibility would be to create an Urdu slashdot type web site. There is already a slashdot theme available for WordPress. There are a number of very good WordPress themes avaiable on the net. I especially liked blix.
I have found another Urdu portal here.
May 23rd, 2005 at 7:02 pm
Nabeel: I’ll be looking forward to your post. Blix looks good. There are other good ones as well. I am not a fan of the slashdot scheme though.
November 24th, 2005 at 6:12 pm
assalamu alaikum.
can anybody please send me list of really urdu website with urdu fonts not name sake urdu website. and the s/w that can be used to create a good site in urdu. i have inpage1.1 mail me to : sibgatullah@gmail.com.
eagerly waiting for your reply
khuda hafiz
November 26th, 2005 at 9:55 am
Sibghatullah: I think all the Urdu blogs can be termed as Urdu websites. Inpage is not really a tool for creating Urdu websites. You can find more information on Urdu Wiki about it. You can also visit the Urdu Mehfil forum which itself is a very good example of an Urdu website. I will send you an email with some more information
March 20th, 2006 at 12:12 pm
I’m facing some problems regarding urdu static text on web page. Can anybody please help me out by emailing me easiest way.
Thanks.
April 8th, 2006 at 12:21 pm
I am from http://www.megrisoft.com and i have the similar enquiry from the client that he needs the Urdu Portal like “urdu point” website, Is there any CMS which i can use to make a clone of that web site
April 8th, 2006 at 9:07 pm
Jagan, there is no custom made CMS for Urdu content known to me. You have to pick any of the open source content managment systems and add support for Urdu content yourself.
We are using phpbb and IM Portal on the Urdu Mehfil forum. We also plan to use the Joomla CMS for publishing an online urdu technology magazine.
July 25th, 2006 at 2:07 pm
“p[ur](urdu). “aqds
July 25th, 2006 at 2:08 pm
aqds
October 5th, 2006 at 5:16 pm
hi i like ur this metod
October 7th, 2006 at 8:07 pm
Largest Urdu Website for kids in urdu
November 6th, 2006 at 11:50 pm
[ur] (home
December 6th, 2006 at 2:26 pm
maine apne novel BAYAN se mutalliq kuch khabren dekhin.bayan babri masjid shahadat ke naam hai.is mauzu ya musalmaanon ke mauzoo per meri bahut si kitaaben hain.mera koi individual website nahi hai.lekin main aap ki qeemti site se ek rishta baharhal rakhna chahta hoon
January 27th, 2007 at 10:35 pm
Sorry to say that i couldn’t read all written above ,
just gotta say PDF version of URDU books should be published,
if any buddy have some links of PDF book plz sent those links…
your brother
Zunaish
E-Mail: zunaish@hotmail.com
January 30th, 2007 at 10:21 am
AOA,
I am interested to implement Typo3 CMS for Urdu language. If any body has some experience or some help then please inform me. My plan is till now, as there is some support of Arabic language in Typo3 CMS and I will take this as example and will try to change it according to Urdu. It looks not easy but its my wish to implement it. Your valuabel suggestions will be most welcome.
Wasalam
Qamar Tarar
July 31st, 2007 at 4:01 pm
I like make urdu Website
September 6th, 2007 at 12:26 pm
I am student of MCS at UAAR and I want to develope urdu CMS, if u can give me some kind help plz email me
October 12th, 2007 at 4:51 am
hi
October 12th, 2007 at 4:56 am
this website is very good for kids and young and old
November 13th, 2007 at 6:01 pm
plz mujay koi aisi urdu ki website batain kis main pakistan ki tareekh ki ahm personalities k baray main likha ho..plz
November 23rd, 2007 at 3:58 pm
I want to work on Urdu Translation of Drupal, Please contact me.
tarique_ali@hotmail.com or join the group http://groups.drupal.org/urdu-translation
December 6th, 2007 at 3:55 am
I am trying to make a wordpress urdu blog and i needed some kind of guidance is it possible that any tutorials are available that might be of help on how to make a urdu wordpress blog.I would be deeply grateful if anyone that give me any sort of guidance regrading this matter.Thank you and God Bless.
February 25th, 2008 at 6:33 am
فضائل اعمال فضائل صدقات مسائل مستورات جنت اور دوزخ کے حالات
نماز فج
March 13th, 2008 at 11:51 pm
http://www.nooremadinah.net is the best website to download Islamic books. i especially like the Naat Rang, very good series of beautiful naats and other books are impressive as well. Site also has audio and visuals
August 30th, 2008 at 2:22 pm
I am trying to make a wordpress urdu blog and i needed some kind of guidance is it possible that any tutorials are available that might be of help on how to make a urdu wordpress blog.I would be deeply grateful if anyone that give me any sort of guidance regrading this matter.Thank you and God Bless
September 17th, 2008 at 8:01 pm
Long back we made Katib an urdu fonts along with Indian languages fonts in the name of TERAFONTS by Terabyte Computer Academy,Rajkot.
Still we want it to develop web fonts.
December 18th, 2008 at 2:27 pm
i can not find the thing i want punjab text book 7 ka kulasa and jawabat and main ideas and tushreeh
December 18th, 2008 at 2:34 pm
u wel don not like urdu this site boring u need alot of improvement
so start off before it is too late
December 21st, 2008 at 9:38 am
Very Nicely Done!
December 25th, 2008 at 4:18 pm
long back in 1986 we developed indian language fonts along with urdu; now we have come up to use any language fonts in cms.You can see this on our site http://WWW.WEBCRAFT.IN
April 8th, 2009 at 11:52 pm
I am still looking for a Great Tutorial to help me get started with blogging in URDU and some URDU News Themes for WP.
May 23rd, 2009 at 7:59 pm
Assalam-o-Alaikum!!!
Bhaiyon!!! Can anyone post me the link to urdu wordpress??? I badly need it to develope some urdu islamic website…
Thanx and email me at n4nadish@gmail.com
JAZAK ALLAH
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