Intensive Web Day Making something out of nothing: Useful free software for the non-profit organisation Kathy Reid
Background Work full time at Deakin University in technical root cause analysis role (ITIL Problem Management) Involved with PHPWomen.org Involved with Software Freedom Day Involved with creation of not for profit websites
Key principles Every software item presented is FREE - not shareware, not limited use, FREE Not necessarily open source Easy to use, to learn and to teach to others Allows for interoperability Should be well documented, stable and mature as a product
WordPress Personal publishing system – not as full on as something like Joomla or Drupal – but can easily manage the website content for a small (<50 page) website Easy to teach volunteers how to use it – very good WYSIWYG editor Easy to use Dashboard Two types of content – Posts and Pages
WordPress (cont'd) Readily extendable using plugins Limited integration with e-commerce or payment solutions – not easily done 'out of the box' Easy to re-skin (redesign look and feel) Runs best on Linux hosting rather than Windows Can be easily customised using PHP
WordPress – recommended plugins Readily extendable using plugins Limited integration with e-commerce or payment solutions – not easily done 'out of the box' Easy to re-skin (redesign look and feel) Runs best on Linux hosting rather than Windows Can be easily customised using PHP
WordPress – have a play Log in details for Making Links; Look for the 'Site Admin' link Username: MakingLinks Password: MakingLinks
Drupal Full fledged content management system Extendable with modules (similar to the way WordPress is extendable with plugins) Has Pages and Stories – similar to Pages and Posts in WordPress
Drupal – have a play Log in details for Making Links; Username: MakingLinks Password: MakingLinks
Joomla More complex than both WordPress and Drupal Is a content 'portal' based on modules, with customisable layouts Granular permission system Extendable with plugins and modules Suitable for large, complex sites
Joomla – have a play Log in details for Making Links; Username: MakingLinks Password: MakingLinks
CiviCRM “Constituent relationship management” Helps to manage contacts – donors, volunteers and other groups that are associated with your organisation Allows you to send mailings to groups of contacts Allows you to manage memberships Allows you to manage event registrations
CiviCRM – have a play Log in details for Making Links; Click on 'CiviCRM' link on left hand menu Username: MakingLinks Password: MakingLinks
Moodle Learning management system Is structured around courses and learning content Can do quizzes, links to resources Structures courses into topics – ie for delivery over several weeks or sessions Useful addendum to training sessions – for instance volunteer training
Moodle – have a play Log in details for Making Links; Username: MakingLinks Password: MakingLinks
Filezilla Free FTP program Available for Windows, Mac and Linux Has around 70% of the functionality of Open Office Interoperability issues with the new.docx,.xlsx etc formats in Office 2007
Open Office Alternative to Microsoft Office Available for Windows, Mac and Linux Has around 70% of the functionality of Open Office Interoperability issues with the new.docx,.xlsx etc formats in Office 2007
Freemind Mind mapping program – useful for brainstorming Available for Windows, Mac and Linux Can be exported to JPEG, HTML, text document etc Can add icons to branches of the mind map Limited formatting options