Chapter 1. Introducing Plone

Hi there!

Welcome to Plone!

The chances are that you're reading this book because you're thinking about using Plone to manage your web site content, or because you are a part of an organization that is already using Plone, and you need to figure out how to use it… on the double! Take a deep breath and relax. You're at the right place.

This book, Practical Plone, will help you get started with using Plone, the world's most powerful and easy-to-use open source content management system. You're in good company: hundreds of thousands of people around the world use Plone to build and maintain web sites. Plone is used by Fortune 100 corporations, small nonprofits organizations, universities, governments, scientific research organizations, and 'just plain folks'. Plone's flexibility, ease of use, power, and extensibility make it suitable for almost any project that revolves around publishing content online and managing it over time.

In this introductory chapter, Jon Stahl will introduce you to the general concept of content management systems and Plone in particular. We'll offer a brief overview of the worldwide community of people who use, create, maintain, and support Plone—a community you now stand on the threshold of joining! We'll briefly explain open source software and the freedom that Plone's license grants you. We'll conclude this chapter with a brief overview of the topics to consider as you plan a web site.