The days of creating website from scratch are rapidly getting numbered as web developers getting comfortable with software that are ready made and mostly opensource. The revolution opensource e-commerce software and content management systems did to the internet is the change we see today.

The web site owners have more time to worry about their site content and products on offer. We don't need to worry about creating 50 pages and getting everything to be consistent since we can easily install a CRM and change the layout. The header, footer and menus will be consistent throughout the website as well as the styling, all we need to do is to change the layout as to our liking, or replace it with a new template which you can buy for under US$100. This is the revolution and freedom we all been waiting for and it's only the beginning. Once you have picked suitable software that free and bought a template that you like the look of all left to do is to customize the template with selected images that you can buy from a stock image site.

You can even find webhosting companies that offer one click e-shop installations and many good sites that offer templates for websites and web stores. Most of these web hosting companies provide you with enough marketing offers such as Google adwords credit, Yahoo search marketing credits for you start with your website promotion. Some web hosting even include web designer software that you can easily change the template and add your site content.

A good example of free-open source e-commerce software is Oscommerce, this software not only provides you with basic shopping cart functionality, and it also has a large contribution stock, which are modules to extend its functionality. Some of these modules are Cross sell, where you can recommend products for browsing users, or localizes shipping modules, that takes care of shipping estimates. The number of modules are endless and since this has been around for a long while, most of the required modules are already developed and tested thoroughly.

Another example is Joomla, the highest market share holder for Content management systems. Joomla has been around for a long time and has overcome a several releases to be optimized in its functionality as it is presented today. The table less layout design technology it uses for templates is remarkable and amazingly fast to browse through once installed in a website. Again this software got an endless contribution module and components list, that you can do anything with a Joomla website. It even has a basic module for shopping carts.

If you are a basic user with basic requirements for a simple website, a good place to start is CMS made simple, this software provided the simplest and cleanest admin panel you can find in the internet community, and the best part is it's free as well.

The contribution opensource software community does for the future of the internet is remarkable and priceless. It's our responsibility to support these organizations by creating contributions or simply by using them to promote them.

About the author

A melbourne based Web Conmsultant and the Founder of Web Design Cyclone