PROPS is an Internet publishing system created for periodicals. This software offers an open and extensible platform that can be customized as per the user's requirements.
PROPS has numerous key features, including easy installation and a robust API that allows third-party developers to create 'plug-ins' to extend base functionality. It also has the ability to deliver content to multiple target platforms such as HTML, XML/XSL, WAP/WML, and text. This feature enables readers to format stories for printing or email to a friend.
PROPS has been architected in a way that presents pages as static URLs. This makes it possible for 'spider' type search engines to crawl and index them. Additionally, PROPS has a strict separation of design and content. Designers can control site look and feel by developing templates with standard site editing tools such as Dreamweaver, GoLive, BBEdit, and more. Editors can then manage site content through a web interface.
PROPS has permissions-based multiuser site management screens that allow a PROPS site to be maintained by a distributed team of reporters and editors. The software is targeted at mid-sized publishers serving fewer than one million page views daily, but it has been architected to scale through deployment of multiple front-end web servers, separate image servers, and more.
The software supports the XML-based News Industry Text Format and can speak a variety of XML dialects for both import and export, enabling PROPS sites to participate in distributed news networks.
The reference platform for development is Linux 2.4 with Apache 1.3.x or 2.0, MySQL 3.23 or 4.x, and PHP 4.1 or higher. PROPS will not support PHP3, but the developers intend to make sure it will run on other Unix platforms. NT/W2K/IIS support is dependent on whether they get requests for it and patches and development help.
The latest release of PROPS is 0.8, which includes all of the features mentioned above. Overall, PROPS is an excellent choice for publishers want to extend their reach and expand their audience via the internet. Its robust set of features and its flexibility make it a top contender in its class.
Version 0.8: N/A