Frequently Asked Questions

  1. What is Exponent, and what is a CMS?
  2. What are the prerequisites for installing and running Exponent CMS?
  3. How do I install Exponent CMS and get it up and running?
  4. How can I get started building and designing my web site?
  5. Where's an example of a site using Exponent CMS?

Q1. What is Exponent, and what is a CMS?

Exponent is a website content management system (or CMS) that allows site owners to easily create and manage dynamic websites without necessarily directly coding web pages, or managing site navigation.

Q2. What are the prerequisites for installing and running Exponent CMS?

Before you can run Exponent CMS, there are four components you must have installed on your computer or web hosting environment:

  • Web Server such as Apache
  • PHP support should be included with most web hosting packages
  • MySQL Database
  • Exponent CMS Package

Specific requirements can be found here.

Q3. How do I install Exponent CMS and get it up and running?

Detailed installation instructions can be found here.

Q4. How can I get started building and designing my web site?

The easiest way to learn to use Exponent CMS is by choosing to install the sample data   during installation.  This creates a web site with most of the features already installed.  For specific instructions on getting started, visit here.  For details on configuring your site, visit here.  And for more details on managing your site, visit here.

Q5. Where's an example of a site using Exponent CMS?

First of all, this site uses a standard Exponent CMS installation with a custom theme.  Additionally, the help/documentation site (docs.exponentcms.org) also uses a standard installation.  There is also a testing site using the 'next' version of Exponent with many various features installed found here.