It is a CMS application with a browser-based work environment, asset management, user management, workflow management, a WYSIWYG editor, internationalization support, content versioning, and many more features including proxying of requests to another endpoint.[3]
OpenCms was launched in 1999,[5] based on its closed-source predecessor MhtCms. The first open source version was released in 2000.
The OpenCms user interface runs in a web browser, placing control elements directly on the web page that is edited. Content on a page can be modified by drag and drop.[6] Text can be edited "inline" directly on the web page, or in an alternative form based editor.
Web pages and their navigation structure are managed in a dedicated sitemap editor. Content elements are stored in galleries and can be reused between different web pages or web sites. An additional "power user" interface for Administrators provides role and permission management. Since version 9.5 OpenCms has offered layout and template creation without coding.[7]
Editing a web page in the inline editor of OpenCms 10.
Text content in OpenCms is defined using an XML schema. The user interface for the content managers creates XML files based on these schemas, which are stored in the database repository. A template system based on JavaServer Pages then creates web pages from the XML.
Versions
OpenCms has been under continuous development as an open source project since the year 2000. Currently a major version is released every 6 months in April and October. The revision control of the OpenCms source code is done using Git on GitHub.[8] The following table provides an overview of all major OpenCms releases.[9]
Overview of major OpenCms releases
Version
Release date
Important new features
Unsupported: 4.0
2 Feb 2000
Online / offline workflow, WYSIWYG editor for web pages, explorer, user management
Unsupported: 5.0
5 May 2002
Page templates in JSP with own <cms:> tag library, extended caching and static export of pages
Unsupported: 5.3
11 Dec 2003
Full text search using Lucene, direct edit of web pages
Unsupported: 6.0
30 Jun 2005
Updated user interface, storage of content in XML files based on XSD, management of multiple sites
Unsupported: 6.2
31 Mar 2006
Integrated image scaling, visual comparison of document versions
Unsupported: 7.0
04 Jul 2007
Support for WebDAV, automatic link management, category tags for all content files
Unsupported: 7.5
15 Jun 2009
Content galleries, extended support for creating JSP using expression language
Unsupported: 8.0
8 May 2011
Enhanced user interface allowing drag and drop of elements in the page and sitemap editor, support for mobile devices
Unsupported: 8.5
24 Sep 2012
"Inline" editing of web pages, integration of Apache Solr, CMIS support, SEO features
Supported: 9.0
08 Nov 2013
Preview for mobile devices, accessing the content repository using a network share, visual site management interface, demo template based on Bootstrap
Supported: 9.5
03 Nov 2014
Nested containers allow template and layout creation with drag and drop, user generated content, PDF creation, extended editor roles, spell checking in the WYSIWYG editor, visual management of galleries, categories and templates
Supported: 10.0
23 Mar 2016
Modernized administration workplace, added Apollo Template, new file explorer, Identicons for users, direct commit of changed templates to Git, drag and drop of images, enhanced Solr based content search
Supported: 10.5
15 Feb 2017
Improved localization tools for side-by-side comparison of sitemaps, support for generating pages as JSON fragments, asset connection for external data sources, font icons in the user interface
Supported: 11.0
30 Apr 2019
Redesigned user interface, meta mappings for SEO, new Mercury Template, default content list generation with predefined Solr searches, bookmarks in the explorer, new apps for resource type and sessions management
Supported: 12.0
12 Oct 2021
Headless JSON API for REST content access, greatly improved Mercury Template, template variants, updated WebDAV implementation.
Supported: 13.0
03 Apr 2022
New plugin system, search by geo coordinates, extensions to template variants, improved Mercury template.
Supported: 14.0
11 Oct 2022
XML schema versioning with automatic content rewrite, two factor authentication (2FA) in the user login, source code editor widget for multi-line text inputs, Mercury template updated to Bootstrap 5.2.
Supported: 15.0
25 Apr 2023
Role-based control for sitemap access and new editor for modifying selected sitemap attributes, app "Person data search" reveals personal user data in the VFS, improved Mercury template.
Supported: 16.0
02 Oct 2023
New app "Unused contents" finds and deletes content not actively used, individual detail pages based on categories, option to reset the password for all content managers, improved Mercury template.
Supported: 17.0
09 Apr 2024
New app "Date search", export a selected site for archiving, hide "sensitive" content in the Offline project, support for Java LTS 17 and 21, improved Mercury template.
Supported: 18.0
08 Oct 2024
New “Place element” mode in the page editor, markers for reused content, automatic typographical correction of quotation marks, improved Mercury template.
Latest version:19.0
02 Apr 2025
New tools for website translation, image preview and filename validation in the upload dialog, improved content validation, fast access to categories.
