34 replies to this topic

[Little Asterisk]

So, following the recent PHP vs. ASP topic (where there has also been some talk on Ruby on Rails and Python) I've decided to also make another one, where you declare your favourite Content Management System.

Now, since I've posted a few already in the previously mentioned topic, I'll list them here again as mahesh2k suggested:

1. Wordpress is probably my favourite CMS, easy-to-install, easy-to-use and has a large community behind it. It also has extensive documentation ( http://codex.wordpress.org/Main_Page ) which will be of much help when you decide to use it for your CMS of choice (believe me, you will choose it after a while)

2. Site Managr CMS (that's a Web 2.0 name ) - Looks like the old Wordpress, seems to have interesting features (Events, more extensive Analytics), built entirely on CodeIgniter. The Demo page ( http://designelement...index.php/admin ) is not working, unfortunately.

3. MediaCore Video / Podcasting CMS will be interesting to all you podcasters out there, free and "fresh out of the oven." It has features to pull data from { insert_service_name_here } to your blog, and an extensive documentation (reminds of Wordpress a bit).

4. Stacey App File CMS doesn't use databases for pulling content to the user but literal files and, therefore, cannot enable commenting on your blog. It's not a problem, though, because you can easily make the commenting system using a service like Disqus. Built on PHP.

5. I don't know, just seemed right to have five list items. Perhaps Cushy CMS, which doesn't have to be installed on your server but just uses classes to edit particular HTML elements. Not suitable for a blog. Free to use.

So, there you have it - five CMS examples, but I'm sure (or I hope ) you can suggest even more. What's your favourite?

Update, 6 hours later:

Of course, how did I forget...

6. Joomla, also an Open-source CMS, probably one of the more complicated ones to use (at least in my experience, it is). Their website seems a bit cluttered, but overall it's still an OK product.

7. Drupal, community plumbing. Free, but I have never used it so cannot speak for its quality. Anyone have comments?

8. ExpressionEngine, only its "core" version is free for personal projects (I believe), otherwise offers some cool stuff but in my opinion is not better than Wordpress. Some of the big names in Web/Print/Graphic design use it, though, like Jason Santa Maria and Veerle Piters.

9. Speaking of big-name designers, Elliot Jay Stocks uses a hosted solution for his blog nowadays (it used to be powered by Wordpress), called "Harmony App". He's already said a few words about it on his blog ( http://elliotjaystoc...erfect-harmony/ ), but it's important to note how it now seems as if the CMS came out of beta testing. I personally don't see the future in already hosted blog solutions, but would be really happy if Elliot and Harmony App proved me wrong.

Update #2, est. 1 hour after previous update

And, of course, we also have...

10. Magento is cool if you intend to sell stuff on your website (that is, eCommerce). I'm not a big fan of their site (barely found pricing and all the first time there), but I think there's no better way of selling stuff on line than Magento. If you're a "skilled individual" (I think they've put it like that) you can download and manage the free version, but otherwise you're going to have to pay a subscription fee in order to receive all support. If you'd like to learn about programming for Magento, I suggest you check out a tutorial series by NetTuts where they teach you just that ( http://net.tutsplus....ento-ecommerce/ ).

Update #3, est. 3 hours after previous update

A coincidence perhaps, but this is yet another new CMS I've found in the recent few days:

11. Refinery CMS is a Ruby on Rails-based CMS and a fairly fresh one for that matter. Seems to be very nice and I intend to further see how it works as I learn more about Ruby.

Update, 09/11

I'm adding a comparison engine to the list which mahesh2k suggested. Should not be used for comparisons due to some wrong stats, but it's just fine for finding a new CMS you're eager to use.

http://www.cmsmatrix.org/

Edited by Little Asterisk, 11 September 2010 - 06:14 AM.

[deadmad7]

My favorite is WordPress for all the reasons you mentioned. I've tried working with Mambo, Drupal and Joomla too, you could add them to your list. I'm surprised you added CushyCMS and Site Managr CMS without the Big there -- Drupal, Joomla and Wordpress.

[Little Asterisk]

deadmad7, on 02 September 2010 - 01:14 PM, said:

My favorite is WordPress for all the reasons you mentioned. I've tried working with Mambo, Drupal and Joomla too, you could add them to your list. I'm surprised you added CushyCMS and Site Managr CMS without the Big there -- Drupal, Joomla and Wordpress.

Crap. I didn't think of them. Probably because I haven't had much contact with these in the past. Will add them now.

EDIT: There it is, all added.

Edited by Little Asterisk, 02 September 2010 - 03:02 PM.

[Little Asterisk]

A cool new article on "A list apart (for people who make websites)" was published just now, concerns various CMSs and similar stuff - called "Strategic Content Management:" http://www.alistapar...ent-management/

[linekill]

My favorite is ModX CMS, they call it a framework, but still a CMS. Been using it since 2006 and with the release of Revolution, it just get better.

Edited by linekill, 08 September 2010 - 02:00 AM.

[k_nitin_r]

Hi!

WordPress is my CMS of choice, but commercially Drupal seems to be more popular. WordPress is popular as a blogging engine but has been used as a content management system on many small projects. Drupal includes performance utilities as a part of the core package and leaves out several other functionalities, such as text formatting and image uploading tools to plugins. The WordPress approach seems to make more sense, but the Drupal approach makes the system more flexible - you get to have a choice of whether to use the FCKEditor or the TinyMCE editor for text formatting, and get to choose what kind of image upload you want to have. The flexibility adds unnecessary complexity and the inclusion of plugins with the base system would have helped in alleviating the problems of novice web masters.

[deadmad7]

k_nitin_r, on 08 September 2010 - 03:08 PM, said:

Hi!

WordPress is my CMS of choice, but commercially Drupal seems to be more popular. WordPress is popular as a blogging engine but has been used as a content management system on many small projects. Drupal includes performance utilities as a part of the core package and leaves out several other functionalities, such as text formatting and image uploading tools to plugins. The WordPress approach seems to make more sense, but the Drupal approach makes the system more flexible - you get to have a choice of whether to use the FCKEditor or the TinyMCE editor for text formatting, and get to choose what kind of image upload you want to have. The flexibility adds unnecessary complexity and the inclusion of plugins with the base system would have helped in alleviating the problems of novice web masters.

Wordpress is as flexible as Drupal too. Wordpress has 2x more plugins and a way more interesting Admin CP. Do you want to change the WYSIWYG editor? Just download a plugin and it would replace that for you. And you can get one for image upload, but the default media upload is the best. Wordpress just needs some plugin downloading and it could customize all you want, but when some plugin features get popular, the developers add the feature of the plugin in the CMS.

[mahesh2k]

Nice to see this thread. I have came across cushy CMS before. Then again if it's not suitable for blogging then i doubt that i need it in any way. I'm not sure how come static CMS seems to be alive these days.

Yet to use ruby on rails on computing host. And i created thread for ruby on rails support or application deployment help. But it went unnoticed as usual from here. So i don't know how to get that ruby on rails CMS working here. I'll see that and will let you know about it.

@Nitin, agree about drupal's complexity. I don't think it's even worth for newbies to look into such complex system.

[Little Asterisk]

mahesh2k, on 09 September 2010 - 09:35 PM, said:

Nice to see this thread. I have came across cushy CMS before. Then again if it's not suitable for blogging then i doubt that i need it in any way. I'm not sure how come static CMS seems to be alive these days.

Well, you know... Static CMSs are very good for people who don't want to mess around with HTML (there are LOTS of them), but do want to have control over the website's body copy at some point in time. I.e., Joe (name totally made up) has a software product. He's selling it for moths. Now, a new version comes out. He needs to change body copy to say all the new cool features in the software application. How, when he doesn't know HTML? He can't hire a new developer!! So he uses Cushy CMS and the world is back at peace.

Whoa, that was a cool story!

P.S. In fact, a lot of people even use Wordpress for a static CMS, but I also believe some people decide on not using it because it generally costs more to implement a HTML page to a PHP CMS than just adding a couple of classes to your elements...

[mahesh2k]

That's true. Cushy CMS has small learning curve compared to other CMS. I know that wordpress is used for the static sites.In fact many sites earlier using joomla or drupal are now migrated to wordpress for the static website content. I think maintenance and the content organization and learning curve for the user makes it easy in case of wordpress. But somehow why i feel that stacyapp is much better for the static website. I don't know i like stacy. It's simple to setup and maintain i think. Thanks for letting me know about joe, i almost thought there is some joe here in KS.