Content Managment Recommendations?

[Richard Glynn]

I'm establishing an online news release archive for my clients. I'd like it to be browsable (and even searchable) by client name, date and subject matter.

I'd also like to make the info available as an RSS feed in time. But that's not crucial.

I'm considering CMS as the most straightforward and quickest method of uploading the info? But is it?

I've heard of www.wordpress.org and it looks interesting? Are there better CMS software packages people use and can recommend?

I'm not a techy but I am conversant with WYSIWYG editors - in particluar Net Objects Fusion (could this do the job as well as anything else?)

What would you recommend. I'm a control freak and looking to master the software myself - but which would be best?

[duenna]

My experience is that wordpress is as good as CMS gets. RSS is built in and you do not need to be a techy to get to grips with it. Once it is up and running (easy install) and you have chosen your look and feel, adding content is like adding to this forum.

A great bit of KIT.

Another option you have is moveabletype again very good but limited license.

Finally the other reason why I like wordpress is the way you can build it into a websites look and feel. I have provided a number of solutions where it is built into the look and feel of the website. Just fits nicely.

[Richard Conyard]

There is a good list of CMS products and features here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Comparison_of_content_management_systems

Being a non-techie you probably would want to get a web design company to do the initial install and set-up for you, after that most of them on that list will do what you require.

Mambo, Drupal and XOOPS seem to be popular at the moement.

[TWD-Tony]

I have used Mambo in the past and it's one of the best CMS's I have used, and now Joomla is out (Joomla is an offshoot of the Mambo project) it looks to be getting better every release!

Mambo / Joomla maybe a bit of overkill for what you need at the moment - but you may want to expand on your site's features later on... and Joomla is certainly expandable :shock: :D

[TechFox]

I'm establishing an online news release archive for my clients. I'd like it to be browsable (and even searchable) by client name, date and subject matter.

I can provide Online Content Management Tools with an easy to use Content Editor. A PHP site design would allow browsing/searching by any record in the database including client name, date and subject matter.

[Argentice]

Have a look at this site.. http://www.cmsmatrix.org/

It gives a comparison of all the different CMS's. Well a lot of them :) Some are free, but very good. Checkout Mambo.

[Richard Conyard]

I can provide Online Content Management Tools with an easy to use Content Editor. A PHP site design would allow browsing/searching by any record in the database including client name, date and subject matter.

Fox, I though you maintained lists of designers/developers that did this? Didn't know you did it yourself.

[mumper]

What sort of set-up and running costs are involved in having CMS?
I don't know too much about this so sorry if the question is a bit obvious to some.

[Richard Conyard]

It depends what CMS you go for.

If you are looking at an open source CMS product then a web company shouldn't charge you a thing for the software. They are likely to charge you set-up at a few hours (£100-£250), and template design (£50 if you're using one of their standard templates, but upwards from there depending upon your requirements).

If you're looking small scale commercial then there would be software costs added in. However the whole thing will probably come to the £1K mark tops.

If you're looking medium weight then you're looking about the £10K mark from most design houses. Alternatively our standard package is £2.5K + design + hosting, all in normally under the £5K mark.

Larger scale CMS products tend to go between £25K or £30K before design and hosting are taken into account. Our Enterprise product goes at the £10K mark for the same sort of features.

At the very top end I have seen CMS systems that sell for £150K+. However companies with these requirements are few and far between.

Hope this helps, and sorry for my plug ;-)

[mumper]

Thanks for that Richard, very helpful.

[dagr]

I tried quite a few CMS packages, maybe 7 or 8 in all. I finally went with Mambo, but my site is (or rather will be) a bit more complex than what you want (e.g. multilingual, custom forms, etc).

However, even the "cleanest" CMS will require code-hacking at some point as you develop the site more to your tastes and fix some of the annoying bugs that are in all CMS systems.

If you are not "technically comfortable" with PHP code, then I'd suggest paying a minimum amount for support of installation and set up. You may never get off the ground otherwise, and spend loads of time going nowhere fast.

David.

PS: To TWD-Tony (or anyone else),
I am sticking with Mambo at the moment (4.5.2.3), but am also looking at Joomla. For the moment, it's easy to convert, but as they start to diverge I'm not sure whether to jump ship sooner rather than later, or not jump ship at all. What are your thoughts on this?
My big-use components are MambelFish and FacileForms.

[TWD-Tony]

PS: To TWD-Tony (or anyone else),
I am sticking with Mambo at the moment (4.5.2.3), but am also looking at Joomla. For the moment, it's easy to convert, but as they start to diverge I'm not sure whether to jump ship sooner rather than later, or not jump ship at all. What are your thoughts on this?
My big-use components are MambelFish and FacileForms.

I would jump NOW mate - At the moment Joomla is far more advanced in terms of development and bug fix's, there has just been a major security flaw discovered in some Mambo & Joomla installs - The Joomla team jumped on it within a few hours, but I haven't heard if Mambo has responded yet???

The longer you leave it - the harder it will be... Once the database structure starts to change you will have a hard time converting over cleanly. :wink:

[dagr]

Thanks Tony - I'll think about it, sooner rather than later.

[Richard Glynn]

Great answers. Thanks for everyone's time and consideration.