easy to use CMS - which one?

[JoyDivision]

I need to redesign my website as its looking tired, it needs to be a LAMP system and the most important thing is that the design should easily be ported to my own CSS template. Idealy it should also meet all the W3C standards.

I mainly need easily to make pages, easy uploads (but with only one directory set to 777) an d it must be free/open source.

Currently looking at Wordpress but need other ideas.

Thanks.

I am no stranger to PHP/MySQL I just don't have the time to develop a site from scratch.

 

[dave_n]

to what level do u want cms.....most people consider cms to be adding pages and minimal functionality and that's about it....

 

[JoyDivision]

That is all I need really, there is no e-commerce involved. The essential thing is that I can use my own CSS template easily with it so in that sense a simpler CMS may be better.

 

[dave_n]

get a joomla template or wordpress....easy to use and easy to style

 

[Cleveregg]

get a joomla template or wordpress....easy to use and easy to style

Hi Dave

I know it would be easy to search on the web for this - but I like getting answers from people on here with 'real' views.

We have the same sort of 'issue' as JoyDivision - can you recommend an 'unbiased' link to a laymans guide to CMS's...?

Cheers

Bill

 

[Cleveregg]

Hi Dave

I know it would be easy to search on the web for this - but I like getting answers from people on here with 'real' views.

We have the same sort of 'issue' as JoyDivision - can you recommend an 'unbiased' link to a laymans guide to CMS's...?

Cheers

Bill

...So 'Joomla' is for CMS - 'Wordpress' for blogs ?

 

[dave_n]

Hi Dave

I know it would be easy to search on the web for this - but I like getting answers from people on here with 'real' views.

We have the same sort of 'issue' as JoyDivision - can you recommend an 'unbiased' link to a laymans guide to CMS's...?

Cheers

Bill

Bill...herein lies the problem......many people on here refer to cms's as a site that you can update and style yourself....a true cms system is exactly that...a content management system that manages ALL content (documents, emails, blogs, wiki's, records, sub-sites, access etc etc etc) which will usually be above the scope of most peoples needs.

So if you want an easy to use 'cms' that allows you to create a site and then update it and style it then have a look here - http://www.opensourcecms.com/

this site will give you an idea of what's what.....i like joomla templates personally and they are the basis of my own site

hope this helps

 

[Cleveregg]

Bill...herein lies the problem......many people on here refer to cms's as a site that you can update and style yourself....a true cms system is exactly that...a content management system that manages ALL content (documents, emails, blogs, wiki's, records, sub-sites, access etc etc etc) which will usually be above the scope of most peoples needs.

So if you want an easy to use 'cms' that allows you to create a site and then update it and style it then have a look here - http://www.opensourcecms.com/

this site will give you an idea of what's what.....i like joomla templates personally and they are the basis of my own site

hope this helps

Thanks Dave - that gives me a lot to go on.....

Really useful for me - it would have took me hours to find

Cheers

Bill

 

[tommy]

I am going to throw a spanner in the works but I prefer Wordpress.

I have tried Joomla, but found some problems with different plugins not being compatible with other plugins causing problems in the admin section.

Plus wordpress doesn't have to be just a blog you can use it as a cms as you can create pages and assign the usual description, keywords, tags (plugin) etc.

 

[AlphOmega]

Idealy it should also meet all the W3C standards.

What W3C recommendations are we talking about? HTML, XHTML, CSS, XHTML+VOICE, CSS Aural etc?

You will find Joomla capable of validating against XHTML Transitional using the default TinyMCE editor, and of course a decent template.

 

[JoyDivision]

XHTML, CSS and WAI AA standard.

 

[Interconnect IT]

I'd say that WordPress is possibly the simplest for many - especially if you get a good template that's designed for the job you have in mind.

I've used Joomla and, as a developer of 20yrs standing I thought it was overly complex and suffered from a steep learning curve.

WordPress, like Joomla, suffers from ropey documentation and complex problems of version compatibility... but it is at least easy for a user to get to grips with. It's also turning into a fully fledged CMS. Yes, it's restricted in outright functionality. In fact, it's rather like the N95 v iPhone debate. The former has every feature known to man, but it's the iPhone people find cool because it presents itself in a friendly and approachable manner!

And soon, WordPress 2.5 will happen, and that's really going to move things forward. We've been playing with the development code and are already pretty impressed. If they sort out page ordering (which you can do with an easy to find plugin) then they'll have the basic CMS sussed.

Clever WordPress templates are probably harder to write than in Joomla, but we have a system we're introducing soon which, we hope, will become very popular. But that's all I'm saying for now

 

[wheresyourwebat]

Get wordpress and buy a good template from a site such as template monster

 

[freelancer]

I have to add a vote in there for wordpress, it can really make a superb, simple CMS. And (I'm not saying other cms'd font have this) but the huge variety of addons and plugins (for seo, rss addons, ajax features e.t.c) just make this fantastic.

Then its easy to use, and makes posting fun. And I love the ease of coding for wordpress, in both CSS and PHP

 

[objected]

I would say - after a lot of researching the options - Joomla, TextPattern (XHTML compliant Editor which is Textile) and ez Publish.

ez Publish sounds lame but is the real heavyweight here and back some huge sites. It is a CMS / PHP Framework. TextPattern looks like a Blog to begin with but behind its easy to use a simple facade it too is very powerful with many plug-ins. I would check it out.

Joomla - agree - steepish learning curve but has some good functionality from the get-go.

Hope this has helped and not added to the decision task!

Mark

 

[falconinternetlimited]

I'm not a developer BUT I learnet Joomla and I have to say once you get your head around it it is plain sailing.

Here's a few sites I developed and I am not a programmer...

Http://www.falconnet.co.uk (Actually Mambo based but same thing)
http://www.themobilescene.co.uk (full joomla based site)
http://www.mutedcensor.co.uk (Again full Joomla - more of a work in progress)

The templates are from Rocket Theme www.rockettheme.com which I recommend HIGHLY. The templates are very professional and very adaptable.

Cheers,

Rupert

p.s. - If anyone is interested in taking up TheMobileScene I'm currently interested in selling it due to other committments.

 

[olstar]

No one has mentioned CMSMS?

If you havent used it, then i suggest trying it

There isnt many themes/templates available but they are easy enough to customise

And its more suited for normal websites - wordpress is very good and has lots of stuff available for it but it is still blogging software at the end of the day

 

[objected]

Hi,

I looked at CMS Made Simple (I assume that is the one?) also in my evaluation - tehre are loads that are worthy in different ways but I would put it below the other 3 I mentioned personally. Each to their own.

 

[olstar]

Once you get the SEO part of it working, its a really good bit of kit

I dont use joomla much any more as i dont like the URL's - even the friendly ones are not really very good..

With cmsms you can have website[dot]co[dot]uk/gallery[dot]html and stuff like that

You can even choose what extention you want, so html htm php asp.. anything

 

[RayB]

I love Wordpress. You can use it as a static site and/or a blog. I set up a static site using a free theme recently and I have ZERO coding skills or experience. I put up a thread about it HERE - you may find it useful.

 

[objected]

Once you get the SEO part of it working, its a really good bit of kit

I dont use joomla much any more as i dont like the URL's - even the friendly ones are not really very good..

With cmsms you can have website[dot]co[dot]uk/gallery[dot]html and stuff like that

You can even choose what extention you want, so html htm php asp.. anything

A bit like TextPattern I actually downloaded CMSMS to use more extensively but I need to get through TextPattern and ez Publish first. I would not sugest ez Publish to the OP. A bit of a misnomer maybe...

 

[XEC Internet Consultants]

I am going to throw a spanner in the works but I prefer Wordpress.

I have tried Joomla, but found some problems with different plugins not being compatible with other plugins causing problems in the admin section.

Plus wordpress doesn't have to be just a blog you can use it as a cms as you can create pages and assign the usual description, keywords, tags (plugin) etc.

That's my experience exactly. I'm really getting into Wordpress at the moment and it can be used both for blogs and as a cms. There are a lot of fantastic plugins for Wordpress. It literally took me about an hour to get quite proficient using it.

Joomla is powerful when you get used to it, but the learning curve is large. Days rather than hours. An example of a simple Joomla site that was created for me is www.propertywithland.co.uk

Stephen.

 

[scifind]

My 2 pennies worth.
Wordpress for a simple CMS.
Drupal (www.drupal.org) for something with loads of features
Used both for years and both serve well for different applications

 

[objected]

Most requirements (majority I mean) fall in between those 2 pennies...

 

[abel]

Have built many sites using both Wordpress and Joomla. Have also used ModX (worth a look), and CMSMS.

It seems that the discussion is focussed around Wordpress and Joomla.

Wordpress - superb (definitive?) Blog based platform which can be used as a CMS but that is not what it is designed for. IF you plan to do any sort of blogging it's the way to go.

Joomla - has just released the stable 1.5version which is much improved. IMHO as a CMS it is far better (it's what it was designed for, not blogging) and while agree it can be trickier to work out and use (newer version is easier) it is vastly better than Wordpress for this purpose. Get a good template (Joomlart or Rocketheme) and it works practically from the box with lots of lovely features.

That's my 2 pennies worth spent

 

[objected]

Modx is on my extended list also - brief thoughts? Oops - is that a hijack?

 

[abel]

Have only built one site using ModX, more as an experiment than anything else. Really liked the ability to easily add styling and functionality to each page or across them all. It uses a snippets system which can be very handy if the site changes the way it works from page to page.

It was a bit buggy (was over a year ago so might be better now) and can be a bit difficult to understand and build, but very powerful and overall easier than Joomla.

Not so many plugins or templates available, but good community for help.

Would consider this a no-no for first timers, but for more experienced designers, it can be a breath of fresh air form the mainstream.

Anyone else with more recent experiences of ModX? Would be interested in knowing how it is now.

 

[objected]

Thanks for the heads-up. I may give ModX a bit of a play... For power and simplicity though - relatively speaking - TextPattern is still getting my vote!

 

[olstar]

A bit like TextPattern I actually downloaded CMSMS to use more extensively but I need to get through TextPattern and ez Publish first. I would not sugest ez Publish to the OP. A bit of a misnomer maybe...

Cool, not tried textpattern.

But i will!