Best CMS Software

[rgloginja]

Hi Everyone

I was just wondering what everyones thoughts on Joomla or any other CMS Software?

Do you use a CMS Package? How do you find it?

Rob G

[exstatic]

We use Joomla for a few clients, and I really like it.. its very customisable, has a great community and some excellent plugins.

I have had a play around with Drupal and that seems quite good as well.

Depending on your needs, Wordpress is an excellent CMS also.

[FionaFell]

Depending on the needs of the client, I would learn towards WordPress first for simple yet professional 'brochure' style websites, where the client needs to add new pages, or articles - and maybe change some phone numbers or pictures etc.

I would look toward Joomla or Drupal, for more complicated website content, and their e-commerce facilities or 'plug in' shopping cart modules.

Either way a CMS has one giant benefit for the client: They seperate content from design.

The client has access to change content, words, pictures and prices. But doesn't need to navigate through the more complicated side of colours, layout, placement, navigation, spacing and browser compatibility.

[monstaman]

I like Joomla.

I’ve just started using it for a rugby site that I’m working on... I spent quite a bit of time looking around.

For a relative novice with not much experience, I’ve found it fairly easy to get to grips with – if you actually have the time to spend on it, which I haven’t.

I like the fact that they have so many mods available – the possibilities are endless.

Now if I could quit my job and work on my site...

[soliddata]

I have used Drupal for a number of sites. I have an admin who set it up who is pretty technical, but in terms of managing the sites I can do it easy. Drupal tends to be better than joomla for power and features, but soes require some technical setup. Joomla is the best thing if you have little tech cupport to assist.

And yes as always you still have to keep the content fresh :-)
... I will get to that tomorrow...

[ConnextHosting]

There really isn't one solution for everybody.

A few popular ones to mention are Joomla, Drupal and Wordpress (even though it's primarily for blogging).

Joomla and Wordpress have many free plugins and templates available.

[The Internet Bloke]

There's no "best" CMS software, just like there's no "best" car.
The right one for you will be the one that most closely meets your needs.

If the first thing you're doing is selecting a platform for your website, you're going about it the wrong way.

Initially you need to consider things like:
- What you want to do with your website
- What facilities it needs to have
- How much technical expertise you have
- How much time do you want to spend learning technical stuff.

After you've answered these questions, THEN look for the CMS applications that may fill the bill.

I've found that self hosted Wordpress does most things a small business wants to do, and it's pretty straightforward to maintain if someone sets it all up for you.

Joomla and Drupal have their strengths as well, as do a range of other products.

Take some care when making your decision - it can be a pain to change from one platform to another.
Cheers, Eric G.

[Mick_Alocasia]

We use two systems for our clients sites, these I feel are the key advantages of each and why we use them.

Joomla - has a large user base, many extensions and if very stable.

Wordpress - Is a simple tool, more of a blogging application than a CMS however is far more suitable for those less comfortable with technology.

[timatsyd]

Hi Rob,

I use and highly recommend Joomla 1.5 and up.

I really can't advise you on the most suitable solution without an idea of what you're trying to achieve with it though.

Cheers,

[Thet Ko]

Hi,

I mainly started off with joomla for reasons that I was new to this whole web design and development and didn't understand or know much about it.

Since then I have moved over pretty much full time to Drupal, just because of its power to customise and create custom functionality. If you read alot of other posts, they all say drupal is better for more complex sites, which is very true.

I have written a post on drupal vs joomla on my blog. This is really just a little post from my perspective on why I have changed from using joomla to using drupal.