Content management systems: Five of the best
When it comes to building a professional looking website or blog there are literally hundreds of options, many of them free and most built on open source platforms. Choosing between them can be a daunting task, the success of which rests on picking the right tool for the job at hand. We look at five of the best web content management systems (CMS). The five CMSes are listed below in no particular order because their usefulness is largely dependent on the use they will be put to.
WordPress (http://www.wordpress.org)
It’s hard not to start with WordPress given its huge popularity in the blogging world. The major benefit of WordPress is its ease-of-use for newcomers to the world of online publishing. Even someone with basic computer skills could have a copy of WordPress up and running within minutes thanks to the incredibly easy installation scripts. For more advanced users and developers WordPress is equally easy to modify and build themes for because of its extensive documentation and online resources.
Although WordPress’ primary strength is as a blogging platform, it is also possible to use WordPress in a range of other scenarios from building corporate websites to community sites and even social networks. The multi-user version of WordPress makes it easy to maintain hundreds of individual blogs from a single installation, making it easy to manage upgrades and fixes.
Drupal (http://www.drupal.org)
Drupal is the favourite among real geeks. Unlike WordPress, Drupal is not simply a blogging platform but rather a full blown content management system which can be used to serve up any manner of material. The default install of Drupal includes many optional modules that can add things such as forums, user blogs, profiles and so on. There are also many offshoots of Drupal which make it easy to replicate popular social networking sites, for example Drigg which makes a Digg clone.
Because Drupal is not simply a blogging platform it includes very powerful taxonomy features which make it possible to create multiple levels and types of categories to manage any type of content. Drupal’s backend management can be confusing for new users and is not as user-friendly as WordPress, but regular users have more power over their installs on Drupal than WordPress.
Joomla! (http://www.joomla.org)
Joomla! is also more than just a blogging platform. Like Drupal it aims to provide a complete content management system. Joomla! is the one web CMS that people either love or hate. And those that love it really do swear by it. Installing Joomla! is easy with the included installer so having a basic site up and running quickly is possible. Joomla!’s backend is attractive but can be confusing to new users because of all its configuration options.
Like WordPress Joomla! also adds most of its features through extensions of which there are literally thousands. There is also a huge community around Joomla! which are constantly adding new feature options to the CMS. Joomla!, like Drupal, is best for a project that is not simply a personal blog but a more complex content system.
ExpressionEngine (http://www.expressionengine.com/)
Expression Engine (EE) is the first of the CMSes mentioned that actually costs money. There is a personal core version that can be used on a local server but in regular use a license will cost between $99 and $250. But for that price you get one of the most elegant content management systems available. One of EE’s major strengths is its backend management system which is almost self-explanatory. Its simplicity makes it a good choice for a website with less technically skilled users who will be able to post and manage content with ease.
Expression Engine also has a powerful templating engine and can run multiple sites from a single install. EE is not the best choice for a personal blog but for a professional and easy-to-manage corporate presence it is well worth considering spending the money.
TextPattern (http://textpattern.com/)
Textpattern is one of the simplest of the content management systems around.
Unlike many of the other CMSes available, TextPattern doesn’t include absolutely everything and its interface is a lot more streamlined than those of the others. The primary aim of TextPattern is to offer a CMS that produces clean, standards-compliant pages. TextPattern doesn’t include a WYSIWYG editor, as many of the other popular platforms do, but rather uses a simple textile markup language to create HTML pages. In its default form TextPattern is very minimal but it can be enhanced through a range of third-party extensions.
The best CMS – comments and views
Loading ...