CMS or no CMS?

[kade119]

which way is better ? when developing a site that may need newsletter, update from client side capabilities.. etc..


would you guys say a CMS is a more efficient and easier method?

next, which CMS have you guys found yourself liking.. Joomla, drupal etc..?

thanks

[StarLab]

Most CMS's drop in within minutes after uploading to the server. I think most either natively support newsletter options, or can be implemented via modules.

I have only ever used Joomla and Mambo on production sites, but have had a look at some others on my local server. I prefer Joomla/Mambo (pretty much similar projects at this point) as they are the first CMS's I've dealt with and am more familiar with them.

Both Joomla and Mambo come with a newsletter function built in. Not sure on the others off the top of my head.

CMS's are great if you have no interest in re-inventing the wheel, so to speak.

[Julie]

I would say a CMS is a good solution. It makes it easier for a non-techie client to update their site, which means they won't bother you every two seconds for trivial things, but they'll still need you for bigger things like updates and additions (which is good).

I recommend Drupal. It's not as ready out of the box, but that gives something for you the designer/coder to do. I've used Joomla and Mambo before also, as well as Movable Type, and I still think that Drupal is far more powerful of an application. It's very customizable. There are all kinds of "modules" and features you can add that are pre-made, but you can also write your own to work with it.

[kade119]

how custom can u get with a CMS?


and would a CMS be worth it even if the only function i needed in the site was a contact form and a way for the client to edit text on one particular page? what would be the best way allowing a client to edit text?

[noob_0001]

Some CMS's have a thing called my page. Some will limit how many page a person can create.

As to how custom, that depends on how much you wish to learn about the CMS and the template engine that they use. Most will allow you to add many modules to the layout. As for custom layouts, you will need to learn how the CMS works.

When picking a CMS, you might also want to look at the modules that they can have installed. You should make sure that it will allow you to do other interesting things later. Things like polls, surveys, forums, downloads, maybe even a directory.

CMS is definitely the way to go. You just need to spend some time researching to get the one that fits you and your needs. You will need to learn how to create a database, assign users and such by using your Control Panel, but that is easy enough. You should learn how to backup your database. Very important.

[Julie]

You can get as custom with a CMS as your knowledge allows. If you've got a good handle on PHP, then you can do a lot with Drupal, and I assume Joomla as well.

If all you need is a contact form, all that needs is a tiny little script. And as for updating a single page, then there's probably an easy enough script for that also.

[kade119]

do you all have a few sample sites I may view? that are a CMS that you customized,


thanks