CMS content management system

[mestoughton]

Has anybody had success using CMS? I have clients who want personal access to their web sites.

Like who are the leading providers of CMS for a small web design business?...like me!

Thanks all,
Mary

[StarLab]

I've been working with CMS's for a few years now. If you have clients who want to be able to update their own content, then a good CMS is the way to go.

I've tried and tested most available but find my favorites are Joomla and WordPress. Drupal is pretty good too, but I've never used it on a production site.

Joomla can have a bit of a learning curve in regards to customizing, but as far as tutoring a client on how to change content, that can be done in about an hour. (providing they aren't total newbies to computer editing)

Wordpress is a little more straight forward. Ganged up with Windows Live Writer, updating content is a snap.

Both have many extensions and templates (themes) available which plug in with little effort.

There are many sites out there which have tutorials for both of these, so there is no lack of online reference. Some hosting companies will pre-install these for you via Fantasico or other setup scripting. (Just check that they provide the latest version of these packages.)

I hope this is what you were asking. Your question was a bit vague.

[hrvoje461]

I have just started using Joomla. I think it is a great CMS and it is free. A lot of extensions are available for free and there is also commercial extensions you can buy to build great websites.
There is some issues about SEO but I think it can be solved.
For sites that I have built with Joomla I used tableless css xhtml templates. A lot of free 1.0.x and 1.5 Joomla templates are available for download too.

[&Ingonyama]

The best I have used is probably Symphony: http://symphony21.com The only thing you really need to learn is XSLT and thats pretty easy..

[StarLab]

Originally Posted by &Ingonyama

The best I have used is probably Symphony: http://symphony21.com The only thing you really need to learn is XSLT and thats pretty easy..

Hmm.. Never heard of that one. Looks interesting. I might have to give this a test run.

Thanks for sharing.

[hakan]

I prefer Joomla

[Owen]

I've been using Wordpress as a CMS for non-blog sites for some time now. Works very nicely.

This is the latest site I've built with WP: http://limo.im

[Bob Barr]

Originally Posted by Owen

I've been using Wordpress as a CMS for non-blog sites for some time now. Works very nicely.

This is the latest site I've built with WP: http://limo.im

Good looking site! I had never considered the possibility of using WP for building a non-blog site.

[Foxtrck]

CMS systems like Joomla, drupal etc are good, but it depends on what your clients needs are. You can easily create a bespoke CMS system that fits in with the requirements, although it may take a bit more effort and cost. I used to use Joomla/drupal until I learned cfm/php/oracle/mssql, and the benefit is if you create one CMS system yourself, you can template it to any client reducing production time and cost.

[experienceadvertisin]

I'm a die hard Wordpress person at this point...they latest release is really cool and you can add in all these cool seo plugins and what not. Im using it on a few sites and its the easiest to manage. But Im only using it to add pages to my sites not like a corporate CMS...

[perceptsys]

Originally Posted by mestoughton

Has anybody had success using CMS? I have clients who want personal access to their web sites.

Like who are the leading providers of CMS for a small web design business?...like me!

Thanks all,
Mary

ya, we are providing this type of service...

For more details you can see our site & contact us too frm there: link removed

Thanks,

[j11t]

I am a Drupal Supporter!!!
I have been able to do so much with this cms and have only been using it for 10 months.
I started using it when I was 17... and as far as the learners curve, if you are familiar with php, css, xhtml, and a little javascript you should be ok.

Actually starting out all you need is a little css, xhtml...the support is great, and everything they offer is free.

Below are some sites I've created using drupal, so you can get an idea of the versatility
Portfolio site: www.jovialdesigns.com (2 weeks after discovering drupal)
Art Gallery: www.fremafineart.com ( 1 month of experience)
Non profit: www.worldcauseonline.org and www.worldcauseonline.org/blog (6 month of experience w/drupal)
Ethiopian Embassy: www.ethiopianembassyabidjan.org ...work in progress (10 months)

I have other ones but those should be a nice sampling. www.drupalmuseum.com should also be a good source to view drupal examples.

To me the holy grail of drupal integration is http://thevintageaviator.co.nz/


Drupal is has proven to be quite scalable, you can check their site for large organizations that incorporate the CMS.

Drupal isn't for everybody, but if you have a couple days to explore, I would definately give drupal a try.

[web-01]

I think joomla is very user friendly. i have been using it for long time now. It is free with a lot of components, modules,extensions available for download. You have a lot of free templates that you get for downloading. It is so far the best cms i haev come across.

[districtweb]

Originally Posted by experienceadvertisin

I'm a die hard Wordpress person at this point...they latest release is really cool and you can add in all these cool seo plugins and what not. Im using it on a few sites and its the easiest to manage. But Im only using it to add pages to my sites not like a corporate CMS...

experience,

How does it work - I would like to start using WP as my CMS, but can't figure out how to modify themes to make the posts be non-chronological, modify the headers more, etc.

[hbixler03]

I like self hosted Wordpress blogs.

[hbixler03]

Originally Posted by districtweb

experience,

How does it work - I would like to start using WP as my CMS, but can't figure out how to modify themes to make the posts be non-chronological, modify the headers more, etc.

I really like using the Revolution Themes for a WP cms. They are the best IMHO. Plus it is probably the easiest and fastest way to go especially if you are not too familiar with Wordpress.

Hope that helps.

[pontarae]

Wordpress for my own use and Joomla for my clients. Both are easy to use,with a slight edge to WP.

Developers seem to prefer Joomla however.

[leahmarie]

I agree, but working cms in Joomla, you must have a least knowledge on php for the reason of joomla template codes are in php