Looking for a CMS

[ChrisHunt]

I'm beginning to take on a few clients for some freelance web design work. I'm trying to wean myself away from writing everything myself from scratch, and to make use of some of the excellent ready-made stuff that's out there (albeit with a view to tinkering with the code when/if I see fit).

So I'm looking for a free/cheap open source CMS that I can use for various client projects - the first ones being a small business/product catalogue site and a rental property portfolio.

I've had a look at thread253-1239220 , in which Foamcow ended up with Joomla. Still using it, Pete? Any good?

-- Chris Hunt
Webmaster & Tragedian
Extra Connections Ltd

 

[Foamcow]

I'm working with it at the moment actually... on that same project.

It's not bad at all, but you are kind of limited as to the site structure. With the current version you are tied to a Section -> Category -> Article model which is great but not suitable for everything.

It can also be a bit confusing and takes a bit of time to get your head around. You will often have to go to 3 different menus to do things in order to create something simple.

I'm tied in to it for this project, but I would think carefully before using it again. That said, there is alot of community support out there and lots of extensions to bolt on via a very good installation system.

Have you looked at the new version of Wordpress? I've worked with the older version and found it to be great. The new version adds more CMS like facilities (as opposed to blog tools). It's worth a look.

I've started to use my homegrown system more and more now. Each job I do I add a few things, tweak a few things and it's coming into shape quite nicely.

http://www.tayntons.co.uk

is built with it.

<honk>*:O)</honk>

Earl & Thompson Marketing - Marketing Agency Services in Gloucestershire

 

[Foamcow]

Arcane was the word I was looking for to describe some of the ways Joomla! does things.

The menu/page system and the user management system are a bit... whacky and not instantly obvious.

<honk>*:O)</honk>

Earl & Thompson Marketing - Marketing Agency Services in Gloucestershire

 

[ChrisHunt]

Well, to bring some pleasing symmetry to this thread, I'm working with Wordpress at the moment, to re-do my own site as well as some others which I'm working on.

You're right, it's pretty impressive and can be used as a pseudo-CMS. However, I think a site needs to have some kind of news/blog content for WP to really make sense as a solution - otherwise the client is getting an interface with which it's really easy to do things (s)he doesn't want to do (make blog postings), and comparatively difficult to do things (s)he does (add properties/products to a database).

-- Chris Hunt
Webmaster & Tragedian
Extra Connections Ltd

 

[Stretchwickster]

I've used Drupal (PHP/MySQL CMS) in the past, which is very extensible and if you're proficient with PHP - the world is your oyster!

Clive

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