Best opensource CMS?

Dave1975

Active Member
What's the best opensource CMS available do you think?

I'm a big fan of Wordpress as once you get used to coding the loops system it uses it can be applied to a massive selection of sites, with the obvious added benefit of having a blog or news section out of the box. It also carries some great plugins with its big community and with a few changes can be great for SEO.

I've never had any experience with Joomla, although heard good things about it, never had an opportunity to get stuck into the code and try it out. The other one that comes to mind is Drupal, tried it once on a personal project and couldn't get my head around the setup to get it to do exactly what was needed, it was good, but it kind of felt limiting in some ways, maybe that's just an experience thing?

Also keep hearing of 'CMS Made Simple' really keen to give that one a go when I get chance as a quick test of the demo and it was looking promising! Anyone else here used it? or any experiences of the others mentioned above?

Cheers,
Greg
 
Wordpress all the way.

For the Ruby on Rails developers amongst you I've heard that Radient CMS is a really good simple content management system. But obviously you need a rails server for it.
 
I think it depends really on what you want from it.

The lists of requirements I see from project to project can change dramatically and that will mould which one is best.

What I dont like seeing, and it is happening more and more, is people leaving default skins on for things like Joomla or Drupal. You just get clones of sites then
 
Wordpress without a shadow of a doubt- i've actually had quite a few chats and did an interview with Matt last year- the blokes as ace as his software!!!
 
Behave people,

The best OS CMS out there is with out doubt Joomla, there is nothing that even close to how powerful it is, to its easy to use API and plug in management, Its skinning is easier than getting in to jordans pants, it has so much as a standard CMS and then the add on's are exceptional. It can be so much more than a blog site.

Im glad that matt is such a nice guy but he has a long way to go before his CMS can be even classed at the same level as Joomla. I dont think its even as good as drupal.
 
Liams7 said:
Im glad that matt is such a nice guy but he has a long way to go before his CMS can be even classed at the same level as Joomla. I dont think its even as good as drupal.

You're not serious though right?
 
I am a big fan of WordPress, it is just so flexible although I am currently trying to learn Joomla and Expression Enginge its good to know more :)
 
Wordpress for me, everytime!

Although Tumblr is in a league of it's own when it comes to simplicity and quickness!
 
mrleesimpson said:
You're not serious though right?

I think he is- just because Joomla is more feature rich doesn't mean its better. The development potential, quality streamlined manor in which it has been developed and the fact that its the market leading script in the blogging industry (by miles) highlights why Joomla just can't be classed anywhere near the likes of Wordpress.

The only script that truely equals the likes of Wordpress is vBulletin.
 
Mike said:
I think it depends really on what you want from it.

The lists of requirements I see from project to project can change dramatically and that will mould which one is best

I think Mike's reply covers this, he's right it's all down to what you need the CMS to deliver and the specs of the project. That said personally I feel like I don't have a wide enough knowledge of the various CMS systems available so was interested to see how others get on in using them for other projects?

Where does Joomla suit a project that Wordpress would fail to deliver on? Is it in in the features, if so what's available? Thanks guys!
 
I am currently working on a large enterprise site and have been developing in a CMS called LiveLink. Very robust and everything is versioned so if you make a mistake in the content or development you can easily roll back to previous versions. Plus it is compatible with a number of different databases.

I have also been working a .NET Open Source CMS which I am finding great, especially when you are developing a multilingal site. The CMS is Umbraco, its currently running on .NET Framework 2.0 but with a relase with .NET Framework 3.5 being released soon.

I have developed in Drupal and Expression Engine and I have to say that I hate them both!! Just could not using them, the site structure is just so confusing it is unbelievable.

But a new one I have only used once is Modx CMS, its a php open source CMS and it so far I think it is much better than then Drupal and Expression Engine, has built in Ajax, has a great backend and its easy to develop in.
 
Mike said:
why cant he be serious, its just his opinion ;)

you are all diferent beasts

yer sorry about that. I might have over reacted. :D
 
I personally agree with everyone here. All projects call for a different CMS. I personally use Wordpress for projects that are more Blog feature rich.

If the project calls for an actual CMS, which Wordpress isn't, I have been using Frog CMS. It is very customizable, in the manner that you can write plugins for the system very easy. I have wrote two plugins for this system, I haven't released them yet, and they are very simple to do this. You can actually put PHP in your posts or pages natively, without having to add another plugin. I personally am all for Frog CMS and wouldn't suggest another system.
 
It really depends on what you want. I have used Wordpress, Joomla and Drupal. If I had to chose which one was best, I'd say Drupal is a class above the other two.
But then when someone asks me for a platform that is fairly easy to use, I recommend Wordpress. Even though I much prefer Drupal myself. It is just not as simple for a newbe as Wordpress.
 
What about for Designers like me who cannot even write HTML let alone edit CSS?! I have got away with building sites in Dreamweaver in 'design view' for years now (with all my artwork done in Fireworks) and more recently just handing all the artwork over to a Programmer to implement with a bespoke CMS. I am planning to attempt to use Wordpress to design a free (exchanged) site for a local community project and I am terrified and don't know where to start!!! I have been recommended Wordpress as it's apparantly free and easy-to-use. Is it true that you can just download an existing template, create your own bespoke complex visual design and then easily just edit the CSS to basically replace the graphics?! Some reassurance would be appreciated!!!
 
Anna Celeste Watson said:
Is it true that you can just download an existing template, create your own bespoke complex visual design and then easily just edit the CSS to basically replace the graphics?! Some reassurance would be appreciated!!!

Hi Anna,

Welcome to Design Forums!
Wordpress is free and easy to use, but you do need some experience with HTML and CSS if you want to start creating your own custom layouts/themes. There are many themes available both free and paid, so I'm sure you could find something suitable for the local community project.In terms of your experience are you comfortable in editing CSS at all? or in uploading images to replace site images?

Greg
 
Joomla for me, allthough thats probably because I haven't had time to look at anything else. With a couple of dozen client sites and about as many of my own affiliate sites I find it quick and easy to work with and my clients take to it really quickly. My affiliate sites are much easier for me to put together with the feed integration via virtuemart and the various solutions for SEO available.
 
I can edit CSS in DW but my version is like 4 years old now!!! I can easily upload files using FTP clients so if it's a case of replacing header files etc with my own graphics I think I may be okay? I really want to do a decent looking site though to prove to myself it is possible using something like Wordpress and it may mean I can do more work myself again rather than handing over to a programmer at least for non shopping sites where clients just want to be able to edit the text and have a blog. I guess I'll just have to give it a go. There seems to be more being said about Wordpress generally so I think I'll try that first!
 
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