CMS for Clients

S

Squiddy

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So, there are hundreds of CMS options to choose from, and I've been looking into being able to provide a CMS solution for my clients for quite a while now but I'm really not sure which one is best.

My client base consists mostly of small businesses and organisations (usually don't have in-house IT) some of which would be interested in e-commerce. So, what are my best options, ideally I'd like something that has good support for third-party modules that don't lock you in to buying their own version. I'm open to either open source or commercial options, one that allows some form of freelance/developer license instead of limiting to individual purchases would also be great.

Personally, I would need to be able to customise the CMS without too much problem, I'm proficient in HTML/CSS and know the basics of javascript and PHP but buildings things from scratch is beyond me as I'm more of a designer.

Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated. If you need more info then ask away :)
 
Not sure how your hosting works but mine has access to softaculous which has a range of cms options which it can easily install for you :)

Take a look at the link, they have demo's, reviews etc there too

Portals/CMS

Having said that... joomla, drupal and wordpress seem to be the ones I see most often
 
Yeah my Cpanel hosting has softaculous too. I was under the impression that joomla, drupal and wordpress were meant for blog sites, and that they aren't really suited for commerical business sites. At least that's my current opinion - I'm open to discussion on that subject though as I don't know too much on the subject.
 
I know greg's website runs or at least used to run on wordpress... so he may be better to answer that side of things... I've never actually bothered with a cms as to put it simply I don't need one lol.

I may have to have a play with one at some point... although I'm more interested in getting my new website DONE (yeah yeah I know...) and then trying to integrate online project management into my workflow...
 
It's more for clients that want e-commerce options so I don't have to faff around with setting up merchant accounts for them, not to mention the security elements and allowing them to make minor changes on their own without having to go through me.

You definitely need a new site haha. Can't wait to see it, when will it be nearing completion? Got any drafts?
 
Squiddy said:
You definitely need a new site haha. Can't wait to see it, when will it be nearing completion? Got any drafts?
webaddress/test/

it is going to be changed a bit (think of it having a 'drop step' on the right side) though as I'm not as happy with that now as I was when I initially came up with it.

When will it be finished.... how long until the end of the world?
 
Wordpress, with woocommerce. If you google a bit youll find a host of Wordpress based sites that you'd have no idea were Wordpress. Many designers (myself included) use it as a framework to make just about any site from.
 
I'm well aware of wordpress, I just never really thought it was the best software for business sites. I will definitely take it into consideration and do some more research on the matter.

Levi, I think that your test page, although incomplete, looks far too similar to your old/current design. I think you should try to come up with a couple of alternative ideas for the structure and layout.
 
The company I work for is currently looking at getting our website redone, its turned into a right beast that's been played with by to many people, its put together in wordpress. As we needed to add new products, news items, update case studies, blah blah blah.

One of the companies we talked to (http://www.boxchilli.com) about doing it suggested WordPress wasn't really the best option for a largeish site with e-commerce, as it was fundamentally designed for blogging and such like. Security was one main issues.

They look like they should know what they are on about, but does it come down to personal preference in the end?
 
I know security seems to be a common issue for some folk. Though it's went way beyond being a blogging platform. Like I said there are sites that use it that you'd have no idea were Wordpress as they are so far removed from blogging and whole shops and businesses can run on it. Nike host multiple product sites on Wordpress. As do many major BC companies.
 
Well I did a little more research into the matter and I have read that MODx comes very highly recommended, as does Expression Engine. There's no doubting that Wordpress can work for websites but it can't be the best option for every web design project, surely.
 
Squiddy said:
Levi, I think that your test page, although incomplete, looks far too similar to your old/current design. I think you should try to come up with a couple of alternative ideas for the structure and layout.
That was the whole idea.... I don't intend to go too far away from the current styling, I'm improving it's usability (a lot as it's the main issue), while integrating my current design aesthetics, which are technically just a progression of the ones I had when I designed the current site.

Plus like I said, there's some adjustments being made and it's not like you can judge much on what is essentially a background with a menu and title plus a bit of text saying it isn't finished... most of which is changing lol

After all, a website has to suit the designers aesthetics and doing something which doesn't fit in with the style of work that I produce or supply isn't exactly a good idea is it :p

I don't want one of those 'me too' bands across the top type websites, I might as well pick a template if that was the case lol
 
Sorry mcskillz, I didn't mean for that to sound so accusing. What I meant was, following on from my original post, I'm trying to explore new/better CMSes to use other than the obvious choices like Wordpress, in what situations they are good in and which ones other people use.

It's not finished Levi, I know, it just seems like the new one is going to look a lot like the old one :p
 
mcskillz said:
and perhaps this shows a flaw in Wordpress?!?!

Not likely. Wordpress has always been solid for me and the regular security updates work well. Probably the cause I find the most is a badly written plugin. While sites like Wordpress are secure for the most part it's the 3rd party plugins that pose the most security risk.

Wordpress is pretty much the CMS of my choice when it comes to making websites and has been the easiest one to learn. I've just built my own theme framework from scratch so it's perfect. While I know Wordpress can't be used for every type of site all the sites I've worked on have been with Wordpress from the standard blog to ecommerce, TV and live streaming to social networks.. Now that I think about it, who can list something Wordpress can't be used for?

Wordpress, even though the common choice you might want to avoid, is definitely my recommendation on this one.
 
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