MacUser “website in a weekend” feature
I knew when I started this blog that I should go back and check out the feature on CMS that appeared in the UK magazine MacUser something like a year ago. Today I finally did it. Turned out to be published 28 September 2007, and had the curious hook of focusing on building a site in a weekend - despite covering several heavyweight CMS products. In fact it covered many of the systems I am considering. Unfortunately the feature does not seem to be available on the MacUser website.
The feature’s findings can be summarised thus:
- Wordpress 2.2: easy to install, manage and update; considerable flexibility if you use add-ons from vibrant community
- CMS Made Simple 1.1: easy to manage, easily understood data tag system; good docs; small community
- Quick.CMS: flat-file, no database; structured site approach rather than blog-based; no “theme” concept; several versions, one free
- ExpressionEngine 1.6: thorough docs and good support; multiple custom fields and “weblogs” (data tables); almost limitless flexibility; versioning system for templates; built-in image gallery and ecommerce; add-ons include powerful forum and multisite manager; good security; small community because of non-trivial price
- Drupal 5.2: reputed to be powerful but challenging; content housed in “nodes” - not an easy concept; multisite capable; six themes built-in (I get the impression that the author didn’t become very familiar with this system); from feature conclusions: the most powerful and extensible, but the most complicated to use
- Joomla 1.0.11: huge install bundle (11MB); smooth install; good-looking control panel; many modules, including add-on user-created one; few users will stretch its capabilities
- e107 0.7.8: poor docs but good wiki; rough control panel; extra modules few but powerful, eg forums, basic ecommerce, banner management; page development requires fair understanding of PHP
- Movable Type 4: works with several databases, including Oracle; very user-friendly control panel; unlimited blogs; neat file manager; highly customisable; “doesn’t offer the same powerful custom fields as some systems”; easy to create static pages.
Conclusions
“If you want a CMS up and running over a weekend, it’s hard to see beyond WordPress.”
“If we were to pick the ideal CMS for commercial use, we’d have to plump for ExpressionEngine.” Two critical advantages: excellent support and near-limitless flexibility.
Interestingly, these seem likely to be my own conclusions, too.