CMS for website

[w8gtf]

Up until now, I have been writing all of my HTML staticaly on my domain. I want to try to setup a dynamic database driven portal for my website. Requirements are that it is dynamic, and allow editing through a web browser.

I've installed with Joomla & Mambo, along with MediaWiki. I'm also no stranger to database driven PHP apps, as I currently maintain three installations of Wordpress, two installations of Gallery 1x, one installation of Gallery 2x, and an installation of phpBB.

Any thoughts, ideas, impressions, or anything would be very helpful.

[ve3sre]

I'm also interested in CMS's too...have also heard some good things about Drupal...but I understand that like anything that gives you flexibility...you also have complexity.

I recently picked up a pre-configured Ubuntu box configured as a LAMP server with Drupal pre-installed...a "toy" that I plan to play with over the next little while.

73

[w8gtf]

I had forgotten about Drupal. I know I had to install them for somebody to play with at my previous job.

I actually plan to setup ubuntu server as a LAMP on a virtual machine at home and try to get a feel for it before actually putting it on my domain.

[EI8DRB]

I'm pretty experienced with Drupal. There is a bit of a learning curve, but it far surpasses Joomla IMO.
What aspect of CMS are you interested in, or what use would you like to get from one? If I can help any, I will...

[wd4et]

Drupal is a good choice. They have a very active developer and support community.

Jeff

[W4INF]

Just to chime in, if you need hosting let me know, I can do both Win and Nix.

Andrew

[w8gtf]

I'm pretty experienced with Drupal. There is a bit of a learning curve, but it far surpasses Joomla IMO.
What aspect of CMS are you interested in, or what use would you like to get from one? If I can help any, I will...

I have a website that I wrote as static HTML. Now that it's grown a bit, I'm noticing alot of redundant code on the site. I'm looking for a way to reduce some of the redundant code. At first I had considered frameless frames for things like the same logo on each page, and tricks such as that. Then I got to thinking that it may be easier to rewrite the whole site dynamically and make it alot cleaner and nicer.

I'd also like to integrate the blog, photo gallery, and some other PHP apps I have more.

Right now, I am downloading Ubuntu server. I'm going to set it up as a LAMP server on a VM and do some testing. I plan on installing Mambo, Joomla, & Drupal all three and see which one performs best and which one best suits my needs (if any). At the point that I decide on one, I'm install it on my host and start migrating data. I'm hoping I can actually re-write the whole site locally and then upload a replacement site with the db to my host.

[EI8DRB]

Sounds like a good plan to me. It's pretty easy to develop a drupal site on a test server and then migrate the lot to a new box.
Blogging, galleries and so on are available for drupal, or you could run existing ones within drupal, as you prefer.
If you plan on doing any theming rather than using one of the many high quanity, free themes available, brushing up on new html (with CSS and all that) might be of benefit.
If I can help in any way, PM me...

[n2ize]

You might want to have a look at nucleusCMS.

http://nucleuscms.org/

I recently installed it on our departments server at work. Installation was a snap, I had it up and running in usuable form within an hour or two. Among it's claimed advantages are that it's highly configuarable, has a rich set of plugins for add on features, multiple blogs, multiple skins, customizable, etc.

I am a rank beginner with configuring CMS software so I am slowly trying to learn what does what. Like most CMS engines the documentation can be confusing for pure beginners. But there is a large user base, plenty of forums and faqs and assorted info to bring you up to speed. If you are used to this sort of PHP software then configuration is probably a breeze.

I'm now in the process of setting up phpBB3.

[N4PRT]

Drupal is making some great headway--but when choosing a CMS platform consider the available templates, extensions, components, and support community.

Joomla is far out in front with a mature base--and it's much easier to integrate forums, blogs, and other user features with.

[EI8DRB]

Granted, Joomla has a lot of extentions and modules, but I think this can be its downfall. So many Joomla sites look like they just bolted as many extensions on, with no real direction, leading to a very cluttered look. Also, Joomla extensions seem, in my experience, at least, to vary in terms of styleability... by which I mean... they don't use the parent page's CSS styles properly, so you end up having to style each extension individually.
I am, of course, biased... YMMV

I would recommend a listen to some of these podcasts (http://www.lullabot.com/podcast).

[KE7QOJ]

I might be out of line here but I am part of a comunity that installs and works on website and GFx The Site is Http://Brainworksweb.com
we do it all for free because we like to.
You might find it somewhat help full :P
73

[k9ken]

Might want to give PHP-Fuson a look. I have it running on several of my sites.

[kd8hho]

php-nuke version 7.6 i use it. it works.

[KC8OFR]

How about you just learn some PHP or ASP.net and make your own?

[w8gtf]

How about you just learn some PHP or ASP.net and make your own?

Why reinvent the wheel?

I installed Mambo and converted one of my smaller sites to it. I wasn't totally happy with the results. I did discover that I had much better luck at creating my own style sheets and using afew other tricks that a web developer at work showed me to start customizing my website in a way that I could have only dreamed about afew weeks ago.

[wr5aw]

Joomla has some major architectural and development problems. It also does not play well with large heavy load sites. The code is extremely bloated and ineffficient and the database is not optimized very well. It tends to be very slow and clunky. There is also some infighting amongst developers that no doubt will affect development and quality. The extension/plugin repository is mainly a mix of poorly written or unsuported code. Many of the extensions are known to have major security weaknesses. I'd stay away from it.

[kd8hho]

Joomla has some major architectural and development problems. It also does not play well with large heavy load sites. The code is extremely bloated and ineffficient and the database is not optimized very well. It tends to be very slow and clunky. There is also some infighting amongst developers that no doubt will affect development and quality. The extension/plugin repository is mainly a mix of poorly written or unsuported code. Many of the extensions are known to have major security weaknesses. I'd stay away from it.

agreed....