What is the best CMS ?
It's often argued amongst Web Developers which is the best Content Management System to use. Here at Rouge Digital we’ve spent many years working with loads of different CMS. In this article we’re going to look at 2 of the most popular and an up and coming system which may just suit your client best.
What is the best CMS ? It's often argued amongst Web Developers which is the best Content Management System to use. Here at Rouge Digital we’ve spent many years working with loads of different CMS. In this article we’re going to look at 2 of the most popular and an up and coming system which may just suit your client best.
As far as we’re concerned there a two reasons why you might want to install a CMS on a clients website. Firstly, to enable the client to easily update and run the site themselves once your role as designer / developer is over. Secondly, you may find using a CMS as a basis for your web application will save you a great deal of the groundwork setting up simple functions like user management and article posting.
We’re going to look at Joomla, Drupal & Concrete5 during this article. Hopefully, you can point you in the right direction for your CMS choice. Each of these systems is Free and open source, which will definitely make your life easier when it comes to adding bespoke elements. The are all PHP based too which means you should hopefully be comfortable with the code ! Joomla http://www.joomla.org 
Our website at Rouge Digital is built on a Joomla backend. That’s not to say it’s the best, but it was when Rouge Digital first launched our site.
Joomla is currently at version 1.5, with a Beta 1.6 version also available to the public. Out of the box Joomla offers – - Article Management
- Templating
- User Management
- SEO Friendly Urls
- Wysiwyg editing
- Menu Creation.
In our experience Joomla is a very impressive CMS for the web designer. There is a comprehensive community based extensions system, which allows you to customise your installation simply but adding modules (code with is displays as a block on the page), plugins (code with runs in the background to enhance your site) and components (full blown mini applications which integrate with Joomla, these can be as big as online stores).
Joomla does have some issues, we’ve found the backend can be overly complicated for novice users. For example, the terminology used can be confusing. A static page on your site is referred to as an article. The front end article management section is fairly simple but lacks the flexibility of other systems. Drupal http://www.drupal.org 
Drupal is a massively popular CMS. It’s used by some of the biggest organisations on the web, including The Economist (http://www.theeconomist.com) and Ubuntu (http://www.ubuntu.com)
It’s obvious that with this following Drupal is a decent piece of software. Here at Rouge Digital we’ve used it for various projects. We’ve recently used it for a blog and a gift repository, and it did the job very well. Setup is very simple as the installer guides you through the process and builds you an site outline.
Once setup Drupal is much more powerful than Joomla, thanks in the main to an addon called CCK (Content Construction Kit) which allows you to build applications quickly and through the Drupal interface without any code required. It’s not going to write the new Facebook for you, but simple applications can be built in minutes.
In terms of managing the content Drupal is probably easier for a novice to use, due to the fact that all content can be managed from the front end. However, as with Joomla there are some negatives too. Drupals whole system is built around ‘nodes’ this can take a little to get your head around. So if you’re working to a tight deadline it might not be the most sensible idea to try and pick up Drupal.
In Drupal is it also much more difficult to install addons. Having to upload via FTP then install via a web interface seems a long winded process. The community support also seems to be less friendly in my experience.
Concrete5 http://www.concrete5.org
Concrete5 is a relatively new CMS to the marketplace. It claims to sit somewhere between Development CMS’s (ie Joomla, Drupal) and more basic systems like Wordpress. To an extent this is exactly where it sits.
The main reason for Rouge Digital to use a CMS is to allow our clients to manage their own websites, a task which concrete5 makes incredibly simple. Novice users can pickup the system in a few minutes, allowing them to edit and add pages with relative ease. In our opinion it’s much simpler than Joomla or Drupal. We’ve found that our clients love Concrete5.
Obviously, a CMS that is great for clients but not for designers is not going to work. However, rest assured Concrete5 is very easy to create your own bespoke templates for. You merely build you page in your favourite HTML editor then add a short piece of code to each section turning into a Concrete5 template.
Installing addons is a breeze in Concrete5 too. You can browse the marketplace on the C5 website then save an addon straight to your project, allowing you to install it with the click of a button. Sadly, whilst easy to use there is very little worth installing as it seems there is a much smaller community out there than with other CMS. Conclusion
The best CMS for you really depends on your needs. If you’re after a system for your clients to use then we’d make no hesitation in recommending Concrete5. However, if you need to build an application around your CMS you’d probably be better looking at Joomla or Drupal. If pushed to recommend one, it would be Drupal but only just ! |
