CMS Suggestions

[TripleMoonsDesign]

I'm curious what (if any) content management systems people use. I'm looking for something that's less then $500 per script to offer to clients. I've already looked at Freeware available, but I don't like any of what I've found.

[Toon]

Expression Engine is about one of the best, although depending how much you want it to do Joomla, Wordpress or Drupel are the other options

[D856C]

It really depends on what you want to accomplish. Most people are looking at the CMS from the most superficial basis: What kind of cool layout gimmickry can it do.

A CMS isn't an online version of Frontpage. And the quality of a CMS is not about how easy it is for a developer to slap up this week's design fad.

Here's a novel thought: What kind of content -- FYI the "C" in CMS -- will there be? Dare I ask what the client objectives are? ...Or [cough] what the user profile or site purpose is? A news site might need the information architecture structure and publishing oversight Drupal offers -- even when the developer has more work to do. Another kind of client might be better served by Wordpress.

Will it be used for brand journalism or plogging? Does anyone currently looking for the most primitive kind of online pasteup even know what a plog or brand journalism is? (no the "p" is not a typo) Because, contrary to popular opinion, that's a content management application.

Sorry to say, being developer friendly is somewhat less important than suitability to (end user) task. Getting 'a' site up is only part of the task -- getting the right kind of site up is the critical part.

In other words, you can't look at the CMS to fulfill the same purpose as an online version of Frontpage. Despite being used that way, they were never designed for that.

[TripleMoonsDesign]

Thanks for the replies!

What I'm looking is providing a CMS script that will allow my clients to easily edit pages such as this. Just text and picture in the main area, nothing else. I had found a CMS online a few days ago (can't recall the name now) that did what I am looking for, but the price was way too salty ($1200-1500 if I remember correctly).

I don't use Frontpage nor know how it works. :)

[TripleMoonsDesign]

And come to think of it, the client I linked didn't like WordPress (I suggested it since she does a journal), too much "stuff" for her to mess up with I guess. I just need it simple and to the point. Login, click the page you want to edit and change the text/pics in the main content area to suit. I'd also like to make sure that they can't change fonts/sizes to screw with the overall layout (yeah, I'm a bit picky), keep it all conformed to my CSS.

[Mailno]

Use Joomla then lock the parts you don't want them to access

[tommylogic]

You can also use Contribute by Adobe (formerly Macromedia) it is VERY easy for the client to use and costs less $150US.

Sounds like EXACTLY what you need. Just set up Contribute on the client's computer & they can go in and edit pages regions you've set up.

[TripleMoonsDesign]

Isn't Joomla based on templates that they provide? I have also heard that Joomla is very bloated. I don't want something that I have to spend a large amount of time fitting my design into.

There are two problems that I see with Contribute (which I think could have been a good solution). 1) My mac is not intel based and is running 10.3.9, so it won't work on my computer. 2) I can not install Contribute and set it up on my Clients computers, most of my Clients are out of state.

[Toon]

Could you build it manually using PHP, all you need is a password area for text and image upload.

[TripleMoonsDesign]

No, not me. I'm only capable of editing PHP not creating it from scratch. That's why I'm looking for something that's pretty much plug and play.