Simple CMS options for websites

[Tom]

When the MA Web Design started a typical CMS cost a six figure sum and required six of coders to run it. Now there excellent open-source CMS and many easy-to-use software packages are evolving in the CMS direction. As a person who enjoys the 'Content' more than the 'Management System', they interest me. So here are some links

Wordpress as a CMS http://www.idesignstudios.com/blog/web-design/wordpress-as-cms/ http://www.babysleepsite.com/

Wikimedia as a CMS http://aaronparecki.com/Using_MediaWiki_as_a_CMS
http://blog.bemoko.com/2008/02/21/top-10-mediawiki-content-management-extensions/

[James]

Wordpress is sensational. Easy to install and themes and plug-ins are installed by uploading a ZIP file via the browser. No need for PHP etc unless you feel inclined. I can't get enough of it!

Dinosaurs like Joomla are still popular but they are bloated and not standards compliant. I expect Joomla, Mambo, Drupal etc to fade away over the next few years.

[Tom]

Thank you for putting your prediction on the record, and please check it out in a few years time. I think you are right - and the continuing advance of standards-compliant fixtures, fittings and components in the building industry confirms your view. My first 'fitted kitchen' was fitted by me and made by sawing up chipboard! The result was flakey and to do it this way now would be much more expensive as well as of much lower quality. So we all have to get accustomed to web design with components, fixtures and fittings. Call it an IKEA approach to web design.
What do you think of wiki-type software as a CMS? Its got further to go but I think it has lots of potential and I like these examples for their combination of a wiki with business plans:
http://www.shopwiki.com/
http://www.productwiki.com/

[James]

Joomla is the "Internet Explorer of CMS's". It's been around for years, and is living off former glories (in that it was the first viable mass market free CMS). It has not evolved or looked over its shoulder at the approaching competition. Internet Explorer did not evolve, it remained standards uncompliant, buggy and a security risk. By the time Microsoft decided to do something about it it was too late, Firefox and Chrome were bearing down on them.

On the web, if you don't continuously innovate someone will copy your idea and do it better.

Going slightly off topic, this also happened to Friends Reunited. For a year or two it was massive, but it did not evolve. The owners sold out to ITV and made multi-millions. Along came Facebook which blew it away, contributing to ITV's losses no doubt.

Whilst I might not like all of Google's relentless innovations, I know why they do it. Stand still and you die.

I know little about Wiki as a CMS, must try it sometime.