Best Free Cms Thread

[CrashedOutAndBurned]

Anyone use a CMS for their websites? Which one?

I used to swear by Joomla since the Mambo days, and even had a nice little business going making Joomla sites for people, which they could managed themselves with a webbrowser, including some online shops. Joomla was always a bit rubbish if you tried to use it in a bloggy way and the frontpage would always look a bit 'CMSsy' without manual hacks or extra pluigins to give, say, a magazine-site look.

I also played around with Drupal and that had some real advantages but as there was a learning curve I just stuck with what I knew.

More recently I used a WordPress plugin for Joomla but realised that for many sites you could use WordPress in a CMS-way with pages and certain plugins. I also noticed it's much easier and flexible to theme but importantly is just lightening fast even on shared hosting while Joomla could get really turgid, especially with the wrong modules or plugins. I've now made a few Wordpress non-blog sites and even when thinking I might need to go Joomla found a plugin to add whatever functionality I wanted to Wordpress.

[tahoma]

Have you tried writing/editing your own modules in Joomla? It's not that hard, and is well suited to MVC development.

Much easier that using Drupal, which seems a bit too much like hard work to do even basic stuff. If you are selling a site on it needs to be easy to administer. Joomla seems like the ideal mid-point between Wordpress (easy but rigid) and Drupal (hard but flexible) to me.

[Darkman]

Personally I prefer to edit off-line using Mogwai. That way you can make your modules seamless. Once the HTPMSL is complete just offload data to a side-lined Wonder Machine and your cookie is well cooked. Linear creative expression has never been so bilateral, and without the micro-management that's so common these days!

Wordywizard is another good stand-alone cross mountable jolly box. I've used it a few times and it's never failed to really hit the spot. My jargon never looked so logical. Alternatively just download the Brownload and bobs your uncle. Nu-pal can help ease the transition during this backward process, and Boomla ain't too shabby either.

Hope that helps.

[OnionTerror]

Personally I prefer to edit off-line using Mogwai. That way you can make your modules seamless. Once the HTPMSL is complete just offload data to a side-lined Wonder Machine and your cookie is well cooked. Linear creative expression has never been so bilateral, and without the micro-management that's so common these days!

Wordywizard is another good stand-alone cross mountable jolly box. I've used it a few times and it's never failed to really hit the spot. My jargon never looked so logical. Alternatively just download the Brownload and bobs your uncle. Nu-pal can help ease the transition during this backward process, and Boomla ain't too shabby either.

Hope that helps.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M2iD-oNqD_I

Joomla ain't too bad...I found it kept corrupting though...buggered me orf no end...

[hedgefunded]

Joomla for me every time. I run about 60 sites and the only time I need anything else is for eCommerce.

For that I use opencart these days. I used ZenCart before but the backend is from 1970 and adding product options is a PITA.

I'm so used to Joomla's templating system that I just design whatever I want in Photoshop and make a template to match.

There are a few 'must have' modules that offer all I've really ever needed:

Modules Anywhere

Simple Image Gallery Pro

SEO Simple

JCE Editor

Sometimes I might need a random Flash module but I try to avoid Flash as I'm not good with it. I have also used ChronoForms on occasion but although it looks like it should be easy, it's a bit of a beast.

[The Masked Tulip]

What advantages does a CMS like Joomla give over a traditional Worpdress site? Are you talking from an eCommerce point of view or a content management search ability of a blog/site point of view?

[hedgefunded]

What advantages does a CMS like Joomla give over a traditional Worpdress site? Are you talking from an eCommerce point of view or a content management search ability of a blog/site point of view?

I'm not sure if you're asking me, but I'll give my 5 cents.

I regard Wordpress and Joomla as just tools. Both are used to deliver your content to site visitors, and both can be styled/designed to make that site look pretty and function well.

Having only used Wordpress a few times, I do like it, but I could never be bothered to look 'under the hood'. I learned Joomla on 1.0x and then 1.5x. The only two occasions when I don't use Joomla are for eCommerce (never got to grips with the VirtueMart plugin) and for building the simplest of static sites.

If someone said to me "I want a blog", I'd point them in the direction of Wordpress, give them a bit of help with templates and let them get on with it.

My Joomla sites are pretty search engine friendly. I write good keyword/phrase rich content, make good use of H1 tags, page titles, alt tags, meta-description etc. I'm sure that can all be done perfectly well with Wordpress too. As I said, they're just tools. You don't ask a builder which brand of bricks he uses.

I think Wordpress is a lot quicker to have up and running. Just bung in your site title, choose a generic template and you're done. Joomla needs a bit more work, but if someone bungs me a logo and a few pages of content, I can have a site looking perfectly good in an hour or so.

I hope that's of some help.

[The Masked Tulip]

I'm not sure if you're asking me, but I'll give my 5 cents.

I regard Wordpress and Joomla as just tools. Both are used to deliver your content to site visitors, and both can be styled/designed to make that site look pretty and function well.

Having only used Wordpress a few times, I do like it, but I could never be bothered to look 'under the hood'. I learned Joomla on 1.0x and then 1.5x. The only two occasions when I don't use Joomla are for eCommerce (never got to grips with the VirtueMart plugin) and for building the simplest of static sites.

If someone said to me "I want a blog", I'd point them in the direction of Wordpress, give them a bit of help with templates and let them get on with it.

My Joomla sites are pretty search engine friendly. I write good keyword/phrase rich content, make good use of H1 tags, page titles, alt tags, meta-description etc. I'm sure that can all be done perfectly well with Wordpress too. As I said, they're just tools. You don't ask a builder which brand of bricks he uses.

I think Wordpress is a lot quicker to have up and running. Just bung in your site title, choose a generic template and you're done. Joomla needs a bit more work, but if someone bungs me a logo and a few pages of content, I can have a site looking perfectly good in an hour or so.

I hope that's of some help.

Thanks - so Joomla is just another content management system for websites/blogs in the same way that Wordpress is a blgoging CMS tool.

[hedgefunded]

Thanks - so Joomla is just another content management system for websites/blogs in the same way that Wordpress is a blgoging CMS tool.

Kind of. Wordpress is THE blogging software of choice for much of the internet. Joomla can be used to write a blog but if that's what you want, use Wordpress.

However, if you want a template based CMS website that can be many things to many people, Joomla is great. There are alternatives but I've found the one I'm happy with.

These are three of my Joomla sites, and whilst they have the same engine under the hood, they don't scream 'Just another Joomla site'

www.risingsuninn.info

www.reactionelectric.co.uk

www.relayservices.co.uk

[CrashedOutAndBurned]

Yes, for templating from scratch, Joomla is great. Photoshop and DW with a Joomla extension and you can make a site look more or less how you like and not CMSsy. The very first CMS I used was Nuke and that was frustrating sites were hard to template and ended up looking like every other nuke site. Drupal is very customisable but it's not obvious so 90% of Drupal sites scream Drupal - I did spend a lot of time playing with it and liked the performance but never felt I knew enough to use it for a live site.

I'm still a Joomla fan but for simpler sites using Wordpress as a CMS just seems faster and easier. With custom menus in 3.0, Pages, and plugins to alter the order posts are shown its blog roots are less of a problem. It was only using a WordPress plugin on my main site that made me think, 'Why am I even bothering with the Joomla bits - this could all happen in Wordpress.'

Mrs never liked the Joomla backend on her website - just found it too confusing and was always asking how to make things appear on menus. I've migrated it to Wordpress which she enthuses is 'just like using webmail'.

I'm not au fait yet with really making an all-custom Wordpress theme do what i want but there are some pretty good free ones around that can be adapted. With Wordpress it also seems the theme can add a lot of extra functionality to a site.

I also notice that the SEO is excellent on Wordpress. Type a post one day and it's getting Google traffic the next.

[The Masked Tulip]

I also notice that the SEO is excellent on Wordpress. Type a post one day and it's getting Google traffic the next.

SEO? Is that some google ad thing?

[hedgefunded]

SEO? Is that some google ad thing?

Search Engine Optimisation.

Self-explanatiry really, but ironically, a quick Google will tell you all you need to know.

[JoeDavola]

This whole CMS thing seems to have passed me by, but it looks interesting - is this the way people make websites nowadays?

Can e-commerce sites be created using these tools?

I'm interested in looking at this in more detail, if anyone has any good reccomendations for starting points let me know. I'm a software engineer by trade but I'm not at all involved in web design and never have been, hence my ignorance.

[CrashedOutAndBurned]

This whole CMS thing seems to have passed me by, but it looks interesting - is this the way people make websites nowadays?

Can e-commerce sites be created using these tools?

I'm interested in looking at this in more detail, if anyone has any good reccomendations for starting points let me know. I'm a software engineer by trade but I'm not at all involved in web design and never have been, hence my ignorance.

I think most people use CMS these days for any sites that are frequently updated and the free tools are mature enough and flexible enough that it covers most types of use. The real advantage is that you can update your site with any machine with a webrowser. Also, if you decide your site looks old and dull but the content is good you can merely re-theme it to look sexier.

Initially, the main downside of the free CMS is that your site's design was constrained by the CMS you were using. Now that's not so much of a problem.

http://psd2cssonline.com/ is an easy way to get a rough Joomla or Wordpress template from a photoshop file, but it's not too hard to do yourself from scratch.

http://www.blog.spoongraphics.co.uk/tutorials/create-a-vibrant-modern-blog-design-in-adobe-photoshop

Some third party Wordpress themes add a lot of extra functionality, which I haven't quite got my head around yet.

I think just setting up your computer with MAMP, LAMP or WAMP and downloading Wordpress or Joomla and having a play is a good place to start. Joomla cam make pretty much any sort of site, while Wordpress is a 'blog' platform that's rapidly growing into a more general purpose CMS.

[hedgefunded]

This whole CMS thing seems to have passed me by, but it looks interesting - is this the way people make websites nowadays?

Can e-commerce sites be created using these tools?

I'm interested in looking at this in more detail, if anyone has any good reccomendations for starting points let me know. I'm a software engineer by trade but I'm not at all involved in web design and never have been, hence my ignorance.

You can use Joomla for eCommerce, and there's a well respected plugin called Virtuemart to do just that. I've never used it though.

Other options for eCommerce that I'm aware of are as follows:

OS Commerce - Open source but until recently obsolete-ish. Zen Cart kinda took it over. I did read something about OSCommerce getting a rebirth though.

Zen Cart - Very widely used but I hate the web interface. Some things, like adding product options are horrible to do.

OpenCart - I'm using this to build www.ldwf.co.uk - good so far and a much better interface

Magento - Supposedly very powerful and it did have the reputation of being a pig to install. An essential consideration but it is a VERY heavyweight app.

Actinic - Very different and not free. Managed on a PC and then you upload your products/changes. At £800 it's not cheap an support has had mixed reviews.

Cubecart - Open source and widely used but I know nothing about it.

There are plenty of others I suspect, and all of the big players probably would have their own software written.

I'd say the most important thing though is making sure that anything you choose will do what you require.

There's no big difficulty in building an eCommerce site, but you're dealing with 'proper' business and people's card details. For that you'll need a merchant ID from your bank, and a payment gateway like Sagepay.

All of the above have payment modules written for the various sites like Sagepay, Neteller, PayPal, Worldpay etc.....the difficulty with open source is that you can't easily just call someone for support. That's what Actinic offers but tens of thousands of sites run perfectly well on the other platforms.

If you need any further help or opinions then feel free to ask. I'm a bit of a jack of all trades, master of none, but I'm happy to share my experiences.