Overview of Open Source CMS Options

With the maturation of the world wide web comes literally hundreds of options when it comes to the proliferation of robust content management systems. There are so many open source cms options that you may feel overwhelmed at where to start. As the owner of a website development company with more than 10 years experience, I hope to offer you an overview to help you make a decision that's right for you.

A few caveats... I come from a fine arts background and while computers were always around (our family had an Apple IIe in the early 80's) I prefer to design, rather than program, so my opinions are colored by that perspective. That said, here's my opinion...

The Three Most Popular Open Source CMS Solutions

This is in the order of ease, not necessarily use or popularity. You can Google yourself crazy and get a different opinion on who wins the race, but it's a bit irrelevant. These three are always in the top 10.

1. WordPress CMS

If you're building a new website, or going from static HTML to something more robust and you don't want to spend a lot of time configuring your site and software, then WordPress is the way to go. Like the others, the WordPress CMS is template driven, so you may need to hire an experienced website designer to get the look you want, but it won't cost an arm and a leg. With literally thousands of plugins (which perform virtually any function you can imagine) WordPress is a great way to get a site running fast that you can edit yourself with little expense. You can get either free hosting through Wordpress.com or host it on your own server. Most hosting companies offer easy-installs as well, allowing you to get a site up and running in no time. With tons of WordPress training tutorials available online, it's an easy solution to get a website built fast.

2. Joomla CMS

Joomla is a great option if you need something a bit more extensive than Wordpress. If you're looking to develop a site with hundreds of pages and need total control over layout, menus and more advanced functions like forums, shopping carts and communities, then Joomla is the way to go. I've set up countless Joomla sites and while it has a little bit more of a learning curve than Wordpress (requiring a bit more time to customize the arrangement of content) it's worth it if you need to build a site with more than 50 pages. Unless you have a lot of free time (or no budget) you will likely need to seek out web design consulting to help you through the setup and template customization process.

3. Drupal CMS

Drupal separates the men from the boys. If your project is for an extensive community, a major magazine with hundreds of content items or a corporate site with top-to-bottom customization, then Drupal is the way to go. However, it's not for the faint of heart. While a non-programmer can easily handle Wordpress and a part-time geek can manage Joomla, Drupal really should be tackled by someone with a programmer's brain. Having set up more than 50 Wordpress and Joomla sites, I can honestly say Drupal brought me to my knees and made me cry like a baby. However, if you're going to be working with an experienced programmer or Drupal developer (and need a very extensive site with a great deal of customization) then Drupal is definitely the way to go.

Seeking Out Other Open Source CMS Platforms

If after reading the above conclusions you're still unsure about what to use, then I can offer the following guidelines to assist you in your search.

If you are just looking for simple text editing of your pages that can be plugged into a custom design, there are some systems that will do just that -- provide easy methods of editing text, without all of the extra features that come with the bigger CMS platforms, then check out this extensive overview at Wikipedia. It lists pretty much everything on the market, including other complex systems like Plone, Django, Typo, etc.

Things to consider when choosing an open source CMS are the availability of plugins (check their directories to see how many are offered and what kind of features they have), the community support (do a quick browse through their forums to see if there are plenty of people helping solve common problems) and what the install process looks like. You can quickly examine each three of those variables to determine if that particular CMS looks robust enough to meet your needs. Best of luck!