[DM-MUG] Please look at the web site

[Matthew Nuzum]

On Wed, Apr 6, 2011 at 5:32 PM, Ray Bowler <rbowler at mchsi.com> wrote:

> Joomia is web based.
>
>
I would strongly recommend Wordpress if you think it will fit, and I think
it will. I have about 10 years experience working with content management
systems, both commercial and open source.

Drupal was recommended. It is a very powerful, flexible and customizable
tool. It has a very supportive community that is generous in giving help. It
is actively developed and supported. There are tons of tutorials and
documentation. However, it's negative aspect is it's complexity. The
first-time configuration can be a chore. I use this at work for our
websites.

Joomla is something I've evaluated and very nearly chose for a big project.
It also is very powerful, flexible and customizable. However it's negative
aspects are that it is no longer getting the active development and support
that it used to. It's community is not very generous with help, instead it
has fostered an environment where you pay for the extra bits and pieces. It
also has a high startup-cost (in time). It is my personal opinion that
Joomla is dyeing a slow death.

Wordpress is a very simple tool. It is can create plain pages and blog posts
(you can call the blog posts announcements if you like). Anything else is
not built in and needs to be customized. However, if the stuff that is built
in fits your needs you'll be extremely pleased with the small amount of
effort it takes to get started. Like Drupal it has a very active developer
and support community. Users are very generous with free help and
documentation. There are a wealth of free themes and modules available for
it. Its only con is that it is a special purpose CMS.

That said, there is one additional downside to all three of the above tools.
Like any CMS there are going to be ongoing support costs. That means
security updates. Someone will have to be in charge of that or the site will
become a target for hackers. Wordpress and Drupal have very responsive
security teams that provide updates to fix problems but you still have to do
the updates. Wordpress, properly configured makes that easier than the
others, but it sitll needs done.

The only way to circumvent this need is to use a hosted product that is
managed by someone else or to use a tool that does not have any program
running on the server, such as a plain HTML site (like iWeb).

Tools that are hosted by others and are very affordable:

 * Wordpress.com (about $45 /year for domain and no ads)
 * Blogger (free, no limits, slightly more basic than wordpress)
 * Squarespace ($144 /year, arguably the easiest to use)

to name a few.

I endorsed Wordpress (the self-hosted version, not wordpress.com) and stand
by it. I think that it is a good and easy to manage product that will easily
meet the needs of the group.

If there is concern that the ongoing maintenance is a disadvantage then I
suggest blogger. It is free, customizable, there are lots of themes
available and multiple people can maintain the site.

-- 
Matthew Nuzum
newz2000 on freenode, skype, linkedin, identi.ca and twitter

"My aim has always been to get to the truth rather than to support some
position. And in criticizing others, I have always tried to understand what
their
position was and not to misrepresent it. I have never been interested in
cheap
victories." -Ronald Coase
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://cialug.org/pipermail/dmmug/attachments/20110406/79a1b100/attachment-0001.html>