Hi, kids!
This thread is only of interest to Web developers and tech dorks.
GateWorld is currently on the hunt for a content management system (CMS). Actually, that's a bit of an understatement: I have been searching for, researching, testing, configuring, post help requests, tweaking, getting pissed off and abandoning the current CMS candidate for two years. GateWorld is almost entirely hand-coded HTML, and we've grown to the point where we can't do any more without a robust, flexible CMS.
So, we need your recommendations! Please only suggest a piece of software if you have enough experience with it to be able to offer some sort of evaluation / review, and if you know (or are pretty sure) it fits our list of basic requirements (below).
Among those we have already tried and rejected (not a complete list):
I'm amazed that some of these features, especially the flexibility of creating custom variables for content items, are not only not out there, but many CMS developers have an attitude against them for one reason or another.
If we cannot find a CMS that will meet our needs in the near future, we will have to consider (finding and) hiring a top-notch, GW-loving developer to modify an open-source package for us.
Thanks!
This thread is only of interest to Web developers and tech dorks.
GateWorld is currently on the hunt for a content management system (CMS). Actually, that's a bit of an understatement: I have been searching for, researching, testing, configuring, post help requests, tweaking, getting pissed off and abandoning the current CMS candidate for two years. GateWorld is almost entirely hand-coded HTML, and we've grown to the point where we can't do any more without a robust, flexible CMS.
So, we need your recommendations! Please only suggest a piece of software if you have enough experience with it to be able to offer some sort of evaluation / review, and if you know (or are pretty sure) it fits our list of basic requirements (below).
Among those we have already tried and rejected (not a complete list):
Typo3
OpenCMS
Mambo
Textpattern
(Drupal - not fully examined, but enough to discourage me)
Here's what we need in a CMS:OpenCMS
Mambo
Textpattern
(Drupal - not fully examined, but enough to discourage me)
- Preferably open source or GNU General Public License, but paid solutions are on the table
- MySQL database-driven
- Unix-compatible
- Can create multiple templates in HTML and assign them to content pages and/or content categories
- CSS style management
- Ability to add unlimited custom variables to a content page, and output those variables in a template. (This is key. Ideally, we could add different custom variables depending on a content item's section/category.)
- Includes some sort of 'draft,' 'unapproved,' or 'inactive' mode that saves content while not displaying it on the public site
- Manages multiple users, assigned specific rights (publish to draft, publish live), and rights only to certain sections
- Can structure content levels to an unlimited depth (subsections and sub-subsections) (Some CMS applications, believe it or not, are only built for one or two levels of categories and sub-categories.)
- Clean URLs (We'd prefer something smart enough even to be able to duplicate our current URL format, so we don't lose all those links and bookmarks when we convert)
- Can display content in a variety of ways, including reverse-chronological (such as news headlines), alphabetical (Omnipedia entries), or alpha-numeric order by a specific custom variable (such as episodes, which are sorted from 901 to 920).
- Can create custom "blocks" or "modules" (snippets of HTML with variables and such) for use on any page (e.g. polls, TV listings, ad blocks, etc.)
- Outputs syndication files, such as RSS, for specific content sections (such as news)
- Preferably organizes content in an intuitive way, such as a directory tree
- We'd prefer a system with built-in newsletter and user management
- We'd prefer a system with a few built-in bells and whistles, such as polls
- We'd prefer a system that provides for end-user registration, and the ability to serve specific content to signed-in users based on a variety of variables ("My GateWorld" customizable home page, paid subscriptions, etc.)
- MySQL database-driven
- Unix-compatible
- Can create multiple templates in HTML and assign them to content pages and/or content categories
- CSS style management
- Ability to add unlimited custom variables to a content page, and output those variables in a template. (This is key. Ideally, we could add different custom variables depending on a content item's section/category.)
- Includes some sort of 'draft,' 'unapproved,' or 'inactive' mode that saves content while not displaying it on the public site
- Manages multiple users, assigned specific rights (publish to draft, publish live), and rights only to certain sections
- Can structure content levels to an unlimited depth (subsections and sub-subsections) (Some CMS applications, believe it or not, are only built for one or two levels of categories and sub-categories.)
- Clean URLs (We'd prefer something smart enough even to be able to duplicate our current URL format, so we don't lose all those links and bookmarks when we convert)
- Can display content in a variety of ways, including reverse-chronological (such as news headlines), alphabetical (Omnipedia entries), or alpha-numeric order by a specific custom variable (such as episodes, which are sorted from 901 to 920).
- Can create custom "blocks" or "modules" (snippets of HTML with variables and such) for use on any page (e.g. polls, TV listings, ad blocks, etc.)
- Outputs syndication files, such as RSS, for specific content sections (such as news)
- Preferably organizes content in an intuitive way, such as a directory tree
- We'd prefer a system with built-in newsletter and user management
- We'd prefer a system with a few built-in bells and whistles, such as polls
- We'd prefer a system that provides for end-user registration, and the ability to serve specific content to signed-in users based on a variety of variables ("My GateWorld" customizable home page, paid subscriptions, etc.)
I'm amazed that some of these features, especially the flexibility of creating custom variables for content items, are not only not out there, but many CMS developers have an attitude against them for one reason or another.
If we cannot find a CMS that will meet our needs in the near future, we will have to consider (finding and) hiring a top-notch, GW-loving developer to modify an open-source package for us.
Thanks!
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