Looking for a new CMS for my website... suggestions?

**beezlebubsbum** · 12-21-2009, 09:30 PM

Hey all, I am looking at changing my Content Management System on my website. I want to blog a little more, and I was wondering if anyone had any good experiences with any particular piece of software?

I want to be able to:
- Write blog posts
- have users make comments (anti spam would be a nice thing too)
- make static pages for articles I want to make
- Easily change themes on the site without having to edit code (not that I can't, but I just can't be bothered)

That's about it really. I have heard good things about wordpress, but I was wondering if anyone had experience with it, or other software. Thanks for your time!

**peter** · 12-22-2009, 12:17 AM

I have used wordpress to create a simple website, personalspanish.net. it uses the concept of "pages", which show up in the menu at the top, and "posts" which are like regular posts. You can make any page your home page, and you can assign your posts to show up on a page that is not a home page. Its ok for this little site.

Vbulletin now has a CMS, but it costs. Check vbulletin.com for an example of how it looks.

Drupal is common too.

**jro** · 12-22-2009, 03:28 PM

I have to recommend Wordpress. I have been using it for the past 4 years and have created a number of customized templates and code modifications throughout the years. The admin section is the best I have EVER used. I do a bit of freelance work and I always use Wordpress for the smaller sites and Joomla for the larger ones. Here is how Wordpress would stack up against your requirements:

- Right out of the box WP does this, and especially good at it too. Simple text formatting tools in the text editor

- Yes again, comments can be moderated, and there are plugins that can format the comments in a thread fashion. Akismet is HIGHLY recommended for controlling comment spam, its caught 10,000 spam comments since I implemented it 3 years ago, no false positives to-date. Akismet is a plugin, but will probably become standard at some point since it is so effective.

- Static pages are standard also, they use the same text formatting tools as the blog. Its good up to about 25-50 pages, then it gets pretty inefficient, best to move on to something more adept at handling larger sites.

- Wordpress has a widget system where you can set an area of a template (most new templates have these) as a widget area and you can add, subtract or reorder the various built-in widgets or ones provided by a plugin. Unfortunately you will have to edit template code to get anything more out of it, but that is the case with any CMS.. :-)

**beezlebubsbum** · 12-22-2009, 08:14 PM

thanks guys, looks like wordpress is the way to go!

**beezlebubsbum** · 12-22-2009, 09:03 PM

Ooooo, I actually installed the wordpress site and migrated a whole bunch of stuff from the old cms (e107) in less than an hour. Wow! What a nice CMS! Seems easy to understand, and I really loved the theme manager! Top notch and I totally endorse this cms for anyone else looking to make a smallish website.

**peter** · 12-22-2009, 09:31 PM

The one thing with wordpress is that you have to upgrade it regularly. When I used to host it myself I think spammers would take advantage of security holes, so there were many updates. That's why my recent blog experiments just use wordpress.com, they deal with all that for me.

**beezlebubsbum** · 12-23-2009, 10:43 AM

is it easy to update?

**peter** · 12-23-2009, 02:11 PM

Yes it is, if you allow comments remember to update it frequently as soon as the new releases come out. Register and get on their mailing list.

**beezlebubsbum** · 12-25-2009, 08:16 AM

I was wondering if anyone could do me a favour and visit my site @ http://ttgale.com because I have had some problems with it... just to see if images and stuff are loading

Thanks friends!