CMS-Question: Which is the right client for this...?

[redAPPLE]

hi guys.

i wish you could help me with your knowledge, experience and wisdom on this one...

up to this point, i have created this website, which i edit, when the client wants to place a picture here or a picture there...

the client's work website is cms-based. now he wants to have the freedom to add content himself. first question, which cms software is best, which complements(?) a present website, which is not cms-based right now?

the client wants to keep the present design, but want to as i said, add content, when he wishes to.

btw, it is a local soccer club website. the next thing he wants is, there is a news page, once the "news" is say 1 month old, it should be copied automatically to the archives folder (or page). that would be the next question, know of any appropriate cms program?

obviously i would wish to have application one (the first question) be capable of doing the "auto-archive" task (question two).

if that's not possible, i would rather be able to solve question 2, first. i could always convince him that a redesign is necessary (say if i use joomla or equally capable cms-solution).

thanks for reading and hope to get your input...

 

[angelwatt]

WordPress could probably handle it if you're up to learning it. It's possible someone has already created a template that gives you the parts you want (like the news only showing the last month). WordPress can be designed to fit into any design because of the way it was developed. That's the only CMS I have enough experience with to say whether or not it would be a good fit. It's certainly one of the most popular, but that doesn't mean it's the best for your project.

 

[starshape]

I would avoid Joomla if you can. It may be one of the most popular CMS systems out there but in my experience I have found it clumsy and bloated.

Wordpress could be a good enough solution depending upon the complexity of the site. I'd say without a doubt it's the best blogging package out there and it can be turned into a CMS. I have done this in the past, it wasn't easy but this was around 3 or 4 years ago.

My choice of CMS would be Silverstripe or ModX though if you don't have much in the way of PHP experience CMS Made Simple might be a better option for you.

Hope this helps.

Thomas

 

[SrWebDeveloper]

If the client wishes to keep the original design but introduce a seamless CMS on the back end, that often means one of two things:

1) The layout is migrated to a standard template/theme system which also has an integrated CMS
2) Custom CMS

As to the first, I personally suggest Drupal - it has a huge collection of templates and themes, an even larger collection of modules which extend the platform without you having to custom code, and a fantastic support system. The one drawback is the learning curve is a little more steep than others due to its complexity, but once it's setup the core Drupal files are separate from the theme/modules so updating is much easier than the competition.

As with any third party product, migrating the content is the #1 issue, i.e. importing legacy data from a database - but Drupal offers many alternatives such as bridging your database and authentication system. VERY cool.

As to the second, you hire a developer who takes one of the open source CMS's and modifies and integrates accordingly, all by hand. Could be easy such as CMS Made Simple as was previously suggested and I suggest also, or it could take alot of planning and time --- all depends on the amount and structure of the legacy content and the developer's skill.

To help you learn about these kind of systems so you can make an educated decision please visit this site to view/demo open source CMS's:

http://www.opensourcecms.com

-jim