Hi,

I'm wanting to venture into the world of CMS (Content Management System) - the idea is to be able to empower my customers to easily update their own websites.

Can anyone recommend a good Web-based WYSIWYG CMS they have used before and really like, or what is the standard CMS for web developers these days?

I have located the following but do not know which one to choose:

Open Source:
http://ez.no
http://www.phpwcms.de
http://typo3.com
http://www.solmetra.com
http://www.ezcontents.org/
http://www.cmsimple.dk/
http://smarty.php.net/

Not Free:
http://www.globalscape.com/purecms/


Thx.

www.mamboserver.com
also see www.mamboportal.com
The BEST CMS!

I second that!!
www.mamboportal.com

shaky, Try researching at http://opensourcecms.com/

Mambo mentioned by David and blb is a very good one.

Thx guys I have heard a lot of good reports about mambo and it looks very good - but it looks like a community portal to me rather than just a stright CSM for my clients.

Am I right in saying that it is not possible to incorporate Mambo into an already existing simple static HTML website?

And that to correctly use Mambo you should start by installing it first and then creating your website around it's functions and layout?

What I was thinking of was really a way to cut down on my admin. Once I have designed a simple standard html website, customers are always calling for minor text or image updates, ususally to the front page. It would be nice to have some online php software to just enable my customers to update their own site in a restricted environment without messing things up, even maybe add a new page etc..

From what I can tell Mambo exceeds my needs, I would have to design a website with Mambo in mind, where really I want to be able to enable current customers who already have sites, an easy online form of administration.

Why does EVERY CMS system think a web site has to be "skinny column, wide column, skinny column"?!?

I find my eyes bouncing all over the place on those sites and pretty quickly hit close.

Mambo is a little easier to use than you'd think. You will have to import the static pages, but if you just chop off the header and the footer for the old pages, it should update quite nicely. If your client uses IE, the Mambo admin has a WYSIWYG editor component.

Also, there's a wrapper component for Mambo that might let you launch a new site with old static content sitting in a subdirectory. You might consider that feature as a launching mechanism.

There's another CMS that lets you do in-page WYSIWYG editing but I can't remember the name of it off the top of my head. It's not on the OpenSourceCMS web site either... If I remember I'll post it here.

I have been 'playing' with Mambo today seems OK still getting used to it. A little buggy right now but I am throwing everything at it in order to get it fully tested.

Seems better than PHPNuke and XOOP, more friendly and less complicated.

The template system is really good.

I've been using Mambo for a while now, and this latest beta release -- with all its attendant problems -- is unusual for them. I've got my installations cleaned up, but it did waste some of my time.

If you looking for an evaluation of Mambo, I'd stick with 4.5 beta 1.0.3.. I suspect they'll get 1.0.4 cleaned up in the next week or two, but for now it's a little uncertain.

I've had 4.5 beta releases in production without problems.

I think you're right I'm gonna try 4.5/1.03 because....sheesh 4.5/1.04 sure is buggy right now...lol

Originally posted by blb
www.mamboserver.com
also see www.mamboportal.com
The BEST CMS!

Yes. Mambo is the best. I would use no other CMS. Mambo can have a commercial site or a personal site look to it. There are several high grade templates out there.

I hear the stable 4.5 release is not far away. I would reccomend using the 4.0.14 stable until 4.5 is stable. Although as noted 4.5/1.03 is the best so far.

Who cares Mambo still rules!
(I sound like a teenager, actually that would be - rulez!)