There are many questions to answer when first creating a web site. What should it look like, what language should it be written in, should I use a content management system, and which one? Content management systems, which are becoming increasingly popular, provide a great way to get a web site that would have taken months to write up in a couple days. While this is not to say they are always the best solution, or even necessarily a good one, they are an option that should be considered, especially by non-programmers.

The most popular content management system is something many people don’t even think of as a content management system - WordPress. While predominantly a platform for blogging, it is completely possible to make a site in WordPress without using any blog-like features. WordPress features a large library of extensions, a very simple codebase, and a decent support community. I say decent, because despite its huge user base, it is only a small percentage of users that are comfortable actually extending and fixing the system. The authors of WordPress have also created a piece of forum software known as bbPress, which can be easily integrated into WordPress sites, provided you know some PHP. An example of just such a setup can be found at my site, osflv.com.

If you are looking to do something a little more elaborate, you might also want to look into Joomla. My personal site, TrentTompkins.com, is running a modified version of it. Joomla comes with more features than WordPress out of the box, though many of these will end up going unused. Joomla also requires content be laid out in a Section > Category style organizational system, with the menus having to be created separate from the content system. The learning curve on Joomla is higher than WordPress, and the unintuitive nature of it can scare away new users. The big advantage Joomla has over WordPress is its extensions. While both applications have a ton of extensions available, the extensions for WordPress are aimed more towards bloggers, not site owners. For this reason, there are many plugins for Joomla that lack any equivalent in WordPress. Not all of these plugins are free though, or even cheap. In fact, you can expect to pay for a lot of what you need, be it plugins, training or support. The Joomla community is large, but reading through the message board you will find a lot more questions than answers. The support available is further split between versions 1.0 and 1.5, something I doubt will change anytime soon, as many sites have invested large amounts of money on custom solutions that will need rewritten for the next version, if they ever decide to upgrade.

When picking a content management system, the best advice I can give is this: If you can do it in WordPress, do it in WordPress. If there is a situation where WordPress just can’t be used (like needing a Joomla only plugin) then Joomla is a fine choice - just keep in mind that your site is going to be a lot more complex, and may cost you more in setup and programmers fees if you ever encounter an issue you can’t handle yourself.

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