There are many, many Content Managements Systems available to the end-user. The choice comes down to preference and budget, though the main apps themselves are free. If you are serious about your blog or other site, you should check these and and decide what is best for your needs. Whatever you decide, a CMS is a essential part of almost every major commercial or personal site these days, so it makes sense that it can help you or your business out too. So here are without a doubt the top 3 content management systems based on popularity and features.
WordPress is one of the most highly used and rated Content Management Systems that is currently being used and updated. As of February there were over 22 million WordPress publishers with more than ten million blogs hosted on the site, and more than eleven million installations of the WordPress software being currently used. This is the premiere blogging software, and comes with an easy to use theme system that can be changed without having to move or re-input content. The in-system editors give you full access to theme css, hmtl and php files allowing a highly customizable experience. Check out this article featuring some of the most popular WordPress Theme sites. With initial work starting in May of 03, WordPress is nearing its milestone 3.0 release in mid 2010. They also have a very active and helpful user community at WordPress.org
Drupal is another CMS with a considerable user-base that is very active. Its focus is more general than blogging, and features a extensive branching categories system, with a large selection of pre-installed modules (plugins) that provide many extra and useful features for your site. It’s more technical than WordPress, so therefore more difficult to learn and administer, however this may be quite beneficial for the tech-savy user looking for more than just a blog setup.
Joomla! is another freely available award-winning Content Management System touting ease-of-us and extendability. It is one of the most popular Web-based softwares on the internet. Starting with Joomla! is very easy though it provides highly advanced functionality. It is more like Drupal than WordPress in this respect. The Developer community is thriving, providing more than 3,200 extensions currently which take care of many desired functionalities. Joomla!’s plugins and themes are not as freely availble as the other sites; in fact, the majority of them are not free at all, so users should be prepared to pay for these extras. This may be best suited for a business with a budget, as opposed to a casual user with a blog.
Silverstripe, Radiant, Expression Engine, Frog, Cushy or one of the many others may provide you with functionality or an interface that you prefer. So, be sure to at least give a once-over to these additional Content Management System applications. Any one of them could be the right one for your personal or business web-page or blog.
Tags: CMS, Content Management System, Cushy, Drupal, Joomla, Wordpress