Daniel Marino

Which CMS is the Best?

Over the past several months, I’ve been trying to familiarize myself with several different content management systems. I’m always finding arguments as to which CMS is the best. I have the answer right here: none of them are the best. I’ve used WordPress, TextPattern (which is what this site runs on) and I’m starting to play with Expression Engine. I know that’s are just a small sampling of what’s available, but it’s enough to know that all CMS’s are different in one way or another.

First, I’ve used these CMS’s, not necessarily because I’m looking for the best, but because I like to know what options are available to me and to my clients. All CMS’s have their ups and downs. WordPress is easy to use and works great for blogging. I find that TextPattern is great for site customization and you don’t need to be as familiar with PHP to customize it (Unlike WordPress). I’ve only been using Expression Engine for a couple of days, but so far I can tell that it has a really powerful and easy-to-use backend, which woud be really great from a clients viewpoint.

The reason why I’m using TextPattern here is because: a) I wanted to learn a new CMS, b) I’ve heard a lot of people advocate it, and c) it runs fast. I see flaws in it though. It’s hard to integrate certain plugins. There isn’t as much documentation/support available as there might be for other CMS’s because its not very popular (yet). I had a horrible time trying to integrate certain aspects of my design to the backend. I don’t regret using it. Now that I’m more familiar with it, I think it’s a little easier to use. From a client standpoint, writing blog entries and adding categories is a snap. The portfolio is a little harder to update, but that more-or-less has to do with the way I set everything up. I like TextPattern and I’ve used it for setting up CMS’s for clients in the past.

So to all those asking which is the best CMS, I suggest you sample a little bit of all of them. One might work better in certain circumstances while another might work better for you in a different circumstance.