Please recommend a CMS for this

Hi, apart from wordpress ive not used a real CMS before, im looking for features within a CMS that cannot be found within wordpress that im aware of.

What i need is something where users can make post themselves, i guess this would require them to join and post what they intend to, this needs to be kept simple, dont want them jumping through hoops just to use the site.

I want it to be SE friendly in the sense of sef url's, preferably that wont require a plugin if possible just for that benefit.

Ive looked at joomla many times before but im always put off by dozens of things regarding it, everything from plugins not being continued (updated) to the apparent learning curve it is said to have, that some things seem outdated on it...

Others mention drupal but then i read of dislikes towards it, that the people surrounding it are snobby or something, an aloofness or god knows what, i really dont want this from just using a CMS.

So im looking for other recommendations, something too if possible where theres a decent availability of premium themes (yes premium themes) im not looking for everything to be free or at least that its not a nightmare to put together a theme/template for the CMS.

Added Actually i wont rule out Drupal yet, because ive never looked into that properly, joomla i know i dont want to use.

If you're a drupal user please feel free to post your likes and dislikes here, any obvious headaches or anything that it can cause? whats the community like, security etc?

 

have you look into these ones as well?

SilverStripe
http://silverstripe.org

Concrete5
http://www.concrete5.org

ModX CMS
http://modxcms.com/

cliff

 

Well, i'm sure you know this, but you can let your users post in wordpress too, and i think that one is the easiest solution (if you are considering that your users are not webmasters)

Other solution (if you want to build a community) is vBulletin with a portal system, paying for someone to make a well designed index page (you mentioned it don't have to be free)

Drupal would be a great idea too, it has all the necessary cms functions, you can read of that in this forum enough.

 

Since you've already ruled out Joomla, you may not be up to the learning curve of Drupal. Always, of course, evaluate for yourself.

You are familiar with WordPress... why not use WordPress MU? WPMU was designed for the multiuser (MU) environment to allow members to have their own blogs. Both projects are merging per the official developers, and, based on the documentation I've read, most of the "classic" WP plugins will work with WPMU. I've been playing with WPMU/BuddyPress and am really getting a kick out of it. I'm primarily still a Joomla user for "traditional" CMS needs, but WPMU with BP is looking great. Also, there is a HUGE press to introduce classic CMS functionality into WordPress, and there are plugins and developers who are actually making this happen.

 

Try phpnuke or something similar.

 

I recommend you using drupal: http://drupal.org
Checkout the list of website using drupal at http://buytaert.net/ (there is many great company, oganization using it like Nato, Nike, Havard, UN, Adobe, Sun, Yahoo ...)

 

Drupal is powerful, which is why so many large companies use it. But Drupal has a high learning curve, and doesn't have nearly the number of plugins, etc., as do WordPress and Joomla. Not to say that other CMS platforms don't require learning - Joomla is not trivial, either. I wouldn't just recommend Drupal to anyone, especially if he or she wants to get up and running quickly.

 

Thanks il take a look at them ctkw

Thanks for your suggestions too.

Il look closer at WPMU, thanks, id like to see wordpress definately become more of a CMS over time.

Thanks, il take a look.

Ive been reading more about drupal today, a few things have put me off it further.

I will look through all suggestions though, what i may have to do it settle for what i can do with wordpress for some sites and look into custom coding for others.

Its that old thing of a CMS doing nearly all of what you want, some being more suited to various jobs than others, all having pros and cons.

Thanks everyone for your suggestions.

 

For a great commercial solution, try ExpressionEngine

 

Check out this demo site. This is where I usually start for Open Source PHP/MySQL software demos.

php.opensourcecms.com/

Cheers,
Jeff

 

In all honesty, you should try programming your own to fit your own needs. Self made is the best in my opinion. If you need help, just dissect other scripts to help get a general understanding. If you want, I could actually program one for you? I did my first one when I was 13. I am 22 now

 

I agree, i realise more than ever now that to get what i truely need i need to custom code as its near impossible to find a cms/ready made script to fit what i want.

 

You can use Drupal to create custom content type that allows users to post their own content. You can give permission to either anonymous or registered users. The module "views" will allow you to control how that submitted data is output and presented.

 

I bet Drupal will get you 95% of what you need out of the box. There are hundreds of developers that can craft missing functionality by creating custom Drupal module. Making 100% custom code from scratch makes no sense as you can reuse tons of ready to go features out of this powerful framework.

 

Yeah pipes, and if you need help on certain features, just kind of dissect other scripts and get an understanding for it. That is what I did on my first CMS. It may take time but, you feel damn good about yourself in the end and you take more pride in your website.

=)