Why do people use CMS instead of Dreamweaver?

I'm sort of old school and I always thought that building a webpage would be best done through programs such as Dreamweaver. Now, coming to this forum, I'm hearing talk of WP, Joomla, Drupal, etc.

What is the advantage/disadvantage of each? Why is programming a page one way easier than the other?

I'd really like to make a few webpages that will potentially have hundreds of pages and I don't know how to get started. There are too many options out there. I'd appreciate any advice.

 

Basically the reason you install a CMS is so the client can update the site on their own without going back to the designer for each little edit. WordPress and blog software is a little different because it is geared specifically for blogging and has specific features built in.

 

By using a CMS, such as Wordpress, you are leveraging the years of experience that has been put into the product, which translates into saving time. The CMS product represents a very understanding in areas such as security, performance, SEO, user ergonomics, design architecture (presentation, application, and database layers), etc. However, you are, more or less, at the mercy of the developers to keep coming out with a reliable product with backward compatibility. Some CMSs do better or worse in this area.

Rich

 

or you can have a coder create a quality cms for you which is better than having to wait for plugins on joomla!

 

The cost of developing new applications for a website is vastly reduced by working with a CMS because all of the base functionality you need is there out of the box, probably much better quality than any coder you can higher simply because these CMSs are worked by a lot of people for years and have an entire community behind them testing for bugs and security problems.

I would suggest the excellent Website Baker for small to medium sized projects because this is so easy to extend to what you need it to do that it really is a breath of fresh air. I only discovered it myself a year ago..and I never touched the complicatedness of Joomla again.

Building your own CMS just really isn't necessary these days. The experts are already doing that for you.

 

Hmm... that seems a little 'disingenuous' as those two options don't seem to be 'alternatives'. That is to say, you imply that instead of waiting for a Joomla plugin you should wait for a coder you are going to pay.

Couldn't the argument be turned around, then, and put as "or you can have a coder create the plugin you want on Joomla for you which is better than having to wait for a developer to create a CMS"?

 

I would agree with that, any coder worth his salt should be able to code a plugin for a CMS. They really aren't that hard to achieve..just some CMSs are much more difficult than others.

 

but with joomla you have to search for an application and all. If you have a custom made website for a company such as me your going to need someone to make a custom cms for you because you have a custom looking website and does not look like all the other template joomla sites!
I have used joomla and its a very great application for websites but I need more flexibility in how the website looked!

 

It's true that Joomla sites often look the same with their hideous URLs especially (yes, I know they can be changed but the default ones are pig awful). That's why I use website baker personally for my sites and none of them look the same because everything is much more customisable. There are more CMSs than just Joomla out there, I've never considered that particularly good personally anyway.

 

Actually I don't use CMS instead of Dreamweaver, I use both. I still code my templates in DW, hack all my files locally in DW and u/l them to my CMS so I get the best of both worlds

 

I will echo what scribbz and create11 said. It really depends what your requirements are.

* If you need a 5 page company site that does not change use DW or FW+DW - no user login/ managing sessions

* If you want to collect information into a database your needs for a CMS increase. You can still use DW and build simple forms and sort them using Javascript extensions or Interakt scripts

* If you want your members to be able talk to themselves, give permissions to certain pages or areas of the site perhaps even integrate a shopping cart your needs towards a CMS increase

* Personally I am a big Drupal fan but I recommend the following to my clients
5-10 page company profile site = DW+FW:
Personal Blog : Wordpress
Some collaboration mostly documentation : MediaWiki
Article site but I am computer shy : cmsmadesimple.org - like joomla only simpler
Bigger Article site with some client interaction : Joomla - If you mostly publishing content/files/pdf and really like pretty templates use it.
I need an Application : Drupal - Is more an application framework than a CMS. The framework with sessions and a bunch of high level programmers stuff. If a client says I want to start by providing XYZ and branch into providing other services then I know drupal is probably a good choice.
I use to do custom development from scratch but now I just use Drupal because a lot of people work hard to ensure the code is secure etc...

Just my 2 cents

 

Dreamweaver is a terrible CMS if you are not educated about it enough.

 

Most important reasons for using a cms are : -
1 - Its save hundred of hours
2 - centralized management of site features
3 - stats, user controls etc.
4 - after you site has grown too big and popular then you will become mad managing them if not on cms.
5 - cnet.com , tomshardware.com , world health organization type of sites cannot be run without a cms.

The most advance CMS is Krang and bricolage. Dont even download these because I challenge 99% of DP members that they could not even install them.

BTW Bricolage powers these
http://www.adcouncil.org/
http://www.macworld.com
http://www.playlistmag.com
http://www.et.yahoo.com
http://www.who.int/

and krang powers

http://www.newyorkmetro.com
http://www.motortrend.com
http://importtuner.com/


check these

 

if you need time to your web site, you can use dreamweaver or front page to make your site but when you finish , you will not ahve different think from a cms.

 

I have two site one made with dreamweaver (kanpurplace) and other made with wordpress (celebrity site). kanpurplace contain 100 static pages. kanpurplace was updated a year ago so its ok to make site with dreamweaver when you are not gonna update it frequently. but if you will be updating your site regularly then dreamweaver will take you to nearest brain hospital within a year. .

CMS rocks! cause its you only have to write content and rest is automatic

 

dreamweaver is atrocious...if you're going to build a page the hard way, you can't beat CSS & Wordpad...

To answer the question, it's pointless to re-write the dictionary and spend 10x the amount of time to create a page from square one, than to simply install a CMS and get the site up and running in a week or two

 

go for CMS

i started out with dreamweaver..

takes too much time..

 

I completely agree! I use a text editor for all my CMS templates.