Best CMS for template / skin creation?

I've used Wordpress in a project and I've found that the construction of a template is a very tedious task. Especially compared to system like phpBB where it's just a case of going through the appropriate .tpl file.

Also I much prefer tables over DIVs. What do you think is the easiest CMS to skin? The purpose of said CMS would be to submit news items and articles. I also plan to incorporate a phpbb forum within it if possible.

 

I've taken up designing templates for Website Baker recently and find it a breeze to achieve what I want, I usually gave up with other CMSs to be honest finding it way too tedious. Check out the showcase area on my site in my sig for my latest two template conversions to this CMS, if you like. They are pretty nice templates to start with and the templating system lends itself well to such a content rich template.

Using the CMS's approach to section blocks and multiple menus, the sky is the limit - it really is something special and unique, and is actually FUN to take part in rather than actually trying to understand all the nuances of a templating system.

 

have you tried joomla? it's designed for publishing articles and news and it has tons of extensions

 

I'm very friendly with php-fusion. It's gone with me over 2 yrs. I like it, It's very easy to change skin by create themes for it. It's a free CMS plus a simple forum. But I make it has many changes: here the CMS and here the forum