18.06.08
Jamie
CMS Comparison in a Nutshell
Which content management system (CMS) should I install? This is a question which doesn’t have a simple answer. The right CMS depends, in my opinion, on who will be using it, how much support is required and how extensible it needs to be. Over the years I have installed, tested and evaluated many solutions on various platforms, but as an advocate for open source, I will give a quick rundown of my two favourite open source products: Typolight and Drupal.
In a nutshell
Drupal has been around for longer (version 6+), has a larger community, has many more modules which make it seem more extensible. However, these modules, which can be installed to solve most core limitations, will add to the complexity of the installation. Typolight is only on version 2+ but has a growing community, a gradual learning curve, and a clear distinction between the front and back-end.
For me, Drupal is for the more experienced developer, who has time available to learn and configure the system. If the project has complexities such as hooking into third party APIs or running an open source shopping basket, Drupal is the way to go as it has such modules already available. Typolight on the other hand allows you to build such modules, but doesn’t have them readily available (as yet).
If your project deadline is looming and you are looking to build a site with elements such as news, image slideshow and calendar, which is simple for your clients to administer, then Typolight could be the answer. Within Typolight, there is a clear distinction between the look & feel of the website and the admin pages. The naming convention within the admin pages is also easy to understand for a novice user. In Drupal, this distinction isn’t so clear and the naming convention can be confusing for the administrator. Modules are available to solve these issues but they do require a fair amount of configuration and testing.
Modules/Extensions
Both products are well built and if you are familiar with object oriented PHP, you will be able to add your own modules.
As Typolight, out of the box, has most required modules to build basic sites, I haven’t looked into any of the available extensions. Drupal, on the other hand, requires you to install modules to achieve many tasks. There are too many modules to mention so I will list a few of my favourites:
If you would like compare other content management systems then head over to CMS Matrix.
I hope the comparison was useful, please share your experiences and opinions.
