…WordPress Is The Best CMS, Really… ?

Recently, I looked at numerous CMS’ to find out if there is anything new going on on the market. Again, the best ones are the those for which you have to pay for (Expression Engine).  But I also saw some reasonable improvements in CMS’ that many have already forgotten. A lot of developers say that Joomla is about to be eliminated. However, a significant difference between 1.5 and its predecessor makes me believe that Joomla will still be with us and probably soon will have more features to match the new line if CMS’ like MODx and SilverStripe.

I discovered a great article about it at  SpyreStudios.com. A lot of users mentioned WordPress as a leading CMS. Very interesting choice, I must say. I thought that WordPress is perfect for blogs, but using it for a simple website or a rather large one did not make any sense to me. I sat and studied why it is actually so popular. Then I discovered that many modern web designs resemble blog sites, e.g. Bredova.ru (uses MODx CMS). Among layouts like this, it seems like WordPress is the leader.

However, let’s say I need more. I want to implement numerous modules, articles, and menus onto my website. Then what? If I use WordPress, I basically have to re-write the whole CMS to fit my needs by hand. PHP and WordPress command knowledge required. I don’t like this idea. If I wanted to write a website from scratch, I would use Netbeans or some other utility. I want something that I can put in my already-made XHTML design and utilize it without major PHP rewriting. Why should I do that if there are many other CMS’ that already have it all built in. I spent hours checking the features of each CMS and came to the conclusion that, yes, some are more advanced than others (e.g. unlike Joomla, some CMS can manage sub-domains or multiple sites), but mostly, they are very similar.

This brought me to the conclusion that using what you know best, if it does the job, may save you a lot of time. Unless you have a spare time or something is wrong with a CMS you use, don’t waste your time. Use the one you know. Some CMS may lack features, then you have no choice but to switch. But it’s for the best, choose well this time which one to stick with… However, judging by how fast technology progresses, it’s difficult to forecast if a leading CMS today will stay as technologically advanced in 2 years, even with all the updates.