Choosing A CMS – There Is More Than Just WordPress

It seems that the days of someone building a site from scratch without the help of a CMS are long gone. Many CMS in the market can easily create a website for every user, make any style for the site, and use tech-related knowledge.

Whatever your level, and your intended use, you can find a CMS to suit you. Not to mention the time/costs of getting something custom-built. It makes little sense to reinvent the wheel when the applications out there are more than adequate.

This article will run through some of the more common content management platforms and some of the not-so-common ones if you’re feeling a bit adventurous.

WordPress

I know I said that this article is more than just WordPress, but it’s so popular these days, so widely used, and so feature-rich that it simply has to get a mention. What started as a primary, the run-of-the-mill blogging platform has transformed into one of the most advanced content management systems.

Whether you want to set up and operate a basic blog. A 1,000,000 hit-a-day content site or even a complex online shop WordPress can do it all. And even if WordPress can’t do it out of the box. You can rest assured that there will be some add-on/plugin for it that can cater to your every need.

Grav CMS

If you’re an experienced developer, you might be surprised to see this one on the list. But it is most definitely one of my favorites. It’s lightweight and doesn’t even need a database which is a big, big plus.

Grav uses flat files and the Markdown language/formatting as a content processor, making it not only high-speed loading but also straightforward to lay things out without complex, memory-intensive WYSIWYG editors.

Admittedly, it takes a bit of leg work to get things going, but there is help at hand should you want to do a full install. Or get your web host to do it for you. Even if you don’t end up being a long-time user of this app, at least give it a try and see what you think.

Joomla

In terms of a complete, all-around content management system, there isn’t much better than Joomla. It has always been a content management system for “websites” and not just blogs like WordPress. As a result, the style of sites you can create with this application has a lot more scope than being locked into something like WordPress. While some of the admin panel shows their age. It is still a significant player, and add-ons and modules are forever in development.

Drupal

Drupal is favored amongst developers as it’s not considered as noddy as the likes of WordPress and Joomla. You can do a lot more with it in terms of customization of your site without relying on third-party plugins and advanced theme features.

Unfortunately, Drupal seems to be losing a bit of the market share in recent times. Due to the popularity of WordPress. Also, people opt to use the new-fangled online website builders to create their online masterpieces. It’s unfortunate, but it’s a sign of the times.
So there we have it, hopefully, on your next build.

You’ll try one of the other apps rather than just going with your tried and tested WordPress. Who knows, you might find something you prefer. If not, no harm is done then you can always revert and install WordPress as you see fit.

Lots of the above have scripts/plugins available to merge databases or import/export between solutions. So even if you’re switching at a later date, it’s not the end of the world.

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