I know somebody who has a website at the moment that uses Contribute and he wants a new and updated website. I'm looking at Content Management Systems to be able to run and power the website and anything he wants it do to.

 

I've got experience with Drupal, but it's not the most user friendly CMS. I want to be able to build the website and then he can manage it himself, adding and editing content without the technical know how. What is the best user friendly CMS?

 

Also he wants it to be cross browser compatible, so it will work in firefox, IE, Safari, but also to work on things like the IPad and other devices.

 

What CMS's do you recommend I look at?

Wordpress - http://wordpress.org/

Joomla - http://www.joomla.org/

Thanks.

 

I've looked at Joomla before. Is it quite versatile from the start or does it require a lot of addons? Because i've heard that a lot of the addons you have to buy.

 

Isn't Wordpress only really for blogs?

 

Any others?

http://wordpress.org/

http://drupal.org/

Isn't Wordpress only really for blogs?

Things have moved on quite a bit. It's just a general CMS now with exceptional blogging capabilities.

I work very closely with WP and found it the easiest to get involved with developing/theming.

If i were to use Wordpress how many of the plugins are free?

 

Could you use it to sell products through your site?

 

Is it very user friendly?

In my opinion the most user friendly CMS award should go to WORDPRESS

If i were to use Wordpress how many of the plugins are free?

14,486 plugins - Source

 

Could you use it to sell products through your site?

Yes - Source

 

Is it very user friendly?

The most user friendly CMS I know of.

What about the multi platform aspect.

 

I've read about wordpress have extensions for other device, android, blackberry, and iOS. Are they just for editing a wordpress site on them devices?

 

Is it possible to have a website that works for pc browsers but displays correctly i.e resizing on say an iPad or something?

What about the multi platform aspect.

 

I've read about wordpress have extensions for other device, android, blackberry, and iOS. Are they just for editing a wordpress site on them devices?

 

Is it possible to have a website that works for pc browsers but displays correctly i.e resizing on say an iPad or something?

Yes, there's tens of themes for Wordpress for this. You install the theme plugin, it will detect mobile devices and theme your site for an iDevice as appropriate. For computers, or non-mobile devices, your normal theme will be used. Simple.

 

As for the Wordpress app, yes it is used to edit your site/post to your blog.

Edited May 21, 201115 yr by andyl

For a developer and reader Wordpress is my personal favourite however I'd use an admin plugin as the admin area isn't the best for a non tech user.

Personally for me, i would be able to use it fine. It just needs to be user friendly for when it is all set up and then the person who it's for can easily edit and add content. So it needs to be as simple and intuitive as possible for a none technical user to maintain.

 

He also wants it to work across a lot of platforms. More and more people are using iPad's and mobiles to surf the web, so they want it to work across all of the different devices and browsers. Possibly with a mobile site as well, but i'm not sure about that yet.

 

Is it possible to have the main site and a mobile site but only have to update one. So you can update the main site and that's automatically reflected in the mobile site as well, so they wouldn't have to update and maintain two separate sites?

How "user friendly" a CMS can only really be decided by your client, what you need to do is find a few systems that will cope with your clients content needs then show them the backends so they can choose the one they feel most comfortable with

Is it possible to have the main site and a mobile site but only have to update one. So you can update the main site and that's automatically reflected in the mobile site as well, so they wouldn't have to update and maintain two separate sites?

This can be done very easily by installing an iPhone theme for the Wordpress site. The theme will be used for iPhone/iPad users to display the website appropriately.

Edited May 21, 201115 yr by andyl

Are there any guides that you know of for running a normal website and a mobile version as well?

 

Do you need a plugin for wordpress to do it? any you would recommend?

 

Is it run as one website? i.e do you only manage one website and update one website but it's represented in both versions?

 

Thanks

Are you even reading the posts? I've posted the answer to your question twice now.

 

To run a mobile version, you install a theme to Wordpress. When a mobile visits your site, the mobile theme will be used. That is all. The same website, but with different looks. Yes, you only manage one website.

 

WPTouch is a common solution: http://wordpress.org/extend/plugins/wptouch/

Edited May 24, 201115 yr by andyl

Yes, but if all you need to do is install a mobile theme what's the point of the plugins like wptouch?

Erm:

 

WPtouch: A simple, powerful and elegant mobile theme for your website.

 

Edit:

 

Let me put this into steps:

 

• Download and install Wordpress
  
• Design your own theme for it
  
• Install WPTouch AFTER designing your theme
  
• Visit on a computer - your theme will be used
  
• Visit on an iPhone/iPad/iPod WPTouch theme will be used
  

Edited May 24, 201115 yr by andyl

For a developer and reader Wordpress is my personal favourite however I'd use an admin plugin as the admin area isn't the best for a non tech user.

Can you recommend a decent admin plugin Mike?

Well i've used fluency a few times just to make the admin are a bit cleaner.

 

There are several i use randomly just to remove bits and bobs for clients, i feel they really shouldn't have access to certain things otherwise you'd get a call 10pm the very next day from the client asking why the sites bust