What is the best Open Source CMS System?

Question

From the Developer (web dev/designer) point of view (POV). Not from the guy paying the bill POV.

Please read below:

Our company is looking for a good CMS system to develop our new website. We are looking for:

1. Easy maintainability of the content
2. Well kept MVC model
3. Widely supported

We want something that will give us the flexibility to implement a great design without recoding in a proprietary language. Is there any available Open Source System available with this features?

Note 1: Even when some people might think this is a duplicate question since click here, there is more in this question that I will like to investigate. I am looking at the CMS from the programmer (web dev) perspective. Asking especifically on the 3 req above.

Answer 1

If you're determined to go with a strict MVC approach, don't listen to anyone who tells you that Drupal is a good choice. I love it and I make my living with it, but it's not MVC.

It succeeds on the other counts, and it still does a relatively good job of separating 'skinning/design' from 'business logic,' but the split is nowhere near as explicit as a full on MVC system.

Answer 2

Sometimes I ask myself the same question from the Developer (web dev/designer) point of view and customer point of view. I always check this site because CMSs features are always changing. There is a long list of features you could expect from a CMS.

However, not all features and requirements are there.

I also discriminate CMSs depending on their underlying framework: .NET based CMSs, .NET Framework (is it enough, maybe not?). But, how about PHP-based ones? There are a lot of PHP Frameworks to consider (Prado, CakePHP, etc) and you find things like Prado Portal or OvenCMS that is heavily invested in jQuery for Ajax stuff because nowadays it seems like if "no AJAX no good" (some people think this way). And there are other CMSs written in other languages and other frameworks for them. To me the framework answer your #2 and #3 concern.

My advise, do check the features you want, check your requirements, have a good plan and then code away. Because after you reach your first milestone, or your first Beta, you (or someone else) will want more, more, more...the best Open Source is what you choose and commit to after dedicating some time to decide.

Answer 3

Check out Alfresco - it's an open source enterprise-level CMS. Has a large community and large deployment base. It's designed to be highly extensible, and many people use it for low-level abstractions it provides. Developers typically enjoy the openness of the architecture and the customization hooks it provides. (disclaimer: I used to do consulting for them.)