Which language/Framework/CMS to use for content-based, easily updatable web application?

Question

Hi All,

I am an experienced Java developer and have developed many enterprise applications. Recently I decided to develop a website that has lots of images and videos. The website should also be easily updatable and all type of contents (e.g. images, videos, songs) should be uploaded.

I searched a lot on this forum and other places on the net, and realized that this web application is a candidate of being build with a CMS. I have no exposure to PHP, however I found that Drupal and Joomla are among the best CMS systems. I did not find any such popular and widely used CMS in Java technology, though it seems that Grails can be one useful technology for developing this website.

Please provide your thoughts on which language/framework/CMS would be the best choice for building such web application.

Thanks.

My biggest query is that since I am a Java developer and don't have any knowledge of PHP and Drupal/Joomla, which should be the one framework that I should learn to build an image/video content rich web application.

The application will be accessed through only the web browser, would have around 100 pages (roughly 10 customizable pages each for 10 clients), and the users should be easily able to add/update contents (images/vedeos/songs/text).

Answer 1

Hey,

You can easy deploy system like this with Joomla. Look into following components for Joomla:

1. JCE editor, to make your content editing experience better.
2. hwdVideoShare, you can look at demo here. They also have hwPhotoShare, but it hasa commercial license.
3. JoomGallery, for photo
4. Joom!Fish for multi-lingual content
5. sh404Sef for search engine friendly links and other SEO features

Most components above are open source and are free. They will help you start, you will need to modify it for your needs, etc...

Answer 2

From your 1 line description "The website should also be easily updatable and all type of contents (e.g. images, videos, songs) should be uploaded." I would recommend staying away from frameworks like Grails/Django etc. For simple requirements they are just too complicated.

Using Joomla/Drupal you should be able to achieve your objective. Only if it doesnt work in Joomla/Drupal (or some other CMS) should you try a framework.

Between Joomla and Drupal I would choose Drupal (I'm partial to it :-) ).

There are many modules that can be used to satisfy your objectives. Please pickup a book on Drupal e.g. http://oreilly.com/catalog/9780596515805 (available in low cost editions).