Content management

I’ve spent a great deal of time this week researching hosted and installed content management systems in an effort to amalgamate a number of long term clients on a single platform.

I’m still on the fence about a number of options, but I think I’ve narrowed it down to using an installed app rather than a hosted one, and something off the shelf rather than building my own.

Right now I’ve got a number of custom developed sites and backends that could easily be put under one system. The trouble with being able to build my own (and having strong opinions on how) is that I’m not interested in accepting a solution that doesn’t feel right to me for sites like these (like Drupal or Wordpress).

Some front runners have emerged, and now if a better option doesn’t reveal itself I’ll be making a decision this week.

One hosted CMS that caught my eye was Harmony – a relative newcomer to the hosted cms scene, with some great features and a slick interface. Very close to the mark but it lacks the permissions I’d like to see, and seems geared toward building blog sites. I can see it maturing into something I’d like to use in the not too distant future, but I need something for today.

Another honourable mention goes to Symphony. I enjoy the way it models data, and the interface is great, but I’m not interested in dealing with XML/XSLT on a regular basis.

So my short list for a common CMS platform is now:

  1. ExpressionEngine (with Multiple Site Manager)
  2. MojoMotor
  3. Perch

EE is the heavyweight here (in more ways than one). I have some experience with it, and although I have some reservations there really isn’t a match for its features, its simplicity of the interface for administrators, and its support.

MojoMotor is billed as EE light. I have no experience with it, but it’s backed by the PHP CodeIgniter framework which I used quite often before I discovered Rails. Lightweight and extensible, I may need to kick the tires on this one to see if it holds up.

Perch is the dark horse. I’ve used it once before and love the simplicity, but I’m not sure the way it models data would hold up to some of the things I need a CMS to do, and I’ve found administrators have trouble with the multi item content region interface.

I often find if a decision like this isn’t obvious (which it still isn’t to me) then I need to look at other options, but time is running short. Let me know if you have a recommendation.