What is the most suitable CMS for my project.

legend474 · 21 Oct 2013 at 12:47

Hi.

I will be starting my final year project in uni but I am not sure what CMS to use for my website.

Functionality that I need:

Account creation
Several access levels on users
Different categories for articles
All users will be able to post a mini article in a specific category (and edit their own), but Mods/Admins will be able to delete/edit any
The articles to have comments
The articles to have votes +1/-1 and show total votes
Public User Profiles (containing things like username, posted articles)
API to feed data to Android app (only articles initially)

I've looked in Joomla and Drupal (Wordpress might be viable choice as well?) but still not sure which will be the best in terms of functionality and ease of use for my project.

Need to make the final decision on the CMS very soon so I can make a start on the project.

Thanks in advance!

EDIT: Forgot to mention that I have some experience with websites (did a big project last year based on HTML/CSS, PHP).

PMWD · 21 Oct 2013 at 15:34

I would suggest WordPress, I can't see anything in that list you'd struggle to setup.

MrClark · 21 Oct 2013 at 16:01

PMWD said:
I would suggest WordPress, I can't see anything in that list you'd struggle to setup.

Agree.
Second choice would be Joomla.

legend474 · 21 Oct 2013 at 19:54

PMWD said:
I would suggest WordPress, I can't see anything in that list you'd struggle to setup.

MrClark said:
Agree.
Second choice would be Joomla.

Thanks for the replies.

I failed to mention that I need to structure it in certain way.

Just done a quick wireframe:
https://www.dropbox.com/s/qavsewmf4bpx644/WebsitePublic.png

Can I achieve this structure with wordpress?

Thanks again.

Th3M8dH8tt3r · 22 Oct 2013 at 02:04

You'll be able to build the site however you like. If you're a dab hand with PHP, getting familiar with the WordPress actions, hooks and filters won't be too tricky for you.

WordPress can more then comfortably do what you need it to do.

legend474 · 22 Oct 2013 at 08:28

Thanks! I guess I will make a start very soon.

this_is_gav · 22 Oct 2013 at 11:52

Wordpress is a bit clunky when it comes to roles. There is no built in role creation/editing (other than the default options for admin, author, subscriber, etc), but plugins such as Members can do this.

legend474 · 23 Oct 2013 at 09:37

What I also failed to mention is that the "mini-articles" need to hold several bits of information and not only picture, title and description. I need couple of more fields on the creation form. I hope that's doable.

gord · 23 Oct 2013 at 09:49

Is the website the project, or just a delivery mechanism for the project?

The advanced custom fields plugin is what you want. edit: For Wordpress

Timbo_La · 23 Oct 2013 at 11:32

not sure if it is the most suitable but it ticks a few of your requirements, have a look at http://www.modx.com it has a bit of a learning curve but just follow a few tutorials and you should be ok.

Tim

englishpremier · 23 Oct 2013 at 16:22

I think MODX would be a good choice especially for the user roles, but also its customisation.

There is no native options for categories in MODX or its articles snippet. The easy way around this is to structure your posts properly under the correct container and use that as your category.

The only issue there is if you want a post in more than on category.

legend474 · 23 Oct 2013 at 16:55

gord said:
Is the website the project, or just a delivery mechanism for the project?

The advanced custom fields plugin is what you want. edit: For Wordpress

The whole process is the project. Although the actual website is worth 25% of the total mark (which in my opinion is a **** take).

I will have a look at that plugin you mentioned.

McBain · 5 Nov 2013 at 11:05

Absolutely Drupal is well worth a look.

UncleBob · 21 Nov 2013 at 20:19

englishpremier said:
I think MODX would be a good choice especially for the user roles, but also its customisation.

There is no native options for categories in MODX or its articles snippet. The easy way around this is to structure your posts properly under the correct container and use that as your category.

The only issue there is if you want a post in more than on category.

Couldn't you just use getResources/getPage and filter result by tags?