keymaster wrote:
Not many people have mentioned the extrinsic reasons for choosing one over the other.
For example, if one had a need for ecommerce together with a cms, one might pick Joomla, as VirtueMart is superior to Drupal's ecommerce component. Or, if one needed a strong industrial class forum, one might choose Joomla for it's SMF integration. If one needed a super strong, active and friendly support community, Joomla again has to take the cake.
If one had a need for a help desk, one might pick XOOPS as xHelp is almost as good as a professional helpdesk, and is fully integrated into XOOPS. Also, if one wanted users to be able to manage static html pages and be able to manage menus and menu items from the front end, XOOPS might be your choice. XOOPS also excels at granular user permissions. So, if you wanted to set up different levels of admin groups or user groups, XOOPS gives great granularity.
If one needed multisite, distributed blogging and community building, Drupal might be best.
.. and so it goes. So a valid approach might be to not start with a CMS's technical capabilities/limitations, rather start with what your major requirements are and see which, at the present time, best satisfies those requirements.
BTW, this has to be one of the best threads on the subject. Keep it up!
KeyMaster - this is one of the most useful post in this thread for me. Like choosing a car or a tool - we must ask, "What is the intended use?"
A - How many well actually use multi-sites?
B - Are you a non-profit that straps you into waring most of the hats and you are not a programmer?
C - Does the need of MyAccount or MySpace a requirement? This allows each member to see pertinent information like: Invoicing / balances, personal calendar, myHelp Tickets, MyBookmarks, My Favorites.
D - A full range of pre-made modules that will well serve you needs?
E - A responsive community for assistance?
F - Easy to embed media objects as you would text?
G - Easy to install or un-install modules at a click of the mouse?
H - The ability to receive support by contract?
I - Muliti-lingual?
J - Understand the benefits and the long term dis-advantages of hacks?
K - Know your targeted market or your client's profiles - will they need feature and functionality of Drupal or Joomla for instance?
L - Are you primarily a content provider trying to find a CMS for your site?
There may be possibly more questions but we all need to ask ourselves - when each CMS has it drawbacks. Which CMS will allow me and me alone to be empowered to do the task which are needed? If you find someone else to help you - that will be like a bonus - but do not depend on it.
The other way is to hire someone based upon your requirements. Hiring others may leave you out of knowing how to admin or to construct needed task.
Here are my recommendations based upon the profile of class of user / developer:
The need for rapid setup and the plugging in of modules that really work nicely - Xoops
Pros:
1 - Rapid setup and easy module admin - you may plug in or plug out instantly with no problems to data integrity
2 - Embedded media like Flash and Quicktime
3 - Can work with groups or individuals. Say for instance - you want to create a private discussion, you can invite a group or a single member. To have both filters is great and most needed.
4 - Muliti-Lingual support
5 - Has it own forum modules - at which you may embed media as you would text
6 - Through the use of a backup module you may choose to backup: data/ tables / structure or a complete backup right to your desktop. Of course you can backup automatically via crone.
7 - XoopsCube (a fork of Xoops) is now positioned itself for better core development with a great roadmap, a dedicated / well managed team.
Cons :
! - Generally a non-responsive community with many good questions with no replies
2- Security is still an issue
3 - No ability for a MyAccount or MySpace. The core does not allow this.
4 - Development cycles are very long
5 - No muliti-site ability
6 - Core development roadmap is not clear - and it seems like they may have to roll back some of the development in the lastest version
7 - Talented core and module developers have left Xoops development
I am not really qualified to speak on Joomla but wanted to make some statements. I may be incorrect but this is my opinion and will happy to be corrected.
Joomla Pros:
A - One of the most responsive and helpful communities every brought together - ever !
B - Aggressive core developers that seem to have a clear vision
C- Great aesthetic layout for finished ready-to-publish pages
E - Good documentation
Cons
A - Stability and Security issues still exist - the use of HTML text editors does not help this situation
B - Hard to understand plugging in modules that need to be uploaded and made active
C - Difficult in embedding media objects like Flash as you would text
E - Usually out of reach for a content provider
F - Does not have in its core - the ability to add a My Account or MySpace
Con: for Drupal
A - Can not manage individual members - if you want an individual to have certain writes, you must give that individual a group name. It is most strange that the core assigns a member ID but you can not do anything with permissions with that member ID. The member is not an entity - they are all lumped in as a group.
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My organization is running dual projects - one with Xoops and the other with Drupal. The cost of development with Drupal is extreme. Things that you take for granted and are very simple to do with Xoops will be laborious in Drupal and will cost you dearly. If your needs are of industrial strength and you must have mult-sites - than Drupal is a possible candidate.
I would define Drupal as great ready-made framework which everything which sits on top needs to be modified and /or customized.
Rick
