Thread

I know clients not willing to pay for the commercial license of EE are probably best to avoid, but I do have some websites for friends that I would like to put up and I’m curious about what EE users decide to use.

So what free CMS would you use besides Wordpress to develop a website like this?

It’s not free ($8/mo), but http://www.popslice.com/ looks pretty sweet.

ModX may work for you, it’s a little long winded, but it is free

It’s not free ($8/mo), but http://www.popslice.com/ looks pretty sweet.

I never heard of this CMS but it does look pretty nice from what I see on the website.. thanks!

ModX may work for you, it’s a little long winded, but it is free

I actually used Modx before coming to EE.. Is there any other options other than ModX that is completely free?

So far popslice does seem like a nice option but just curious if there is anythin else that is completely free that I can take a look at

I used CMS Made Simple, completely free, for one site and it worked out pretty well. It’s a nice product for a brochure-ware type site….here is the site.
http://www.atrafireplaces.com/

It builds all those drop down menus internally. etc…...lots of add-ons also.

This was a well paying client - but they had no need for the more technical and changeable features of EE. The site has remained the same for over a year/

Edit - not sure of what their gallery or portfolio features are…...

I also recently used Gallery (free script) for my large picture gallery…...

I have tried using Modx once, horrible experience.
I don’t like a UI like that at all.
It all depends on what you’re looking for, one portfolio site isn’t the other.

Try opensource cms to test out some others.
I like indexhibit for some sites.
I was impressed by Pixie Cms, but haven’t used it yet. It has potential.

For portfolio sites for friends, I would definitely use Wordpress - it has lots of ready made portfolio themes that you could just customise where needed and be up and running very quickly.

Aside from that, I’ve seen artists get online hosted portfolio sites at http://cargocollective.com - I think you need to contact them to try and get an invite - free basic account through.

I have also used Perch for these type of sites - see http://grabaperch.com/solutions/for/portfolios for info particular to portfolio sites. It’s not free, but there is just a small one time fee of £35.

i recently came across Concrete5.. does anyone know anything about this CMS?

I tried and didn’t like Concrete5 looks good at first glance but is not good enough.

I tried and didn’t like Concrete5 looks good at first glance but is not good enough.

ok thanks! ill take a look at some of these other options. What is it that you didn’t like about Concrete5?

I tried and didn’t like Concrete5 looks good at first glance but is not good enough.

ok thanks! ill take a look at some of these other options. What is it that you didn’t like about Concrete5?

Front end page editing, i’m no fan of that.

I used CMS Made Simple, completely free, for one site and it worked out pretty well. It’s a nice product for a brochure-ware type site….here is the site.
http://www.atrafireplaces.com/

It builds all those drop down menus internally. etc…...lots of add-ons also.

This was a well paying client - but they had no need for the more technical and changeable features of EE. The site has remained the same for over a year/

Edit - not sure of what their gallery or portfolio features are…...

I also recently used Gallery (free script) for my large picture gallery…...

I have to go with Handyman on this one. CMS Made Simple was a breeze to set up and modifying an existing theme to suit your needs is quite simple. I was able to set it up, re-skin an existing theme, and migrate a clients static site content (about 10 pages) in about 5-6 hrs (with no prior experience using cms made simple).

The Gallery add-on is great. Puts a Gallery module in the main admin and you can upload multiple photos at one time. I believe it generated its own thumbnails as well… It allows you to choose from 3 (i believe) delivery methods, Lytebox, ThickBox, and a few others.

All in all a great opensource product.

I know clients not willing to pay for the commercial license of EE are probably best to avoid, but I do have some websites for friends that I would like to put up and I’m curious about what EE users decide to use.

So what free CMS would you use besides Wordpress to develop a website like this?

For what reasons are you avoiding Wordpress? Just curious.

PyroCMS, which has a donation-ware version as well as a pro version, is my go to CMS for smaller clients / smaller projects. The syntax is close enough to EE that working with it isn’t as much of a complete and total shift.

It’s not donationware, it’s a free open-source version (called Community) and a paid version with some features that help you to make more sites efficiently called Professional.