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QJohnson
21 Mar 2010, 09:36 PM
Is this the right audience for a question about web design tools for folks who don't know what CSS or HTML mean (and don't care)? Or have I just found the wrong site?

I'm really not THAT ignorant, but I don't want to make a living as a web developer (I write .NET windows apps for nonprofits) or even learn ASP, much less Dreamweaver or whatever you expert types use.

I am just looking for some advice on selecting a really friendly, i.e., low learning curve, tool to help me build and maintain my own web site.

The site I build with it has just a few simple requirements other than showing my products off for potential customers: (1) a login system to force registration for use of certain file download and newsletter resources I'll make available. I want to be able to Type or Group my visitors to help restrict their access to the types of files and newsletter content appropriate to them (because I'll have separate resources for my resellers and my customers ). (2) I need to be able to move the site to (or build it at) my present ISP. So something like SnapPages or GoDaddy or Intuit is out.

I have only heard so far of three tools that might fit- Joomla, Wordpress, and Drupal - but I wouldn't be surprised to learn there are more. Are there? Would any/all of these three be OK? Criteria for choosing among these?

It sure looks to me like Joomla can handle it (especially with the VFM File REpository extention that seems to exhibit exactly the behavior I desire for my downloads). I don't want to jump on a bandwagon that might hit the wall anytime soon (as seems to have been the case not long ago with something called Mambo). I hope to use it for three or four years (or at least until I can afford to hire someone with the talents of the folks here to manage my site for me).

I could keep spewing the little I know about what I'm looking for but the essential questions have already been asked.

Any one have any recommendations to offer (either for the three I've found or other favorites you may have)?

Thanks in advance,

Q Johnson

is_numeric
22 Mar 2010, 10:37 AM
I love Drupal

Used at work as our corporate CMS technology

Im sure Joomla will deliver as well