Xact IT ( www.xactit.com ) have been hosting and developing websites for clients for a number of years now. In order to reflect developments in our business our own website needed updating. The previous version site was standards compliant, however the content was static and didn't really reflect the full range of services that we offered clients. The other issue we faced was the growing administrative burden of processing data, a typical issue that many developing businesses face.

We needed a system that would allow us to add and change content plus integrate with our back end processes, the solution was to use a Content Management System (CMS).

Which CMS to use?

Initial choices were to develop our own, buy one in or use one of the many Open Source CMS that are available.

• Develop our own: The development time needed discounted this option, why reinvent the wheel?
• Buy one: There are many CMS that are available for a fee, however they are closed source so customising them to fit your exact needs can be difficult. In addition to this you are dependant on the proprietory software vendor to keep developing and supporting the system.
• Open Source: As the code base is open they can be customised to your specific requirements and as the main structure is in place the development time and associated costs are greatly reduced.

Open Source software met all the requirements, the question now was which one to choose?

What did I look at: Mambo, Joomla, Typo3 and Drupal.

• Typo3. For a while it was a firm favourite, I even splashed out on a book about it, however the mailing list system in place of a support forum was laborious to work through, looking for answers to questions. A great deal of the discussion in the list was centred on whether the copyright notices had to stay in the header of each page and also lengthy discussion about the belief system of the originator and other users. I found that rather off-putting.  I set up a demo site  and had a play with it, I felt that the administration interface layout was stuck in the past relying on frames.  It is a heavy weight content management system and very good results have been achieved with it, however it wasn't for me when looking at what I wanted and compared to the others.
• Drupal. Now I took to Drupal right away, The demo installed in minutes on my test server, and I was soon adding content and looking at themes. Very intuitive to work with. Great community, with an excellent forum. I did find that it lacked some of the features I wanted in my site.. I concluded that it would be ideal for clients that wanted a straight forward CMS, with an uncomplicated admin area that they could easily learn and use to update and add content. We are currently developing a site using Drupal for a client, I will post it in the portfolio section when its completed.
• Joomla. I had looked at Mambo before, so I checked it out again and read of the recent split of the Core Developers to a new project Joomla. I liked the dedication of the Joomla Developers to open source software. Like Drupal I took to this CMS right away. Installed the test site in minutes, installed some sample templates, created content and I knew this promised to be a strong contender. Visiting www.joomla.org I found a very well though out and supported community project. I had a client in need of a quality CMS website, so I used Joomla with great results. The business had outgrown their existing website and needed to be able to add and change content regularly The client was very happy and after a few hours training was adding his own content and updating events that he organises. I think even they were surprised at the good reception and positive feedback their new website received. During the development of that website I knew that I had found the ideal platform for the new website for XactIT.

Now it is live, what do you think of it?