For a very long time, I've been annoyed with the "usual" methods of publishing web pages. (Have a look at my university page for an idea.) Even assembling HTML::Mason templates is a pain, especially the process of sshing into the web swerver, creating a new page, remembering to include the right templates, and linking to it. The result is that I don't update nearly as often as I ought to, and people give up on my site in disgust.

Well, the site got clobbered recently, and I'm assembling a new machine to host it, so I have the chance to do something less annoying. Specifically, I'm looking at content management systems (if that's the right term): groovy chunks of (Perl) code connected to a database backend, generating templated pages on the fly and allowing straightforward remote administration. (The ones I've looked at also include facilities for user accounts and suchlike; while I don't anticipate ever wanting those features, it's nice to know that they're there.)

So I've looked, briefly, at these systems:

So, I ask:

  1. Is this the right class of tool for the job? (I want to develop a site that's easy to change, able to format and display data from many DBs, and not necessarily involving users, accounts, and other such transactions.)
  2. Are there any other systems that I've missed?
  3. What kinds of experiences have been had with these? Which one would be the most suitable?
  4. How do these rate for support and expandibility?

Thanks, all!

--
:wq

In reply to Content management system recommendations? by FoxtrotUniform

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