[thelist] Yet another "What CMS" thread...

[Brian Cummiskey]

Yes, I know...  but i'm asking anyway.  :D


I'm building a new site for a client who knows NOTHING about computers. 
  When I asked him what his domain was, he addressed the site as "http 
then a period with another period over it, and then two slash thingees".

I'm well aware of opensourcecms and i've been playing with a bunch, and 
am familiar with Drupal, wordpress, joomala, etc.

The problem is once I build the main site, he wants to be able to upload 
new pics of his products (He does custom wood-working and stuff built to 
order... It's a showcase+contact site, not a cart) without having to 
bother me every day.  So, I immediately thought, throw up a CMS, tweak 
it and skin it, and be done with it.

I use wordpress for my blog, so i'm familiar with that.  But, it think 
no matter how much i tweak it, it will still be too "bloggy" instead of 
a "site".  I don't want comments, I don't want post dates, and i don't 
want a home page with the latest content on it.  I want a regular site 
more or less.  Welcome page, products page, contact, etc etc.

I loaded Drupal last night, and started messing around with it.  I like 
it, but I REALLY think the admin interface will be way over this guy's 
head.  It took ME a couple min to figure out how to do some stuff.  I 
can't imagine him working this well and end up deleting or messing it 
all up.  Plus, I was kinda frustrated that they use a table for the 
markup.  I'd like to stay with a CSS-based design CMS.

The civicspace port doesn't seem to really offer me anything i need either.

Joomala, same deal.  It's just too complex.

xoops, tables again....

All I really want, is a secure admin area, a way for him to upload pics 
straight from his camera without re-sizing to be added into a "product" 
description, CSS-based design, and a Word-like textarea for entries so 
he can mark up his text, bold, etc nice and easy.

So, I'm at a dead end.

I'm really contemplating building a custom app, but it's not 
cost-effective for my time for the price I'm charging him.


I appreciate any feedback or cms sugestions.

-Brian