A couple of weeks ago I had found a CMS package called Dolphin7. I had downloaded the file and then not done anything more with it. This evening I decided to investigate a bit more. I went to the site and found their forum. There was some dissatisfaction with a recent policy change voiced on the thread that caught my eye.

I read through that thread and then did a Google search. The search term that I chose had negative connotations and there were plenty of responses. To be entirely fair I should search for positive comments, but what I read along with the comments on the home forum makes me think that I would be well advised to focus my energy in other directions.

The major open source CMS packages include Drupal, Joomla, and WordPress, the bed for this blog. I found a couple of comparison sites with notes on all three. There is positive comment on all three packages plus a couple of other options that were mentioned. All three of the biggies have areas where they shine. WordPress is recognized as the leading blogging software and can also be put into service for many website applications. Drupal is represented as the most flexible and powerful in many ways, but has a steeper learning curve and lacks some of the front end polish of the others. Joomla is the prettiest and has many strong features.

From the things that I read I might consider digging into Drupal a bit for a project that I have in mind. This is more of a tech job and the exterior is not quite so important. I may also investigate Joomla a bit more for some other projects where a slick interface is more important. It was an interesting overview of these software packages. Professional developers recommend all three depending on the requirements of the project.

I am reasonably comfortable working with my WordPress blogs. My hobby webmastering has given me enough of a basis in css and coding so that I am not lost. The other packages might push my learning a bit more, but that would not be a bad thing.

Have you used any of these scripts? Tell me your experience in a comment. Thanks!