During the discovery phase of almost any website project these days, Monsoon is asked to recommend a Web CMS (Content Management System).  This post is an attempt to explain why, for the past year or so, we almost always recommend Wordpress.

Core Functionality

At their core, all strong web content management systems accomplish the following:

· Template: provide a collection of easily-edited design themes that determine the style for a website.

· Edit: simplify with a WYSIWYG (what-you-see-is-what-you-get) system that allows non-programmers to create and edit html

· Function: perform with core functionality and plug-ins that allow dozens of website features to be implemented easily (e.g. ecommerce, mailing lists, analytics, discussion, etc.)

· Process: organize permissions and processes based on business rules for publishing content within the organization.

· Document: store, organize, and retrieve text files, images, and video

· Syndicate: export website data in a standard format (such as RSS)

Dynamic vs. Static Publishing

For the vast majority of CMS projects at Monsoon, we consider three industry-leading Web CMS products that accomplish the above extremely well: Drupal, Joomla, and Wordpress. These three systems use a dynamic publishing model.

A dynamic publishing model consists of components that function modularly; stated more simply, drafts and live documents can be updated and published independently of each other. An editor can make a change to one article, save it, and publish it without affecting or republishing the entire website.

Many Web CMS products offer a static publishing model. One such product, Movable Type, resembles the traditional printing/publishing process in its workflow. In common use, an editor makes changes throughout a website and then publishes the entire website as a unit. While MovableType and many similar systems are excellent products, Monsoon feels that the advantages of a dynamic publishing model outweigh the static model for the vast majority of websites, due to the following:

· Dynamic publishing is built for a website that is updated constantly, without a traditional “issue-based” approach.

· Dynamic publishing is faster, both from a business process and site generation standpoint.

· The dynamic publishing system has become the de facto standard for the modern Web CMS.

Open Source vs. Proprietary Systems

Once the decision for a dynamic system has been made, we are confronted with the choice between an open-source and proprietary system. In the past, customer service, paid support, and general product stability were major factors supporting the purchase of an (often expensive) proprietary system.

However, during the past few years, the open-source Web CMS has matured, making the following generally true:

· Open-source systems have become well-established, “safe” choices for larger site implementations.

· Proprietary CMS’s simply cannot keep up with the number of plug-ins and improvements that the open-source community generously and regularly creates.

· The open-source community has begun to offer a variety of options for both paid and free support.

For these reasons, Monsoon almost always recommends an open-source system.

Three at the top

Of the open-source systems available, three products have demonstrated clear superiority:

· WordPress

· Joomla

· Drupal

Joomla and Drupal are both strong systems that were built as open-source Web CMS’s from the ground up; WordPress is a blogging platform that has evolved into a Web CMS.

It is because of this evolution (and not despite it) that we recommend WordPress.

Feature Lock

If we were to build a matrix comparing the functionality of WordPress, Joomla, and Drupal, we would arrive no closer to picking a clear winner. Each system offers the functionality, security, and scalability that most sites require. The difference that leads us to our recommendation is based not on features, but on product evolution and philosophy.

Ease of Use

Because WordPress was built for the largely non-programmer blogging community, usability has been a core principle in every step of its evolution. The product contains dozens of intangible design advantages that Drupal and Joomla (which were built for and by the programming community) simply cannot match.

The Community

A rabid community of designers and developers support WordPress. Although Drupal and Joomla also have large open-source communities, WordPress’s support resembles Firefox or Linux (in years past) in the support and passion of those who use it.

This will undoubtedly impact the product’s evolution. While Drupal, Joomla, and Wordpress are similar in their current offerings, Monsoon feels that WordPress is positioned to emerge as the leading product in its category over the next few years.

The Monsoon Choice

For almost every site we build these days, we recommend WordPress. Since the three leading systems essentially have functional parity, Wordpress’s ease-of-use, community, and design advantages make it the best choice.