CMS - the way to go?

What is your take on a CMS vs handcoding an entire website on your own? I am thinking in the lines of a huge php site running from a MySQL database. If you have any ideas or comments on CMS systems, positive and negative experiences I'd be very happy

I've looked at Typo3 and Mambo so far..I may end up not using any of them, and handcode the entire page myself. But if you have any good suggestion for a reliable and stable CMS system, I'll glad listen to the recommedations.

thanks in advance

If you have special requirements then progg it yourself, but if you are going to go mainstream concentrate on the design to be outstanding... (you would do that anyways wouldnt you?? :-)). Doing a complete complex CMS is a TASK. But then again going into a CMS to change certain task is sometimes more timeconsuming then making it from scratch.

So there you have it,, Even I am confused :-),, But you didnt really let us in on what kind of cms you are talking about. Guess we are talking portal size here ??? If so try to get on of the big portal CMS to work for ya and just consentrate on making your own desing for that (dont use templates they are overused, make your own).

thanks for the feeback KenPed

I am on the verge of starting a HUGE project, the backbone of the website will be a MySQL database, in combo with php / apache. The website will be continuously updated - several times daily, it will hold loads of articles and video clips in addition to that.

The front page will be displaying the newest articles added under several different categories, it will have the 10 latest forum threads, polls and other information.

I know ebay, mtv and amazon and other large company websites run CMS's as well, what I want to know is what kind they are running. Do they use fully customized ones programmed from scratch?

If I decide to go for a CMS, I would definately make my own CMS template, there is no way I'd use a default one. Like you said, they are overused I was thinking about a big portal CMS like mambo or TYPO3, but I have to know that is matches my requiresments and needs. The worst thing that could happen is that I find out in a couple of months that the CMS doesn't fulfill all my needs.

thanks again for the feedback

I'm not such a big fan of mambo as it seems to me to be an alpha or beta but no status to use it for professional stuff - couldn't install typo3 yet because of a ram limit but tried several others - what looks quite good to me atm is e107 but I don't know how well / fast it can handle loads of users

I'd definitely discourage the use of phpnuke though

there are some pages with overviews of popular cms systems together with usable frontend/backend demo's, I'd suggest to have a look at them. sounds like you don't need overly special stuff and things like newest posts or newstickers and stuff are already very common I'd say so I wouldn't bother making an own one

cmsmatrix.org is a place where you can compare different cms'.

To be honest, you're not going to find a CMS an "amazon, ebay etc." use, because, it's just not available around the net.

Their business is associated predominantly on the net, and they would have customised tools, or used pre-made tools customised to their fitting, simply because they can afford to make those customisations.

In the end, for using a CMS, it all depends on what you want for your site, and what you need. If you need something simple like a news blog, then a blogger is all you need.

Mambo works for some people, but some people integrate it with other applications, it just depends on your fit and I've heard nothing but great things about typo3.

Maybe the best thing to do is to write down a spec of your site and see what all is needed, and how long it might take you to code that section including the backend so it's easy to update information. Compare that information to downloading a CMS and plugging in information and customising it to suit your needs. If the time saved is well worth it and you feel you can take your time to work on your own custom CMS, then go for it, otherwise, it just might be worthwhile at the end.

Another site you can test before you download: opensourcecms. It really depends on your needs. There are plenty of CMS out there, and as the saying goes - "why re-invent the wheel?" I agree with duniyadnd on the whole.

Good luck,

thanks for the great feedback guys I'm currently going through mambo and typo3, checking them out to see if they fit my needs. I definately think a modded and fully customized CMS is the way to go for me and my current project. I'll let you all know how it goes..

thanks again for the great feedback!

PS - tried to hand you guys some rep points, but I guess my post count is too low

btw, thanks for the great url jabba Will be doing some research on that site!