What is a CMS?
A Web Content Management System (CMS) is a set of tools designed to allow users with little knowledge of programming languages or markup languages to create and manage content with relative ease..
A CMS is a system that separates the content of a web site (the text, images, and so on) from the framework of linking pages together and controlling how the pages appear. In most cases, this is done to make a site easier to maintain than would be the case if it was built exclusively out of hard-coded html pages. At least, that is the goal.
The main features of a CMS:
Automated templates - standard templates can be automatically applied to new and existing content, allowing the appearance of all content to be changed from one central place.
Easily editable content - Once content is separated from the visual presentation of a site, it usually becomes much easier and quicker to edit and manipulate.
Scalable feature sets - Plug-ins or modules that are developed independantly of the CMS can be easily installed to extend functionality of the core CMS
The biggest disadvantage of a CMS:
CMS sites primarily use templates for design, typically a 2 or 3 column design with boxes placed in various positions to accommodate the content. Many folks would argue that being confined to using templates for design limits flexibility and uniqueness of design. This is quite subjective.
There are just too many content management systems out there for one person to do their own comparisons, but I wanted to do some type of my own personal kick the tires comparisons.
I have personally tested and used phpWebSite, PostNuke, Xoops, WordPress, Joomla, and Drupal, as well as a few less popular scripts over the years. This site, SmartTechnology.Info, was first done in the phpWebSite content management system and later XOOPS, before I eventually brought to the Drupal family.
Each has features that I wish the other would have. Some were much easier "out of the box" to customize, some had more intuitive administration. I got to the point where I had to make a commitment to one, as trying to stay on top of changes on many different apps, and always trying to compare features, was too time consuming.
The decision came down to two factors, 1) continuous growth and development, does this product look like it has been steadily growing and being developed, does it look like it has a clear direction moving forward and 2) a professional and helpful support community, can I find help quickly and easily online, does the community appear helpful and professional.
Drupal Emerged as the Winner
There is a lot of underlying thought behind those two areas, but I am keeping the comments brief for the sake of this post. I was on the fence for awhile between Joomla and Drupal. When I focused my effort on these two areas, Drupal emerged as the winner.
Drupal has its issues, and to learn it, you need to invest some time, but f it keeps going as it is now it will separate itself from the pack of content management systems.
Word Press will grow and prosper as well. It has a good following, and community as well. But for now, I see it, as do many others, as primarily a blog product, and not a full blown content management system.
Web Development Tools, what else is out there? What do you need?
Focus not on the tools that you use, but the out come you desire.
If you were asking someone to build a house, would you ask questions on hammers and saws? Or would you discuss what you wanted the house to look like?
Think of things like Dreamweaver and Drupal as sets of tools. We need to focus on what we want the house to look like, not the tools we are going to use.
If we speak too much about the tools, you quickly can get bogged down by the technology.
Questions to focus on:
What do you want the house to look like?
Who is going to maintain the house?
What is Dreamweaver?
Dreamweaver is many things. Dreamweaver is an HTML editor in the sense that it quickly allows the creation of HTML pages, with out the need to know HTML. In this case you would use it in design view or WYSIWYG mode.
If you know HTML code Dreamweaver allows you to use a code view to design to apply and edit code quicker than you could if you typed it by hand.
There is no such thing as a "Dreamweaver" page, but rather a HTML page using CSS, and various other scripting language that Dreamweaver was used to create.
Dreamweaver is one of many HTML editors. (See a list of them here... http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Comparison_of_HTML_editors)
Dreamweaver is a web development application which helps to to design web pages using various technologies such as CSS, HTML, and various other scripting languages.
In fact, looking at What's new in Dreamweaver CS5, it now supports integration with Content Management Systems like Drupal.
http://www.adobe.com/products/dreamweaver/whatsnew/
"Dreamweaver CS5 software enables you to develop with PHP-based content management systems such as WordPress, Joomla!, or Drupal; design with powerful CSS inspection tools; and test your web pages across browsers with Adobe BrowserLab, a new Adobe CS Live online service.* CS Live services are complimentary for a limited time."