Russell and Associates - Forum

We are testing multiple PHP frameworks and CMS platforms for affiliate websites hosted on Host Monster and Go Daddy.  This round, we are testing Concrete 5 and PyroCMS. Both Concrete 5 and PyroCMS are built on top of the Codeigniter framework - a very powerful and simple to learn  MVC framework written in the PHP programming language.

Concrete5 Link PyroCMS Link

I am not doing a review of the big frameworks at this time – Joomla, Mambo, WordPress (blog manager), CakePHP, etc – there is enough documentation out there that would render my opinion moot.   Besides, I champion the underdogs and fight for their success over established ‘big boys’ – particularly when the underdogs have features and/or performance that exceeds the established players.

Concrete5 – This is an edit-in-place PHP CMS framework with many add-ons (blocks) in the public domain, as well as professional-grade pay-for add-ons like Concrete 5′s shopping cart module. The main advantage to Concrete5 is the way pages are edited – they are done so in-place.  You log in, and if you have permissions, you are presented with an admin ribbon menu along the very top of the web page.  Clicking ‘Edit this page’ allows you to edit the page!  You can publish your changes immediately, preview them, or hold them for later publication – an expected feature in any true content management system.  I give this system 3.5 out of 5.0 – good docs, excellent add-ons, and the familiar Codeigniter MVC are all pluses.

PyroCMS is wicked fast.  However, the file structure is complex, and creating a custom theme is a challenge since there is about 10% of the documentation needed to be efficient/proficient with this framework.  The one area that isn’t difficult is the creation of ‘widgets’ – small discrete sections of code (classes) that can be included throughout your site.   There does not seem to be as many ‘widgets’ in the public domain as C5, but that will change once more developers get familiar with this true competitor.

After spending many hours attempting to customize PyroCMS, I determined that it is futile to continue down this path since I have sites I need to get up really fast.  I will continue to spend time with PCMS as it matures – I feel it has excellent potential, and, I like the admin interface style over edit in place (the C5 way).

Time will tell, but I am giving PyroCMS  an overall rating of 3.0 out of 5.0.  The main reason it gets such a high mark (before V 1.0)  is it is so darn fast, and, widgets are easy to create and a breeze to integrate – custom widgets are a core component of any good CMS.

VR