@all,

thanks for all your comments and advice. I suppose we should stick with Joomla then and upgrade to the next version to avoid steep learning curves and other issues that might present themselves otherwise. That's settled then, Joomla it is. Looking forward to your creative design ideas!

Nicole

I'd move away from Joomla if I were you. Joomla might be overkill and is still quite rigid and bulky compared to some of the newer CMS's. The enormity of extensions and  ease of development within it's rigid structure is why it's so popular. However the client side of Joomla is not as good as others.   From the look of your site you could benefit from a something a little more lightweight, flexible and modern. There are a ton of CMS options and deciding which one to use is dependent on the functionality you need.

Offhand I'd recommend:

- modx
- concrete5
- silverstripe
- squarespace ( a hosted option)

You might want to list the functionality you need from a CMS and then us designer/developers can recommend the option we think is a good fit.

Colin
 

I am all for an easier CMS, that's for sure. I want to be able to:

update information easily
add news / content / pages
upload files directly (pdf files, newsletters, photos, videos) without having to go through filezilla like we do at the moment

can't think of anything else at the moment.

We have got a quote from a local webdesigner, using their own CMS and it's just very expensive. The light CMS version was quoted at $1800 incl basic design and the full on version at $4500. How would other programs compare in price?

Here is also a website I stumbled across recently and I really like it. It has a groovy layout and is quite different to the usual banner on top and boxes on the side layout. might spark some ideas?

http://www.compare-solar.com.au/


thanks for all your input! its very much appreciated.

Nicole

A lighter CMS would be very good and I'd be happy to change if it is user friendly. I am very computer literate and pick things up alright, but Joomla 1.5 is a beast. We opted out of upgrading to 1.6 for the moment as we are looking at updating the design / CMS.

Anyway, what I am looking for is to be able to easily

update information and insert current photos to text
upload documents (pdf, photos, video, newsletters) without having to go through filezilla
edit like in Word

add / update logos on the front page (eg. National recognised training provider logo, award logos etc.)
add tabs if need be

I am aware that the last two things might need a designer to do some tweaking, so that's fine.

We are looking around since quite a while already to get the job done. We got a quote from a local designer and they charge $1800 for basic website design that comes with their internal light CMS. For the full blown CMS and a better design they charge $4500. I am not sure if they would charge an ongoing maintanance fee. How does that quote compare to other CMS out there?

I recently stumbled across this site:

http://www.compare-solar.com.au/

I really like the "different" aspect about it. Might spark some ideas? We are not necessarily after the banner on top, boxes to the side and bottom look.

Thanks to all for your input, it's appreciated

Nicole

gee, that went twice... I thought I lost the first one. no delete option I can see, so sorry for overkill!

Nicole,

Send me a message through DC and I can recommend a few CMS's and give you my opinion on your local designers offer.

Cheers,

Colin

@ Colin,

not sure where to contact you through DC, I looked at your profile but can't seem to find the "send a message" button. Maybe you can provide an email address?

thanks

Nicole

Hi Nicole, I had uploaded couple of sample designs. I hope you have gone through those designs. Please let me know your comments whether i am on a right track or not. Let me know if any correction or changes required.

Thanks
Pam.s

Hi Nicole,

I thought there was a messaging system within DC, but I guess maybe it's after a design a submitted or something. You can email me at mcashfield@gmail.com.

Thanks,

Colin

I'm interested.Please contact me at : manea_andy@yahoo.com so we can discuss more.