CMS Made Simple Feature & Functionality Questions
Posted: Fri Nov 06, 2009 7:48 am
Greetings!
I have been using CMS Made Simple for a few years now and have found it to be the best, simplest, and most ideal content management systems out there. With that being said, I have been looking into two specific paid content management systems which really stand out to me because of their unique features, looks, and functions. These two paid content management systems are pretty costly and have to be renewed annually at that. This has had me debating whether or not to switch from the luxury of open source and the simplicity of such a powerful and robust content management system of CMS Made Simple to switch to an expensive content management system with strict limitations.
In a CMS, I only look for and require features and functionality that I need. The two paid content management systems have a lot of appealing features and also contain the functionality that I am looking for. Not only are those starting to outweigh my choice of CMS Made Simple, but the two paid content management systems I'm looking at has a plugin system that will be ridiculously supported [by a community of skilled coders].
I really enjoy using CMS Made Simple. It's a content management system that really rose above the rest in my view and was the exact solution that I was looking for. Nothing is like CMS Made Simple in terms of ease of use, ease to code into, and functionality. I'm worried about what my sites are evolving into and the expanding needs of them, thus more features and functionality that I need the CMS to [eventually and] gradually output.
I know, for a fact, that the plugins that will be available for these two paid content management systems will be elite. There will be many, they will be diverse, and most importantly, they will be frequently updated.
Many will route for CMS Made Simple because it delivers, which is true. It does its job of making content management a breeze, and I love that. It's also free, and open source, which leads to endless possibilities - again, these are all reasons why I really want to stay with and use CMS Made Simple. I've also found CMS Made Simple to be the perfect foundation for varieties of sites, including but I'm sure not limited to, e-commerce and content sites, which again, is a characteristic that not only the two paid content management systems may not be able to offer, but many content management systems be good for.
Below are some questions that regard features and functionality of CMS Made Simple, in relation to the specific needs that my sites and I have.
1.) I know that templates can be assigned to pages, but can specific templates be assigned to whole categories or subcategories, without the need of having to select it for each individual page?
2.) Is there any possible way to share the users of another database with CMS Made Simple? Specifically, I'm looking to share the users of my forum with CMS Made Simple - is this possible through a module? I run vBulletin, but I'd like to see support for every major forum system to share users.
3.) Is it possible to have a wiki-like site using CMS Made Simple?
4.) Regarding question #3, is it possible to create usergroups for users? Can usergroups from the forum be shared within the CMS? Can those usergroups be assigned their own special permissions?
5.) Is it possible for this CMS to identify pages using a unique ID number? One of the problems with this CMS is that - at least when using SE-friendly URLs ("pretty URLs") - categories, subcategories, and pages cannot share the same name. Is there a setting to use an ID-like system?
6.) Is the URL structure customizable? I'm not asking in terms of turning "pretty URLs" on/off; I'm asking a way to do it for the entire structure/system.
7.) Is it possible to show a different homepage/template to specific usergroups and users that are logged in? (Front-end, not back-end.)
Well, above are seven questions that I have. Ideally one of the above main concerns is whether or not it's possible to have users of the back-end [be able to] affect the front-end.
If the answer is no to any of the above seven questions that I ask, would any be possible creating/using a module? Or would it all require modification of the actual CMS coding?
I have been using CMS Made Simple for a few years now and have found it to be the best, simplest, and most ideal content management systems out there. With that being said, I have been looking into two specific paid content management systems which really stand out to me because of their unique features, looks, and functions. These two paid content management systems are pretty costly and have to be renewed annually at that. This has had me debating whether or not to switch from the luxury of open source and the simplicity of such a powerful and robust content management system of CMS Made Simple to switch to an expensive content management system with strict limitations.
In a CMS, I only look for and require features and functionality that I need. The two paid content management systems have a lot of appealing features and also contain the functionality that I am looking for. Not only are those starting to outweigh my choice of CMS Made Simple, but the two paid content management systems I'm looking at has a plugin system that will be ridiculously supported [by a community of skilled coders].
I really enjoy using CMS Made Simple. It's a content management system that really rose above the rest in my view and was the exact solution that I was looking for. Nothing is like CMS Made Simple in terms of ease of use, ease to code into, and functionality. I'm worried about what my sites are evolving into and the expanding needs of them, thus more features and functionality that I need the CMS to [eventually and] gradually output.
I know, for a fact, that the plugins that will be available for these two paid content management systems will be elite. There will be many, they will be diverse, and most importantly, they will be frequently updated.
Many will route for CMS Made Simple because it delivers, which is true. It does its job of making content management a breeze, and I love that. It's also free, and open source, which leads to endless possibilities - again, these are all reasons why I really want to stay with and use CMS Made Simple. I've also found CMS Made Simple to be the perfect foundation for varieties of sites, including but I'm sure not limited to, e-commerce and content sites, which again, is a characteristic that not only the two paid content management systems may not be able to offer, but many content management systems be good for.
Below are some questions that regard features and functionality of CMS Made Simple, in relation to the specific needs that my sites and I have.
1.) I know that templates can be assigned to pages, but can specific templates be assigned to whole categories or subcategories, without the need of having to select it for each individual page?
2.) Is there any possible way to share the users of another database with CMS Made Simple? Specifically, I'm looking to share the users of my forum with CMS Made Simple - is this possible through a module? I run vBulletin, but I'd like to see support for every major forum system to share users.
3.) Is it possible to have a wiki-like site using CMS Made Simple?
4.) Regarding question #3, is it possible to create usergroups for users? Can usergroups from the forum be shared within the CMS? Can those usergroups be assigned their own special permissions?
5.) Is it possible for this CMS to identify pages using a unique ID number? One of the problems with this CMS is that - at least when using SE-friendly URLs ("pretty URLs") - categories, subcategories, and pages cannot share the same name. Is there a setting to use an ID-like system?
6.) Is the URL structure customizable? I'm not asking in terms of turning "pretty URLs" on/off; I'm asking a way to do it for the entire structure/system.
7.) Is it possible to show a different homepage/template to specific usergroups and users that are logged in? (Front-end, not back-end.)
Well, above are seven questions that I have. Ideally one of the above main concerns is whether or not it's possible to have users of the back-end [be able to] affect the front-end.
If the answer is no to any of the above seven questions that I ask, would any be possible creating/using a module? Or would it all require modification of the actual CMS coding?