Contao, Drupal, Joomla! and Fokus CMS – the Attackers

In the first part of the series on current developments in content management systems, we focused on the market leaders WordPress and TYPO3. However, smaller alternatives also offer the opportunity to create appealing websites largely without programming knowledge. Due to their different orientations, each system here has its own strengths and weaknesses. In the second part, we take a closer look at Contao, Drupal, Joomla!, and Fokus CMS.

Contao: Slow Renewal of the Reliable System

Since TYPOlight was always understood as the little brother of TYPO3, the popular content management system rebranded itself in mid-2010 under the name Contao. This not only eliminated the possibility of confusion with TYPO3 but also created a descriptive name (tao = to create/produce – con = content). Today, the CMS is available in version 3 and has been prepared for the latest developments on the Internet with the version jump from 2 to 3. Since version 3, there's its own grid system for responsive design, and new system elements like videos and images have been integrated into the main system. This means users are no longer dependent on plugin support but can fully leverage the CMS's functionality.

Nevertheless, one of Contao's strengths is its active community, which extensively and always kindly eases beginners into using Contao. Plugins are also continuously maintained and adjusted to match the current Contao version. In addition to the strong community, long-term support of individual versions is also a plus point of the CMS. Although the current stable version is 3.2 and will soon be replaced by version 3.3, version 2.11 is still supported, which has been available since early 2012.

On the other hand, somewhat confusing file management and the default activated and difficult-to-handle CSS management can lead to problems with Contao. Developers, in particular, will not resort to the backend's CSS control because it significantly slows down workflow and can lead to errors. However, to use the required CSS files in an external editor, separate settings must be made, which in turn have the disadvantage of not optimizing the CSS files.

By the way, the annual Contao Conference will take place in Berlin from May 15-16, 2014. This is where all interested parties gather for intensive exchange and the latest developments around Contao, the Internet, and online marketing.

Drupal: The Limping Dinosaur

A few days ago, the European Drupal community gathered for the “Drupal Camp 2014” in Frankfurt am Main. Here, web developers primarily discussed how to make the system more stable and, above all, more secure – a key issue since Drupal's website fell victim to a hacker attack last year. What lessons and improvements are drawn from this will likely be seen in the latest offshoot, Drupal 8, which is currently in development. A release date for the stable version has not yet been set.

In a way, Drupal is an exotic among content management systems – more than any other, it is oriented towards the social component. For example, with some practice, entire communities, blog networks, or forums can be created. This great flexibility and the social software factor have made the system a popular basis for large projects. The White House website, for example, is now also based on this CMS. Available since 2001, Drupal is also one of the oldest and most extensively developed systems. The biggest recurring criticism is the lack of backward compatibility. After updating to a newer major release, modules used often need to be reprogrammed or updated. This still often leads to functional restrictions in practice or long waiting times until the corresponding new versions are available for all extensions. This remains an important topic for the next Drupal Camp as well.

Joomla!: A Call for the Community

The CMS Joomla! was created in 2005 as a successor project to the Mambo system and is based on PHP 5 using MySQL databases.

At first glance, Joomla! appears more complex than other CMSs. Installing the system takes more time and knowledge than with most competing products. However, once all scripts and files are properly installed on the server, a very tidy view presents itself in the backend. Content and extensions can be quickly and intuitively input and installed with just a few clicks. The developer project places particular emphasis on ensuring that only valid HTML and CSS are generated in all core files, templates, and plugins, enabling optimal display in all common browsers.

In early April, the beta version 3.3 appeared, which has not yet been marked as stable. Here, the developers have explicitly called on the community to participate in quality assurance, namely to test for errors and security gaps. The most noticeable changes will only come with version 3.4, which according to the recently published roadmap, is to be released in mid-July 2014. The task list includes streamlining the core system to optimize loading times and the long-planned ability to edit content via the frontend as well. This last point promises further simplification for the end user, and this trend has already been reflected in the new TYPO3 project Neos. More than other CMS teams, Joomla! relies on discussions with users and programmers, for example through its in-house Google+ group, to make the system as user-friendly as possible.

Focus: Exciting Approach, Slow Implementation

Last year, Avida presented the new CMS “focus.” The developers started with high aspirations, intending to combine the user-friendliness of WordPress with the great flexibility of TYPO3. However, this concept has not really caught on so far. This is likely due to the fact that while the CMS offers most important functions in the base system, the project has so far failed to provide additional useful extensions.[/vc_column_text][us_btn text="SUBSCRIBE TO NEWSLETTER NOW" align="center" link="url:https%3A%2F%2Fwww.internetwarriors.de%2Fwissen%2Fnewsletter-abonnieren%2F|||" el_class="cta_button_blog"][vc_empty_space height="20px"][vc_column_text]Currently, only additional plugins for integrating various social media offerings and Google Analytics are available in the store. There also only exists a handful of templates so far, which are quite similar in structure and design. Focus is still quite a bit away from its self-imposed goal of great variability. The development team seems to have missed the opportunity to properly market their excellent approaches and to motivate freelance web developers to collaborate, as other CMS projects do.

The last update of the core software was almost a year ago. Which is quite a shame because, in fact, focus impresses with its simple clarity, quick onboarding possibilities, and extremely easy installation routine – making it perfect for beginners and small to medium projects.