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

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

Contao: Slow Renewal of a Reliable System

Since TYPOlight was always seen as the little brother of TYPO3, the popular content management system was rebranded as Contao in mid-2010. This not only eliminated confusion with TYPO3 but also created a descriptive name (tao = build/produce – con = content). Today, the CMS is available in version 3 and has equipped itself for the latest developments on the internet with the version jump from 2 to 3. Since version 3, there has been a dedicated grid system for responsive design, and new system elements like videos and images have been integrated into the core system. In this way, users are no longer dependent on support via plugins and can fully exploit the CMS's functionality.

Nevertheless, one of Contao's strengths is the active community, which extensively and always friendly, makes it easier for beginners to get started with Contao. However, plugins are also constantly maintained and adjusted to the respective current Contao version. Beyond the strong community, the long-term support for individual versions is also a plus for the CMS. Although the current stable version is number 3.2 and will soon be replaced by version 3.3, version 2.11, available since early 2012, is still supported.

On the other hand, the somewhat confusing file management and the CSS management, which is activated by default and difficult to handle, can lead to problems with Contao. Especially developers will not rely on the backend's CSS control, as it significantly slows down the workflow and can lead to errors. However, to use the required CSS files in an external editor, separate settings must be made, which bring the disadvantage of not optimizing the CSS files.

By the way, from May 15–16, 2014, the annual Contao Conference will take place in Berlin. Here, all interested parties meet for an 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 met for the "Drupal Camp 2014" in Frankfurt am Main. Here, web developers mostly discussed how to make the system more stable and, above all, more secure – an important topic after Drupal's website fell victim to a hacking attack last year. The lessons and improvements drawn from this will probably be seen in the latest iteration, 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 acclimatization, entire communities, blog networks, or forums can be created. This great flexibility and the social software factor made the system a popular basis for large projects. For instance, even the White House's website is now based on this CMS. Available since 2001, Drupal is also one of the oldest and most developed systems. The most recurring criticism is the lack of backward compatibility. After updating to a newer major release, modules in use often need to be reprogrammed or updated. This frequently leads to functionality restrictions or long wait times until the respective new versions are available for all extensions. This is, and remains, an important topic for the next Drupal Camp.

Joomla!: The Call to 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 CMS. The installation of the system takes more time and knowledge than most competing products. However, once all scripts and files are properly installed on the server, a very tidy picture is presented in the backend. Content and extensions can be quickly and intuitively incorporated and installed with a few clicks. The developer project places special emphasis on ensuring that valid HTML and CSS are produced in all core files, templates, and plugins, which should enable optimal display in all common browsers.

In early April, the beta version 3.3 was released, which is not yet marked as stable. Here, developers have explicitly called on the community to participate in quality assurance, i.e., to test for bugs and security gaps. However, the most noticeable changes will only come with version 3.4, which, according to the recently published roadmap, is scheduled to be released in mid-July 2014. The agenda includes streamlining the core system to optimize loading times and the long-planned possibility to edit content via the frontend. This latter point promises further simplification for the end-user, a trend that has also been incorporated into the new TYPO3 project Neos. More than with other CMS teams, Joomla! relies on discourse with users and programmers, for instance, via its in-house Google+ group. This should allow the system to be designed as user-friendly as possible.

Focus: Exciting Approach, Slow Implementation

Last year, Avida presented the new CMS "Focus." The developers started with great expectations; the new system was supposed to combine WordPress's easy usability with TYPO3's great flexibility. However, this concept has yet to really catch on. This is likely because, although the CMS already offers most important functions in the basic system, the project has not yet delivered further 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]In the store, there are currently only additional plugins for integrating various social media offerings and Google Analytics. There are also only a handful of templates, which are quite similar in structure and design. Focus is still a long way from the self-imposed goal of great variability. The development team seems to have missed the opportunity to properly market the very good approaches and motivate freelance web developers to participate, as other CMS projects do.

Therefore, the last core software update was almost a year ago. Which is quite a pity because Focus actually impresses with ease of use, quick learning opportunities, and an extremely simple installation routine – and would be perfect for beginners and small to medium-sized projects.