[Baypiggies] Django CMS or Plone ?

[Glen Jarvis]

>   A friend of mine is starting up a community e-zine.  He is  
> currently using Joomla (PHP based CMS).  Unfortunately he knows  
> nothing of PHP/HTML/JavaScript, etc.  He has come to me multiple  
> times with questions.  I know enough to be helpful, but have zero  
> interest in spending any more time in Joomla.  As I've been sucked  
> into his project as some sort of tech adviser and its still early  
> enough that it wont be TOO painful of a switch, I would like to move  
> the project to a python based CMS.

If a Python based CMS is what you're looking for, then I think Plone  
is your best option. I know little of Plone or it's underlying Zope  
architecture. However, I've had this same query time and again from  
customers myself. Plone does seem to be the fastest development and  
the product that best meets your needs. The problems, however, are  
that you need someone who knows enough about Plone architecture to do  
advise or do technical work. (There are some pretty good books out  
there if you have the time to dedicate to learning Plone yourself).  
Also know there have been some necessary backward-incompatible code  
rewrites that have fragmented the technical user base a little (IMHO).  
But, if you're starting a new project - in a new version - this  
shouldn't be much of an issue.

You know the person who would be able to help you? Donna Snow. She's  
also a BayPIGgie. She's not a Python programmer, but is a Plone  
Skinner. Yet, she's being doing Plone quite a while -- long enough to  
build real relationships with Plone developers. She's a good contact  
to get you started on what you want.

> Is there a decent CMS Django application or should I just go with  
> Plone?

I *believe* (but could well be mistaken) that there's a CMS equivalent  
in the Pylons space. I believe that knowledge came from a technical  
presentation Charles gave a year ago (Buzzwords). But, I could be  
mistaken and Pylons may, or may not, be overkill depending upon your  
customer's needs. As far as I know, there is no decent CMS for Django.  
If you (or anyone reading) find that I'm wrong here, please let me  
know since I get this question a lot myself.

I'm not sure if that's helpful, Stephen, but I hope it was a little.

Warmest Regards,


Glen Jarvis