Have you ever used cmsmatrix.org? I have and just of late I find it confusing and frustrating. When this website first came out I was with everyone else in giving it credit for filling a need. Now I am definately sure that they are doing a dis-service. When you are looking for a content management system you have an idea about what you want the CMS to be able to do. It may be something you have heard about or seen on a website. So you take these ideas to cmsmatrix.org and try to compare the available web publishing systems using your list of needs. Unfortunately you may not find anything from your shopping list in their lists of comparison features.

What you will find is a lot of things that have nothing to do with making a good choice or accurate decision. You will also find yourself wondering just what is some of the stuff they have in the lists. Here you will find no help. There are no explainations or glossary of the terms used to compare the different softwares.

I was curious so I printed out a list and the went to wikipedia to see just how much of the list was smoke and how many terms actually exist and have definitions. I was surprised to find that most of the listed "features" were not features. There also was a whole group of things that were in actuality the same thing. A term was listed with several of its synonyms. But a few things stood out as being just stupid.

• data entry
• code skeletons
• matrix
• users conference
• undo

Okay, I'll bite what does it look like without data entry? Code skeletons, aren't those what are left behind by dead COBOL programmers? Matrix? Dude! Whoa! A users conference? Yep, there has to be one of those because I want to travel, get out of work and have an expense account. Undo, undo what? Is my fly open again?

If you are going to compare Drupal CMS against Joomla CMS there are some particular things you need to know. Many of these have to do with add-ons to the systems and access control. So a comparison of the possiblities should be listed seperately. This is the largest failing of the comparison table used by cmsmatrix.org.

There is definately room for a better comparison tool on the web. So we are going to build one. In our tool we will create a list of well known features that are commonly referred to in the world of content management. These features will be linked to descriptions and explainations. By doing this you will also be able to search for a content management system by checking off the features that you are interested in.

The new Hiveminds CMS Comparison Matrix is in ongoing developement. If you are a CMS developer or publicist and would like to help us present your CMS then use the contact form and send us your thoughts.

Happy Publishing!

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