Review

Geeklog 1.4 has been relaesed and the makers have put up a demo site. So I took the opportunity to get more familiar with Geeklog.

What impressed me the most about Geeklog 1.4 RC is the fact that I never once had to look in the documentation. I was using the administration interface confidently within fifteen minutes. After playing for a while I even felt that I was ready to try some module installation and maybe doing some PHP to create my own plug-ins.

Later I was awed again by the localized admin interface. It had everthing from Catalan to Swedish ready at a click. Multiple languages without jumping through hoops to get there. Nice!

The default theme was a little bland so I decided to try another theme and maybe spiff up the place a bit. Again click once and you are done.

Overall Geeklog is a fast light weight CMS with a great development API. Documentaion is up to par and is not filled with wordiness and overly explained definitions better left to a glossary of terms. The code is layed out an understandable manner and the documentation adds to your knowledge but at most times seems unecessary. Atleast when it comes to basic administration.

There are not very many plug-ins available for Geeklog but this is probably due to the fact that those that use Geeklog are not bleeding edge types that have to have every coding gadget that comes along. It is also due in part by contributions being reviewed and judged by the developement team. This does not make Geeklog a portal type CMS but they don't claim to be this. Geeklog is a very powerful Weblog styled PHP CMS.

A big plus for Geeklog is now it has a plug-in to integrate phpBB forums. the dev team did not whine and bitch about how good their forum is but dug in and tested then approved the phpBB plug-in and made it available for all to use.

Geeklogs community is not giant-sized like phpnuke's or Mambo's. But they have a healthy number of members to their site and the attitude of the forum participants is pleasant. Another nice thing is that the forum has people on it that are willing to tell you who they are and what they do in the project. Participation in the forums by the dev team is not uncommon. This is a breath of fresh air after dealing with communities like ezPublish and Drupal where everything seems to be run by some secret society.

So you may want to give Geeklog a try if you want blog software that cater to more than one user.

This article brought to you by the Hiveminds Magazine - Staff. Contact us if you want to post an article or announcement anonymously