I love Joomla!!! Its the best!!!

The best is one you make yourself.

Its lower on Bwidth use and its custom for whatever you need.

IT also is implemented into your existing db.

I personally use drupal. For me its got the best feature set with easy expandability and customizability without going and building my own as silverfox suggested (I have nowhere near enough time for that). Easy to theme, easy to add features too, it serves my needs very well.

I do believe non-custom CMS have thier place. For people who don't have time, don't care to or for w/e won't make they're own.

If your site is only going to be a CMS then pre-made isn't that bad.

Well i think ive tried about 10 different CMS systems including a few corp in house developed CMS so I have a good eye for what works and what doesnt.
CMS systems can be very difficult for a new user to get into and to deliver the desired result but I must say that easiest and most powerfull "free" CMS must be Joomla.Yes I know a lot of people on here use Drupal , I have used it myself for a few projects but to be honest there really isnt enough addons for me and a steep learning curve for the person I hand the site over to.
There are so many addons and so many templates that are totally free to use for Joomla.This is all great for the entry level Joomla user but with Joomla you can get really into building your own CSS and HTML templates, if you are into PHP and MySQL the sky is literally the limit! because it is soo easy to modify addons or write your own.
The Joomla community is vast with many places to seek help other than the main Joomla forums and of course many sites to download addons.
I have been using the beta of Joomla 1.5 and I must say it knocks the socks of the latest Drupal
www.joomla.org

Why you! You! Joomla lover.... I say to ye all. Hail to Drupal!

Joking aside, as I have been ranting all over these forums, Drupal does have a steep learning curve, but that is because it is extremely flexible. On usability terms - they were at disadvantage. But things have changed a bit since Drupal 5 - and from what I see from the RC version - the Drupal 6, it seems to have taken a great step forward. But again - my opinion might not be cent percent correct because I have not tried Joomla 1.5.

If this topic were a month or two older, I would definitely say Joomla! CMS. Alas, things have changed. I still think Joomla! is a great CMS, but it is rather complicated - now, I'm not talking about the ease of use, but the way it is coded and what it offers. For a developed web site this is a good thing, because you have numerous options and can find a use for every one of them. On smaller sites, however, all that is quite unnecessary, so Joomla takes up valuable space.

That's why I've slowly started switching to WordPress. Some might say it is only good for blogs and such, but they are so wrong. What I like about WordPress (besides it being light-weight and fast) is its high level of customizability. After having examined the default code, you can easily make sites that will in no way remind visitors of a blog. What's more, themes are also easy to create.



So true, but sometimes a free CMS will offer exactly what you need. Sure, if you have enough time, go on with making your own CMS - otherwise, leave it to the professionals

I like Drupal. Its very advanced and customizable.

i wish there was a cms thats sort of like cutenews where you just like make pages and use includes just to put them on your site (you have to have a design and all) and like you can choose which users are allowed to edit which page.

one of my friends is making one exactly like that for his site except hes just like puting it in his site not releasing it. im gonna convince him to actually release it and make an installer and all that. id use it if he did.

I think nothing would be better than configuring your site yourself, not to depend on others to do what you want, that's how you will make something you like