enigma1 - 12:54 pm on Jan 31, 2012 (gmt 0)

Usually you customize code for whatever features you need. There isn't a CMS that does it all. All come with some basic content management functionality.

From my experience the key is the codebase to be as simple as possible and work with different server/hosting environments and of course you need to be familiar with the framework. I have taken an old web engine and made a cms out of it, now I use it for anything you can imagine and I write the necessary code.

If you give me a list of CMS packages I will pick up the one with the best structure but minimum complexity and use a 50/50 balance on these to measure it perhaps. Too much object oriented and learning/development may take ages. Too little structure in place makes the package impossible to work with after integrating few features.

So ask yourself if you need 10 different category trees based on the blog section you view, how many hours you need to spend learning and how many files you have to change or create to have this done with each CMS? I am sure it's not going to be the same for every single one of them.

It's best to use the same package for each site. So if you have a link directory with blog and you want both to be on the same domain or same sub-domain for some reason, use the same package. It reduces maintenance and management. If the site's sections differ a lot, consider using different sub-domains.

And gradually as you become an expert with the code you use - because you use it extensively, lots of features and modules are very simple to implement.