Zero CMS Experience

[ZakAltF4]

Hello all,

I am a seasoned LAMP site developer. Most sites I develop are in organic in nature and I have experience using Magento (Zend Framework) as well.

I am in charge of building a simple site, however it needs to basically be a product catalog site. I have literally zero experience with WordPress, Joomla or Drupal etc... Hopefully one of you our there can suggest a platform that meets most, if not all, of my needs: Which are:

Running LAMP

Custom Buildable JQuery front end that can dynamically call/access products (Scroller etc.)

"Category Page" that lists the categories -- again the more customizable the better.

"Product Page" - Basically the same product page you'd see on any ecommerce site, without the "add to cart" functionality.

Newsletter and email sign up

Jquery Ajax ... Jquery Ajax ... JQuery Ajax .. lol. I cannot stress how dynamic this site has to be to "work" If the Fremework isn't flexible enough for Jquery single page log-in, No-refresh data calls etc., it's not going to work.

I will be using WordPress as a separate blog site that ties into this site, but it will be on a totally separate domain, etc, so the main CMS is totally separated.

So .. Is there anything out there that can meet all these criteria. No shopping cart needed. Basically a fully customizable front end .. Easy to use back end. Display products how I want, not how the framework "allows for". I could build the CMS, but I don't think my customer would appreciate the cost! Hopefully you all have ideas and/or suggestions. I've looked so far, and it seems that the Drupal framework might work well with a few modules .. But I'd like your guy's thoughts! Thanks!

-- Z

[ergophobe]

Wow... you say "the Drupal framework" which tells me you're thinking about Drupal the right way - the power is in the framework, not that app and Drupal has more and more JQuery integration, more and more AJAX. That said, I haven't seen anything that asynchronous in any CMS.

That said, they all have fully customizable front ends, but I don't know of any off-the-shelf themes that are that AJAX-heavy.

[milosevic]

Out of the CMS systems you mention Drupal is the one I'd go with.

The kind of site functionality you're talking about is opposed to how I like to work though, I'm not a fan of using AJAX to serve content, so I can't really make any module recommendations.

[ericlewis107]

I think Magento and Drupal are the best CMS for any sites. Both offer great features and options that can create a great experience for the consumer.

[Aweinerws]

Drupal is a great CMS that you can use. It has great features and you can benefit really well with it.

A few features that you can benefit from, are:
1. It has an easy-to-use web interface which is very easy to manage
2. It has many options for user permissions and accounts
3. Easy connection to other websites

There are so many other features that you can use greatly to your discretion.

[wrockca]

and if you are LAMP developer Drupal should be easy for you....

[explorador]

Is there anything out there that can meet all these criteria

yes, Drupal. Your post tells me you are really focused and will have zero problems with it. Good luck