Static, CMS, or Database

Which works best. Opinions desired.

[tangor]

Which website works best, and why?

Personal opinions sought as to presentation v work and, secondary, monetization.

Static HTML
CMS
Database/scripted

I've used all three over a number of sites with varying results.

My static sites seem to hold up well over the long term.
The few CMS (with others given access) bounce up and down.
The commercial sites with many (as in hundreds) of products benefit from script sites.

Interested in your experience. There's a thin line between CMS and Database, I know, but I'm looking toward the future as to where my time and talent will be expended. Presently it appears my static sites do better than anything else.

[JS_Harris]

CMS with database is the most flexible.

A cms really IS static html divided into smaller chunks that gets called upon when/where needed. If you have to make an adjustment to 100+ pages you can do it once and it can propagate to all of them. Time is money.

The same principal applies to databases. You can store content easily and modify what happens when it's called upon in an infinite number of ways.

More important than the system you choose is the planning you put into a proper site structure in advance. If you know exactly what you plan on building you can make the right choice for that site from day one (and CMS + Database is the right choice for many many websites)