WCMS for independent project

[The Spoon]

I ran into a DANM student the other day who was creating a website in, uh, the something framework, I don't remember exactly.  It wasn't something I'd heard of, but he told me it was sorta up and coming, not a full WCMS, but a framework for all sorts of things.  It occurs to me that I don't have a clear idea which WCMSs are big right now.

For my next project, I'm definitely going to be doing some database integration.  While I loved WordPress, I don't think it will be easy and elegant to ask that kind of integration from it.  And I'm wary to wade into the Drupal morass again soon.

I know sometimes asking geeks for software suggestions is like asking Indie rock fans for music recommendations -- rather than convergence, you get suggestions that seem to put a premium on esoteric, obscure and unique pet software projects.  I'm not looking to take the road less traveled.  I'd prefer the road more traveled where active developer communities, knowledgeable users, occasional tutorials, and good documentation await.

Here are some of the qualities I'm looking for in a WCMS for my next project.  Like WordPress, I want something

• Easy to set up
• Easy to maintain
• Theme-able
  
• A variety of good looking themes available
• Plenty of useful plug-ins available

Additionally, I also want

• AJAX framework integration available
• PHP or Python customizable
• Easy to integrate with MySQL

Unlike Drupal, I don't want to have to

• Fight the CMS to get it to what I want
• Deal with unstable plug-ins
• Struggle to get access to actual code in order to customize it
• Hire a Drupal expert in order to get basic functionality to work
  

Any suggestions?

Wes

P.S. I realized my WCMS + AJAX question depended too much on answering the WCMS part of the equation first.

--

Wes Modes

Spoon Industries
Premier Purveyor of Mystery and Mischief since 1966
portfolio.thespoon.com

[James Lafferty]

Do WordPress for what it does well, and write your DB integration as its own app, with a clean, well-defined API. Then call your integration app from inside a WP plugin as needed. Voila... Best of both worlds.

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[Jason Wehmhoener]

That's great advice, thanks James.

-Jason

[Kurt Overmeyer]

I do everything you want to do on our wordpress sites - GrowInWatsonville.com and cityofwatsonville.org.  Of course, some of the ajax is in plug-ins.  The PHP is fairly easy to figure out and very customized.  

[The Spoon]

Thanks James and Kurt for the suggestions.  In some ways this is an answer I wanted to hear.  Installing/using/customizing WordPress was a very enjoyable experience.

Wes

[James Lafferty]

Glad to help!

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