Hi,

I have mainly done print and motion design in the past and am now moving more into web. I have a project I am working on at the moment, a relatively simple blog site. I am trying to figure out the best CMS to go with, and I have narrowed it down to either SilverStripe of Wordpress.

From what I have read here is what I gather about the two.

SilverStripe is easier for non-techie clients to update, however is relatively new so there is less documentation and available plugins than wordpress.

I was wondering if anyone had any recommendations on picking a CMS for the first time. I have not done any PHP coding before, does one have a steeper learning curve than the other? Is one better for blogging? Is there anything else I should know that would help me make a decision.

Any feedback would be super helpful.

I have not done any PHP coding before, does one have a steeper learning curve than the other? Is one better for blogging?

Welcome! While SilverStripe's admin interface is nice and simple out of the box, it is because most of the power and functionality of the CMS is hidden away for the developers to build what they need and flexibility to build what they want.

Think of SilverStripe more as a PHP development framework than Wordpress or Joomla, the CMS is just a nice user friend interface for non developers to manage their content. If you don't know PHP (and don't really need to) stick to Wordpress as that is better designed for users to 'build' a website via the CMS, you'll spend less of your time needing to learn PHP to get it to do what you need it to do.

Thanks Willr. Sounds like Wordpress is a good starting point then. Are there any other major differences that I should take into consideration before picking a CMS?

Are there any other major differences that I should take into consideration before picking a CMS?

Big question! Lot's of comments online from people much more qualified than I (e.g http://coding.smashingmagazine.com/2009/03/05/10-things-to-consider-when-choosing-the-perfect-cms/).

My personal checklist starts with the clients' needs. If they need just a simple blog, few widgets on the side, Wordpress simply has the best experience for those users. Ecommerce is the same, up till recently that functionality has not been comparable to Magento or platforms who targeted that specific functionality than trying to find something that does everything. The strength of SilverStripe is in it's extensibility for developers and providing the ability for people to build their webapps easier and quicker.