Open source CMS platforms continue to expand and grow offering new opportunities for web designers looking for new styles, templates, and designs for client sites. If you are a developer working closely related to one particular CMS – WordPress, Drupal, Joomla, Magento, etc. or language – PHP, RoR, Java, Python, etc. it is easy to lock in on development channels related to one’s work, while other CMS platforms emerge, evolve, and vanish into cyberspace unnoticed.

Five new CMS software platforms appeared on the radar this month with significant new releases or developments. Not all of the CMS platforms listed here are new, but recent developments might also make them worth a second look for web designers working with open source CMS solutions.

1. SilverStripe

“You’re a web designer. You’re looking for a CMS, but not for yourself: It’s your clients who will use the CMS on a daily basis. We built a CMS for the people who edit website content, and built a separate set of tools for the people who actually make the websites. The result: a more intuitive CMS. We have designed the CMS to be tailored: You can easily create exactly the content fields that fit with your design. Your clients can build on the framework you create for them easily, while still maintaining design integrity. Add new features with modules, give your site a new look with one of the themes, or add more power to your sidebar with widgets.”

Site: http://silverstripe.org
Demo: http://demo.silverstripe.com/

Comments: looks a lot like WordPress, more wide and expansive, more white space (in the demo) – forum is similar also to vBulletin, very nice Flickr gallery, very professional look – used for Democratic National Convention 2008.

2. Concrete5

“Drupal and Joomla were designed by and for developers. Building and maintaining a site in Drupal or Joomla is far too complex and intimidating for a regular person. Imagine paying a consultant to write a Word Document that you could never edit. How useful is that to your business?”

“Conversely, blogs like Wordpress were designed entirely for the casual site owner, with few concerns about extensibility. Imagine being told your document was always going to have a cover page, a table of contents, and an index – no matter how short you wanted it to be. Sure it’s great you can get started quickly, but if you want to do anything more than blog, Wordpress is like using a hammer to drive screws.”

“With concrete5, you get the best of both worlds. Anyone can start making their own website in seconds, and the editing experience is easier than using a blog; just click on what you want to change. Developers still get a flexible and robust framework for building sophisticated web applications. Web geeks can build anything they might with Drupal or Joomla. With concrete5, however, site owners will be able to make changes and additions on their own, for years to come.”

Site: http://www.concrete5.org
Demo: http://getconcrete5.com/demo

Comments: big in Japan & Russia, ice-graphite-sky color base theme, futuristic, minimalistic design well suited for multimedia publishing, paid marketplace with prices like $25 for a “ticker” module, mix of free & paid downloads, community & developer sections, hosting options.

3. ModX CMS

“ModX is a free, fast, and flexible, ajax and seo content management system. MODx helps you take control of your online content. An Open Source PHP application framework, it frees you to build sites exactly how you want and make them 100% yours. Zero restrictions and fast to build. Super-simple templates in regular HTML/CSS/JS (any lib you want). Registered user systems and a killer community. Welcome to web-building nirvana.”

Site: http://modxcms.com/
Screenshots: http://modxcms.com/learn/screenshots.html

Comments: perfect web 2.0 layout, big blocks for presentation, wide menu bars with gradients, page sections positioned with links, menus, and references in way similar to mySpace / WordPress, great GUI & icon set, very polished display, attention getting & memorable design.

4. Ingeniux Cartella

“Social software is reshaping business on the web. From employee collaboration to brand communities, social software engages people to share information and build meaningful connections. Today the question is not whether to use social software in your business, but how to manage and control it.”

“Meet Cartella. Cartella is the first unified social content management system. It delivers the best in social networking, web analytics, and content management to make social software fit business and IT needs while making communities easy to manage, measure, and optimize.”

Site: http://www.ingeniux.com/Products/Ingeniux-Cartella-Social-Content-Management-Software.xml
Demo Request: http://www.ingeniux.com/Products/Ingeniux-Cartella-Social-Content-Management-Software.xml?tab=4

Comments: proprietary, one application for managing blogs, documents, wikis, video, image sharing, and other social software tools, turnkey solutions, enterprise level, built-in analytics, based on Microsoft .NET MVC technology, very Microsoft in look / design / icons, etc.

5. SocialWeb CMS

“Social Web CMS (SWCMS) is a mature, full-featured, and open source social news application written in PHP and utilizing a MySQL backend. From the web newbie looking for a simple way to enter the playing field to advanced developers hoping to drive social news to the next level, SWCMS is your best source for full, free, and actively developed social news applications.”

“Social News refers to a concept pioneered by web 2.0 companies like Digg and Reddit. In this model the front-page news is determined not by a small group of editors but rather by the viewer community. This helps ensure that the topics covered are diverse – featuring multiple viewpoints rather than a select group’s editorial bias. Social News also helps ensure that the news is always the latest and freshest. Drawing on the full resources of the internet community social news can far surpass any one company’s ability to review and prioritize important news items as they happen.”

Site: http://www.socialwebcms.com/
Download: http://www.assembla.com/spaces/yadc/documents

Comments: Pligg / Drigg developers will likely be migrating to this platform for future social bookmarking development stability.

This is a post from Web Dev News, a site brought to you by Xavisys Web Development.

Best New CMS Software Releases – May 2009