Been using CMSMS a couple of years now and see it as one of the best on the net. Easy and quick, no problems as long as you follow the instructions. Have run Joomla, WordPress and others but seems to always go back to CMSMS.

Yes something needs to be looked at but the overall impression and functionality of it is awesome, even for a N00b.

Not simple,not fast,not php 5.3, not e_strict, most modules are not working, help in the forums is very poor.

Here some words of a developer of CMS Made Simple:

The simple answer is.... CMS Made Simple is NOT targeted towards noobs. it's targeted towards web professionals that know what they want, know about x/html and css... and just want a package that is simple for them to put a simple portfolio/corporate website together, and hand off to the average secretary/admin-assistant to maintain content.

I have installed couple of scripts before but honestly installation of this CMS just gave me a headache right of the bat. I could not pass through furst checksum test no matter what I did. Their forum was unable to help me - always pointing to "upload all the files in binary mode". I DID UPLOAD the files in BINARY MODE! Result? Still cannot pass that checksum summary test! I am dropping this CMS no matter how god it may be as others here have described.

I'm working with cmsms since 2007. There is one big problem – once you've started to learn the template system, how to add new modules, how to make it multilingual, how to manage the content and how to adapt your own design, it's very hard to start learning with other cm systems like Drupal, Joomla or Typo3 (I'm a lazy person). From time to time I'm trying some new cm systems. But as soon as I want to adapt the template or add a module, I see how easy it works with cmsms. Be aware this cms is for people who develop their own websites with xhtml and css. It doesn't make sense, if your background is based only on WYSIWYG editors. Don't expect to find themes as in WordPress or Joomla, there are some, but with the help of your brain you can design your own theme.
Once you've installed cmsms, you have a functional site with a lot of explanations, with various template examples and menus. The installed site gives you already an example of a splitted or drop down menu. If you want to install additional modules, go to the ModuleManager and choose a module (they are listed alphabetically with descriptions), click on the desired module and it will be installed, that's it. If you are familiar with smarty, it's a big advantage. It's well suited for static pages, but there is also a blog module. It' s a breeze if you want to add for example some jquery or mootools stuff. The biggest benefit is, that due to it's intuitive backend, that most clients are very soon familiar with it. I even have some clients (who work every day on a PC) who started to edit their pages, without any training. Like every other cms there also some drawbacks. But there will be (hopefully this year) the 2. version with a lot improvements. About the forum: some folks complain about the forum. I think, it depends on how you're asking. There were many issues I got help from the forum. About the documentation: The online documentation could be better.
Cheers.

If you cant use CMS Made Simple, then frankly you should stick to things much smaller. This is as simple and powerful as it becomes. Have dug around in Joomla, Drupal,Wordpress, but CMS MS wins hands down. But if you can't code or wish not to....stick with something more 'modular' like wordpress or Joomla.I have migrated sites from Joomla to CMS MS and did not need to teach the client to use it. Now that is a true CMS.

Great CMS once you know how to change the stuff it is amazing.

People who are telling it is crap, maybe you should read instructions ...

Good work !

Hi all
This is a very good CMS. The content is based on hierarchy (main pages 1 2 3 4... - child pages 1.1 1.2 1.3 2.1 2.2 etc ) .Each page is then link to a css file+xhmtl model so that each page can be embedded differently. Lots of modules can also be installed easily and inserted into content with smarty tags {...}. This is for me the simplest one for these webmasters who want small to medium websites with static pages, easy to teach to their customers.
Nevertheless, if you want a website with lot of dynamic content, like big portals or intranets with workflow, joomla or drupal are better, even thought they are more complex to learn.

The only bad thing for CMS MS is that the mutltilangual edition is a fork, and is not very functional.

BR

CMSMS is great for certain sites - sites that are primarily static and the content providers / editors / authors are not code savvy. Since 99% of people using CMS's fall into this category, it is ideal.

If you are looking for a CMS that the design can easily change within a few mouse clicks and no web design skills - this is not the CMS you are looking for.

Basically if this is set up by a designer for you, this is a complete no-brainer, a drooling idiot can update and create content EASILY. Most people on here want a push button design process and everything handed to them without that pesky thought process getting in the way.

Out of the box - without configuration - NO CMS is going to be exactly what you want, they all look ugly and have templates that suck. But this baby can have your content wrapped in its ugly skin in mere minutes from first site.

If you can navigate this ugly forum, and use MS Wordpad, you are all trained and ready for CMSMS.

This is a good piece of sofrware.

Thanks

there is a lot to explore

This is one of the easiest and most flexible open source CMS platforms I've ever used. Once you learn the {smarty} syntax and how the software is organized, you can rapidly deploy lightweight custom websites with valid HTML and very little effort. I find it to be perfect for most of my small to midsize web projects.

Modules are easy to install and can be cross-integrated to provide highly customized features. User-defined tags (UDTs) can be written directly in PHP for anything that's not already available as a plugin or a module.

I've deployed CMSMS on more than 30 websites specifically because it's easy to teach non-techies how to use it. Anyone whose ever used an email client can be trained as an author/editor in CMS Made Simple.

BTW - To whomever made the comment "...still need some functionality like Creating Forms." The FormBuilder plugin is far and away better than any form building tool I've used in any other CMS. A simple google search would have at least told you that it was available. Due diligence people, please!

best one so far. its so easy to customize for designers. I love it. I have 5 site running with cms made simple and its all good.

Fantastic software.

I've been working with this CMS for a year now .... on multiple projects. Just super. Easy to install, easy to have your own layouts in. No problem with pieces of code of your own or integration of counters and so forth.
Helpful developer team and forum members.
Really great job!

Anyone tell me how to change the lanuage for the back end (admin area) because I can only read english, this shits me to no end, I have spent half an hour pressing this and pressing that to no avail, please! someone! I would like to try it, thanks