Okay... So I have this huge mess of a website and I really want to get better control over it and condense some of it and make it more coherent and logical. I really like the ease of using Nucleus for parts of it and I use Thingamablog for parts of it and the rest I built in Html kit and Netscape composer and Top Style Light, BUT!!!!! What I really want to have is one CMS that will do it all.

What I want is the features that Nucleus has with plugins; itemized archive index, numbers pages, bookmarklet, ease of use, etc, but with the ability to work offline like Thingamablog and to upload html the way Thingamablog can without have to redo entire pages or type in new links in the archive by hand. I also need a manageable and searchable gallery, searchable index for weblog entries, etc. And, unfortunately, it has to be free because this thing is a hobby and not paying any bills for me.

Does anything like that exist anywhere or am I dreaming?

*sigh*

Thanks....
-Bonnie

Nevermind.

Well, I can give you some tipps there.

First of all, how much time are you willing to inves to learn how it runs ?

For example for Typo3.org you might need quite some time, to master it you'll need around a month.

Something quite simple: www.mambo.org - they have lots of free templates and blogger included to place wherever you want. But i haven't experimented with their template yet. I think it's a nice thing to play and get a nice site. But i don't know how easy it is to set up their templates.

Another tipp i got from a friend is: www.openengine.de - sorry, but it's in German.

But there is a very good site that have all the great CMS listed and details, tipss, infos whatever posted. Check zis out :

http://www.opensourcecms.com/

- All free stuff. Open source - Hope these tipps help!

Is really easy to make a template for mambo, just give a look to the free templates in your mambo installation dir, and you will understand it very fast.

I think Mambo is a great solution for simple and ready-to-use CMS systems, but i think too bpgisme needs something more advanced.

I feel the best system would be like PHPwebsite which might do wonders for you. But you need to know what you would like to have in your website.
Writing a template in PHPwebsite is as good as designing on MSword but its fun you can learn entire process in a day or so.

try that

Hi Guys! Thanks for replying! I had gone ahead with Thingamablog and just decided to give up finding the right thing for me because everything I liked was too expensive, but I'll look at everything you have mentioned.

PHPwebsite sounds like what I was looking for.... I'll check it out first. I like working with CSS but I could see how I needed to add things to the template and I was afraid to try to in Nucleus. I didn't want to break it. I'll go check it out!

Thanks so much! I had given up finding anything!

-Bonnie

Well, this one "looked" outdated, but, is REALLY useful if you take your time to learn it and all its features.

ocPortal seems like one of the best ones compared to others.
Not only does it let you intregrate your ipb, phpbb, vbulletin or any other forum with the CMS system, but, also allows a point system and so many features I thought I was in heaven.

Furthermore, its free! But in order to get the "unregistered" status away, he requires registration or a translation.

Anyways, thought i'd mention it

You can also find good ones on Hotscripts

Thanks!
I'll check them out.

I did look at PHPwebsite, but I had just finished getting the site set up in this new way with Thingamablog so I'm going ot keep it up a while as is until I get tired of it, in say... about two to three months... I can't leave the darned thing alone! So I'll look into these choices too.

I think I'd like a more comprehensive music site for Orphic Endeavors and my husband's bands, and a better designed gallery for the art.... Ah... so much work though.... I'm supposed to be writing. I'll get back to it someday I guess. I am the queen of procrastination.

-Bonnie