I installed copybar (www.copybar.io) on a publib website where I freelance. For all sorts of reasons--which are common for libs--their county server has a moratorium on anything server-side, so a db-driven CMS isn't an option. Copybar is pretty groovy and user-friendly but for the caveat that any content produced in copybar (unless it's tied to another CMS like Wordpress) won't show for any no-js browsers. 

If basic HTML is an option, have you thought about a static site generator? Not all websites need databases. In terms of ease (and, ah ..., Windows compatibility) I've gotten totally behind Mixture (www.mixture.io) -- presently in beta -- which has a pretty slick UI, can be templated, outputs raw HTML, and has a nice live reload in the browser (also compiles SASS and stuff, so bonus).

Not sure if those help your situation, but I think both tools--especially mixture--are the bee's knees.

Michael / Front-End Librarian in Ohgoditsgettinghotnow-Florida / www.ns4lib.com

-----Original Message-----
From: Code for Libraries [mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of Wilhelmina Randtke
Sent: Monday, April 29, 2013 11:23 AM
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: [CODE4LIB] File based CMSes

Has anyone worked with file based CMSes,and do you have a recommendation for one with simple backend?

One of the issues with the CMS is that databases don't make sense to people without background in them.  I want to look at static file based CMSes with the goal of finding something that is easier to write instructions on doing maintenance and backups for than is a database based CMS.

-Wilhelmina Randtke