Valid question, WordPress fans. :)

I've done a bunch of work with WordPress--that's what my personal site is
built in, as well as a couple of organizational sites I help manage, and we
have a multisite installation for our librarians to maintain their own
blogs/sites, here. I've even hacked on it, a little (not the WP core, just
my own installs). So I'm not considering it for this purpose in part
because I would like the opportunity to learn something else. I mean, I
*can* work in PHP, but it's not my favorite thing.

More importantly, though, I feel like some of the integration and API work
I want to do would be way harder in WordPress than it would be in MODx,
Drupal, Django, or any number of other tools. To be fair, I've never really
tried building database-driven pages in WordPress (except inasmuch as
WordPress *itself* is database-driven), but it just seems like it would be
... gross... I'm prepared to believe you that it might not be gross, but it
also wouldn't be any easier than doing the same stuff in my current CMS,
MODx. (MODx is way more flexible, actually.)

The goal, here, isn't "Stand up a CMS quickly," or obviously I'd pick
WordPress. It's "build something really flexible and extensible and,
hopefully, fairly pleasant to manage." And a sub-goal is that I'd like to
do all that in Python. :)

Does that make sense?

-- 
Coral Sheldon-Hess
http://sheldon-hess.org/coral
@web_kunoichi


On Thu, Feb 13, 2014 at 4:35 PM, Riley Childs <[log in to unmask]>wrote:

> Also you just described WordPress!
>
> Riley Childs
> 704 497-2086
> Sent from my superior my Windows Phone
> ________________________________
> From: Coral Sheldon-Hess<mailto:[log in to unmask]>
> Sent: 2/13/2014 7:15 PM
> To: [log in to unmask]<mailto:[log in to unmask]>
> Subject: [CODE4LIB] Python CMSs
>
> Hi, everyone!
>
> I've gotten clearance to totally rewrite my library's website in the
> framework/CMS of my choice (pretty much :)). As I have said on numerous
> occasions, "If I can get paid to write Python, I want to do that!" So,
> after some discussion with my department head/sysadmin, we're leaning
> toward Django.
>
> Here's a broad question, re: Python and Django: If you've made the switch,
> what has your experience been? Has Django (or any other Python framework)
> given you something cool that was lacking in your previous
> language/framework/CMS? Has it helped you build something awesome? Have you
> found it enabling or limiting in any way? If you were going to sell people
> on (or against) using it, what would your arguments be? I'm a relative
> newbie to Python, and a total newbie to Django, so even if there was a
> tutorial you found useful, or some caveat you learned along the way, I'm
> interested. :)
>
> And then a more specific question: Given the following requirements, do you
> have a Django-based CMS you'd recommend? (Of course, I'll also do my own
> research, but I'd love to see what other libraries' experiences have been
> and what's popular, right now.)
>  * There's a chance we'll want to offer other editors access to it, at some
> point, so it would be nice if I can provide a WYSIWYG interface, which I
> also am going to want the option to *turn off*, for my own sanity.
> * We're a Springshare-heavy library with Summon and big secret API-based
> plans, so easy JavaScript (preferably jQuery) integration is a must.
> * It should play nicely with MySQL.
> * Because I probably won't be here forever, it's of the utmost importance
> that whatever we end up with is easy to maintain.
> * I'm used to MODx's page-ID model, where I can move pages around, and as
> long as I don't delete/recreate a page (thereby changing its ID), I don't
> have to change any links anywhere else in the CMS. I'd really like
> something that will work equally well, since the odds that I'll nail the
> information architecture on the first try are probably slim. :) (Maybe this
> one should go without saying, since I know WordPress and many other CMSs do
> this, but if you have to err, err on the side of being explicit, right?)
> * A nice forms-builder plugin (module?) would be a great thing to have, as
> well. We use FormIt in MODx, and now I'm spoiled.
>
> And, I mean, if there's a CMS on top of another Python framework you think
> I should be considering, feel free to throw that out as a possibility, too!
>
> Thank you!
>
> --
> Coral Sheldon-Hess
> http://sheldon-hess.org/coral
> @web_kunoichi
>