Evaluation of Xoops CMS
In WDMD 346 today we had to evaluate a Content Management System. I was assigned Xoops, which was a pretty confusing system overall. Thanks to opensourcecms.com I was able to actually demo Xoops firsthand. Our group divided up the categories of the evaluation chart and split the grading into three colors: red (poor or non-existant), orange (moderate), or green (great). As we went down the list of categories we all realized that Xoops wasn’t amazing. We found a lot of complexities with otherwise simple things. For example, WordPress has themes that you can pick and activate in a second, but Xoops requires a download followed by actually implementing it into the site. The core functionality of Xoops was fairly good, but it rates poorly for blogging and content scheduling due to its confusing navigation. WYSIWYG editing in Xoops leaves you wanting more because it is limited and not all that well put together. Many of the categories listed in the attached pdf below recieved an orange (moderate) rank because they were features that were not implemented in the original Xoops. Instead you had to go to websites and download them or insert certain pieces of code to get what you wanted. On the other end, the availability of 3rd party components for Xoops is high. It’s a toss up on which you would prefer, because one allows a bit more customization but also has a larger learning curve. The multi-site support for Xoops is high because there is a very easy and quick download for multi-site support that is rated well by Xoops users.
The learning curve of Xoops is not simple in my opinion. Upon first glance it looked really easy, but once you get into the categories and realize you have no idea how to do a simple thing like post a comment you quickly change your mind. The initial admin page looks really easy to use and I was hoping it would be, but once you choose one of the broad categories you are thrown into many different options that you aren’t familiar with. I have barely any experience with Content Management Systems, so Xoops was not a system I would recommend for people like me who are new. That being said there is alot of forum support as well as commercial support for Xoops. If you end up choosing Xoops, like all CMS you will likely rely heavily on others who have already gone through your difficulties and presented solutions to the problems.
Directly below is the comparison chart for Drupal, Joomla, WordPress, and Xoops.
