Content Management Systems
Content management systems are increasingly used with gallery modules to create a richer and more interactive way to display images.
A typical content management system (CMS) would include features such as a news display, FAQs, vistors book, downloads, discussion forums, and an image gallery.
Popular CMSs include XOOPS, PHPNuke, PostNuke, Mambo, Plone, Zope, Typo3 and Drupal.
One of the major problem with CMS packages is that they are often very unfriendly to set up, and can be a nightmare to integrate with with third-party products, such as an image gallery, as most of the products do not have built-in image management of any degree of sophistication.
Support can be another issue. Most of the affordable products rely on a community of developers to maintain and enhance the packages. Community can be an erratic group of one, or it can be a large, enthusiastic, often international group of committed individuals, producing and testing work to the highest professional standards. To get some idea of the quality of support, have a look at the products support forums. It is also worth checking the download areas for patches, and the intervals between major releases.
Another criticism of the CMS concept from Internet design gurus is that they lead to a bland uniformity of style, as the look is by definition pre-packaged. The jury is out on this one - Whilst there are many samey, out-of-the-box sites, there are also many others out there that are so themed and configured it is almost impossible to detect their origins.
Both CPG-Nuke and PostNuke have possibilities, and they are two of the better presented CMS products, but third-party product integration could be better. It has to be said that PHPNuke suffers from an inelegant installation procedure, lack of documentation, and seems quite buggy. Typo3 is elegant, but difficult to get to grips with quickly.
Mambo is very slick and well engineered, but the original development team have legged it and created Joomla, which is a parallel development based on Mambo 4.5.3.2. Both integrate with Gallery.
I'm currently making extensive use of Drupal. The Drupal code is very reliable and continuing support from the community is excellent.
One to watch is Exponent. I’ve had a good look at version 0.96.2 which has got a basic image gallery module and plenty of functionality for adding your own content however it is currently let down by almost zero documentation and a fairly impenetrable admin interface.
Another CMS to consider is e107, which integrates with, amongst others, Gallery 2 and Lightbox.
Other promising contenders include:
Traditional blogging software is in some instances evolving new features and trending towards CMS functionality. For more detail see Drupal v Wordpress.
Here are a few example sites that incorporate an image gallery:
Bath Pubs (Drupal/Gallery 2)
Devon Pubs (Wordpress)
The Chess Knights (CPG-Nuke)
Discover Magazine (Plone)
Further information on CMS systems can be found at
CMS Matrix, CMS Watch (a bit heavy), and CMS Review.