Multiple user CMS

October 22, 2007 8:41 AM

Looking for a multiple user CMS/blog solution for our website.

I'm developing a fairly basic site for a home builder, and I'm looking for a super simple CMS that will allow individual users to log in and see certain pages related to their job (plus a couple of pages for all users to see).

Ideally, I'd like each user to be able to add posts to their own page (questions for the builder), but not edit any other posts on the page.

I've looked into a few systems: I installed Joomla, it seemed to be overkill for what we need. Wordpress may be perfect (I'm not sure how to implement the multiple user login system), Textpattern looks promising, as does ModX.

Thanks for anything you can recommend.

posted by shinynewnick to computers & internet (12 comments total)

You're in luck. WordPress MU.
posted by limon at 8:46 AM on October 22, 2007

I'm a strong proponent of MODx (which you mentioned.) You'd probably have to use the core Ditto snippet for the blog functionality. I haven't gotten to that yet but it has it's own wiki and the forums are ok for support.

I work in collaboration with a company that deploys several sites with MODx, including combination regular sites with blogs.
posted by juiceCake at 8:47 AM on October 22, 2007

Google apps for your domain is always an option.
posted by empath at 8:52 AM on October 22, 2007

Wordpress isn't just for blogs, anymore. It's really a pretty powerful CMS, whether or not you're using the MU flavor.
posted by deCadmus at 9:10 AM on October 22, 2007

Thanks for the tips so far. I'm installing Wordpress MU right now, so I may be back shortly with some followup questions. Such as: How easy is it to make a very basic header-footer centered template?
posted by shinynewnick at 9:26 AM on October 22, 2007

Standalone Wordpress allows multiple users to log in and post on a blog. So you may not even need Wordpress MU. And there are tons of plugins out there for your every need.
posted by Baud at 9:27 AM on October 22, 2007

How easy is it to make a very basic header-footer centered template?

Very easy if you know (X)HTML + CSS, and aren't afraid of hacking a few PHP files (though no actual PHP-fu is neccesary).
posted by signal at 10:47 AM on October 22, 2007

Alright, Wordpress MU is up and running, thanks everyone. If you have any more tips, post away
posted by shinynewnick at 12:15 PM on October 22, 2007

I work with the Movable Typeteam, and can vouch for the fact that lots of people use it for exactly the scenario you've described. Plus, all the plugins and templates for MT work regardless of how many blogs or users you have in the system. The free version should be just for what you're describing.
posted by anildash at 2:41 PM on October 22, 2007

Just an update for the thread, I decided to move away from Wordpress MU. MU is better designed for a user to move across several blogs (the password plugins I tried work across all the MU sublogs, not individually).

anildash, if you check back here, can I create 3 blogs on one MT system, and have 3 different users that can only access their own blog (not the other two)?
posted by shinynewnick at 8:57 AM on October 24, 2007

Yep, that works in MT, though I want to be clearer with what you mean about "access their own blog" -- do you mean editing entries, or editing *and* viewing the entries?

If you just mean editing, that's built-in, but if you mean you want to prevent others from viewing it, too, you'll need (for now) a plugin like Privacy.
posted by anildash at 2:16 PM on October 24, 2007

Thanks anildash - yes, I mean editing and viewing the entries. Each blog should only be viewed by the customer and builder.
posted by shinynewnick at 7:19 PM on October 24, 2007