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CMS for High School Newspaper Website?

Posted by Cliff on from the what's-handling-YOUR-content dept.

wyldeone asks: "I'm responsible for creating a site for my high schools newspaper, and I'm at a loss for what technology to use. It is small, and there will be about one issue a month. I have looked into some weblogging software like MovableType, and WordPress and they seems too simple, but larger CMS offerings (Campsite and PROPS, for example) seem too complex and powerful for this project. Are there any suggestions from Slashdot readers who run high school or college newspapers?"

3 of 79 comments (clear)

  1. Drupal by redune45 · · Score: 2, Interesting

    Give Drupal a try. It is very customizable, and you should be able to configure it to do whatever you would like.

    It is the CMS behind Spread Firefox

    --
    redune.com: The World 3.2 Megapixels at a time
  2. Roll your own by saintp · · Score: 2, Interesting
    No, really. I did it as an undergrad (the code is GPL'd if you want it), and it took very little time: I worked with one other programmer very part time for a summer, and then off and on thenceforth.

    We chose a roll-your-own solution mainly to avoid bloat, but also so that we'd be more familiar with the way it worked. Since you're looking for a CMS for a school, my advice is this: spread the wealth. Your journalism students are getting experience, why not throw a bone to your computer science students as well? Look at some popular CMSs, make a list of features you want (I guarantee that most of them will have a billion features you don't want) and then get some students to write it. That's what we did, and we're very happy with the outcome.

    --
    Another one bites the dust
  3. News Blog Instead by wishus · · Score: 2, Interesting

    Why publish a traditional, monthly school newspaper on the web? People don't read the web that way.

    Instead, switch to the slashdot/blog format. Publish articles as they happen, and your audience will connect with your site daily and keep up with the real news as it comes out.

    The only reason school newspapers come out once a month is that it takes that long to produce enough material to fill a 10-12 page print newspaper. The web doesn't have those restrictions. Just publish the news on the website as it comes out.

    Movable Type or Wordpress should be fine.