Hi Mekie,

I started out a few years ago knowing absolutely nothing about CMS until I got involved with three different cash-strapped nonprofits that all wanted new websites with different functionalities. I am far from an expert, but I'm happy to tell you what my experience has been. I think your decision will weigh heavily on exactly what you want to do and what you already have. It looks like you already have a dedicated website, so I assume you are already paying for hosting and your domain name yearly? If these are not costs to consider, then you are more open with what you can do with CMS to simply update your look and functionality. 

In my opinion, Drupal and Joomla are for more advanced users who have some experience with graphic design and coding. Omeka and WordPress would both be good options for you. They both have attractive, user-friendly templates and lots of plugins for you to be able to produce a nice looking website with custom functionality. If you already have a host and a domain name, all you have to do it is build the site and point your domain name to the new Omeka or WordPress site. The great thing is that you can experiment with both Omeka and WordPress for free! Go to Omeka.org when you're ready to build your website, but go to Omeka.net to experiment first. You can do the same with WordPress by just not making the website you build live. The really great thing is they are both free unless you want certain paid plugins (but you can do almost anything you need to with free plugins)

I had to experiment a lot before I figured out which option was right for each organization. I use GoDaddy, Joomla, and WordPress for different organizations because they all have different needs. I would really recommend doing this and trying out all your options with different CMS programs before you dedicate yourself to one (but of course you can always change later!). I wish I had known about Omeka a few years ago when I was trying to figure out Joomla!

Your storage options depend on how you host your website. I don't know who you are hosting with now or if you plan on switching when you update your site, but make sure you explore your options here too because you definitely get more bang for your buck with some companies. I hope I didn't just make this more confusing, but feel free to email me directly if I can help. Good luck!

Brie
-- 
Brigida Blasi
Curator, Sweetwater County Historical Museum

On Wed, Nov 4, 2015 at 4:17 PM, Janice Majewski <[log in to unmask]> wrote:
Dear Mekie,

I'm not a web expert, by a long shot, but my understanding about Drupal is that organizations have been successful with it in creating websites that are accessible to people with disabilities.  There's a lot on the web about web accessibility, but here's a blog specific to Drupal's accessibility: https://www.zivtech.com/blog/web-accessibility-and-drupal

Good luck with your work,
Jan

Janice Majewski
Director, Inclusive Cultural and Educational Projects
Institute for Human Centered Design


On Wed, Nov 4, 2015 at 9:51 AM, Mekie Kukan <[log in to unmask]> wrote:
Hello readers,

I am on the board for the Canton Historical Society, a very small organization. Our Museum is housed in a one-room schoolhouse, and we're completely run by volunteers.

To get us moving onto the web, I'm looking for a good web CMS (content management system), most likely open-source (as we have a very limited budget), for our organization's web presence as well as some historical photos, videos, and archival finding aids. So this had me thinking that a CMS would help solve any problems such as data storage that a typical website creator (like Squarespace) might not be able to handle.

I found a couple useful articles (http://spyrestudios.com/free-content-management-systems/ and http://www.1stwebdesigner.com/free-content-management-systems/) but I wanted to get some input from the professional community. What are some of the pros/cons to Drupal, WordPress, Joomla, etc. specifically for the museum sector? Is there a particular CMS most museum professionals are utilizing? What are some of the specific options I should be considering in selecting a CMS? Am I on the right track? Thank you so much for all your help!

Sincerely,

To unsubscribe from the MUSEUM-L list, click the following link:
http://home.ease.lsoft.com/scripts/wa-HOME.exe?SUBED1=MUSEUM-L&A=1



To unsubscribe from the MUSEUM-L list, click the following link:
http://home.ease.lsoft.com/scripts/wa-HOME.exe?SUBED1=MUSEUM-L&A=1






To unsubscribe from the MUSEUM-L list, click the following link:
http://home.ease.lsoft.com/scripts/wa-HOME.exe?SUBED1=MUSEUM-L&A=1