[school-discuss] School web site CMS choices

[Randy Edwards <redwards@golgotha.net>]

   I wanted to see if I could tap the knowledge of the list here on the 
topic of school web sites.

   When I say "school web site", I'm not talking about online classes (e.g. 
Moodle, Claroline, Manhattan, etc.) -- just the regular "informational" 
portions of a school web site (i.e. main page, events calendar, lunch menus, 
school board minutes, contact lists, etc.).

   In the past, I've used PostNuke (PN) <http://www.postnuke.com> and 
various PN modules for school web sites.  This let me use a bunch of nifty 
features (PN has a slick calendar module that's really neat) and gain the 
flexibility of a CMS.

   Lately I've been thinking that Zope's <http://www.zope.org> Plone 
<http://plone.org> CMS might be better suited.  Is anyone use Zope/Plone on 
their school web site?

   The advantage I see in Zope/Plone is Zope's user flexibility.  Being 
able to mindlessly segregate portions of the web site so that various 
secretaries can directly upload things to only that portion is quite 
powerful, and aids in lessening IT's work.  Sure, such things can be done 
via .htaccess and other methods, but Zope/Plone seem a powerful combination.

   The downside I see in Zope/Plone is that it doesn't have the richness of 
modules that PostNuke has and it pushes one towards the "all Zope" model on 
the web server.  Again, anyone using Zope/Plone?

   Also, any new free software toys/tools out there that I should be 
looking at?

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