Simple CMSs

[divine]

I'm redoing a very basic site at the moment (well, doing the thinking part).

At the moment, I have a half built test version from last year running on Wordpress but to be honest, it's way overkill.

I want about 3 static pages (home / about / contact) and then the ability to add posts and remove them simply.

The idea being that someone computer illiterate will be able to add the posts, which will consist of a load of text and then 3 or 4 pictures.

I don't want archive lists, I don't want blog rolls, i don't want trackbacks, categories, dates, authors etc. shown anywhere - literally just the title and content of the post. Trying to make Wordpress work this simply is seeming almost more effort than it's worth so i was wondering if any other decent but simple CMSs would be more suitable?

[iCraig]

www.speaklight.com

www.joomla.org

I'll dig out another that's free and simple.

[divine]

LightCMS looks good but can I use that on my own hosting? They want $19 a month to be able to use more than 3 pages unless i'm reading it wrong...

[Rusty Shackleford]

FrogCMS would probably meet your requirements.

[iCraig]

Originally Posted by iCraig

I'll dig out another that's free and simple.

http://www.cushycms.com/

Is the other. Never tried it personally (small fry ) but heard other devs say it does the job if the job is small and basic.

[divine]

The back end is a bit complex on Frog - this needs to be usable by someone who is really quite computer illiterate. The fact it took me 5 minutes to figure out how to make a post is not a good sign!

For example, one thing good about wordpress is the way you can add pictures and a little wizard will do all the resizing and linking to larger versions and insert it in the post for you.

LightCMS looks good for this sort of backend ease but I don't really want to have to have it hosted with them on their terms etc.

[divine]

Originally Posted by iCraig

http://www.cushycms.com/

Is the other. Never tried it personally (small fry ) but heard other devs say it does the job if the job is small and basic.

...again, seems like something I need to sign up to and use on their terms etc.

What I want is something like Wordpress, which I can just download and install on my hosting but isn't full of useless bloat that I don't need like Wordpress is.

[iCraig]

Joomla, drupal? Although you may find drupal as complex as frog.

[Rusty Shackleford]

Originally Posted by divine

isn't full of useless bloat that I don't need

Easy to use, not bloated, and something not already hosted? I think you might have to compromise somewhere.

Originally Posted by divine

The back end is a bit complex on Frog - this needs to be usable by someone who is really quite computer illiterate. The fact it took me 5 minutes to figure out how to make a post is not a good sign!

I agree, frog isn't the most instantly intuitive ui, but I think it's clean and easily customizable. Having tested a good few with similar requirements to yourself it's the one I was most content with.

Couple others I quite liked but were a bit heavy for me, Habari and Serendipity

[divine]

The ease of use thing is most important as it's my dad who needs to use it and he's the sort who still types with one finger per hand and hasn't grasped the concept of tabs in firefox, so you can imagine why i'd like something with the sort of hand holding word press can provide but without the overwhelming wealth of 'stuff' when you log into the admin panel.

edit - that or he'll rope my mum into doing it for him, in which case it doesn't matter so much.

edit 2 - i've just tried making a lower privileged account as an author and it seems that removes a lot of stuff he wouldn't need to touch, so that might be an easier option.