The CMS I use and why you'll want me to use it for your project

Or, "Even you can have fun building websites. Really!"

Concrete5 is the CMS (or Content Management System, a piece of software that allows you to edit your website in your browser) I use for 99% of my web work these days. As someone who builds websites with the knowledge of a developer but the heart of a designer, I understand when my clients want something that is flexible and powerful, but at the same time isn't complicated and hard to use. I understand the blank look that appears when they see an unintuitive interface. It's as big a heartache for me, because I've had to work with them from the inside out. I've had experience with Joomla, Wordpress, and Drupal (Joomla the most, I even worked with it back when it was still called Mambo). And while these CMSs are good in their own particular ways, I "converted" to a little-known open-source CMS called Concrete5 about a year ago. In what has almost become a colloquialism among people who give C5 for a spin, I "never looked back." And so have my clients. 

Why is it a big deal?

There are a couple of reasons why you'll want to use C5 over other CMSs:

• In-context editing. You navigate to a page and edit it or add more things to it on the spot.
• Strong and growing community. Concrete is a very vibrant and living project, continuously being improved. There are lots of knowledgeable people to help you (your designer aside).
• Powerful engine to grow with you. Installing add-ons for C5 is like eating cake, it's so easy. So when you need to add a new function to your site, it isn't rocket science.
• Smooth and sleek. The interface makes it easy and a joy to use.
• Tried and true. Concrete5 was actually an in-house studio CMS before released as open source. So when it went open-source, it had already been used in many production-level sites through the years, with many improvements. Literally speaking, Concrete5 is just that: "5.0", or the fifth version of the software.
• Developers love it too. Concrete5 is not hard to learn to work with under the hood. So if you have in-house coders that may need to get down and dirty, the curve for doing so is minimal.

The idea that something can be powerful yet still easy to use can sometime seem like an oxymoron, especially when it comes to the Web. But if there's any piece of software that lets you build and manage websites that fulfills that paradox, Concrete5 is definitely one of them. It is slick, easy to use from a non-geek perspective, and is still powerful enough to get the job done neatly and properly. Of course, it's free and open source, and because it's a CMS (not a desktop application) it lives on the server, and not on your computer where it would take up space.

Me building this page, no less, using Concrete5

What you can expect as a client

These days I consider myself a C5 "developer"—especially when it comes to designing themes for it. I've deployed a number of websites, small and large, using Concrete5, without the need of webmasters after the fact. It's likely that I will recommend C5 for your project (unless special circumstances or necessities require a different CMS to be used). So you can expect the design process to be surprisingly easy, and the end product to be something that will be easy for you and your faculty to use. Concrete5 itself costs nothing, so not only are you getting a beautifully designed site, you're getting a powerful engine that runs the whole show in the background, and will do so for the long term. Finally, unlike the design constrictions and obtuseness of other CMSs like Drupal or Joomla, there is little that cannot be done with C5 in terms of visual appeal. If you've got an in-house designer that knows a little about HTML and CSS, that's all that will be required to keep things running smoothly.

Are there any downsides? Not really. In some cases you may have to find a few extra bucks for C5 add-ons, such as for e-commerce, mailing lists, and forums. But these add-ons are almost always in the $25-$75 range, and they are continually maintained by their developers (the downfall of free open-source add-ons is that their support can be inconsistent). In many cases these add-ons are great deals for what they do, and many projects will work fine with just a plain C5 install. Finally, there are many basic add-ons that are free.

Support for your project

Because I'm planting roots into Concrete5 and its developer community, I'll be able to support my clients using C5 more and more over time. The official C5 site has a number of lovely screencasts and tutorials on how to use the CMS, many short and to the point. However, I plan to be providing my own just for my clients. So be sure to check back here or follow me on Twitter for updates on this.

Furthermore, I plan to be submitting many Concrete5 themes to the C5 marketplace, the repository for their commercially-sold add-ons. I plan to keep these themes constantly updated, so in a way you'll be getting free updates with these themes as well. There's nothing there yet, but that'll change soon!