The CMS report: Graffiti Review
by Omar AlBadri on 9/24/2008 9:46:00 AM
Read the latest CMS Report where I review the Graffiti CMS...
The CMS Report: Graffiti CMS Review
This a new series where I review certain CMS for people out there who are thinking of implementing one and would like to know more information about it. I will rate each CMS in these categories: Installation( How easy is it to install), Learning Curve(How easy is it to get up to speed), Ease of use(How User friendly is it), Versatility(How easy is it to adapt), Documentation and Overall score.I will provide a score where 1 means the feature was difficult to use or wasn't very intuitive and a 10 being that the feature was extremely intuitive or easy to preform. I will also be covering the drawbacks, frustrations and potential uses. With out further ado... The CMS Report.
Graffiti CMS 1.1
Overview: Its fitting I should start with Graffiti CMS since this site was built with it. What better way to review a product then actually using it to review it. For those who love and hate Community Server(CS) where you love it because it has powerful features, and you hate it cause of it powerful features, Telligent(www.teligent.com) has created a CMS for the mid to small size projects that require the publishing features of Community Server with out all the horsepower. In essecence .net Programmers finally have a awnser to Wordpress.
Being a C# .net developer has its drawbacks while looking for a good CMS. We see the rich set of tools that PHP Linux users have (a mostly free to boot!) such as Wordpress,Drupal, etc. and hear their laughter at our Sharepoint, and DotNetNuke(kill me now) approach to a CMS. In comes Graffiti that finally allows the .net C# developer to create mid size to small sight that allows us to: Create Blogs, create a small article site, set it up quickly and launch.
Installation: Very Easy (9)
Overall:Graffiti installation is a snap, Telligent provides zip file that has a web site ready to go. Simply point your Visual Studio at the directory(or install in your IIS) and launch.
Drawback: Documentation doesn't really cover what directories the ASP.NET user needs read access to. Also the choice of Vista DB as its default database was a poor choice considering that you have to purchase additional software to be able to edit/view the database. You can use SQL Server but you have to configure some additional options.
Ease of use: Easy(8)
Overall: The Graffiti Admin interface provides you with a wealth of options. The best being the ability to import your old blog post from various different systems such as BlogSpot, older Community Server versions, and Wordpress(YAY!!). Although it will take some time to review all the options, the interface is uncluttered and structured in a way where anyone who has used a CMS will be pleased.
Drawbacks: Some placement of menu options do not make sense or are of little value. Some items take so research and discovery to find, such as finding how to publish a draft. Overall though with a little work and time the system because very easy to use and understand
Documentation: Poor(3)
Overall: The biggest problem I had was finding how to use the Chalk language. Chalk is Graffiti's new PHPish like scripting language that essential makes pages easier and quicker to create. I found it hard to even find documentation on the simplest task. Lets hope Telligent improves this in the future.
Versatility: Fair(6)
Overall: In Graffiti everything is a post, while that is its strength it is also its weakness. If you are creating a site that primarily consist of a bunch or articles/stories that might have between 1-20 authors, Graffiti works perfect. If you would like something a little more complex with many users, downloads, uploads, community driven then you are better off going with Community Server. Graffiti's target is a mid to small level site where the primary purpose is to publish articles/stories. In that respect it accomplishes its goal.
Overall: Very Good(8)
Graffiti is not going to tear the CMS world upside down. It does what it does and what it does it does it very well. You can build good looking, functional websites very fast and adding content is a snap. Chalk is a nice addition as it allows you to add code with out accessing the base files. Basically if your looking to implement a Wordpress like site with .net technology Graffiti is a fine choice.
Graffiti can be downloaded and purchased from here
Comments
Interesting article, will you be reviewing other cms systems?
What a review. It's almost like telligent is a sponsor of yours or something. Oh, wait.....
Lol, sorry I built this site in Graffiti and forgot to remove the Sponsor images they add. But no this site is not sponsored by Telligent ( although I wish it was :) )
Lol, sorry I built this site in Graffiti and forgot to remove the Sponsor images they add. But no this site is not sponsored by Telligent ( although I wish it was :) )
Graffiti is horrible. Use DotNetNuke it is much better, user friendly and free. Don't waste your money with Graffiti. I was trying to get support for help with installing a them called Traiing. I wasted 10s of hours and my money but was not able to customize or install the theme. If you need lightweight blog use DotNetBlogEngine.net . It is free and much better. Learn from my mistake and save your money. Do not use Graffiti and waste your money or time. It is horrible. Support is non-existent.
Tareq,
The problem is not Grafitti but the Theme it self. I actually am using the Training theme on this site(with some customizations) The problem is that the theme was not updated to the new database structure. To get it to work you have to install a trial version of VistaDB and add a table. Check out the forums there are some helpful hints to get it to work.
hello, this is my first time i visit here. I found so many interesting in your blog especially on how to determine the topic. keep up the good work.