Split into summary + key requirements + niceties. In the latter two, a set of desirable properties structured as: property -- goal, rationale, evaluation criteria with scales.
Summary
The summary of the evaluation is the expression of suitability for the preferred site types; for each, scale is [useless/twisted/partly/quite-well/perfect-fit/overkill] + comments on plug-ins or changes necessary to get to that level.
Key requirements
- Size -- fairly simple, ssmal but extensible system
- I don't need a full-fledged document management with workflow and bells-and-whistles; rather, something that basically allows to put documents into areas. Criteria: unzipped size [KB], plug-in architecture [no/yes], coverage of items below [none/some/most/all].
- Platform -- LAMP
- Due to the support by the majority of webhosting services. Criteria: object PHP [no/yes], MySQL? [no/yes/plus others]
- Install and setup -- simplicity
- Quick and automated setup that works in webhosting environment. Criteria: time to go operational [min], web-based config [none/most/all], multiple sites in one CMS instance [no/yes]
- Plain text edit -- Textile/Wiki syntax
- I explicitly don't want HTML tags written by hand, for two reasons: (1) it is a barrier for average content creators, (2) it may screw up document structure, validity, formatting. Textile or Wiki are really good as the basic tools for text write-up; even I (with all the knowledge of (X)HTML since 1995) prefer them for content creation. Criteria: wiki-like input [no/yes], textile [no/plugin/builtin]
- WYSIWYG editing -- cross-platform
- Word-like environment is even better for the even more average users, but it must work in both MSIE and Mozilla-based browsers, and preferrably in Opera too. Htmlarea v3 functionality & configurability is ideal benchmark. Criteria: wysiwyg [no/builtin/plugin], configurable [no/yes]
- Generated HTML -- valid XHTML
- Along the lines of Dogma W4 reasons and goals. Criteria: valid XHTML [no/warnings/clean].
- Templating -- clear template and style definitions
- It must be simple to define the website's look and feel via the CMS itself, for reasons of personalization, generated code validity and accessibility guidelines. Criteria: user control over generated code structure [none/partly/single-template/variable-templates], website section differentiation possible [no/code-tweaks/yes], snippet templates (content reuse) [no/yes].
- Domain-specific applications -- easy to include
- Especially for company and community websites, there will be a need to include legacy or new web-applications or dynamic content modules (in-house user management, publications, ...). Criteria: mechanism for app inclusion [none/in-page/plug-in/both].
- User management -- delegation of responsibilities
- Multiple authors and login-to-edit is a must, able to assign user roles and responsibilities for parts of the website is a desirable feature. Criteria: users and roles [no/just-users/roles], user groups with privileges [no/yes].
- Content structuring -- web or magazine?
- The CMS should let the user to create a "standard" website with a hierarchy of areas/topics and interlinked pages, not just a toilet-paper blog or "newest on top" news-site. Criteria: hierarchical content [no/yes/multilevel], hierarchical URL [no/simple-setup/complex-rewrite], hierarchical content presentation [no/blog/tweaks/yes].
- Localization -- full l10n support
- Because we work in non-English environment, the CMS must be easy to cnovert to and use in other languages. Criteria: L10N? and I18N? issues separate in implementation [no/partially/yes].
Niceties
- Metadata -- keywords for posts
- It is desirable (for SEO and other reasons) to be able to set keywords, descriptions, and other metadata to website parts; at least by sections, ideally per page/post/article. Criteria: can set metadata [no/website/section/page], metadata supported [none/keywords/desc/rating/configurable].
- URL features -- search engines don't index query parameters
- The URLs? should reflect site structure, and the CMS should provide for URL aliasing. Criteria: link contents [id/id-hierarchy/titles], search-engine friendly URLs? [no/tweaks/mod-rewrite/native].
- Archiving -- access to older content
- The more history of the content the CMS can accommodate, the better. Criteria: supports archiving (rather than deleting) old content [no/yes/archive-search], content is versioned [no/yes].
- Statistics -- enable content re-structuring
- If the CMS gathers (passively and actively) visitor stats, we can react. Criteria: usage stats gathered [no/yes], can create polls [no/yes].
- Documentation -- admin manuals
- Most probably we will need to extend the CMS with our themes, templates, domain-specific applications. Therefore a decent howto/manual for these three topics is desirable. Criteria: templating manual [no/rough/detailed], programming manual [no/rough/detailed].