Content Management Systems

I have about three months to build an online database of short essays and other documents. It's confusing, because there are a lot of options.

I originally planned to build it using Netobjects Fusion, back from the dot-com dead. $200 gets you an easy-to-use package with good site management tools and many site templates that have been built for you. No HTML skills required (good, because I have none). The results are basic, but better than I'd get using Frontpage or GoLive in the time allotted.

But maybe I'm behind the times. Maybe I need a wiki. I could use Open Wiki, an open source XML-based wiki package for Windows. Alluring because of its apparent simplicity and RSS support, which Fusion doesn't have. But the code is not being maintained, and the homepage is kind of a disaster.

Twiki looks like a more serious product - it's designed for Intranets but can be used for websites, too.

But why settle? Why live with a bare bones Wiki when I can use an open-source content management system?

PostNuke looks impressive. I really would like to provide an RSS feed, and it can do that. And it would let me scale up and let others contribute to the site, but with administrative tools to help prevent wiki-wackiness. And, "it is easy to install, easy to understand/use, and easy to administer. Anyone from the novice to the expert can install and adminster a PN site." Why consider anything else? Well, here's one reason.

And why use PostNuke when the original developers are all now working on Xaraya? It is massively buzzword-compliant, and the supporting documentation includes in-depth examples. This Swiss hedge fund ditched Cold Fusion and now uses Xaraya. Installation looks...possible... Once it's running...holy crap.

Or should I go with Mambo, which is taking the Linux community by storm?

You guys will help me get Apache and MySQL up and running, right? Comments welcome.