One of the most promising OS CMS systems i have ever seen. Loads of options and features, without getting usability problems. Very nice work and im looking forwards on a growing community!!

Guys this cms appears to be what I've been searching for. Kudos. I've been down the Drupal, Joomla, Wordpress and more recently Cushy CMS. Drupal is great for larger community sites but way way too much for most of the sites I build. Cushy attempts to give you a simple tool to allow users to update content. I recently used it on a site and the site owner is frustrated with the dreadful slowness of doing updates.

This evening I installed Concrete5 locally and started playing around with it. Love the templating system. I'm going to start digging in using Concrete on the next site I have in pipe. You'll be receiving part of my pay from that. Your work is appreciated!

Finally, a no bull CMS...
I've avoided content management sytems until seeing Concrete. I have it installed and have been playing with it all night.

This a solid CMS I can build on and promote. It allows clients a friendly interface while allowing me to present an advanced website with lots of features.

You guys got it right.

Will Radford

Is it Joomla? is it Drupal? No! it's Concrete5!
Joomla was hype for no reasons. Concrete5 desserves the best attention from everyone!

As a low2no tech someone utterly underwhelmed by what I had researched for what felt like an eternity, I remained driven by hope there might be an OpenSource CMS out there for someone like me. After what felt like drudgery of checking out CMS after CMS, within minutes of first stumbling upon C5, deep gloom turned to re-energised enthusiasm as I discovered with C5 that website building and enjoyment somehow seem to coexist. Well done C5ers and thank you.

This thing is WILD! I've been learning Joomla for about 7 months and already can do more with C5 and accomplish it easier. Thanks guys!

Concrete5 takes the headache out of Content Management. Can't wait to see where this project goes!

Concrete5 is cool web2 cms !!

This CMS / Framework may change how my web agency develop website.
We never like other CMS solution, but C5 is another concept ... C5 is at another level!

I want to say thanks to Concrete for providing c5 I can't wait to dig in.

So far so good. Your CMS is quite remarkable. I'm impressed with its features, performance, framework, flexibility and overall excellence. You're kickin' ass with this thing!

Not just the easiest to use CMS I've encountered, but also the most elegant. For both designers and end users, the product almost disappears into the creative process. Brilliant conception and execution, folks!

You guys really did a great job on this! This is what exactly I'm looking for an easy to use CMS like no other. Thank you! Cheers!!!

The favourite CMS I've so far, and I've tested quite a few. C5 is easy to use for end users and just as easy to extend for developers. I've never seen a CMS that makes it so easy to create themes or add new functionality. Keep up the great work!

Concrete5 is the de-facto standard on how a content management system should be coded, from both a UI and developer perspective. They have truly written the OSX of content management systems. The UI is beautiful and very intuitive. The choice to go with jQuery for the javascript was also a very wise choice.

I don't see why everyone wouldn't use this.

Now let's go eat a steak.

Wow, I just try to install a fresh copy of concrete5 that I downloaded from sourceforge and very happy that it install just fine in my server, what impress me most is the clean looks of default theme and design and when I view the source code I found out that it's used jQuery, I am a big fan of jQuery and I loved it! and with Concrete5 and jQuery as it's js library was a very great combination. Thank you guy for this piece of works!

Concrete5 is a totally fresh approach to CMS. It is powerful, yet simple, intuitive, clean, and aesthetically pleasing.

Of all the systems I've worked with since 2002 (PHP-Nuke, PostNuke, Joomla, Xoops, Drupal, and a few others), this is the one I think is most likely to take web-based content management to the proverbial "next level", and we may finally have a one-size-fits-all platform for a huge variety of applications.

Like many others here, I've investigated Joomla, PHPNuke, PostNuke, Drupal, etc. After messing around with them and never really feeling satisfied (too complicated, too hard to develop themes for, too difficult for end users). Concrete5 has changed all that. I'm currently building a website for my wife's employer and, after about a 5 minute introduction, my wife is editing content and rearranging the site like a pro! This morning she asked the staff for biographies & photos for the new website :-)

I love the simplicity of Concrete. Having never learned code, I needed something that wouldn't frustrate my limited computer knowledge. In the past, I've had to use others to do the FTP files for me, and they have done it for free with many sighs and eye rolls. I've been able to create 3 sites in a matter of days, and I am free to update them whenever I want. This is true freedom--not having to rely on the generosity of others to get the job done.

After building websites for over 10 years, the "wow cool" factor was starting to go away. After finding c5, designing and setting up websites has become an enjoyable, if not an out right FUN, experience all over again. I have felt that the way the more popular CMS's managed content was broken. It just didn't flow. With c5 you can build your website as part of the brainstorming processes because it makes it so easy to correct mistakes and organize content.

So not only is it powerful, easy to use, and fun to use, but it just looks so damn cool to :)

I am a huge fan of Concrete5! My html skills are basic, and I have I no clue what I am doing when it comes to CSS, still learning the ropes. I am still using the default plain yogurt template, I kind of like it… One day I plan on making my own CSS template or perhaps pay some one to design a template.

I confess I am not much of a graphic designer or web developer. The ideal for my site http://www.duane-media.com is simply to promote the services of other graphic designers and web developers by offering them free advertising space; my site has been a work in progress for a very long time.

D

c5 has been great! I've used zope/plone, openACS, custom and shelf products and this has been the best developed solution from my perspective.

I use the plain vanilla template, and love it because I believe in clean, simple, straight-forward sites (ie, google.com) and that is accomplished.

Fundamental design converges with optimization - how wonderful!

I look forwarded to testing its scalability and have already recommended it for future projects.

Way to go Franz!!!

I own a small promotional products distributorship. I am not a techie & cash flow is down to a trickle right now. I wanted a nice "skin" to cover some "industry provided templated websites" & search engines. I tried Joomla and figured out how to download then upload templates via ftp after watching 3 different tutorials but couldn't figure anything out after doing that...then I tried wordpress -- I watched 5 tutorials on how to remove code so that the wordpress site would look like a website instead of a blog - never could find the right code to remove! I downloaded concrete5 and in 40 minutes I had a reasonable start on actually having a website that I won't be embarrassed to have anyone see. - that Piknic thing is really cool too. I uploaded my logo and it was too big - I picknic-ed it and it took me a few tries to figure out that I had to hit export but when I did it voila! smaller logo. Nice. I think you folks have really got something here. I predict that it will just keep getting better and better. Congratulations

We are an association that has used some other CMSs and due to their complexity staff was not always comfortable and begin to avoid updating the site. For us it was not so much about a CMS that has all the bells and whistles already in place but one that would conquer the staff usage obstacle.

We are pleased to see how all our staff has taken to Concrete5 and comment again and again over how easy it is to work within the pages of our web site.

In addition we have been pleasantly surprized that Concrete5 has proven to be a very robust CMS offering nearly all the features we were looking for with the promise of more to come in the near future.

I want to also praise Franz and the others in the core team as they have been great to work with and bent over backwards to help us launch our new site. It is well worth it to host with Concrete5 plus it is a great way to give back and show our appreciation for their putting together a top notch CMS.

I looked at Joomla, then went with Drupal, and only came across concrete5 through a banner ad on a Drupal developers site - concrete5 just looks and feels like a generation ahead. It is awesomely good. I was anxious about the drupal learning curve - but I'm actually looking forward to this. No contest.

We are integrating a new site design with C5 right now and are planning on a December Launch. Our site serves over 500,000 visitors per month, and we're confident C5 will be able to handle this. This is (imho) a top 3 CMS system, only reason why it's not #1 - is because it's new - and doesn't have a history of plugins - but that is changing. This is the very first CMS that regular users can easily understand - and hardcore techies can make dance.

The day I found concrete5 I stopped reviewing other CMS platforms. c5 has a terrific UI - very easy for my clients and end users to learn. Thanks to the developers and great community! Cheers.

Hi all. I want to thank the team for this fantastic CMS !
I'm a rookie in the CMS world, but with C5 I have found a CMS that I'm able to use, got a decent job done in under a week from (not knowing concrete, to loving it!)

I am the Director of Internet Marketing for a large corporation (7000+ employees), just 3 months ago I was tasked with the job of completely redesigning and building our Intranet and having it done in just 4 months. With 28 business units and departments that equals literally thousands of pages of content including file management, forums and interactive calendars. I can honestly say that without Concrete5, Franz and his staff, there was no way this project could have been completed. I am one month from my deadline and we will complete the project on time. If you want the most dynamic, user friendly, inexpensive (FREE except for plug-ins that are rediculously cheap) CMS on the market, go download the software now and be amazed!
Rajma McKenzie

Never created a website before, ever. Did a quick online search, read about concrete5, signed up for hosting and couldn't be happier. From the very beginning, a personal email from Franz, the CEO, explaining how to get started, it couldn't have been easier. I have no experience with coding or css or any of that. Yet, I had my first website completely built in 2 days. I had one site design stumbling block (mine, not the software's)and when I was stumped I turned to the forum. Found some help there but in the end I emailed Franz. He personally responded to the email and fixed the design issue himself, free of charge in under 30 minutes! Try that with any other CMS or web host. I tell everyone I know. You won't be disappointed. Use Concrete5 and host with them too, it's well worth it. It truly is the only option out there for people who don't want to outsource their website development. Thanks, I couldn't have done it without you!

Having now built quite a few sites using Concrete5, I have to say that I was amazed with it the first time and I'm still being amazed by it now!
Not only is Concrete5 an awesome os cms, but I feel that their technical support is second to none.
You're never just a number to these guys, its as though you're their only customer when you need them, even personal help from Franz, CEO, how often do you get that level of attention???
I also have to mention the other Concrete5 members, for anyone whos new to this, seriously, you couldnt find a friendlier forum, everyones so helpful, you can get an answer to almost any question :)
In a nutshell, if you are looking for a CMS that is powerful enough to develop professional sites, yet easy enough for a web novice to update, stop looking, you found it..... keep up the good work guys, looking forward to the next comings :)

Wow, just discovered this CMS and I am still pinching myself, it just offers so much to work with, and is so simple to use, I created my first theme in literally 10 minutes, it is leaving everything else I have used in the dust.

All good structures need a solid foundation, and thats why from now on I will be building on concrete. ;-)

It's not often a customer gets to speak to the CEO. But when I got stuck that's exactly who was at the end of my request for help. Keep up the great service. Gideon Todes

everything else has always been a chore. concrete is simple and yet comprehensive. i highly recommend people try this out before getting involved in complex cms's or in doing a large site manually with html and css.

people with no experience on the web can run their own site with concrete.

good stuff!

Have used Joomla, Drupal, and have tried practically every other major open source and some proprietary Content Management Systems out there. Very few can even come close to Concrete5's ease of use and functionality. Absolutely one of the best Content Management Systems out there!

Concrete5 keeps the perfect balance between usability and flexibility.
Easy for authors, web site editors and administrators to manage a site with hundreds of pages and users.
High quality add-ons, checked by the core and review team, round the value.

Awesome application!

Wow. After hours with Joomla, Drupal, CMSMS, I basically gave up on the idea that I could create a website without intimately understanding code. Enter: C5.

Although my site is intentionally very simple, C5 gives novice users like myself the tools to light up a site like the Vegas strip. Amazing. Powerful. I'll be a fan for a good, long time.

Kudos

Your tagline made me look at it seriously - "Strong enough for geeks". We don't get much geekier than over here at The Geek Group. I had a wishlist for a CMS and had been putting it off because nobody met my needs. Concrete5 met every single of them and had zero items on my veto-list. I could not be happier with Concrete5 and have been signing its praises to every web developer I know. So far I've converted at least three - and I have only been a Concrete5 user since the beginning of January.

Keep it up, guys.

Concrete5 has completely changed the way I build websites. Like Apple say about their macs, it just works! No longer do I have to write custom code for file uploads, user editing features, sitemap generation - the list goes on. All I have to do is create a theme and let the user build their own web presence using the amazing editing features that come with c5. I have tried many other platforms before this one but now I have found a winner. You cannot beat this CMS and any website with a concrete foundation is a good one!

I just started using concrete a couple of weeks ago. Having moved from another cms system, I can say concrete is a breeze to administer and set up. I bought a couple of very inexpensive add-ons to make things easier. Most integrated easily with little to no manipulation. I am very happy moving to concrete5 for my websites. I will recommend this product to anyone looking to change up website.

Wow! I was so pleased the day I started using Concrete5. After 3 frustrating weeks with Joomla I accomplished more in the first 3 hours. The ease of use and the intuitive nature of Concret5 has really helped this newbie. I give it my highest recommendation.

Just wanted to say how much I love Concrete5. This is extremely easy to use and one of the best CM systems I have seen. I am using this to create a full web system for a non-profit, so your work is making a difference in the world. Thank you very much!

I have to say that this is the easiest CMS I have ever used. I created a page for my wife's photography and in 5 mins I taught her (an email and facebook tech savvy person only) how to build her page. For me, I have all the functionality I need. I am going to outgrow the theme templates offered eventually, but I have no qualms about paying someone to do this for me when the time comes. I do not think there is any other builder (CMS) out there that combines the functionality and ease of use. This is overshadowing great tutorials, both worded and video. Great forums with almost all the answers I needed. Twice after searching for answers for over an hour I contacted Concrete5 via email and first response took 20 minutes and solved my issue. Second time took just over an hour (and this one was at 10pm answered just after 11pm). Absolutely unheard of!!!!! A+++++

Concret5 is by far the best CMS available. Not only is it easy to use, setup, and develop, but the support from their staff is excellent. I had an issue with a plugin that I had purchased. I simply gave the concrete5 team FTP access and an account in the my concrete5 installation and within 15 minutes the issue was resolved. You can't beat that kind of service.

Patrick Thibaudeau
IT Team Lead
Campus Saint-ean University of Alberta

Teaching certain clients how to use a CMS is a little like teaching a dog how to use a vacuum cleaner. No offense, but it's a petrifying task for all. So hurray, you guys! You just made our web studio's life so much easier.

C5 is revolutionary in simplicity. Our clients are impressed, less scared and a hole lot more independent which means we can concentrate on design and programming instead of wasting a ton of precious time training them to use dumdum systems. Awesomeness!

Thanks again to all the team of concrete5.

Carl Durocher
Co-Founder
Ola Interactive Agency
www.olainteractive.ca

I have been keeping a track on CMS'es right from Mambo, Wordpress, Joomla, Drupal, but had never ever found these to be friendly by the clients.

I came across Concrete 5 when it was the "Project of the month" on sourceforge, but for a year I wasn't thinking of offering this to my clients, as I was mostly doing Flash websites, but then the same clients started to complain about the slow loading times, SEO etc, and I felt that this was the right time to offer them Concrete 5.

The first C5 site i did was a simple one for an artist friend www.brucegil.com. However, my second website was for a client whom I had already built a Flash website which can be seen here http://www.creamcentre.com/cc , just after a week that this website was hosted live, he was put-off by the slow-loading times, and also the SEO-unfriendliness of the flash website. He asked me to make a fast-loading and SEO friendly website, and besides this he insisted me to try and replicate the design of the Flash website version.

I knew this was possible with Concrete 5, this is the concrete 5 version http://www.creamcentre.com .
The client is satisfied with the loading times and the ease of use that this CMS offers.

I am really thankful to the Concrete 5 team for developing such a marvellous CMS and also the community support and documentation. Hope to do some more Concrete 5 websites for my clients.

Pritam Borkar
ITFS
www.intheframestudio.com

Just to come back after a while away building with Concrete5 and I gotta say it still makes me smile :) the only CMS I've actually had pleasure in delving into behind the scenes. The forum and members just get better and better. Keep up the good work Concrete5, still ahead of the game....

Well
a long time ago I found a CMS that was similar in function to Concrete, but it went away really quick.
I just Found Concrete last week and WOW am I happy Happy happy!

It is intuitive for me(mostly) and got 1 site covered from Flash in just a few hours.

Thanks and I will be telling others.
It may be missing a few things, but for most Sites it has everything I want and need. I can add php blocks if all else fails.

THANKS!
Elbert Twoponies

I build the original website with Dreamweaver and Flash, then heard about CMS as a more efficient system and to future-proof web developments.

So I researched various CMS systems till I found Concrete - it's outward simplicity and design appealed, after struggling with it for a while, I decided to turn to C5 community for help - and got a quick response - from NZ, (side note - another example of how internet has shrunk world - Jesse Archer(thanks again) is based in a scenic part of New Zealand - while I'm in Hong Kong)

The transfer was made after only a few days - easy when you know how.

Now I'd like to ask anyone who's interested for their opinions on how I can improve on the design and functionality of the site (work-in-progress). I'd like to add some kind of photo stock library function to it and make my photographs and video available as micro-stock and footage.

your comments welcome

This content management system is very impressive. I have struggled to show others how to use more complex content management systems such as Joomla. Thank you for creating one that is simple to use for the average person. Keep up the good work.

Simply the best Content Management System out there. Easy for developers and users alike.

After a year trying to build our own site with other tools with disappointing results, we switched to Concrete5 and could not be more happy. We had our entire site up in basically a week. The tool is quicky, easy to use, and looks great.

I have been a long time Microsoft SharePoint developer and user but find the cost and effort way too expensive to create fast useful sites.

I have been amazed with the clean easy too use design of the latest version of Concrete 5. In many ways I think it's what SharePoint tried to become but failed as the advanced tool for average user as well as the development platform for professional developer.

I like the MarketPlace for the Add-ins and Themes as it offers many features just like the SharePoint Web parts after market. After all who has time to re-invent the wheel!

I suggest that you give it a close look for your next project.

I want to say thanks to the Developers of C5. I came across this CMS by accident while surfing the web about one month ago. I know how to design for Joomla! WordPress and just about any other CMS when I have to. But when I came to C5 I was blown AWAY by the learning curve. This is the Open Source CMS of my dreams. It literally took me 3 days to learn how to create a Dynamic Template for the CMS.

Here is the first client that I used C5 for.
http://www.gohannan.com

This is very exciting for me. My turn around using C5 has made me very happy. So happy in fact that I submitted an Email to http://www.cmsexpo.net/. I think that there is great potential here with C5.

Everyone be safe and be blessed.

I would like to thank the Concrete5 guys for this awesome product. By switching to Concrete5 from our old host our school saved time and money. We are excited about our new website and the capabilities/flexibility Concrete adds. It couldn't have come at a better time for us. Simply beautiful!! Thats the way I'd describe Concrete5. The other entities I maintain websites for will be migrating to Concrete5. Thanks again and many cheers to Crete on the streets!!!! Rebuilding the information highways!!!!! ..... Ok maybe a little to excited ... but maybe not ....

Thanks,
Hoyt Whittington
Director of Technology
Westminster Christian Academy

I have always been strong on the development side of things and very weak on design. I have tried to find other CMS type software that provides nice themes and all I can say is that Concrete5 has provided great themes!

With the simplistic use and perfect amount of room to add my little touch here and there, I have no plan on uninstalling this from my web server.

It's full steam ahead now and I can not get over how happy I am with it!

Websites are and should be an ongoing process. You should never stick the site up there for it to go stale, never updated for five years until it is so outdated you have to redesign it again and then update content. With most CMSs this is exactly what happens. What I tell people the key feature I love concrete5 for is that clients CAN and DO update their sites. They can add silly videos, photos whatever they want, when they want with out emailing anyone. Thanks guys!

I can't say enough about concrete5 other than transfering our 5 law firm sites to this CMS was the best decision that we ever made. Customer support blew my mind. Product is brilliant.
Thank you C5.

I have tried Joomla, and a few others, and Concrete5 stands way above the rest with its brilliant design. The installation is easy, the default data fills in the blanks but is easy to replace, and the inline editing sealed the deal for my end-users.

To fix the silly typo in the comment above...

I've been building websites and web applications since 1995, and I can easily say that concrete5 is the best example of form and function when it comes to CMS.

Clients love it, it is a joy to build upon, and the theme system is head and shoulders above the other CMS options available.

Kudos!

The transition for our SEO department to also incorporate website development has been riddled with mistakes on our team's part. 2 melt downs, 2 support tickets AND 2 personal calls to our office from Franz, the CEO of c5 himself. The same guy who narrates the c5 support videos. That is just great business. When this company goes public, I will be the first in line to buy their stock.

If you are deciding on a CMS, send me an email with your contact information and I will personally tell you why c5 is the way to go.

A&M P.A.

At first I'm really not sure if concrete5 can fill up my passion for building great website. But I'm wrong, concrete5 is really something that I need!
With great community and powerful add-ons, I can make my website more freely!

Many thanks...
Gadoehman Cessa

I have to say c5 is absurdly good. From using ADODB as the db abstraction layer, to an MVC architecture, to the choice to use jQuery, and of course in-context editing...you have the best CMS in my opinion. So I hope you guys keep going strong. Unless there's no choice but to use something different, c5 is my go-to for every client site.

Would NOT recommend if you are unschooled at web design. Regardless of how the videos try to emphasize the WYWG, it is very difficult to know how to use a theme, how to edit the theme. I am completely frustrated. Postings in the forum are short & criptic therefore, difficult to follow for the details I need to just friggin' get started. Very very very frustrated.

Hi Mimshs,

I'm disappointed to hear you're having a frustrating time. You're right that concrete5 was designed to be a content /management/ tool, not really a website design tool.

That being said I know a lot of folks have built websites that suit their needs with some DIY spirit and support from our forums. I notice you haven't actually posted any messages asking for help, you might consider trying to post some details of what you're trying to do and can't pull off. Either that or post a listing in the jobs area for some design help.

Fundamentally concrete5 does a great job enabling the relationship between site developers and site owners, it wasn't designed to replace either.

-frz
ceo, concrete5

Thank you Concrete for making this open source and giving everyone an opportunity to build their own business based on this code! :)

We just relaunched in Estonia
Crinte
or
Concrete5 in Estonia as Crinte ;)

crinte.ee and concrete5.ee

This CMS is awesome - we are really delighted with our website and have already had lots of positive comments on it. We have been really surprised how easy it was to use and the biggest surprise was the service - whenever we had a question someone replied with help within a day or two and they didn't even charge us for their time spent helping. I would recommend Concrete5 to anyone.
Gary Lyttle
The New Zealand Fly Fishing Company
http://www.flyfishinginnewzealand.com/

Awesome flexibility. I've seen many popular CMS engines, I've written one own (based on Code Igniter framework - I don't use it anymore, except for one continous big project that I have to use it, but I would feel ashamed if I would sell my own CMS instead of something a few levels better and easier to develop on). None of them is so flexible and easy to extend. Awesome usability. It's very easy to learn and use. And in most parts there are only few clicks or simple drag and drop to do something that in other CMSes you need to click for so many times in not-so-usable interface that makes you angry. On site editing is a great part. Before I've seen C5 I thought about something like that for my CMS but never had time to develop. It's pretty fast to use - in only few days we moved a HTML based page with more than 100 pages and massive amount of fancy HTML, pictures, galleries etc. into C5 CMS. Try to do that with Joomla, Wordpress or any other one - I wish you luck. And creating new block or extending one feels like you would write on top some great framework, not on top on typical CMS (where in many of them you need to worry more about mechanics below that you mess with than about your application logic). It's just awesome. There are some small things that could be done better, some small bugs too, but there are no software without flaws (maybe except some for microsurgery robots or things like that). And on the background of other CMS systems C5 shines. Great Job!

It's funny how I've found this CMS. Few months ago I was searching for Fever Ray's song "Concrete Walls". But I've put only one word "Concrete" into searching engine. Looks like good music can change even your professional life. ;)

I actually got lucky with this CMS. Years of searching for "CMS", "content management", etc. on Google turned up WordPress and Joomla. It wasn't until it got added to DreamHost's One-Click Installs and I said "what's this new bugger?" that I found Concrete5. I haven't been happier. I spent 3 weeks trying to learn Drupal and even then I couldn't manage the basics. The alleged "infinite functionality" seemed like a joke, especially since you're given nothing out of the box and need to install countless modules and create several nodes and page types before you have what looks like a website. With Concrete5 you're given enough out of the box and enough core functionality that you can get started on a website right away, and with the intuitive nature you spent minutes, not weeks, learning how to use it. The most exciting thing for me, though, has been that just about any core functionality can be over-ridden safely. This truly does provide infinite functionality without infinite complexity. A true work of modern genius.

I found concrete5 on the Open Source CMS website. I tried loads of different solutions including Joomla and Drupal. I was almost giving up, until I installed concrete5. That was about a year ago, and concrete5 has progressed into a kickass CMS. It's simple, secure, sexy, easy to use and administrate, and is under constant development. I haven't really got any feature request for the core, it's pretty much complete. Thank you, Franz, Andrew and the team, for making this awesome CMS.

-- Fionn Kelleher, Ireland

#1 Fan ;)

I know how design and work with Joomla! and WordPress. Joomla! was my baby for many projects. However, one day I found a link to C5 and since I like testing CMSes out whenever I get the chance, I downloaded it. One month later I found the file and link again and this time decided to give it a go. What I found was that it was close to what LightCMS is link but with MORE!

I installed on a WAMP Server. The back end was easy to understand and for front-end was a joke. I didn't have to think. Oh if I had only had this wonderful CMS a few years ago.

Creating templates for C5 is a breeze and dare I say FUN! What I love the most is that I don't have to sit with a client for hours teaching them how to use the system.

Also, where else can you get direct feedback from the CEO. I mean a simple personal email that you know was not automated. Never had that with Joomla! or WordPress.

I LOVE C5

Beautiful and Strong Community!

I've loved working with C5 and that's great. BUT, what really matters is what my clients think once they get into their site and start working with it.

I got this note today when a client updated content for the first time: "This is so easy! I don't even need phone guidance! Thanks! What a great system."

Thanks, C5, for making us all look good. You're the best!

it make's me speachless

it`s great, new approach - perfect option beside Drupal, typo3 and ModX.
Respect to all developers ;)

I was able to prepare 2 production sites in one month... I love it. really.

For months I had been looking at various open source web cms apps to implement in my organisation. Obviously the big players like Joomla, Drupal, Wordpress and Plone were under consideration. But a lot of what I read indicated that there was going to be a steep learning curve and it wouldn't be easy to hand the site over to somebody technically less capable with these systems.

I dreaded the prospect of trailing the various apps currently available as I knew it would be painful. I also needed something that novices could use independently allowing me time to focus on other matters.

I stumbled onto concrete5 when reviewing a number of forums in search of a web cms for a corporate intranet site. I tried the demo version and was immediately impressed with what I saw.

I had some issues relating to installation on xampp but got it going eventually. I must say it is extremely easy to use. The javascript integration is awesome! The templating system makes it very easy to update the site theme.

Since then I have been able to train one of our users to be able to update her content on her section of the site. This took about half an hour. I haven't had any complaints to date.

If you haven't suffered with manual updates of web sites and haven't been exposed to the idiosyncrasies of other web cms', then you cannot appreciate the level of work and development that has gone into this app. Concrete5 lets it look so absurdly easy!

I don't think people realise how awesome this cms really is. I'd like to congratulate the development team on the superb work you have done here! I'm really impressed! In my book there really isn't any web cms that comes close!

Last spring we left our comfy jobs to start building websites full-time. C5 played a major role in giving us the confidence we needed to make that leap. We knew we had to have a solid CMS to pull it off, and C5 met that need on sooo many levels. It's taken care of heavy-lifting that we don't have time to worry about, without getting in the way like so many other CMSs do. And, most importantly, it's allowed us to give our clients an overwhelming sense of power and control over their website. It's saved us time and money and given us very happy clients.

Thanks guys!
Dan Letsche
Web Concentrate
http://webconcentrate.com

Googled "Best CMS for Designers". Pulled up the top 5 non paid links, and the result was the same on all. Concrete5 was the only CMS that was in the Top 3 on each list. I was set, time to design, www.sjmsforever.org is the result. Well done C5.

Neal Therrien
Last Frontier Designs
www.lastfrontierdesigns.com
www.bmkhosting.com

i know you people will grow, and you are really concrete, but concrete5 is concrete with solid flexibility what a combination of hard and soft. love you. This cms made me successful in the core of my heart and i am really happy, wish you best of luck with success

concrete5 simply smashes the other CMS's out of the water. It's easy to use and easy to build themes. It offers clients a CMS without the steep learning curve.

Well done the c5 team.

Stephen Hamill
www.sunraymedia.co.uk

Concrete5 saved me a bunch of time-without compromising usability, beauty and features of my website.

I just wanted to complement Concrete5. Seriously, wow! The 1st thing is that your website is user friendly and the design is super hot, so it does a nice job on usability vs. design. The second thing is the actual product, this is my 2nd time trying to use a CMS - the first time I tried it with Joomla and it was confusing and a bit useless/overwhelming. Doing stuff with Concrete5 seems so much easier and even fun, I'm getting hooked! Nice job you guys, seriously. I'm almost done with my 1st project using Concrete5 and can't wait to submit it to the ShowCase area.

I set out to build a simple reseller portal for our company that was easy to use, flexible and had pretty granular permission settings. I have tinkered around with WordPress, but everything looked like a "blog" and it was challenging to control. I am so happy I stumbled upon Concrete5. Within hours, I have learned the system and have a basic portal of pages, users, groups, files and permissions. Further, I am going to train a few people how to use it and have no doubt they will get up to speed quickly.

Thank you for making a system that works like people expect it to. I am a fan!

Tim Cerami
MobileDataForce
Boise, ID

WOW! Starting from scratch, I configured a Linux hosted GoDaddy Server, setup a MySQL Database, configured a couple of php.ini files to increase upload filesizes etc, uploaded the Concrete5 archive, unarchived it, and started building a test website. In 3 hours I had more functionality than I had in 6 months working with an offsite developemnt team. UN-Believeably Awesome. It was flawless! The only thing I'm testing now is speed...it does seem a bit slow to load and navigate to other pages in the site, but otherwise...absolutely Fabulous. Great Job! Thank You.

Thanks!

You're right, concrete5 was built for flexibility and ease of use before performance. That being said, with some tweaking around of your cache settings you should be able to get it to run just fine on a decently provisioned webhost.

I’ve tried a lot of CMSes, and yes, I like Drupal and some other, but Concrete5 has become my favourite CMS. It’s so webdesigner-friendly, and client-friendly, too. Working with Concrete5 is nothing but fun.

I discovered Concrete5 when I was commissioned to research and evaluate CMSs for a corporate client. From a list of more than 100, shortlisted 20. Then proceeded to evaluate them. I was blown away by C5 features, easy to install, and particularly how easy to use for non technical people.And as a designer/developer the most important thing...if it can be built in html/css it can be built in C5. There are no design constrains with C5. I can say without any doubt Concrete5 is by far the best CMS in the market, and I recommend it to everyone.

I am very happy with the customer service from Concrete5. I am new to CMS and was impressed that all my questions were answered by their CEO, Franz. He was very patient with me and the extra help was greatly appreciated. I will definitely work with Concrete5 again and would happily refer other users to them.

Excellent customer support and simply the best CMS around. What took some guy 9 months to do in drupal, took me 20 days to completely rewrite their website. Not to mention I trained two people on it and they were writing pages within a day. This is my first CMS, before I wrote everything by hand. I will never go back. Kudos to Franz, Greg, Andrew, Matt, and the rest of the team.

i think IT SUCKS
this site he HELLA SLOW...even freezes ie while loading, (i have to use windows at work), and is still slow at home on my linux machines...

strangly, at work, we have 50MBPS, and at home, i have limited my connection to

WHY does this site NEVER STOP LOADING ?

every try to just scroll down and hit the "what users are saying" on after hitting f5 ? STUPID !

and its all TEXT...wtf ? why does this page (and all concrete5.org/ domain pages TAKE FOREVER TO LOAD ?

and for stupid windows,,,,why doesn't the "stop loading page" effing work ?

these pages PISS ME OFF !

Wow.

Loads fast for me. Guess you can't please everyone.
best wishes!
-frz
ceo, concrete5.

The Concrete5 forum is *amazing*. I think one of the main contributions to the fantastic customer support is the layout and theme of the website. With such a calm, clean site, people cannot help but feel a little happier entering the forum. At least, I've hardly ever noticed any flame-wars or put-downs, which are all too prevalent on other forums. Thanks for your fantastic work guys! Keep up the good work!

-Stiny

Excellent product. Superb customer service. 'nuff said.

AISD is a Texas K12 and C5 is exactly what we needed. Kudos for making this open source! The learning curve for C5 is very shallow compared to the 'Big Box' CMSs. Too many outstanding features to list but the flexibility and ease of customization is sensational. For a long-time php programmer with many hats to wear - C5 is a God-send.

We need to get the word out and make C5 the most prominent CMS out there! I've worked with Joomla, Drupal and Wordpress and I must say this is the most straight forward of them all! The theming system is truly fantastic, whereas Drupal's is just downright awful and needlessly complicated. I've been recommending C5 to all my web developer colleagues hoping they'll give it a shot. Once they do they'll realize what they've been missing.

I've been in the dot com business for over a decade. I've worked in large agencies, small web shops and freelance. I've been on both the development side and project management side. I can honestly say that Concrete5 is one of the easiest CMS's to develop on and also to manage the website build out of.

What I love most about Concrete5 is what isincluded right out of the box. Embedding YouTube videos, adding contact forms, advanced user permissions and a robust file management system are all standard. Even the rich text editor is clean and produces pretty decent code. No hunting through a dozen addons only to find out half are no longer supported or simply break your site. I'm willing to spend $15 (and usually NOTHING) on something that would have taken me a day to write, and has support plus is guaranteed to actually work!

There is no doubt that Concrete5 has increased my productivity and profits. Simply put - out of the box you have pretty much every component you need for a website. Addons are just a few clicks away, no uploading or setting cryptic settings in PHP files.

Creating a theme is almost too easy. If you already have an HTML template, it really takes under an hour to go from HTML to Concrete5 theme. Try doing that with Drupal.

Upgrading to the new version requires you to click update, NO FTP access required (Thank you!). It has a built in backup system for the database, and you can roll-back an update by changing a single line of code. That's clean and simple.

Moving the site from development to production takes minutes without any editing of the database. No more spending a half day tweaking settings and running database queries just to move it to a live server.

Concrete5 is also quick to learn. Each page is called a page (Thank you!). Inside the page you have blocks of content. It's clean and straightforward. You can define global blocks and modify them to update sitewide even. It's one of those systems where you wonder how people put up with the other guys.

The system is also very much an onion, you keep peeling away layers to reveal more capabilities. Attributes are so strong and useful, and allow you to really give control to the content editor while automating tasks.

Obviously I can go on and on. What's really kept me with Concrete5 is my clients. They use it, and it works for them. Their sites rank well without any additional plugins. Their sites continue to do what they want them to do, and I can focus on their business goals instead of worrying about if the site will work or not. In the end, my clients get a great looking site, that functions well and they can continue to update it without having to spend a half day "figuring it out". A win for everyone.
Thanks Concrete5!
-Phil

With concrete5 you can develop simple sites in just a couple of hours, and at a low price by leveraging the marketplace of themes and addons. On simple sites though you usually only need a couple of these addons though, due to built in blocks that c5 comes with. I can say I've used all of these built in blocks at one time or another, compared to other cms where I may leave the default addons unused or delete them.

Concrete5 is also a designers paradise with the easy templating system and custom templates that allow designers/beginning php developers to get their hands dirty and blocks customized to their desires. Blocks like designer content make their jobs even easier.

As for development, concrete5 sticks to a fairly strict mvc system, and uses frameworks like zend and jquery to make the switch easy. Attributes are amazingly powerful and can be used to make very complex apps. The method of overriding core files makes upgrading safe, easy and fast. The event system provides more methods of safely modifying content, and with more events being added will be more useful in the future. Adodb provides simple methods to get to the database, and the api is relatively well built, albeit sparsely documented.

The marketplace offers a good opportunity to give back to the community and/or make a bit of money on the side, while helping future devs in numerable ways. The submission process guarantees you're getting addons that work, with the promise of support behind it.

Above all this though, c5s strongest point would have to be the incontext editing. Its easy for clients to use, and can be figured out in seconds. Even though this is becoming a more standard feature of cms, concrete5 was one of the first to adopt it, and does it better than any other cms I've seen.

As a freelance web developer, concrete5 has literally saved me hundreds of hours in development AND support. My end clients love the ability to be able to jump in and edit their site the day they see the finished version, and training has never been this easy.

From the designer side of things, creating a functional theme from a standard HTML layout can be done in less than a day.

From the developer side of things, creating add-ons that fit into your custom theme is simple. This allows you to create sites that don't follow the standard portal or blog layout.

Ultimately, the end user loves the interface and the ease of use. You'll love that it saves you money and time!

I love this CMS ever!!! unlike joomla and drupal it is complicated to use.

Thank you c5 developers!

Mason Dixon Cerna
http://www.masondixoncerna.com.nu

After months of labouring away we finally presented our c5-powered site to our client and they were overjoyed. We had our meeting with one of the main people in charge of their digital content for a CMS training session and it went very well. They absolutely loved the flexibility c5 gave them compared to their current system and got all "geeked out" when we handed over the keys.

After spending countless hours hip-deep in c5's guts it was very refreshing to learn about all the improvements and fixes coming up next month - looking forward to the new UI if nothing else :)

Cheers,

-Brad

I have used many CMSs before and they either take a lot of time to setup, lots of time to theme for, or users just find it difficult to understand and use.

With Concrete5 I have none of that... it is just a fantastic system to work with and my customers love the way they can edit in Concrete5, and if they make a mistake, they just use the built-in version control to put everything back.

Keep up the good work Concrete5.

Thank you !

I like Concrete5... Good support and easy to use, even for zero knowledge like me =)

Concrete5: beauty and smplicity !!! Nice work

Like many of you I'm also psyched up about building sites in C5! I've been using Drupal for over 2 years and frankly I miss the MVC approach to development. Although my own focus is development, I also expect interfaces to be well designed. I love how everything I've tried in C5 looks good out-of-the-box.

C5 has become - without exception - my "go to" CMS tool. Love it. Can't repeat that enough. Fast. Easy. Pretty much bug-free - with PHENOMENAL support on those really rare instances when you need it. The community that's built up around it is also very helpful at all levels of expertise. I'd happily pay for it - except it's free!

I would strongly advise anyone, regardless of experience level, to scrap Wordpress, Drupal, Joomla, and all the rest. C5 is now clearly the best player in the field.

Hands down the best CMS in the market - can't believe it's free!

I'm a graphic designer not a web developer, yet soon as I found Concrete5 I found it a breeze to create a pretty comprehensive website which includes ecommerce.

Now with help from wonderful folk like C5mix and Matt I am getting into the php coding side and customizing the site to my heart's content.

C5 handles all the tech stuff so well and intuitively. I built and published my first two pages within a couple of days and was amazed to see both pages hit results page 1 from the appropriate keyword search in Google - they were both above halfway too - amazing, who needs expensive SEO suppliers when you have everything you need in C5, for free?!

Keep up the good work guys - you have made such a huge difference to the independence and capabilities of folk like me.

The MASSIVE downside with Concrete5? You have to pay for a theme for addon PER SITE. This becomes EXTREMELY expensive for home users. With other systems you can purchase a theme or addon and use it on as many websites as you desire for as long as you own the website yourself.

Very disappointed that something similar hasn't been integrated into contrete5, and it is this factor and this factor only that is driving me away from this system and onto others, or is encouraging to 'rip' themes from other sites due to such.

This is one of the best CMS I've ever used before. Its pretty simple for end users who doesn't have any knowledge of web development. I like it soooooo much.

Citytech

I don't "Rate" or "comment" on stuff a lot, but I've got to give Concrete5 the credit it deserves.
I've used may CMS's over the years. In 2010 I was looking for something that was easy to use by "NON WEB PRO's". I deeded to set up a front page for a club that could be updated in the future, by other members without programming skills.
Concrete5 provided that solution.
It's even real simple to change the layouts of the pages in Dreamweaver.

Thanks !!

I have used many different CMS programs with many different clients. In my opinion Concrete5 is by far the best. I currently have over 20 sites using Concrete5.

I love Concrete5.

I tried WordPress and Joomla for my CMS and neither was appropriate for what I was trying to accomplish. I'm not building a blog or a news website.

Concrete5 has been dream. It is easy to use, the WYSIWYG is awesome. My company actually changed hosting providers twice so I could install it more easily.

I've just scanned down hundreds of comments.....from developers. I am the user---and I have some HTML knowledge and love wrestling with tech issues, so I'm not a complete novice. But while developers may think this is great, as I user I think this C5 is terrible....I am locked into whatever my developer put into place.

Add a page? agh.--have to make a phone call and wait. Wrap text around an image...who knows what all the different options mean. Design a Page? Ok.. what are all those parameters? Want to add a graphic....how/who/where do I find out what the specifications are to fit in a certain spot? Reorganize where info is on the home page....don't even think about it. Try to insert a little divider line----I don't know, how wide should it be?

And god forbid, I want to change the color on a theme. Not possible. Have to buy a whole new theme (which I'm ok with), but then pay to have everything rebuilt!

It's unbelievably cumbersome.

In contrast, I've gotten great, professional looking little websites up and running in less than an hour using something as simple as Wix or wordpress. I've also created great sites with the very basic, now outdated, iWeb from apple.

This is the deal....if one is designing a site for USERS to edit, then it has to be USER-friendly.

Please set up a column/forum only for users.

Hi Kahandler,

It sounds like you've had a rough project. Websites are complicated beasts and designing them is a creative process, so I hope you can find some energy to continue to figure things out.

Happily there's a lot of content on this site that might help you. Check out the videos on this page:
http://www.concrete5.org/documentation/getting-started/

Once you've watched them, if you're still having trouble - post in the forum designed for concrete5 editors (we try to avoid the word "users" as we're not drug dealers)
http://www.concrete5.org/community/forums/usage/

Some of your comments strike me as odd, like why you'd have to make a phone call to add a page. I have to wonder if someone hasn't given you a hacked up version of concrete5. You might consider quickly trying an "instant setup" (link at the top of any page on this site) to see if the default concrete5 site makes more sense than what you're dealing with.

Good luck!
-frz, ceo

Concrete5's ease of use and functionality is what truly separates it from other CMCs like WP, Joomla and others. Thanks for making my life easier.

Few years on, and still the only CMS I use...
Time to buy some SWAG!

Love the look & feel, but... Have blown a lot of time learning how c5 develop Themes. 2 of my latest designs have fallen foul of the " No such file or directory in C:\Users\...c5\public_html\concrete\core\libraries\view.php on line 447" error. No amount of loading & unloading the Themes will fix this, and I simply don't have the time...

Regrettably therefore, it's back to Joomla! Maybe I'll come back after a few more releases. I look forward to it.

Sorry! That should read:

Love the look & feel, but... Have blown a lot of time learning how to develop Themes. 2 of my latest designs have fallen foul of the "No such file or directory in C:\Users\...c5\public_html\concrete\core\libraries\view.php on line 447" error. No amount of loading & unloading the Themes will fix this, and I simply don't have the time...

Regrettably therefore, it's back to Joomla! Maybe I'll come back after a few more releases. I look forward to it.

You should consider using the forums to get some help. This stuff works for thousands of people, so could likely be something going on with your install.

With a smaller server footprint that Joomla or Wordpress (can I say wordpress here, or is that a "4 letter word"??) as a host I *love* concrete5. As a theme builder, I love Concrete 5 - so simple to work with, slight learning curve, but then beautiful - and the online documentation - just amazing!
As a plugin developer, I love Concrete5! Its fantastic to work with.

My clients that have been migrated to C5 love it also - not had a single complaint, and not had anyone struggling to use it as a site admin.

I keep finding new features that I have not used before, that are all so well thought out and placed. Just awesome!

I have worked with Concrete5 for about 4 years and relied very much on the support of the ISP who knew it intimately. When things changed and I changed host I relocated three C5 websites and had to learn more about the CMS myself; things like customisation, block design, padding, colours, stacks, etc. I found that all the help and info is there but sometimes takes time to find. Also, it works brilliantly with the SEO we do on the sites too. It's like anything of value, you need to use it, try stuff and you'll be surprised at what you can do! And for someone like me who doesn't know the first thing about how to code HTML it' wonderful. And remember, if the edit goes wrong there's always the 'Discard changes' button!

I only use two CMS now and Concrete5 is one of them, it's so much more user friendly than most CMS currently on the market. Definitely give it a try if you are sitting on the fence.

I've messed around with Drupal and Wordpress development and C5 is what I suggest for most of my clients these days. C5 is much more flexible than Wordpress and much more user friendly than Drupal. While it doesn't yet have the market share that those two have I certainly think it deserves to. Coupled with the fact that it's incredibly intuitive from a design/development perspective is the fact that your client will love learning and using it. The interface is very friendly to someone who has even the most basic understanding of how to use a computer yet it's development possibilities are nearly endless. Very happy I was exposed to C5 and continue to be proud to promote it.

In a search for a CMS to build the typical business website, I developed sites in Wordpress and Joomla! Each has their value -- you can't do better than Wordpress for a blogging engine. Joomla! has a wide variety of add-ons.

But, I found, that for a typical business website, I spent more time learning workarounds for each, rather than gaining knowledge about how to use each environment in more sophisticated ways.

Enter Concrete5. I was immediately attracted to the industry standard approach to in-context editing. Half of my clients make extensive use of the ability to update their own site and are very pleased with that.

Learning a CMS/foundation is not a trivial task. But, so many of the decisions of the C5 team seem reasonable. The foundation is accessible and it's pretty straightforward to develop custom blocks for your application.

C5 allows making a flexible website easier than Wordpress, IMHO. On the other hand, the more you know about PHP, CSS and HTML, the more you'll be able to take advantage of the solid underlying framework to provide truly sophisticated sites.

Concrete5 gave us the chance to be very quick and effective with the CMS projects. Previously I have to spend hours to make a backend for admins and need to teach them separately how to use it and all. But after finding Concrete5, I just create a video tutorials and send it over to my client. Then can easily understand the flow and what to do.

A GUI based CMS can make the user as much happy as they can as they can see that they are doing. Previously they have to edit it through admin panel and save it and go to front end again and refresh that page and all.. A lots of redo stuff. Also there was no chance of revert back. But in Concrete5, everything is there.

I just love this platform and will use this as long as I do development work. :)

I've used CC5 on both small and large (300+ pages) projects and I couldn't be happier. The CMS is smartly designed for fast development and quick website load times.

Best of all the clients were able to adapt to the workflow painlessly.

Concrete5 will always be my first choice for CMS based projects

Easy to use and easy to theme. C5 is easily the best CMS (open or propriety) out there

Recently switched to C5 from Wordpress - very tired of having to constantly update to avoid vulnerabilities, C5 seems a lot more stable overall and would highly recommend the switch on high load sites like a few of mine.

I've been wrestling with Concrete5 on and off for a month and I can't get to square one with it. All it does is crash and the installation just doesn't do what it's supposed to. I've wiped it out and started over three times. I'd purchase a theme if i thought it would work better than what's for free, but so far I'm better off writing my own HTML. At least I'd have control over it.

I wouldn't purchase a theme PhotoDoc1. If your hosting environment isn't stable enough to run concrete5 with the default theme, adding a theme from the marketplace is only going to make things worse.

I'd consider hosting at a different environment. Http://concrete5.org/hosting