I’m a designer, not a developer. I work for a Health System that has 3 hospitals. We have about 5-6 months to build our new site.
Our developer is strongly suggesting that we build our own Java-based CMS instead of using an existing system like Magnolia or Hippo. We only have one developer right now, however we may hire one more. So our dev team is 1-2 people.
My concern is that rolling out our own CMS may be way too time consuming for our deadline and our staffing level, and I’m looking for opinions on what other developers think.
Is it realistic for a good developer or two to roll out a Java CMS in 5-6 months? If it is, is it really worth doing considering the existing options that are out there?
CMS’ are quite difficult to write properly and I would rely on other peoples knowledge. You have to consider Administration, Authorization, Versioning (if needed), etc…
All three of those items could easily take up your 5-6 months by themselves.
5-6 month w/ senior developers on FT? Yes, definitely.
Would I agree w/ creating own CMS? Maybe. This would depend heavily on client’s requirement. If I clearly know that no CMS can handle it, then yes. But, this is absolutely the last resort solution.
Most likely, using CMS will be more than enough for your client’s need. I strongly suggest checking out Liferay. I’m sure there are other CMS but that one is pretty good. The learning curve is very heavy but the actual development effort will be significantly faster. I believe they have training sessions.