Like most people, I made my first website building static pages and yes, using tables. But after a time it was getting a little complicated to update my portfolio. I had to duplicate an existing page, or sometimes use a template, add an additional link with the appropriate URL.

By then I had heard about Content Management Systems, and though Wordpress does not market itself as a CMS that's the first one I got to use. So I continued researching about different CMS and learned about Joomla and Drupal. The former was the one I learned myself first, briefly. I was able to make my own custom template work without any problems but I felt I was limited to the user interface, it felt a little bit complicated and hard to use to make simple configuration changes. A bit like Microsoft's Vista and its gazillion "Are you sure you want to do this" kind of messages.

What did I do? I chose Drupal! Yes, I chose a CMS that has a steeper learning curve than Joomla, but as soon as I installed (as some say, bravely using Godaddy) I knew I was in charge, and it was a perfect fit.

After I made my own design into a Drupal template (a custom page.tpl.php) I installed many modules I needed and used them to make custom pages, views, blocks, etc. With a healthy and active Drupal community on IRC (see http://drupal.org/irc), you can almost count your problem won't be overlooked. They won't guide through the entire process but most likely they will give you an overall idea of what you should do.

So there you have it! My personal take on the CMS dilemma. As most of you know, Wordpress, Drupal and Joomla are free and most modules are free as well. Each of these CMS have a following, almost like a cult, but it is basically up to you to decide which one you should use. In the case of the White House (http://www.whitehouse.gov) they chose Drupal.

I have not weighed in Wordpress to this discussion, but I know it has great support just like Drupal or Joomla.

Again, in my case, I wanted to be in charge, and Drupal offered that, and more.