There is a wide spectrum of ways to create new websites, starting with solutions that require no coding at all, such as Weebly and WordPress, all the way to coding your website entirely by hand using a text editor like Vim. ExpressionEngine (various pricing, buy-only) is a serious content management system that sits close to Vim on that spectrum, and has a vibrant community of users and developers.

This is not a system you are supposed to just play with until you figure it out, but thankfully, its documentation is excellent. Once you get it installed, you use a slick control panel for creating content and presentation templates, but you still need to code your templates as pieces of HTML using that interface. To embed content into your templates, you will have to use special ExpressionEngine tags, which are clearly explained. There is also an excellent Getting Started tutorial that introduces many of the concepts you will need to get started, such as Channels (pieces of content) and Templates (controlling presentation).

If you'd like to use ExpressionEngine but don't want to code a theme from scratch, websites such as ThemeForest offer commercial, ready-to-use ExpressionEngine themes. Then again, if you're considering using a ready-made theme anyway, you may be better off with WordPress. It is not as open-ended as ExpressionEngine, but doesn't have its price tag and initial learning curve, either.

If you are an experienced Web developer looking for a powerful CMS that allows complete customization, check out ExpressionEngine, but be prepared to spend some quality time with the documentation.

Note: The Download button takes you to the vendor's site, where you can buy the latest version of the software.

--Erez Zukerman