Hi All,<p>I am looking at building a CMS for a very non technical audience. Rather than re-build the wheel I would like to extend an existing CMS. I have worked with WordPress, Drupal, Joomla and Serendipity. However, none of them is very easy to use for the lay man.<p>Would it makes sense to build one from scratch or is there something out there that is super easy to use?<p>Thank you for your time.<p>Update: I have looked only at the php based CMS since I am most comfortable with php. However the language does not matter, so I am very open to Python, Ruby and others.
I think the important thing is to be realistic about how much you can expect your non-technical users to do. Your job is to only give them access to the things it makes sense to let them touch. For example, in drupal, it's probably a bad idea to give them the ability to edit blocks, but you might let them use promos or panels. If there's something it's not realistic for your users to do, then either you have to take responsibility for doing it, or you have to exclude it from the site. Having said that, I'd recommend wordpress or drupal as they seem to be the cms's with the most active development around them.
I highly recommend that you check out: <a href="http://www.expressionengine.com" rel="nofollow">http://www.expressionengine.com</a> as it might be what you are looking for. I hope that helps.