Content Management systems have all sorts of different purposes, and aims.
We've concentrated our efforts on two distinct systems: Joomla (formerly Mambo) and Postnuke.
These systems have completely different structures and orientations. Joomla is completely menu driven--everything needs to be linked to a menu before you can access it, at least at a category level. You can nest any type of link inside any other link, and build hierarchical menus. Dynamic categories allow you to have news, testimonials, and other items of a certain class that are easy to add to a list, and group together on a page in a blog style, but at its heart, Joomla is a menu manager.
PostNuke, on the other hand, is more of a blog engine attached to a security framework. Out of the box, it's a bit more confusing, a lot harder to set up. On the other hand, if you want to grant granular user control, it's one of the better frameworks for doing so. Terminology
One crucial problem working with both Postnuke and Joomla is that they use the same terms to mean different things.
Joomla can be extended by adding #Components, #Modules, #Mambots, and Themes. In PostNuke, there are themes, but all other extensions are called [#Modules], and are more equivalent to a Joomla component.
Because we tend to start with Joomla, here's what these mean, and what the equivalent item is in PostNuke. Components
A component in Joomla is the equivalent of a module in Postnuke--an extension that provides new functionality to the site, and usually appears as the main content of any given page. In Joomla, you add a component like a directory, a calendar, a reservation system, or any of a wide range of components. You can then add a menu link to it to pull up a page that provides dynamic functionality.
Postnuke modules can do this, but they can also provide blocks, hooks, or various other features--everything's a module in PostNuke. Modules
A Joomla module is a block of code that appears in one of the edge positions of the page. Postnuke calls these blocks. A Postnuke block is a Joomla module--something that appears on multiple pages. In Postnuke, blocks are always part of a module, and generally expose shortcuts or summary views of data from the module. In Joomla, they are standalone, but may also integrate with a separately installed component to give you the same result. Mambots
A Mambot is some sort of modification module. It generally does things like transform text before it is displayed, and can be used to change links, insert special javascript, add meta information, and all sorts of cool things.
Postnuke does the same thing with a Hook system. Any module can provide hook functionality, and transform text/html from another module in a variety of places.
