What exactly is Custom Coding criterion?

[zim2411]

Website judge here.

You're free to write your own CMS. If you do, please document it on your site with an "About this website" page detailing how and why you did.

You're also free to use an off the shelf CMS like Wordpress, Joomla, or Drupal. I think the logic behind this is that due to the lower amount of time required to get the site up and running, the actual content on the site should be higher quality. (So you might lose a point or two on the technical side, but you're expected to score higher on content.)

If you stick with the stock themes, you may not score particularly high either. If you do go with an off the shelf CMS, be sure to customize it as much as possible, and again, document what you've done on an "about this website" page. It's not in the requirements, but judges appreciate it!

While you want to make it look good for the judges, your focus really should be on your local community and the FIRST community who will be using your website. If you make a truly excellent website for the public, the awards will follow, regardless of the technology you use.

Brilliant advice.

[mc10]

Creating a CMS is a nice project to embark on, but there are a number of issues with maintaining a custom-made CMS. The first and most important issue (probably) is security: I personally don't think that hand-made CMSs will contain the security patches that more established CMSs (WordPress, Drupal, etc.) will have. Another issue is the (possible) high learning curve with making a CMS.

That said, if your team wants to make a CMS, go ahead! I'd personally recommend, however, using a CMS like WordPress for a production site.