I consider myself an amateur web designer with HUGE interest in expanding my skills. Wordpress is my main tool, and I feel very confident in major customization, "tweeking", and implementation in WP. Anyway, I want to take the next step. I've noticed a certain "pattern" or template in a few sites that I really like. I don't know if they are using some sort of CMS, building them from scratch, etc, but I want to learn how to make sites similar to these. Please give me some input. Thanks! http://www.simpleslice.com/ http://www.crexendo.com/ http://www.theswishlife.com/ As a second, but related note, what other CMS's should I explore besides wordpress? Are there any other simple and robust (like WP) CMS out there?
Besides WordPress , you should also try out Drupal, Movable Type , Expression Engine and if you are good enough , give Joomla a try !
Wordpress is not technically a CMS. It's a blogging platform that is so customisable that it's possible to build content driven websites around it. You should take a look at Expression Engine if you know what you're doing when it comes to code. I've found it's a pretty robust platform. The websites you have mentioned however don't all seem to follow the same architecture. If you're talking about the way the URLs are managed, then this is a simple case of using .HTAccess and Mod_ReWrite.
As a designer myself i get a lot work requirement for Vivvo CMS, and Expression engine, so you can try them, besides give a try to Joomla and Drupal as well!
Thanks guys. I appreciate the input. It looks like Joomla, Express Engine, and Drupal will by my starting point. I know WP has THOUSANDS of good templates out there. I've done some looking around to get a feel, but which of those 3 CMS's have a large amount of templates if I want to get cracking on just messing around with them?