CMS and blog software without databases

I was reading the Splitbrain.org blog, which I quite like by the way, and when I see a blog that I like, both content-wise and design/execution-wise, I try to figure out whether or not the software behind it is WordPress, Movable Type, Drupal, etc.

Well, it turns out that Splitbrain.org is done with DokuWiki, which is a wiki platform that doesn't rely on a database, with all the data stored in regular files on the server.

I like simplicity.

DokuWiki isn't exactly a blogging platform, but you can turn it into one with plugins.

I did a bit of searching around and found this interesting post from Rafael Minuesa that lists a number of CMS platforms that don't use databases. Rafael's post also lists a few CMS platforms that use the simpler SQlite database.

The point of this isn't so much that a blogging platform shouldn't use a database but that when you're using a blogging platform such as WordPress, or a more full-fledged CMS like Drupal not so much to build a complicated web site or full-featured blog but to create a relatively simple web site, sometimes a relatively simple tool is a better fit.

In other words, in web design, don't make WordPress (or Movable Type, Drupal or Joomla) the proverbial hammer in your toolbox that you're whacking at every nail you find.

Constantly evaluating all of the potential tools out there with which you can get a particular job done is something all web designers, developers and sysadmins should be doing. Me too.