Ho Hum

 Pic Source

This woman's face accurately depicts my mood (and probably my face) when looking through the CMS websites listed here: libsuccess.org: Library Websites Using CMS. 

While I didn't look at every single site they mentioned, it was darn near close. Maybe I looked at too many, because they all just looked the same. Nothing really stood out. There were a few that were somewhat innovative in their home pages (Portsmouth Public Library (OH) by Joomla and Scottsdale Public Library (AZ) by Expression Engine), but overall they were fairly generic in appearance. Some did looked more like blogs than others. I'm assuming that part of this is due to not only the constraints of the CMS but also the abilities (and patience) of the website manager or administrator.

Regarding the sites and how they look on smartphones, I accessed the Mobile Phone Emulator site and plugged in the same sites I looked at from the CMS list. I've not played much with mobile technology and wasn't sure what to expect. Some of the sites would re-size to look exactly as they do on a desk or laptop. Some of these were so complex in tabs and drop down menus that I wondered if the site was even usable on such a small device. Other sites appeared wonky and what was accessible when you first bring up the site were useless (in my opinion). There were only a couple that did not show up using the emulator.

After all that, it seems like CMS is a decent option for libraries that lack the means for a super fancy website designer. It helps, though, to have someone with design experience managing the site.