I have recently updated many aspects of the system that runs erikwestlake.com. Nothing major, just updated most of the text on the site, along with some of the minor visual tweaks.

Today, just now I made public the changes to the family business' web site (www.westlakeind.com) and hope it is a huge success.
Another note is that Westlake Industries Inc. has hit the Profit Magazine Hot Profit 50 list for 2009. Placing in a nice 12th overall, we are very happy with this news. Check the site to see the news bulletin on this.

Redesign of iSecForce is underway now. I have been playing around in Content Management Systems for the new updated site and have the following to say about a handful of the ones I have tested.

The first system I tested was Typo3. At first glance it seems good and all, however, it is very cumbersome and hard to figure out all the administration navigation. My opinion on this system is that it is an administrators nightmare, but that is just me. I would give this software a rank of 3/10.
The next one I worked with was SilverStripe. This system is great, but again, difficult to figure out all the administration package. I could not figure out how to add Forums, Blogs, or anything other than pages. Even after reading through their entire help system I could not figure out why nothing was working. I could not even get the title of the system changed without hacking the database. Not to mention the fact that you need 64M of Memory Cache for the system to run properly. I would say this software ranked a 4/10.
Following SilverStripe, I attempted miaCMS. I found this a very nice system to work with, some of the navigation could be better, but again, I am a nut for documentation. After playing with it for a little bit I dropped it and moved on to another system. I would have to give this software a 6/10.
Next, I did a system I have worked with in the past. Drupal. I find this software simple to use, and the ability to add modules and themes on the fly is great. It has awesome documentation for both ends of the system too. I think this will be the temporary system for iSecForce once I get all the guys on board. This software leaves me a little warm and fuzzy feeling so I would rank it 9/10.

If you disagree with any of my comments here, please let me know, I would love to hear your opinions on this.

Signing off for the time,