SkyBlueCanvas is a lightweight, open source CMS written in PHP that is specifically built for small sites.

If a robust system like Joomla, WordPress or Drupal are too hefty, this is when you grab a lightweight CMS like SkyBlueCanvas. However, don’t confuse “lightweight” with “simple”. This CMS includes many of the basic abilities a more robust system has, like plugin API, extensions, and theme-ability.

Like most CMS’s, if you can use a word processor then you can update your website.

You can upload your photos and other art work directly from your browser with a few clicks of your mouse (4 clicks to be exact). SkyBlueCanvas uses easy-to-understand menus, buttons, and forms to give you the power to change the text and artwork on your site. In most cases, it is just point, click, type and the content is changed.

Feature Summary:

• Easy-to-use
• Easy-to-install
• XML Data Storage (no database required)
• Extensible
• Flexible & Powerful Plugin API
• Skinnable
• Small in size (3.5MB)Valid XHTML 1.0 Strict output
• Search Engine Friendly URLs (requires mod_rewrite)
• Customizable Meta Tags (globally or by page)
• Built-in RSS feed creation of pages, articles and news items

System Requirements:

• PHP v4-5.x running on Linux, Unix, FreeBSD, OpenBSD or MacOS X
  Sorry, Windows servers are not supported at this time
• A FTP Client
• mod_rewrite enabled (optional but recommended)
• JavaScript enabled in your web browser

Be sure to check out their demo page, but more importantly, look at the CMS back-end.

Visit the SkyBlueCanvas website to learn more, demo, and download. Since it’s a free open source CMS, the only thing that it will cost you to download, install, and try, is your time.

NOTE: The SkyBlueCanvas project is for sale due to lack of time to properly maintain the software, support and community. I would still consider this CMS due to its simplicity and the fact it’s a promising product that has a decent chance of getting purchased.