What are the best simple, open source CMSs for small, content-oriented sites?

I heart Quora.  I'm an avid Quora question asker and answerer.


This question came up the other day about simple open-source content management systems (CMSs).
"What are the best simple, open source CMSs for small, content-oriented sites?

Something relatively simple and easy to modify, and with a good facility for editing articles (not just blogging). Textpattern might be one example. What others?"

Questions about CMSs usually come up in the early stages of a web project, web development clients often ask questions about managing their own content.  Here are some helpful guidelines about picking the content management systems that meet your specific needs and some helpful resources for additional information.

When you say content oriented, do you mean outward content like (1) blog articles or (2) more rich types of media content or (3) content in the form of documents?

(1) Blog articles and other outward facing text content for a small, low traffic site: I would think about WordPress, Concrete5 / same content larger, higher traffic site: Drupal, Umbraco, DotNetNuke, or Joomla

(2) Media, photos, social content: probably LifeRay

(3) Document management: Alfresco

Here is a really great article that details the pros and cons of the major CMS platforms. I especially like the distinguished clients list. This gives good live examples of functionality and load:
http://www.cubrid.org/blog/dev-platform/comprehensive-overview-of-top-14-content-management-systems/

This is a nifty tool that lets you compare a number of CMS platforms on their core technology and availability of add in features:
http://www.cmsmatrix.org/

Here's a short blog about some indie CMS platforms. Concrete5 looks great for non-technical companies.
http://sixrevisions.com/web-applications/10-promising-content-management-systems/