Developing a website from the ground up

[stavarotti]

I am in the process of redesigning a small store website. The current version of the site offers users the ability to see a weekly flyer and read some details pertaining events at the store. As part of the redesign I would like to move away from the current cms (Joomla) and rebuild the entire site using a different infrastructure. I am proficient in Java and hence have been looking at GWT as the primary choice in creating a dynamic site. Do you have any other suggestions regarding frameworks and/or CMS systems?

[kls]

Use a client side RIA framework like jQuery or Dojo. Abandon anything Struts, tiles, JSP, or JSF related. Implement all of your services with JAX-RS and call those services from your UI with XHR request from the client app. Put all of your none dynamic HTML into a CMS that can export static files to a webserver. You do not want yet another run-time dependency (Alfresco can do this). Separating the concerns makes for a far more agile process and allows you to use a greater variety and configuration of tools and technologies.