The Orchard project recently released version 1.0 of their product. I had talked about it previously here, and I decided to install it again.
Installation
The installation is done via the Web Platform Installer and I also used Web Matrix on a virtual machine to do my tests. The installation is almost automatic and very pleasant. No need for obscure configuration.
Once installed, you just need to start the Orchard site with the Web Matrix interface to see the initial site configuration page (Site name, admin user, password, database). Again, it is very simple and intuitive.
The Orchard Experience
The default theme is very simple and contains a few sections. Other themes are available, but in limited numbers (4) for now. Obviously, what interests me mainly is the module allowing to translate the content into French and English without too much effort, which most other similar software do not offer.
On the administration side, the interfaces are simple and most are clear and easy to understand without a user manual. But I had to search a few times to perform some tasks, not finding the menu containing the right link. I think there is some improvement to be made on that side.
Conclusion
Despite a more interesting concept and the use of ASP.Net MVC, Orchard is not yet a mature product, so we will wait a little longer to install it in production. Hopefully, additional modules and themes will appear by the next version.