Which distribution is best for web development?

[Minimall]

I need help with choosing the right distribution for web development.

My potential future employeer wants me to give him some ideas, We are going to create a new catalog website, using a CMS,

So I need to know some good solutions,

1. Which CMS to use for such a website, my idea is Joomla!

2. Which platform would be effective, here's where I need to ask you, as I know only a little about Linux distributions. But my idea is openSUSE so far.

Any better ideas?

3. Which development tools to use, for PHP scripting and MySQL(also xhtml and css). Any ideas?

Thanks.

[Rubberman]

1. Content Management Systems - Joomla is a reasonable choice. There are others, so do some research (assuming you have not yet done so).
2. A lot of people like OpenSUSE. Myself, I prefer CentOS (free version of RHEL). Ubuntu Server Edition may be a good choice also (more current kernel support).
3. Whatever works for you.

[theNbomr]

Is a CMS the right tool for a catalog website? There is danger in pre-supposing the solution before thoroughly analyzing the problem. Alternatives like roll-your-own, Ruby On Rails, etc might be worth investigating. Are you interested in the development aspect of web support, or the hosting aspect? The two are different. Joomla is the kind of 'Do everything' CMS, but may not be optimal for your application, or your development style or skill set. There are so many CMS's out there that it seems reasonable that one tailored to your particular needs and style exists. Will the choice become a standard for other work in the future, or is this a one-off job? Another factor is whether the website going to be operated &/or maintained by you, or turned over to a third party client.

--- rod.