I'm looking to get some input on content management systems and what everyone recommends.

The admin side for the end users should make it easy to customize the look of the site with as many wysiwyg options as possible.

Modules for other functions are good but should be easy to install and configure from the admin side.

What are your favorites? I was referred to CMS Made Simple which uses Smarty. It's a good start but the admin side needs work to make it usable for my needs. Also the CSS system is a bit convoluted.

I like Subdreamder. It's not free.
Or PHP-Fusion. This one is free.
Or Joomla ... also free

I use this on my sites.

LDU or Seditio is a wicked cms, if not the most popular...

www.neocrome.net

Easy customization via template files (html/css...) and there are many tutorials on how to do it.

Not the more innovative system out there, but I liek it very much.

you may try joomla . example sites are in my signature

I have heard of Joomla but haven't looked into it yet.

I think what I am looking for is something that has a wysiwyg for the design and layout on the admin side. with a layout picker, color picker, upload for background and button images, etc. Almost like a page builder built into a content management system.

CMS Made Simple comes close but the admin would need to be modified to add images for the layout choices and would need a wysiwyg css mod created for it.

From what I see phpcow by phpcow.com seems easiest and most flexible for customization