Web Design Toolbox: Content Management (CMS) |
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My definition of a content management system is a tool that allows a content provider to create and publish content to the web. The idea of internet CMSs has been around almost since the web. The concept being, content providers can publish their own content, therefore saving time and resources. Then the web developer can focus on the technical aspects of the project or web site. My personal experience as a web developer, over the last 10 years, has been that content providers prefer to create the content and hand it off to someone else to publish. I've assisted and / or have built CMSs, mostly around 1999-2001. In all cases, the content providers went back to the web designers for updates, and the CMS was swept under the web design rug. That being said, web design, and those who provide web site content has changed. Most clients in 2010 wanting a web site updated, or a new site, want some sort of CM functionality. Working on web sites already in a CMS can be challenging, but I've been able to navigate and update the sites. For better or worse, I'm the type of web developer that really needs to know what each line of code does. The search was on for a cheap, functional and transportable CMS. The two systems I've managed to go over so far are Joomla and WordPress. I'm focusing on WordPress. There are dozens of great CMSs available. I'm not endorsing any specific CMS for your web design needs. WordPress is just what I've chosen for my web design toolbox for now. I won't reinvent the web design wheel. There are plenty of resources available on the search engines. Below is a short list of some links I found useful while researching for a web CMS.
Please contact me (James Honts), with any comments.
James Honts, |
