The FYI on CMS

Content Management Systems (CMS) are huge these days.  In the world of the internet, the development of CMS is akin the invention of the wheel. They allow non-tech users to make revisions to web sites, and they free web developers to work more on complex coding issues rather than text changes.

When building a new web site, or re-building an old one, a CMS should always be taken into consideration.  Some of the core functions include:

  • adding new pages (more robust CMS allow for this)
  • editing/removing/organizing current pages
  • updating content
  • adding images or updating photo galleries

There are many different flavors of CMS. Some are restricted to just editing content, others allow full control to edit virtually anything on your website.  All of these factors should be explored in the planning stages of your new website, as its more cost affective to implement a CMS in the beginning stages than it is to retrofit a web site that is live. Don’t get me wrong though, it can be done. Paul Boag does a great job of explaining things to consider when choosing a CMS in his article “10 Thing To Consider When Choosing a Perfect CMS

The benefits of a CMS are also huge. Let’s say you want to start publishing your news updates to an RSS feed.  If your CMS was set up correctly, it would only take a tiny bit of programming (maybe just a checkbox) to “start” that feed.   If your CMS wasn’t set up for it – or if you don’t use a CMS on your site currently – it could be a pretty big headache (in both time and money) trying to show feeds from static pages.

CMS is just a small tool to help the creation and maintenance of a healthy web presence. There are many more details and variables to work out when starting or rebuilding a web site. However, if the right CMS is implemented from the start, it will help to address the variables and changes you have along the way – in the end reducing your dependence on programmers (which saves you money).

Anchor has implemented all flavors of CMS, from 3rd party solutions like WordPressconcrete5 and CushyCMS, to custom written CMS solutions which automate contests and entry form submissions.  Contact us today to see what else we can do for you.