Content Management SystemsJenny Owens & Nick Owens

What is CMS? CMS stands for “Content Management

System”

Software or a web platform that allows users to manage and create content

Collaborative and participative, multiple editors and authors

Who would use one? Large organizations

Users with little technical knowledge

Content needing frequent updates

Remote content management

From

the

Begin

nin

g…

Originally a large up-front cost

Expensive to update and maintain Customized to organization

Many free options on the market It gets the job done

Even high-end companies can get CMS with low cost options Largely Customizable

Back Then…

Today…

Common Features

Templates

Control of Access

WYSIWYG and content easy to edit

The management of workflow

Multiple users make changes

Delegation

Document management

How they stack up….

Pros Low cost (some are free)

Ease of use

Customizable

Workflow

Good for the non-technical

Quick changes

Shared maintenance

Large number of people can contribute and share content

Cons Implementation

Maintenance

Limit flexibility and design

Security break due to multiple users

Quick changes by non-technical people can lead to more mistakes

Types of CMS Personal and Workgroup Often free Customizable and growing Community Support

Enterprise Cost Effective Larger organizations given

support Workflow, search options

What’s on the market

Wordpress Joomla

Drupal

SilverStripe Radiant

Frog

Concrete5 dotCMS

ModX

TYPO3 Cushy

AnalysisReview of CMS Options

Word

Pre

ss Pros

Large network of users and developers

User-Friendly

Free and fairly robust

Cons

Security issues

No official support given

Not as robust as some other open course CMS

Dru

pal Pros

Several modules come standard

Many companies offer commercial support

Vast community support

Cons

Lack of themes for site building

Theming system is complicated

Joom

la! Pros

LDAP authentication

More than 7,000 extensions

Lots of documentation

Cons

Not as user-friendly

Lack of quality themes

Excessive for simple sites

Current Trends

Weekly Downloads Comparison

2010 2011

Popular Site Use*

2010 2011

*Based off of Alexa One Million measuring the top one million published sites

Google PageRank

2010 2011

*Based off of Alexa One Million measuring the top one million published sites

What’s Being Used Now

Best Practices

Best Practices Selection and implementation of CMS should be

decided by IT experts and end-users The average company selects a new CMS every 3-

5 years

Consistency is key Set style guidelines early and do your research

Your best resources may not come from your vendor

In-depth training will lead to the results you want

References President, T. (2012, April 21). Pros & Cons of a Content

Management System. http://fronterahouse.com/blog/2011/04/25/pros-cons-of-a-content-management-system/

Smith, M. (2012, April 21). Top 12 Free Content Management Systems. http://spyrestudios.com/free-content-management-systems/

Morville, P & Rosendfeld, L. (2007). Information Architecture for the World Wide Web. Sebastopol, CA: O’Reilly Media.