Choosing a CMS for your project
- by kingsley - Thu, 10/08/2015 - 11:14
- Web Development
Content Management Systems (CMS) have evolved as the most powerful web development tool in recent times. A Content Management System provides capabilities that allows multiple users with different permission levels to manage content effectively on a website without having to touch code. Managing content refers to creating, editing, versioning and publishing, collaborating and sharing information.
With so many proprietary and open source content management systems around today, making a choice for the right CMS for a project is a big Decision. This article is intended to serve as a guide for would be website owners.
Common misconceptions in choosing a CMS.
The most common misconception in choosing a CMS is the belief that a website’s success is wholly dependent on the CMS used. The Success of a website is based on a number of factors that include quality content, search engine optimization, social media engagement, server speed, CMS configuration etc.
Another misconception is that a CMS eliminates the need for a web developer. Ideally, you should engage a web developer to set up your CMS website. However, the process of creating and managing content on the CMS should not require calls to your web agency. That is the essence of the CMS in the first place.
- Questions to ASK when choosing a CMS
- Cost
- This is a very important question to ask. Will you be using a commercial CMS or an open source alternative. Open source CMS’s do not have any limitations as to how the source code may be modified. With proprietary systems, there may be limits to how much modification can be done. Most commercial CMS’s come as a hosted solution and tie you to a provider. Commercial CMS’s provide some degree of assurance of technical support unlike open source that relies on its community. Also, proprietary systems usually require little time to set up. While Open source CMS may be free, you have to bear in mind that you may need the services of an experienced web developer.If you can afford it and have limited time, then a commercial system might turn out to be a good choice. There may be extra charges when upgrading or adding extensions to the CMS. Ensure you are fully acquainted with fees that apply to the CMS solution you are considering. Please note that open source CMS come free but some of its plugins are not free. Also, before signing up for any commercial CMS, It is important to fully understand their exit strategy policy. Some proprietary CMS providers may include clauses in their Terms of Agreement to prevent clients from unsubscribing.
- Extensibility
- Extensibility refers to the ability to incorporate extra features into a CMS via plug-ins. Extensibility is one of the most important factors to consider when choosing a CMS. Most CMS's, have a lean structure and depend on extensions for advanced functionality. You should determine what functionality you need and find out if the CMS has a plugin or extension for it. You should also find out if extra functionality be integrated without having to redesign the whole website?
- The Editor
- The editor is one of the most used features of a CMS. It is the interface through which content is created or edited. Some CMS’s have an inbuilt editor while others provide this functionality via plugins. As a site owner, you should find out the scope of the editor. While most editors work well with text, some may be difficult to use when working with images and other file types. Some editors allow you to style text, mark-up headings, lists and link and specify how they should appear. It is important to find out how the CMS handles images and downloadable files. Can images be cropped, resized and captioned. How does it handle uploading of PDF and Word Documents? How are these displayed to the end user? Can descriptions be attached to these files?
- Security
- In the past, open source was perceived as insecure but this belief is beginning to change as more governments and reputable organizations adopt open source technologies. Whitehouse.gov and several government owned websites run on Drupal, an open source CMS. Before committing to any CMS, find out if it has any security issues. Read online reviews. Find out the frequency of hacked websites for the particular CMS. Does the CMS Company have a security team that ensures their software is hack proof.Some CMS may require you to perform minor security updates occasionally.
- Hosting Compatibility
- If you already have hosting or own a domain name with email service such as yahoo, you should find out if the hosting environment is compatible with the CMS of choice. Some webhosting packages come with limits that may not meet the requirements of a CMS. Confirm from your hosting provider if you can host your CMS on their platform. Depending on the hosting provider, you may be required to upgrade your hosting package.
- Search Engine Friendly (SEO)
- In the past, it was possible to build a website and rank for keywords without an SEO strategy. These days, search engines are highly intelligent and it is almost impossible achieve high traffic without SEO. Find out if the CMS has basic SEO functionality like rewriting url, providing titles and descriptions for content images and other web assets. Does the CMS have provision for integration with third party SEO and web analytics tools? SEO is a must for any website looking for huge traffic.
- Backup
- The ability to backup a website’s content completely may come in handy in the event of data loss. It is often recommended that backups be saved outside the hosting environment. Ensure that the CMS you have chosen has a backup feature that allows you to recover your website if the need arises.
- Some CMS’s have plugins that take periodic snapshots of the website and saves it to an external server.
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