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Choosing the Right Website Content Management System

Very few commercial websites do not have a content management system (CMS) these days. The tools to create an easy way to add and update content for your site are so easy to use and implement that even small businesses can easily put together a website using WordPress, Drupal or Joomla with or without the help of a web design and development . signature. These ‘stock’ installations of these popular open source content management systems offer many great features that the average company will be able to use, and skinning them to look like a company’s unique identity can be quite simple to do if you’re on your own. wanting to change the basic colors and logos.

Larger websites, however, can be much more complex to set up and often have unique needs that the basic installation of one of these free open source systems does not have ‘out of the box’. For example, Drupal may have a user registration module, but your organization’s entire workflow and registration process may have drastically different needs. The question is: do you compromise what you want or do you get your content management system to work the way you want it to? I will always recommend the latter. There are so many options out there that you should never have to compromise on your vision.

There are three ways to approach the challenge of truly unique needs and requirements:

1. Modify an open source content management system to fit your needs.

Again, this is something I have done countless times and it is definitely possible. If you’re drastically changing the core of the CMS, I highly recommend looking for a company that has a lot of experience with the content management system you’re using. You want to make sure that it will be relatively easy to update the core system without making too many modifications. A less experienced programmer could unknowingly make a change to the underlying functionality of the content management system that will prove problematic later on.

2. Find a content management system that has the functionality you’re looking for, or something close to it.

This could involve moving to a proprietary and licensed Content Management System. There is certainly nothing wrong with this option, and many larger organizations have found that the open source CMS options out there are good, but not tailored to the larger business mindset and need for scalability. There are many great licensed CMS platforms, ranging from $5,000/year to over $100,000/year, and like anything else, the more you pay, the more flexibility, expandability, and technical support you get. You can also customize the system to your liking by working with the CMS company itself or with a preferred provider. Obviously, companies and organizations with little or no annual licensing budget will quickly find that what they are looking for is out of reach and may turn back to open source options.

3. Create your own Content Management System

Sometimes there are so specific functional and workflow needs for your website or web-based application that it doesn’t make sense to use a standard open source or other proprietary CMS. For a site that interfaces with other unique systems, has unique user/member needs, or has only one aspect that needs to be controlled by a WYSIWYG editor, it sometimes makes sense to develop a custom content management system that handles these parts. of your website. The advantage of a custom CMS is that it does EXACTLY what you want it to do, the way you want it to do it. The downside, of course, is that if you want to switch web development vendors, you’ll want to make sure your new vendor can work with your system. The benefit of an open source system is that there is a large community of developers familiar with the system, and the benefit of a proprietary system is that more often than not there is a network of highly qualified preferred vendors who can help you if you need it. needs to. change Web Development provider.

Choosing a web content management system is not an easy task, but the most important thing to keep in mind is that your CMS should not dictate what your website can do. Be sure to find the one that will enable you and your organization to achieve your goals.