It's 2009. There is no reason at this point that any Web site should not be built using a system that will allow a site owner to update their own Web pages.

What is a CMS and why you need one

You should be in charge of your own content.

For the uninitiated, a Content Management System, or “CMS,” allows people to log into a protected area of their own site and update copy and most, if not all, pages on the site. At the same time, the design and function of the site are protected, so less experienced editors do not need to worry about “doing something wrong” and causing problems with the site.

You have the power.

Putting that power in the hands of the ones that feel the pain if things do NOT get updated is one of the best things a Web professional can do. It means your Web Designer/Developer/High School nephew is no longer the bottleneck when you want to change that misspelled major investor’s name that needs to be fixed yesterday (yes, I have stories. Boy do I have stories). The people who are most affected can now be the ones to remedy the situation.

Fringe Benefits

The nature of a CMS is that, as nerds say, it makes good use of “structured data.” Meaning that if you deal with something repeatedly, such as events, you can figure that those things in general (events) will have a consistent structure (perhaps a time, a date, a description, a contact person). A CMS can be organized around those things and make the creation and display of those events more consistent and easier to input. Because everything is kept in a database, the system can also present the information in a variety of ways, in this case as a list of events, or in a calendar grid, or even as a list of venues or times. Or all three. This is what databases are supposed to do – store information chunks so they can be used however you want to use them.

CMS’s are often inherently optimized for search engines and even basic marketing. Easily or automatically generated feeds, “pingbacks,” nicely formed links (such as “what-is-a-cms-and-why-you-need -one”) and more can simplify everyone’s life. Add-ons (“plugins” or “modules”) that can enhance your site,your marketing, or your workflow can usually be found as well. Obvious example: virtually every CMS currently has some kind of Twitter or Facebook integration available.

How to choose one

There are many out there and more every day. The best way to choose one, in my biased opinion, is to hire Web professionals to help you decide, based on your own needs. There are dozens if not hundreds of systems out there, and each has its strengths, weaknesses, and best uses. For example, Wordpress can hardly be beat for blogging. But for a more complex site, it may not be the best choice. Drupal is extremely robust and flexible, but it can be overkill for most sites. For us, Textpattern is often the happy medium. But not always.

And of course you can always build one to suit, using a framework (frameworks will be the subject of another post) or however you like. It all depends on the complexity of your project, your budget and your timeframe.

And elsewhere…

To get a sense of what’s out there, take a look at CMS Matrix – it can be overwhelming but you at least will see what some of the options are.

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