The concept has been around since the mid 90’s. Functioning CMS systems followed within a year. By year 2000 even clients with small to mid-sized websites were inquiring. And now you can’t throw a digital stick without hitting at least one Content Management System. Some of the popular names include Joomla, PostNuke, Drupal, and many others. Today I would like to discuss some of the concepts of a CMS. This discussion is designed to help folks decide if a CMS is the correct solution and, if so, start the education process that will be needed to choose the correct package.

• My CMS Background

My background in CMS concepts goes back to 2001. Working in a small web development firm, we were being asked to produce half static, half dynamic websites. The dynamic portion would have a web based administration for the client to modify the content as needed. These projects were custom for each client. We soon started an in-house development of a complete CMS system that would allow us to fill the needs of 80% of our clients. I was in charge of the coding for this project and was quickly introduced to the requirements and complexities that go into a full-feature CMS system.

The initial requirements were simple. Create a web based system that could duplicate the layout and function of any website and be simple for the end user to administer. Presentation would be via templates so that our team could supply the appropriate html and css files that would be completely separate from the content. In short order we discovered just how daunting a task this would be. Many meetings took place where we discussed the role of the administrator and how he or she should have total power to control the site, but be completely shielded from any HTML or CSS knowledge requirements. It was during these meetings that I realized the height of this CMS mountain.

• Super CMS Mission Impossible

It was after discussing the CMS concept with an outside developer over a beer (or two) that I realized our folly. CMS certainly has value, but not as a substitute for a web designer. The CMS team worked long and hard to get past many issues but continued to be introduced to new ones. Designing our CMS with no limits required, in my opinion, an unlimited amount of code. And unlimited code seldom finishes on time and on budget.

But here was the crux of the problem. If we want a simple to administer system we must exclude complex administration pages. If we exclude complexity in the admin side, we cannot build in all the power and features that are possible. So the CMS designer is facing this question: Which features do I exclude to maintain a reasonably simple to administer application?

• To CMS or Not To CMS

For many sites, skipping the Content Management System is still the right choice. If the time or energy required to learn and utilize the administration side of the system approaches the time and energy needed to modify the content directly, than a traditional page based site may still be the best choice. Assuming the needs of the project dictate CMS, it is time to ask…

• Which CMS package?

There is no perfect CMS. There is no best CMS. If a perfect solution existed there wouldn’t exist so much competition in this field. I _will_ say that the quality of a CMS package is almost certainly directly linked to the time and effort put out by the development team. Quality is not the only factor, however.

The client also needs to assess the suitability of any given package’s features to the project’s needs. A top quality package with the wrong features is of little use.

• How do I choose?

I cannot recommend a CMS package. I hope no one read this far assuming I would be endorsing one particular product. What I can recommend is paring down the list based on two criteria.

1. Your needs. Outline what features you need on the site in question and make sure the package(s) you are considering support those needs. Reading synopsis of the various packages will be necessary.
2. Quality. I won’t guarantee it, but you can bet that the popularity of a product indicates it has been well thought out and refined.

Based on the above criteria a short list can be compiled. From this ‘Short List’, a closer look or even a demo can be taken to determine which is the best fit. Good Luck.

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