Content Management Systems (CMS) 101

For as long as I can remember, I’ve always thought of ways to do things better; specifically efficiently and effectively.

Today, I can say that building websites efficiently and effectively is part of my blood. If somebody drew my blood for a donation, I think HTML tags would puncture the tube carrying my blood to the plastic container.

If you think about it, building websites, cars, or shoes are no different when you consider the end goal; to make as much profit as possible. Sure, websites and cars are completely different, but both require time to build and have a specific budget in which they’re built.

For example, let’s say that Bob, an Operations Manager at FORD needs to build 1,000 Windstar mini-vans in 30 days. I think it’s quite easy to say or speculate that if Bob was the given the task of manually building 1,000 min-vans by himself, there’s no way he could accomplish that task. Thankfully for Bob, and many car manufacturers out there, there is a system in place, the Assembly Line that allows Bob to efficiently build 1,000 min-vans in that period of time. Websites are no different. If Bob was a Web Designer and needed to build 100 pages in 30 days, he could do one of two things: (A) hand-code each page, while ensuring every page has the consistent theme (headers, footers, etc) until his fingers fall off, or (B) install a content management system on his web server so every page created is automatically generated to have the same theme.

What is a Content Management System?

A Content Management System (CMS / Systems) is an application, whether online or offline, that allows for automatic creation of content or pages. CMS consists of both front-end and back-end systems. Front-end referring to what a user sees when entering data and information into a form and the Back-End referring to the database or storage system holding the data. They are so many Systems out there, ranging from a simple blogging tool like, Blogger, that is typically used to write posts about what happened in the users life that day (for example), to a system that controls job postings, company intranet, corporate website and online store, such as the Microsoft Content Management Server.

“So, now that I know what a Content Management System is, now what?”

The great thing about learning something new is that there is always more information hidden under the surface. In this case, simply learning about what a CMS really is, just brushes the surface of their full potential and capabilities.

You need to create 500 pages in seven days, what do you do?

Before you decide to select Blogger to build every website you create from now on, you need to ask several questions:

  1. What type of information do I plan on presenting online? (Products, News, Personal Information, a Portfolio, etc) photos and text?
  2. How will your information be organized? (i.e. Home, Products, About Us, Contact Us)
  3. Will your website’s content grow in the future? (Today you may only need 500 pages, but next month will your boss ask you to add 1,000 more?)
  4. Who will be updating the system? (Will it require every person in the organization to make updates/additions on their own? If so, you’ll need to consider training time as well)
  5. Which programming languages am I comfortable with? (if applicable)
  6. Do I have sufficient access / priviledges and capabilities? (i.e. My server supports PHP and MySQL, but can I change permissions, etc)

Supporting Comments for Above Questions…

Considering Information Type

One has to consider the type of information being published. Websites that require only photos can use a Photo Gallery CMS, such as Coppermine Photo Gallery that allows the administrator to upload and organize their photos simply and effectively. If you’re planning on publishing photos and pages of text content that has about only five to ten pages, a really easy to setup CMS is WordPress.

WordPress can be setup on your web server in less than two minutes and not one minute over! WordPress is a PHP-based CMS that allows administrators to not only create posts like Blogger, but it also has the ability to create unique pages for different content such as a photo gallery. Another great thing about WordPress is the countless number of plug-ins (useful additions to the existing System for practical and common tasks, like a photo gallery).

If one is creating a larger scale website to store news, events, and company information, a commonly used System called, Joomla (http://www.joomla.org), is definitely one to consider implementing. Not only is this CMS great for larger scale websites requiring lets say 100 – 500 pages, it has even more plug-ins that make building your website project easier.

Considering Organization of Information and Expandability

If your website is as common as Bob’s (Remember, our hypothetical, completely fictitious FORD Operations Manager character created for this documentation), Personal website about his annual family vacations that may look like this: (and may probably never grow to include different information)

HOME | ABOUT BOB’S FAMILY | PHOTOS | CONTACT BOB

… then your website typically won’t require a large CMS such as JOOMLA or Microsoft Content Management Server and WordPress would be a great solution.

However, if your website project requires scalability for future additions, then doing more research on CMS such as JOOMLA or Microsoft Content Management Server is recommended.

Considering Administrators and Implementation

So, now that you’re certain that just because you’ve checked off the (1) Understanding the type of information and (2) How you’re going to organize your information, you still have a couple additional things to consider: (3) Who will be updating the website and (4) Will you be capable of installing the system.

If you’ve sent an email in your life, you’re more than capable of writing a post on your website’s CMS. However, Content Management Systems are a lot more than just type and press send. They can be loaded with information and be connected to several databases that store different information stored in different locations. Basically, if you think that you understand it, it doesn’t mean that other users that may use the system will.

“I know how to code PHP and build databases with MySQL, I can do anything right?”

Although Content Management Systems make life easier by creating pages automatically with a click of a button, there are many Systems out there that use some kind of proprietary scripting language. And although an actual system requirement may only be, “PHP and MySQL”, be aware that many CMS also require some learning to get the System working the way you want it to, so just make sure you have these types of privileges before you embark on your latest CMS installation.

Considering Access and Privileges

Okay, you’re a talented PHP developer and are determined that you can learn how to script in any proprietary CMS language out there; you understand what type of information your website project requires and how it is going to be organized. Now what’s the problem?

From my experience, not every Web Designer or Developer is a System Administrator – exactly. For many Web Designers, knowing how to create a fantastic looking website and understanding how a web server works don’t come hand-in-hand. If that’s you, don’t worry, because life’s about learning and guess what? There’s something new to learn about.

Servers in general, are controlled by a System Administrator. System Administrators control user creations, grant privileges to all information and can restrict users to sensitive information. Web servers are no different, they have someone or had someone set up the System, such as Windows or Linux, so that it would prevent unauthorized users the ability to destroy or change what took that person maybe hours or days to configure and setup.

Basically, when most people upload web pages to their personal web server, they see several folders and some type of index page. But behind your folders, are system folders that only the System Administrator can see and modify.

“I get it, I get it, permissions and all that… but what does that have to do with me?”

Most Content Management System out there require that before you install it on the web server, folder creation and permissions to those folders, such as READ, WRITE and EXECUTE, be modified for installation and ensure the System works properly as you continue to use the System. Therefore, make sure you have been grated sufficient priviledges on your web server before you proceed.

You need to create 500 Pages in 7 days!

In conclusion, although Content Management Systems have been created to assist us in building websites efficiently and effectively, there are several factors to consider before deciding on which one to implement:

  1. What type of information do I plan on presenting online?
  2. How will your information be organized
  3. Will your website’s content expand?
  4. Who will be updating the system?
  5. Which programming languages am I comfortable with? (if applicable)
  6. Do I have sufficient access / privileges and capabilities?

Unfortunately for most of us, the solution is not going to be handed to us on a silver platter. However, we do have a great resource of information available to us everyday, 24/7 and 365.5 days a year; the Web.

So, before you decide on which CMS to implement for your future 500 page website, research as many Systems as you can until you find the right one!

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