Web Design using a Content Management System

Written by Don on December 2nd, 2009

A web content management system (WCMS) is a type of web-based software that acts in such a way that design and management of websites become much easier than without it. Without a WCMS, your website will require sifting through HTML codes to fit the right design. The software provides authoring tools designed to allow users with little knowledge of programming or markup languages to create and manage content with relative ease. It typically requires an experienced developer to set up or add features, but is primarily a website maintenance tool for non-technical administrators.

An effective WCMS facilitates control of a website, audit, edit, and timeline management. It typically has:

•   Automated templates (usually HTML and XML) that can be automatically applied to new and existing content, allowing the appearance of all content to be changed from one central place.

•   Easily editable content which is separated from the visual presentation of a site. This usually becomes much easier and quicker to edit and manipulate.

•   Scalable feature sets which includes plug-ins or modules that can be easily installed to extend an existing site’s functionality.

•   Regular updates that include new feature sets and keep the system up to current web standards.

•   Workflow management which controls the process of creating cycles of sequential and parallel tasks that must be accomplished in set period of time.

•   Delegation of privileges to various user groups over specific content on the website, spreading out the responsibility of content management.

•   Document management from initial creation time, through revisions, publication, archive, and document destruction.

•   Content virtualization which allows each user to work within a virtual copy of the entire website. This enables changes to specific sections simultaneously.

The three major types of WCMS are offline processing, online processing, and hybrid systems. These describe when presentation templates are applied to render web pages from structured content.

Offline processing involves applying templates offline and updating to the website on completion. During the process the website may not be available for a visitor.

Online processing applies templates on-demand. HTML may be generated when a user visits the page.

Hybrid Systems combine the offline and online approaches. Some systems write out executable code rather than just static HTML, so that the CMS does not need to be deployed on every web server. Other hybrids operate in either an online or offline mode.

The disadvantage of using some WCMS is that, they force you to keep a certain design scheme, only allowing you to change the basic layout of elements and color choices. The other disadvantage is development time and cost. If you don’t ever need to update content, then a WCMS might not be necessary for you.

Choosing a WCMS for your website is no easy task. Make sure that you choose one that overcomes the “cookie cutter” layout limitation, and allows for the reuse of content, dynamic programming, and advanced user privileges. Some WCMS can clearly be an asset to the usefulness of your website like the ones offered by Ohio SEO Services and Cincinnati SEO Services. Whether that system is something complex or something simple, it is an essential part of a successful website.

This entry was posted on Wednesday, December 2nd, 2009 at 7:27 pm and is filed under Design, Web Design. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.