CMS 101: Intro to Content Management SystemsTech4Good Denver | 5.21.14

Agenda

• What is a CMS?• Common features• Best practices• How to choose

What is a CMS (Content Management System)? A CMS is a web application that allows non-technical users to add, edit, and manage the content on their website.

Content = text, images, graphics, video, sound, documents, etc.

What it means for you

The goal of a CMS is to provide an intuitive user interface for building and modifying web page content.

This means that you can make changes to your site’s content without needing a developer or someone who understands HTML code!

Common features

• Publishing• Revision control• User management• Media management• Moderation• Reporting and submissions• Plug-ins• Themes

Tips and best practices

• WYSIWYG: What you see is what you get – Avoid copying and pasting from Word

• Open external links in a new tab• Metadata: Fill in the titles, keywords, and

descriptions for search engine optimization• Actually use your CMS!

First step to selecting a solution

• What do you need?– What is important to your business?– What do you want to maintain control over?– How often do you need to make changes?– How often do you want to refresh your look

and feel?

How to choose

• Open source:– Built and maintained by groups of

interested people all over the world.– The source code is available to all,

so anyone can modify the code and create new functionality.

• Proprietary:– Built and maintained by one company.– They typically don’t allow access to the

source code.

Open source benefits

• Generally quick and affordable up-front• Wisdom of the crowd: Larger developer user

base and community• Also large groups of people who can help you

customize your product• Often easier to port your content to a new

system down the road• Well-funded systems often have a lot of great

features built in

Open source cons

• More generically created and designed based on a wide array of needs. Not as customized to your specific needs.

• System upgrades can be harder because open source systems have to support old versions. This also means that they may not have the latest in best coding practices.

• Pick one that is unlikely to lose public favor anytime soon.

• Security risks

Proprietary benefits

• The potential for a fully customized CMS based on your individual needs – The CMS can be structured around your specific

business needs: unique content, design, etc.

• We suggest having access to the team that knows the CMS code inside and out, because they wrote the original code and can provide the best solution for you.

• Less security risks

Proprietary cons

• Cost is generally higher• You must be comfortable with the company

behind them. – They must have the size and expertise to keep your

website running and be able to invest in the continual development of the product.

• If you need a standard site with several pages of “typical” content

• If you have a smaller budget

• If you need customization based around your content

Open source Proprietary

Make sure you have ownership and access to design and content

Either way