Content Management Systems Jenny Owens & Nick Owens

What is CMS?  CMS stands for “Content Management System”  Software or a web platform that allows users to manage and create content  Collaborative and participative, multiple editors and authors

Who would use one?  Large organizations  Users with little technical knowledge  Content needing frequent updates  Remote content management

From the Beginning…  Originally a large up-front cost  Expensive to update and maintain  Customized to organization  Many free options on the market  It gets the job done  Even high-end companies can get CMS with low cost options  Largely Customizable Back Then… Today…

Common Features  Templates  Control of Access  WYSIWYG and content easy to edit  The management of workflow  Multiple users make changes  Delegation  Document management

How they stack up…. Pros  Low cost (some are free)  Ease of use  Customizable  Workflow  Good for the non-technical  Quick changes  Shared maintenance  Large number of people can contribute and share content Cons  Implementation  Maintenance  Limit flexibility and design  Security break due to multiple users  Quick changes by non-technical people can lead to more mistakes

Types of CMS  Personal and Workgroup  Often free  Customizable and growing  Community Support  Enterprise  Cost Effective  Larger organizations given support  Workflow, search options

What’s on the market Wordpress Joomla Drupal SilverStripe Radiant Frog Concrete5 dotCMS ModX TYPO3 Cushy

Analysis Review of CMS Options

WordPress Pros  Large network of users and developers  User-Friendly  Free and fairly robust Cons  Security issues  No official support given  Not as robust as some other open course CMS

Drupal Pros  Several modules come standard  Many companies offer commercial support  Vast community support Cons  Lack of themes for site building  Theming system is complicated

Joomla! Pros  LDAP authentication  More than 7,000 extensions  Lots of documentation Cons  Not as user-friendly  Lack of quality themes  Excessive for simple sites

Current Trends

Weekly Downloads Comparison

Popular Site Use* *Based off of Alexa One Million measuring the top one million published sites

Google PageRank *Based off of Alexa One Million measuring the top one million published sites

What’s Being Used Now

Best Practices

 Selection and implementation of CMS should be decided by IT experts and end-users  The average company selects a new CMS every 3-5 years  Consistency is key  Set style guidelines early and do your research  Your best resources may not come from your vendor  In-depth training will lead to the results you want

References  President, T. (2012, April 21). Pros & Cons of a Content Management System. management-system/  Smith, M. (2012, April 21). Top 12 Free Content Management Systems. systems/  Morville, P & Rosendfeld, L. (2007). Information Architecture for the World Wide Web. Sebastopol, CA: O’Reilly Media.