Sometimes, GLAD WORKS friends, we get a little caught up in our own jargon. Things can be so second nature to us that we assume the rest of the world knows what we’re talking about when we throw around terms like “CMS.” And then when we’re in a meeting and we’re doing our thing, talking all fancy, our clients can sometimes feel a little bit lost.

Because what the heck is a CMS?

Naughty, GLAD WORKS! 

So, in order to remedy this, we’re going to start doing some 101 type posts because part of what we love to do other than design and build stuff for you, is show you how to use it. Part of that is explaining some of the terms we throw around a lot.

Today, we’re going to talk about CMS or Content Management Systems.

A Content Management System is a web application that depends on a database to create, edit, and store HTML content in a way that is easily manageable by those of us who are not skilled webmasters. You don’t need a degree in fancy computer stuff to be able to manage and update your own web content. With a Content Management System, content is created and edited in an administrative part of the website called the Backend.

No giggling from the back of the class because we said “backend.”

Once you’ve gotten your content the way you like it, you can go visit it on the regular site, the part that we designed to look all pretty, which is very predictably called the Frontend. That’s the part that’s viewable to the public. Nobody ever sees your Backend other than the folks you give permission to.

Stop the giggling!

Content Management Systems are cool because they make editing, creating, and updating your website easy enough to do yourself without having to pay someone to do that stuff for you. That can get very cost prohibitive very quickly. The hard work in CMS land really comes in when you’re looking for a particular product that will give you the functionality you need while not giving up any ease of use.

When deciding which Content Management System is right for you, there are several criteria to look at.

• Ease of installation
• Interface Design
• Template Flexibility
• Ease of adding extra features and functions

It all comes down to the way the CMS is designed. If it’s a good design, it’s going to do what it’s supposed to do and you’ll love it. Depending on what you need, you’ll want to consider different designs. We recommend Drupal or WordPress.

Drupal is one of the most functional and user-friendly open source Content Management Systems available. Lots and lots of big deal websites use it, and it comes with an efficient open source community with lots of add ons and customizable modules. Your content can be edited right on the page, and the themes can be developed easily. When we create a site for folks using Drupal, we always leave them with a training session and a training guide. We rarely receive any desperate calls for help from anyone.

We are excellent teachers and Drupal is an excellent CMS.  Check out our portfolio to see what we’re talking about.

The other Content Management System we like is WordPress because it’s also a real client-pleaser. You may have even heard of WordPress around the Interwebs at one point or another. It started out as a blogging platform and gained huge popularity. Now, there’s an extended version of WordPress that acts as a user-friendly Content Management System. There are lots of plugins and extensions that make it match and surpass many other open source systems. Just like we do with our Drupal clients, we train our clients and leave them with a guide to using WordPress.

Whatever CMS you go with, never forget that the main purpose of it is to be easy to use. If it’s not, then it’s not the one for you. You have enough to do and enough stress already. You don’t need website woes on top of it all!  We get that. We do. Let’s chat!  We’ll hook you up with a Crazy Mega Sweet CMS!