What is a Content Management System?

In order to define a Content Management System, we need to look at the components the term is made up of What is Content? What is the Management of content refer to? What is the System that manages the content?

Content is in essence, any type or unit of digital information. It can be text, images, graphics, video, sound, documents, records etc. In simply Content can be anything that is likely to be stored and manage in an electronic format. The Management is refers to the process of storing content via rules and process or combination of the same. The System itself is definable as a software tool, or combination of software tools, that facilitate the efficient and effective management of the content so as to archive the desired output. So pulling all three definition together we can define a content management system, also called a Web management system is software or a group or suite of applications and tools that enable an organization to seamlessly create, edit, review and publish electronic text. Many content management systems offer a Web-based GUI, enabling publishers to access the CMS online using only a Web browser. Also, a CMS designed for Web publishing will provide options and features to index and search documents and also specify keywords and other metadata for search engine crawlers.

What we can do with a CMS?

Document Management Can facilitate sharing of content across multiple Web sites Allows content owners with little or no background in web technologies to create, edit, and publish web pages. Allows content owners to upload images to their website and link to downloadable files. Allows website managers to set rules so certain content owners can only publish to a "staging" environment while others can publish to "production". Can make it easier for non-technical staff to update content Forces a formal workflow management and publishing process Can improve consistency of look and feel

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What we cant do with a CMS?

Make editorial decisions for us. Decide or define what your workflow/approval process should be. Update many forms of media including pdfs, movies, flash, etc. Support all the bells and whistles many of us are used to. Doesnt necessarily make it easier to update content.

Available Open Source Content Management System Software

1. Moodle Moodle is an Open Source Course Management System (CMS), also known as a Learning Management System (LMS) or a Virtual Learning Environment (VLE). It has become very popular among educators around the world as a tool for creating online dynamic web sites for their students 2. WordPress WordPress is a state-of-the-art publishing platform with a focus on aesthetics, web standards, and usability. WordPress is both free and priceless at the same time. 3. Joomla Joomla is one of the most popular CMS products available for medium to large sites that need more flexibility and features than WordPress supports. There are more plug-ins for Joomla than any other CMS, which gives it huge flexibility and extensibility. Joomla is well known for being the best multimedia CMS and is also very good for e-commerce. Its also good for high traffic sites. 4. DotNetNuke DNN (DotNetNuke) is a CMS that runs on Microsoft ASP.NET. It has a smaller user base and is an open source CMS platform that also functions as a web application development framework. 5. Cushy CMS CushyCMS is a Content Management Systems (CMS) that is truly simple. Its free for unlimited users, unlimited changes, unlimited pages and unlimited sites. 6. ExpressionEngine ExpressionEngine is a powerful and easy-to-use content management system. ExpressionEngine is known for its flexibility and intuitive Template Engine that lets developers easily mold the CMS into its intended use. 7. Frog CMS Frog CMS simplifies content management by offering an elegant user interface, flexible templating per page, simple user management and permissions, as well as the tools necessary for file management
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Technologies that are used in CMS

Java Java is a programming language and computing platform first released by Sun Microsystems in 1995. Java is fast, secure, and reliable. From laptops to datacenters, game consoles to scientific supercomputers, cell phones to the Internet, Java is everywhere Microsoft ASP.NET ASP.NET is a free web framework for building great web sites and web applications using HTML, CSS, and JavaScript. Perl Perl is a high-level general-purpose programming language used especially for developing Web applications. PHP PHP (recursive acronym for PHP: Hypertext Preprocessor) is a widely-used open source general-purpose scripting language that is especially suited for web development and can be embedded into HTML. Python Python is a remarkably powerful dynamic programming language that is used in a wide variety of application domains. Ruby on Rails Ruby on Rails, often simply Rails, is an open source web application framework which runs on the Ruby programming language. It is a full-stack framework: it allows creating pages and applications that gather information from the web server, talk to or query the database, and render templates out of the box. ColdFusion Markup Language (CFML) ColdFusion Markup Language, more commonly known as CFML, is a scripting language for web development that runs on the JVM, the .NET framework, and Google App Engine.

Why Content Management System is Important?

Content Management System is very important to any organization. Because it allows, Increase efficiency Create standardized, uniform pages. Streamline the workflow. Increase search engine ranking

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 Maintain control over your content Improve customer service Improve online branding

Advantages of Content Management System

1. A CMS makes it easier for people to create, edit and publish content on a website. Website publishing has required significant technical skills (HTML, programming). A good CMS allows non-technical authors and editors to easily and quickly publish their content with relative ease. 2. By using content management system websites structure can be easily changed because content management system uses templates. Once the template is changed to update the colors, design, or navigational structure, all of the site's pages will be updated. 3. Security is an important issue, particularly for intranets. A CMS can facilitate better content security. It can control who is allowed to publish to the website, and who is allowed to see what content. 4. Content Management system reduces time-to-publish, allowing you to get content published faster. This is an important issue for the modern organization. The quicker you get key content published, the more value it creates. 5. Content Management system also included very useful feature RSS Feed. RSS feeds let your website's visitors receive daily feeds of the content you publish. Likewise, you can use RSS feeds form other sites in combination with content spinning applications to keep fresh relevant content published on your site daily. 6. Content management software helps to develop SEO friendly websites. The website created using CMS loads quickly and is fast in functionality. 7. The use of content management system lowers the operating costs and thus elevating the profit percentage. Also CMS is its portable nature and as such, the CMS can be scaled down and then replicated on a number of different platforms including PDF, web browser, WPA and other digital devices. 8. Content management system also reduces the web maintenance cost. Also web content management system makes the working smoother within the organization as well as with the customers.

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Disadvantages of Content Management System

1. Content Management systems are resource hungry The disadvantage of content management systems are that they are resource hungry. The servers they run on need to be maintained by technicians, and content management requires more memory, CPU power and software maintenance. Small setting changes in the server can cause the entire content management system to fail and as a consequence the website will not be viewable or return errors. 2. Content Management hosting is expensive If you want reliable hosting for a content management system, then expect to pay money to get it. Without technical support, proper management of shared hosting resources and server maintenance, you can expect to have problems. The added complication of resource hungry content management systems and the need to have qualified technicians maintain and upgrade software and hardware, means that hosting for content management systems is expensive. 3. Content Management systems need to be upgraded to changes in software Like cars, content management systems depreciate. There is no guarantee that the content management system purchased today will work in 5 or 10 years time without a developer spending time on upgrades to make it compatible to software changes. New versions of Windows, server software and office software will impact on the functionality of the content management system. 4. Many CMS systems do not index properly on search engines The benefit of publishing a website is to get the added benefit of search engine visibility but unfortunately a major disadvantage of many content management systems is that they do not index properly on search engines. Read Dynamic webpages that are indexed by Google for more information 5. Buy or rent a CMS If you buy a content management system, you are responsible for the costs of these upgrades. It is only if you rent a content management system from an application service provider, that the responsibility for upgrades and trouble shooting is no longer a cost that has to be budgeted for. The issue with renting an application is that you are unable to customize the site and this negates the benefit of having a CMS that fits your needs.
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Questions to Answer before Choosing a CMS

Does the CMS match your needs? Unless you know what you need your site to do, youre going to have a hard time selecting the correct CMS. The first thing you should do is to sit down and list out what you need your website to do for you and what you might want it to do in the future. Then compare your list to the features of the CMS and the 3rd party plug-ins available for it. Will it allow for growth and extensibility as your needs grow? For this you will need to think ahead and envision what direction your site might go in the future regarding functionality. You dont want to start with a CMS that you cant extend later. So you want to check and see if plug-ins and add-ons exist that will let you extend the functionality of the CMS. In fact many people often choose their CMS just so they can use certain plug-ins. Is there a Support Community? This is especially important if you are going with a free CMS platform and are doing it yourself. There is generally little to no support on most free products, so there needs to be a strong community that you can tap into when you need help and information. What is the learning curve? This is very important if you are newbie. If the CMS is too complicated you might get overwhelmed and never get the site up and running. A simple CMS that suits your needs, that you can get up and running quickly, is better than a CMS with advanced features that you don't need. How much does it cost? How much is your budget for your site, or do you even have a budget? The good news is that there are many popular Free CMS platforms that will fit most needs, though you might have to spend a few bucks on a couple of plug-ins, or add-on tools to get the exact functionality you want.

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