Summary of website content management systems

Publishing a large volume of content requires the use of a website content management system. The content can include simple pages, intricate pages dynamic information derived from databases, instructing resources, online manuals, and broad business records. The diversity of websites can vary in scope from ecommerce sites to personal journals or “blogs”, from educational instruction to commerical sites. A limitless numer of pages exist with intricate linking between them.

The first thing to do in selecting a website content management system is to ask yourself about your goals and needs. Obviously there can be no single best list of requirements which can cover everybody’s needs and goals. Every organization or person is going to have unique requirements.

In order to ease the process, the prerequisites can be put in to the following categories, creating, managing, publishing and presenting content as well as contract and business. These steps show every aspect of a website content management system from building the actual content to displaying it to users.

Content creation is the functionality required by the authors who are going to create the material that is going to show up in the website. For a cms to be successful, it must be easy to create and maintain content. The core of the system is content management, which is usually a central repository, supported by a range of tools for manipulating and managing the content. The key parameters here are version control & archiving, workflow, security, integration with external systems, and reporting.

The publishing engine must be able to recall the contents in storage and generate the web page seen by the users. Imporant elements in the publishing engine includes page templates and stylesheets. The support of many formats such as HTML, PDF, WAP, etc. might necessary to ensure the success of the website. On larger sites, personalization and users’ usage data should be implemented on the pages.

Content presentation is another important aspect that must not be neglected. The appearance and layout of the web pages will be dependent upon decisions made on this facet. To provide the most value to your users, the page presentation must meet certain criteria. They are as follows: usability, accessibility, cross-browser support, speed, navigation and metadata.

Contract and business is the final requirement. It covers project management and business procedures when the system is executed by a third party or vendor. When the system is turned over to another party, issue such as the use of cms, required operation and maintenance skills, documentation, hardware/software or database resource requirements, cost, scalability etc. will need to be addressed.

The success of a website often depends on the selection of the correct content management system. Because this can be a multi-million dollar decision, it is very important that you correctly asses the site’s current and future needs. In any decision this large, the most significant information you gather will most certainly be composed of your goals for the site and must also take into account the goals of all other parties who will be involved.

- Robert Taylor

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