Content management, often referred to as ‘CMS' (content management system), allows processes and workflows involved with organizing, and structuring information resources for a website so that it can be stored, published, and reused in different ways. Put simply, content management is the process by which information is modified on a web site or intranet.
Good content management systems rely on being able to effectively manage and publish subject matter by storing and retrieving content (either as components or whole documents) from a database. A CMS may also provide for content revision control and allow you to modify other parts of a website; for example, the pictures on, or background color of, a particular page.
At last count, there were over 225 software products that purport to manage web content on Google. Even mid level packages typically carry $40-100k in licensing fees. For relatively straightforward web CMS and open source solutions, or those that are aimed at smaller website projects , you can still expect to pay between $5,000 and $25k.
Content management systems have become a lot more affordable and accessible in recent years - there are now a number of companies that offer full-featured, yet practical solutions which can allow you to run better web sites and intranets in less time. A number of companies offer high-end solutions (for large businesses), while companies such site build it provide a practical way for webmasters to develop smaller sites with fewer hassles. Companies, like Macromedia, who have identified the need for lower end solutions have taken baby steps towards CMS with their Contribute 3 web publishing suite.
Whether you are part of a large business, or just a webmaster who is thinking about deploying a CMS, there are a number of common factors that you should take into consideration before spending big.
A good content management system should:
- include an integrated authoring environment which will provide a seamless and powerful environment for content creators.
- allow you separate content and presentation elements. Authoring should be style based with all formatting to be applied during publishing.
- include multi-user authoring (unless you only plan to use the CMS for your own website).
- include ‘single-sourcing' (content re-use) which means that a single page can be used in different contexts, or delivered to different user groups.
- include metadata creation which will automatically capture and deliver meta-tag information (keywords, descriptions, etc) which is critical if you want your pages to be properly indexed with search engines.
- allow authors to be able to easily create content without being required to use HTML (or other technical knowledge) when creating pages.
- Another consideration (if you are part of a larger organization) might be to ensure that your CMS has strict version control, which is necessary for legal accountability, backup and disaster recovery - a simple interface should be provided for these features.
There is no single best list of requirements for a content management system. Every organization has unique needs. Like anything else, just be sure to shop around before you take the plunge.
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