I recently wrote a post about an increased interest in sites with CMS on board. I thought I should take a moment to describe the technology in a little more depth.
For those of you who don’t know, CMS is short for Content Management System. Like the name implies, this tool enables a site manager to easily maintain content on his or her site with little to no programming skills required.
A CMS can aid in the management of a variety of types of content, including Web page content, audio and video files, images and documents. They can also provide work flow control as well as manage user permissions. CMS prices run the gamut, from free software like Joomla! or Drupal, to completely custom-developed systems costing hundreds of thousands of dollars.
Most clients that I encounter are looking for a system that permits the management of basic Web page content. This functionality is typically available in the form of a visual editor - commonly know as a WYSIWYG editor. WYSIWYGs have functionality similar to Microsoft Word that allows users to make text bold or italic, insert links, insert pictures, upload documents, etc., using buttons or drop and drag functions instead of programming language, and to see the results instantly.
An example of the WordPress 2.7 WYSIWYG used to create this post
Please post any questions you might have in the comments.
Tags: cms, content management system
