Until recently web design and development was an exceptional prerogative of highly educated professionals who knew a couple of programming languages (not to mention HTML and CSS). But these times have gone and now every curious and creative person can build a website rather simply without having programming background and even without knowing HTML/CSS. Internet provides you with a lot of free and paid solutions to create a website and to maintain its successful activity. You just need to choose a platform to run your site on and the design it will be “dressed” in.
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Content management systems (CMS) are just those very platforms that simplify the website creation process and cut down your expenses. So what is CMS?
What is Content Management System (CMS)?
Content management system is a kind of web-based applications that helps manage website elements and content without significant coding knowledge. This includes creating, editing, duplicating, deleting, archiving, publishing and collaborating on the content, plus a lot more other fun stuff. If you are an experienced programmer you can edit the source files and the CMS core code at your liking. Otherwise you can build a website without writing a single line of code by means of the content management system.
What’s equally important is that the CMS itself (also called core) is separated logically from the appearance (template system). In other words, CMS itself is the body and the appearance, or a template, is what you put on top of it. Simple, isn’t it?
Why You Need a Content Management System (CMS)?
When using CMS the workflow becomes more flexible and simple. Even people with limited programming knowledge can use CMS to do everything starting with the installation and all the way to effectively managing and maintaining a website on a daily basis. So if you don’t build websites for years or you just don’t want to be bothered with coding you definitely need a CMS.
CMS Templates
Now a little bit more on the looks we’ve mentioned earlier. As you probably understand it’s about the themes/designs/skins for CMS-based websites. They are usually pretty flexible and easy to change, so you can update your website’s look as often as you need. It is strongly recommended to refresh your website look from time to time while keeping the website recognizable. The outdated designs can hurt your business because people are not inclined to trust to strangely-looking resources. So you don’t want to be one of these, remember that.
Advantages of CMS
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There are a lot of benefits you get by choosing a content management system:
- Well organized website structure.
- Greater website flexibility.
- Simpler content updating without assistance of professionals. You’re able to do everything by yourself.
- Higher content security (login and password entry to the CMS saves websites from illegal access).
- Little web development knowledge needed.
- Reduced time and money spending on a website maintenance. You don’t have to regularly pay to the designers and developers.
- Professionally designed website templates.
- SEO-friendliness. Web pages created with CMS have customizable URLs and metadata (titles, keywords, headers) which is good for marketing and attracting search traffic.
Disadvantages of CMS
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There are also some not so pleasant features that you can face when choosing a CMS:
- Content management systems are more resources-intensive (memory, server CPU power, etc.) than the plain HTML;
- If you want in-depth changes to the website functionality that are not provided by the default CMS features list, you’re still going to need to address a developer to get the job done for you.
- All CMS platforms have to be updated on a regular basis (usually around 3-5 times a year) to fit web standards and software requirements. Usually new versions of CMS are free and the system will be upgraded automatically after your approval.
- Some CMS platforms are poorly indexed by search engines (not applicable for our todays systems – WordPress, Joomla and MotoCMS are ok SEO-wise).
Now that you know what a content management system really is, it’s time to consider which CMS to use.
This article presents you general info about content management systems. Below you’ll find a comparison table of 3 popular CMS platforms: WordPress, Joomla and MotoCMS. The first two systems are the most popular free CMS and the last one is also popular, but it’s a paid one. Don’t hurry to make a choice that depends on a price only though. Give each platform a change by using each of these in a trial mode (MotoCMS offers a free 30 days demo version, others are free by default), compare CMS capabilities with your business requirements and goals and only then make a choice.
CMS Comparison: WordPress, Joomla, MotoCMS
|
WordPress |
Joomla |
MotoCMS |
|
|---|---|---|---|
| Logo |
|
|
|
| Site URL | www.wordpress.org | www.joomla.org | www.motocms.com |
| Price (CMS + template) | $0 – $75 | $0 – $75 | $99 – $139 |
| Description | WordPress is the most popular blogging platform with hundreds of thousands of plugins and themes (free and paid). It can be easily integrated with other systems and applications. | Joomla is a CMS that allows creating websites and web apps. It’s more complex than WordPress and requires more development experience. It’s considered less flexible and less secure. | MotoCMS is a convenient CMS that allows creating Flash or HTML websites. It fits both professional web developers and average site owners. |
| Last version | WordPress 3.5.1 (January 24, 2013) | Joomla 3.1 (April 26, 2013) | MotoCMS 1.8 (May 22, 2012) |
| Programing language | PHP | PHP | PHP |
| Database | MySQL | MySQL | No |
| Hosting requirements | PHP 5.2.4 +, MySQL5.0+ | PHP 4.3.1 or 4.4.7 (recommended), MySQL 3.23 +, Apache 1.3 +, IIS 6, 7 (recommended) | PHP 5.2. (Zend Optimizer v3.3 ) or 5.3 (Zend Guard Loader v5.5 ) |
| License | Open Source | Open Source | Paid License |
| Templates available | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Templates package | Theme files only | Theme files only | Flash or HTML template files, MotoCMS engine |
| Drag and Drop layout | Yes | No | Yes |
| WYSIWYG editor | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Images editing | No | No | Yes |
| Undo command | No | No | Yes |
| Media gallery | Yes or Plugin | Yes or Plugin | Yes |
| Shopping Cart | Plugin | Add-on | Separate eCommerce widget |
| Mobile friendliness | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Search engine optimization | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Support | Forum, blog | Forum, blog | Forum, blog, live chat, tickets system, call backs |
| Site map | Plugin | Plugin | XML file (included) |
| Rebranding capability | No | No | Yes |
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Earlier our blog has reviewed the most user-friendly content management systems, so you can look through them to figure out the best CMS solution for your business.
If you have any remarks or comments then leave them in the comments field below. We hope you have something to say about CMS you use or would like to use.