Often you hear web design or hosting companies talk about their CMS.  So what is it?

CMS stands for a Content Management System.  The intent of a CMS is to allow you to update your website without needing any technical or programming skills.   Why is this important?   Well, in years gone by, companies employed a web design firm to complete the design of their website and put it out on the internet.   The biggest problem was when you needed to make a change, put a new page on the site, update a product or even take down a piece of information.  You couldn't do it yourself!  You needed to go back to your web designer to get them to make the change... and they often charged you for it!

A content management system, in its most basic sense, allows you to have a login and a password to your website, click a page and start editing in your browser like you would any Word document or Excel spreadsheet.   You can make changes safely, without disrupting the design of your site and you don't need to know anything technical.

Now, beware, not all CMS's are created equal.  Many small design shops use either their own developed CMS or an open source (I explain open source later) tool to provide this functionality. Before selecting a Web Design firm, ask to see their CMS first.  Get a login to a demo copy of it... how intuitive is it?  Can you easily find your way around?   Is it something they are going to show you when you pay the bill but in 6 weeks time you will forget everything they showed you and be completely lost.

A good CMS is critical to your websites success.   You need to be able to make changes quickly and often to keep your site fresh.

What CMS do we use?

At Feet Up Online, we use Drupal (http://www.drupal.org).  It is open source (read: free) which makes it a very low cost entry point for many of our customers.   We are not 100% happy with it though... it does a great job, but doesn't come without its quirks.

Joomla (http://www.joomla.org) is an alternative open source platform which is equally as good as Drupal, but there exists religous battles between Drupal and Joomla.   Holden vs. Ford anyone?

We are constantly on the lookout for new tools and improved platforms.   We like two new emerging platforms but are still testing the intracies of how they will work for our customers.

If you have questions about what CMS you should be using, drop us a line.  Our advice is free.