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A Web Content Management System, WCMS - now almost exclusively referred to as CMS, is a software system that provides website authoring, collaboration, and administration tools designed to allow users with little knowledge of web programming languages to create and manage website content with relative ease.
CMS has been available since the late 1990s, and before that, we had to create our HTML pages manually and upload to a web server. All the information was stored in static HTML pages, and the pictures were uploaded to the same server.
Systems like Macromedia Dreamweaver, Adobe PageMill and Microsoft FrontPage were considered revolutionary at the time, as they were the first HTML editors that were considered user friendly.
Why should I use a content management system? That is a question that I still get from potential clients. The truth is, a client almost needs to feel the pain of a static website before they can fully understand and appreciate the advantages of a CMS-driven solution. A lot of our customers started with template-based systems or used very basic administrative tools to maintain their websites. These usually worked well initially, when the sites were smaller and had less content. But, over time, these sites would grow organically, and as the amount of content increased, so too did the challenges of maintaining it. What used to take just one person to manage now takes many.
You can use a CMS both for internal communication (Intranet) or public web sites (Internet) and for a business-critical partner or customer areas (Extranet).
With a CMS in place, you can make your website easier to use, less expensive to maintain, and more secure.
In a forthcoming blog post, I will take up the pros and cons of open source vs proprietary CMS.
We often talk about the fact that decision-makers/users will soon be the digital natives who are used to a user interface that is similar to iPads. With the experience of when they need more features and services, they are just one click away from the App Store for downloading new software.
You should use a CMS because it will allow your organisation to have complete control over its website without the need to pay excessive and recurring development fees for almost daily, routine website updates.
Contact us at Zooma when you want to know more about how to choose the right CMS for your company.