Selecting a CMS
There are many CMS options available, how do you choose which one is best for you? There are many, many options available, but there are some basic common factors you should be looking for when selecting a CMS. This article should give you some idea of what you need to consider when selecting the appropriate CMS for your needs.
Open Source vs. Commercial
This is probably one of the first decisions you will need to make. Open source software has taken the internet by a storm, with even the largest companies utilizing it as a key component of their business. There are many quality, high performance open source CMSs available for free. Keep in mind though, that there is more to the cost of such a system than just the cost of the software. You need to consider whether you will be able to support the open source solution yourself. If you have the necessary expertise to support an open source system, their low price and flexibility make them an ideal solution.
If you don’t think you can support and implement an open source CMS yourself, or have very specific needs, a commercial CMS may be right for you. There are many commercial CMS solutions available which all provide varying levels of support. Carefully check the vendor’s website, and see if they offer what you need.
Complexity
CMSs vary greatly in terms of complexity. They range from simple blogging systems such as Wordpress to everything but the kitchen sink systems such as Drupal. It is important to carefully identify your needs before selecting a system. If your needs are simple, and you select an overly complex system, you will waste time and resources trying to get it set up. If your needs are complex, and you choose a very simple system, you will spend to much time adding the extra capabilities you need that would have been built in to a more complex system. Finding this balance can be tricky, but taking the time to properly meet your needs is key to having a good experience.
Special Features/Specialization
If you have a very specific need, certain CMSs will fit those needs much better than others. For example, if you want to make a blog style site which contains costantly updated, sequential stories, something like Wordpress would be a very obvious choice. Other platforms can be modified to provide the same functionality, but it would be a waste of time. Alternatively, if your site is based completely on user driven, collaborative editing content, then a platform like MediaWiki might be ideal. If you have hard to meet, specialized needs, look around long and hard to find a quality CMS that already implements the features you’re looking for.
Performance
While pretty much any platform can run well if enough if enough resources are present, those with limited hosting plans and/or very high traffic should look at the performance record of a given CMS. Some are designed much more efficiently than others, so performance can vary widely. Some platform have efficient caching systems which help improve performance in many situations. Be sure to take this into account and find something that will provide a good, quick experience for you and your users.
Conclusions
There are many factors to consider when finding the right CMS for you, but the above are some absolute basic guidelines that must be met in order to get up and running with an appropriate system. Look carefully at the available options, time spent now making the right choice will surely save you much more time in the future when you have a well designed, efficient CMS driven website online.