A content management system (CMS) is very useful for online business owners, programmers, web developers and website owners. It allows any person using a website to edit the website's content without using software or having programming knowledge. A CMS provides a great alternative to the traditional system where websites could only be built by web designers and a website owner had to pay every time he/she wanted to add or edit content in his/her website.
The capabilities of a content management system are numerous and highly beneficial. They include the following.
Content Creation
The front of a CMS has an authoring environment which is easy to use and its design is similar to that of MS Word. This authoring environment allows you to create new pages or update website content without having to know how to code HTML. With a CMS, you can also easily manage your website's structure. Many content management systems available allow users to restructure their sites by dragging and dropping content without breaking links.
Content Management
After creating a webpage, it is saved into a content management system's central repository. The repository stores all the content and other supporting details of a website. The central repository allows a CMS to provide some useful features to the user such as;
Making sure that every user can only transform the section of the website that he/she is responsible for.
Integrating web content with existing IT systems and information sources.
Tracking all the versions of a webpage and the time and date when a user changed information.
A content management system offers a wide range of workflow capabilities. When an author creates a page, it is sent to the manager for approval and then to the central web team which performs an editorial review. Finally, the page containing the content is sent to the legal team which signs it off before it is automatically published on the website. A CMS manages the page's status at each step and notifies the people concerned. In this manner, the workflow capabilities of a content management system make it possible for more authors tobe involved in a website's management. The CMS maintains strict control over the consistency, quality and accuracy of the information.
Publishing
After content gets into the repository, it can be published on the website or on the intranet. The publishing engines of content management systems are powerful and they allow users to apply the page layout and appearance of a website automatically as the content is published. The may also allow users to publish the content to many different websites. Since the appearance of every website is different; the CMS allows web developers and graphic designers to specify the appearance the system applies.
Presentation
A CMS also provides several features that help enhance the effectiveness and quality of a website. For example, a content management system can build your website's navigation for you by reading the structure from the content repository. With a CMS, you can also make your website interactive and dynamic and increase its impact in the process.
Conclusion
A CMS can significantly simplify the maintenance of websites and intranets. The market offers hundreds of CMSs and they all have different strengths and capabilities. When choosing a CMS, you should first consider your business needs and then evaluate the different content management systems available to see if they can meet those needs.
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