Chris Burton wrote:
Hi muggers
I have a query regarding CMS (content management system) for a web
site. I have only just heard about this from a web designer who says
it is very necessary for my quite simple web site, as Im wanting to
make my site more interesting and be able to update with more
information over time.
My question is how will I know if I need to have this, as it is
expensive and by the sounds of it ties me down to their hosting of my
site so I can use the CMS to update the site. The hosting is quite
expensive, relative to what I pay now. They are charging $360/year
just to host the site.
Could someone please give me some advice or online sites that I can
check out to help me make a decision. I am a complete novice but eager
to learn what I can.
I have dabbled in Golive 6, but at the moment have no spare time and
realise there is a lot more to making a good site than at a first glance.
Many thanks to everyone
As a software developer I can give you some comment about what you're
asking. I'll refrain from commenting on cost because I don't know your
circumstances. (For one organisation $10 is expensive, for another,
$3000 is a bargain.)
As you know, a web-site is a way to share information with people using
web-browsers. This information could be stored as single documents
inside folders on the hosting server. They run a piece of software,
called a web-server, that retrieves the requested document and returns
it to the visitor.
A document based web-site is simple to maintain until it hits around 20
pages. At that time you might find that you spend more time fixing links
and changing menus everywhere, rather than maintaining actual content.
A CMS is a tool to manage that process.
The CMS generates documents (from various sources) and sends them back
to the web-server which sends it back to the visitor. From the outside
nothing seems to have changed.
On the inside however, a whole lot of different things happen. Some CMS
software generates its content from a database, others do it from little
text files. The upshot is that the CMS software should deal with
navigation, organisation and permissions, and you as the web-master only
need to worry about content.
If you have HTML skills and a small site there is likely no need to
invest in a CMS, but if either of those is missing, then you need to ask
yourself, am I a web-developer, or not?
As some on this list have pointed out, a CMS can be free, or it can cost
money. As you've found out, the CMS being offered to you is charged by
way of hosting. Other constructs set up your CMS including x hours of
training and support with the hosting separate.
Some things to consider:
* If the relationship between you and your web-developer sours,
where is the content, who has control of it and do you have the
right to host your existing application somewhere else?
* If you're locked in, the process of getting your data out can be
very painful - I have dealt with this more than once.
* A CMS isn't a catch all tool, but it can solve a problem for many
people.
* Some users of CMS software never "get it" and continue to upload
complete HTML pages into their CMS, completely defeating the purpose.
Disclaimer: I am a web-developer, I sell my own CMS, ITemWeb, it runs on
several sites including the WA Bed & Breakfast and the World Solar
Challenge. I cannot comment on your personal environment without knowing
any details. I've left out a great many other considerations here, but
tried to give you some idea of what the scope of the question you're
asking entails.
Kind regards,
--
Onno Benschop
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