Hi Onno and others who replied
Thank you all for the comments and advice regarding CMs, they certainly
enlighted me about CMS and web design in general. Onno I really
appreciated your low-level description on how everything fits in too.
Thankyou. I didnt realise there were so many CMS programs ( some free)
out there. Im not a web-developer but am interested in being involved
with its design and change.
I actually forgot to put in my web address for those who know something
about web design etc and who want to have a look and comment please do.
(I do research work on whales in WA.)
www.whaleswa.com.au
I had the design done by a graphics artist last year (logos, cards,
brochures etc) and it was just a basic site. Im now looking at making
it more functional so that I can put up information and update it
regularly with research papers, projects and details of species in WA
waters so that others can make use of it.
kind regards and many thanks to everyone.
chris
On 06/09/2005, at 7:48 AM, Onno Benschop wrote:
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
Connected via Optus B3 at S34°45'36.5" - E139°00'08.7" (Mount
Pleasant, SA)
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