CMS are web-based applications that enable users to manage and serve dynamic content to visitors. This means that customized information and even layouts can be served to individuals. In contrast to this, static websites present fixed formats and content.
Since they are web applications, CMS often remove much of the tedious work that users need to put into to create a website. Instead of requiring them to hand code every single aspect, that portion has already been taken care of.
What users need to focus on instead are design and content.
WCMS vs CMS vs EMS
These three acronyms seem closely related and in a sense, they are. To understand the differences, let’s look at each of them and what they do:
- CMS is the standard content management system which we’ve outlined above. They are built to allow users the easy handling of content, including both text and multimedia. Most consumer level content sites are built using CMS such as WordPress or Drupal.
- ECMS is the big brother of CMS and is an extended version. The ‘E’ in ECMS stands for Enterprise – meaning it’s intended for more comprehensive business use. Part of this lies in the fact that ECMS can integrate business tools and strategy as part of a more cohesive concept.
- WCMS is a more streamlined version of ECMS but in many cases, the distinction is almost narrow to the point of being non-existent. Rather than benign a total business focused concept, WCMS places greater focus on the web content side of things.
How Does a CMS Work?
CMS are web applications, meaning they require what most others of their kind do. They typically require an environment commonly referred to as the ‘Stack’ – meaning a combination of Operating System (OS), web server software, database, and appropriate script support.
One example of a common stack is the LAMP stack, meaning Linux-Apache-MySQL-PHP. Of course, stacks can vary and the exact one you’ll need will depend on which CMS you choose to deploy.
When a CMS is sent a request, it then decides what that request needs. From there, it works with a database to extract the necessary information before rendering it and presenting the visitor with the version of the content that was asked for. This is why CMS are considered as dynamic systems.
Enterprise-level CMS | Everything You Need to Know
Consumer grade CMS like WordPress can be incredibly powerful on their own. However Enterprise-Level CMS are designed from the ground up to be complete business solutions. This means not only having pre-built business features, but the ability to follow a complete business strategy.
While this might not sound like much, some Enterprise-level CMS features might surprise the average user.
For example:
- Intranet Integration – Being built for a combined workforce, these CMS are able to offer workplace unification features. They often support collaboration between various departments and can work with internal networks.
- Top-notch Security – With CMS, users add on features with plugins. The problem with this is that the more plugins you use, the higher a security risk profile you gain. Enterprise-level CMS eliminates this by having everything built-in natively.
- Increased Performance – Although CMS aren’t known for being the most optimized ways of delivering content, ECMS systems are built for performance. They often are the best way to deliver content effectively on multiple channels and platforms – at the same time.
Must HAVE CMS Features
- User-friendly Content Editor – The content editor is a core part of any CMS and needs to be not just powerful and feature-packed, but also as usable as possible. This means a heavy reliance on WYSIWYG concepts and as nice a presentation as can be gotten.
- Content Staging – One of the strong points of a CMS is the ability to make modification on the fly. However, for high volume sites this might not be the best way to do it. That’s where content staging comes in. You can make changes and view them first, before rolling them out to your live site. SEO Features – With everyone becoming an SEO expert today, having at least some level of SEO customizability is a good thing for CMS to have. In fact, it’s practically indispensable, at least for basic features like choice of URL presentation.
- Theme Handling and Customizability – Dynamism means the ability to handle changes, and that’s what themes are all about. Beyond that though, it also means the capability of integration a variety of capability though those themes, such as mobile-friendliness and responsiveness.
- Social Integration – Part of having great content means the willingness to market it to extend your reach. Social sharing can be a big part of that and having those features built into your CMS is a great thing to have nowadays.
- Security – Having security loopholes is a possibility with any CMS that’s packed with features and extendability. However, a good CMS should also offer users the capability to close certain potential security loopholes once customizations are done – such as code locking and the like.
- Vibrant Ecosystem – Opting for a popular CMS can help greatly in this area. The more popular a CMS is, the more likely it will be that an enthusiastic community not only uses it, but builds additional tools to support it, like the WordPress plugin system.
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