WDI

Content Management Systems (CMS)

Content Management Systems (CMS) and Web Content Management Systems (Web CMS) are ‘hot topics’ at the moment. It seems that that they are being discussed in many different places on the Web (forums, blogs, articles, etc.). Since choosing a CMS and Web CMS system has become such an important decision these days, I thought it would be a good idea to review two of the more popular Content Management Systems, Drupal and Joomla! (the exclamation point is part of their name which frequently gets omitted).

As a foundation for this topic, I thought I would use Wikpedia’s definitions of CMS and Web CMS:

“A content management system (CMS) is a program used to create a framework for the content of a Web site. CMSes are deployed primarily for interactive use by a potentially large number of contributors. For example, the software for the website Wikipedia is based on a wiki, which is a particular type of content management system. As used in this article, Content Management means Web Content Management. Other related forms of content management are listed below.

The content managed includes computer files, image media, audio files, electronic documents and web content. The idea behind a CMS is to make these files available inter-office, as well as over the web. A CMS would most often be used as an archive as well. Many companies use a CMS to store files in a non-proprietary form. Companies use a CMS to share files with ease, as most systems use server-based software, even further broadening file availability. As shown below, many CMSs include a feature for Web Content, and some have a feature for a “workflow process”.

“Workflow” is the idea of moving an electronic document along for either approval, or for adding content. Some CMSs will easily facilitate this process with email notification, and automated routing. This is ideally a collaborative creation of documents. A CMS facilitates the organization, control, and publication of a large body of documents and other content, such as images and multimedia resources.”

And here’s their definition of Web CMS:

“Web Content Management Systems are often used for storing, controlling, versioning, and publishing industry-specific documentation such as news articles, operators’ manuals, technical manuals, sales guides, and marketing brochures. A web content management system may support the following features:

• Identification of all key users and their content management roles.
• The ability to assign roles and responsibilities to different content categories or types.
• Definition of the content work flow tasks, often coupled with event messaging so that content managers are alerted to changes in content.
• The ability to track and manage multiple versions of a single instance of content.
• The ability to publish the content to a repository to support access to the content. Increasingly, the repository is an inherent part of the system, and incorporates enterprise search and retrieval.
• Some content management systems allow the semantic layer of content to be separated to some extent from its layout. For example the CMS may automatically set the color, fonts, or emphasis of text.

While the two definitions don’t sound that different from each other, they both serve slightly different roles. Each has a slightly different primary focus, yet both can accomplish pretty much the same tasks. The question when trying to choose a system to use really comes down to what the primary role of the CMS will be for the company in question. Once that role has been established, choosing an appropriate CMS program is critical for you and your client. Two of the major players in this market are Drupal and Joomla!. Each appeal in different ways to different people. Again, here’s what Wikipedia has to say about each of them:

“Drupal is a free and open source modular framework and content management system (CMS) written in the programming language PHP. Drupal, like many modern CMSs, allows the system administrator to create and organize content, customize the presentation, automate administrative tasks, and manage site visitors and contributors. Although there is a sophisticated programming interface, most tasks can be accomplished with little or no programming. Drupal is sometimes described as a “web application framework,” as its capabilities extend from content management to enabling a wide range of services and transactions. Drupal runs in many environments, including Windows, Mac OS X, Linux, FreeBSD, OpenBSD, and any platform that supports either the Apache (version 1.3+), or IIS (version IIS5+) Web server and the PHP language (version 4.3.3+). Drupal requires a database such as MySQL or PostgreSQL to store content and settings.

Joomla! is a free, open source content management system for publishing content on the world wide web and intranets. The system includes features such as page caching to improve performance, RSS feeds, printable versions of pages, news flashes, blogs, polls, website searching, and language internationalization. Joomla is licensed under the GPL, and is the result of a fork of Mambo. The name Joomla is properly written with an exclamation mark as that is part of the name, but this is commonly omitted. It is written in the PHP programming language and uses the MySQL database by default.”

The final thing to consider is whether or not your customer really needs to have a CMS. If their website, for example, is only 10 pages and doesn’t need consistent updating, a CMS is probably not the best choice for them. However, if it is a larger website that needs consistent updating or new content added frequently, a CMS is probably a good idea for that customer.

Here’s a comment I found in a forum that I thought made a lot of sense and is directly related to the topic above:

“A year or so ago I realised that a CMS would be a great thing to offer my clients. Because they don’t have the technical knowledge to update their website, in my opinion it is essential that they have a way to update their website - whether this is via a CMS or a content maintenance service that my company provides. And in some situations, a CMS is just the best option.”

The general rule of thumb is that if a site needs a CMS, it should meet at least one of the following three reasons:

1. The site has content producers and managers who need to update and modify content on a regular basis.
2. Human audience — if the site is “social” in its aspect, then a management system needs to be in place for those people who use, consume, and potentially enhance the site’s content.
3. The machine or software audience — If the site needs to be ranked highly, then you need to have a system in place for those devices or applications that will consume/read machine readable forms of your content (RSS, etc.).

Generally, this is where designers start discussing the pros and cons of Joomla! and Drupal. A lot of designers rely heavily on referrals. Word of mouth recommendations and advice from other designers/developers who have had direct experience with one or more CMS programs carries a great deal of weight. In forming an opinion of what to use, many designers hit the forums and start asking questions. Here are some interesting viewpoints that I picked up from some forum discussions about Joomla! and Drupal.

“Drupal’s built in forum isn’t very good to start with, but look into the advanced forum mod. It isn’t as easy to setup as most Drupal mods, but you can make your board look a lot like a standard phpBB/vBulletin board, but without the additional risks that using those bring. Drupal is pretty well locked down, and is xHTML Strict compliant (most of the time, certain mods aren’t perfect). Drupal appears to have a steep learning curve, but it really isn’t. Just a few days of reading and you’ll feel very comfortable with Drupal. Joomla makes it easy to start without doing any reading, but it’s very difficult to really do anything that is in any way advanced. Drupal is the opposite. Your first few days are hard, but everything after that is smooth sailing.”

“Drupal is one I have found that is well commented out and has a nice user support forum.”

“Joomla is really nice and is easily configured. There are tons of Joomla templates available. If your a web designer, this saves you a but load of time and the client can update his own site.”

“Joomla has a ton of potential for managing large-scale sites, but I’ve begun to be frustrated with how far behind the curve it is when it comes to clean code, web standards, bloat, and so on.”

“What I particularly like about Drupal over Joomla is that you can design pretty much whatever you want and tie it into Drupal without any tables, which is simply not possible using Joomla. Another thing of real benefit is the SEO effort is massively  simplified by some of Drupal’s core concepts.”

“Joomla seems too big and bloated.”

These type of comments are pervasive in forum after forum. Judging from what I’ve read, I’d say that Drupal comes out a clear winner about Joomla!. Personally, I’ve never used either system, so I have no direct experience to rely upon. However, in cases like this, opinions of designers who have used them directly carries a lot of weight with me. The general consensus seems to be that Joomla! is buggy, very susceptible to hackers and bloated. Overall, it seems that between the two, Drupal is clearly the favorite.

I would like to encourage lots of feedback on this particular article. If you have direct experience with CMS, let us know your opinion on what you think works best. Keep in mind though that we featured these two because they are free and fairly popular. There are lots of other CMS programs out there that you can purchase. So, let me know what you like, dislike, use, avoid, enjoy when it comes to CMS!

Sources:

http://www.webmaster-talk.com/website-design-forum/122480-community-site-cms-and-forums.html
http://www.webmaster-talk.com/website-design-forum/123309-do-you-offer-cms-when-making.html
http://www.cmswire.com/
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Content_management_system
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Drupal
http://cssbeauty.com/skillshare/discussion/2244/
http://forum.insanelymac.com/index.php?showtopic=45404&st=0&p=324580&#entry324580

Popularity: 6%

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Content Management Systems Resource

While looking for good resources to write a lengthy article about CMS (Content Management Systems), I came across the CMSWire site. Their website has a ton of useful information and links about anything and everything related to CMS. If this is a service you are looking at providing as a web designer, I’d recommend that you spend some time perusing CMSWire’s site.

About CMSWire

CMSWire is a rapidly growing web magazine dedicated to all things content management and a few other things we considered related. The CMSWire.com title is published by Simpler Media Group, LLC, which was founded by Brice Dunwoodie.

The CMSWire audience consists of technologists, decision makers, vendors and analysts with a focus on Web and enterprise content management, enterprise blogging, document management, collaboration practices and related technologies.

The content management marketplace is rapidly consolidating, yet remains a dynamic and broad field of great innovation and one of interest to many disciplines. We at CMSWire do our best to keep you informed of the latest twists, turns and trends this industry presents.

Popularity: 3%

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Major Complaints about Corporate Websites

I found this article earlier today that discusses the top 10 complaints users have about corporate websites. Since have a website is incredibly important in this day and age, it’s probably a good idea to listen to what the end users have to say about certain aspects of a site’s usability. As a web designer, I think it’s unbelievably important to be able to listen to your client, address his/her needs and desires and at the same time make sure you create a site that is user friendly. This list is helpful in accomplishing the goal of making a user friendly web site.

While it specifically targets corporate websites, I think many of the issues brought to light apply across the spectrum of all websites. It’s a good read and just adds another tool to your web design toolkit!

Popularity: 4%

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Finding A Great Writer For Your Content

In a previous article, we discussed the need for good written content that works well with the design, form, and function of the website you created. But, as a designer, what’s the best way to find a good, qualified writer to produce the content you need? Do you know where to look? Do you know how to choose a qualified writer? Let’s discuss some ideas of how to secure the services of a good, qualified writer.

Content is king. Everyone agrees that content is what keeps a site visitor in place and coming back time after time. So, how do you find a writer to create the content that will “establish dominion over the domain” that you have designed? One of my first recommendations is to ask for referrals. Ask a fellow designer that you admire who he/she uses to write their content.  Another thing I recommend is to try and use someone locally. If you can find a writer locally that you can work well with, it will be advantageous to you in the long run. Having the ability to meet face to face if needed, easily, can be a big plus on larger, more detailed projects. It’s not a completely critical component when searching for a writer…just an added bonus if you can find one locally.

Where’s the best place to look? Beyond word of mouth referrals, one of the best places to search out good content writers is by using several good websites: Craigslist, Elance, Guru, and Online-Writing-Jobs.com. These three are at the top of my list for find good writers. There are a lot of freelance writers who use Craigslist to advertise their services (it’s a free ad for most of them, why not use it!).

While you’re looking for a writer, do you know what type of content you need to have written? Make sure you have defined exactly what you need. Make sure you know what makes up good web content. In a nutshell, it’s written content that does four things:

• Grabs the readers attention
• Builds their interest in the topic being discussed
• Creates a desire for the reader to engage
• Motivates the reader (call to action)

The content on any webpage (primarily the home page) only has seconds to implement those four components!

Once you have found a writer that is of interest to you, ask for samples of their writing. When reviewing their previous work, look at it with those four aspects in mind. It’s okay to ask for samples and links to articles or websites where their work can be viewed. If they don’t have a way for you to read their previous work and you want to give them a chance, ask them to write a sample article for you. BUT, make sure you pay them for it. It’s rude to ask someone to work for free. You wouldn’t design two or three web pages for free would you? Just ask them to write a sample article for you and offer to pay them a flat rate for it.

Make sure that the writer in question can deliver your desired content in the proper time frame too. Keep in mind that most freelance writers have multiple clients and other projects they are working on simultaneously. Generally speaking, the more time you allow a writer for a project, the better it will fit into your budget.

Outline what you want written and accomplished, be specific in your details, be clear with your deadline, and ask for a specific price. It’s also a wise idea to ask the writer to include at least one round of revision in their pricing too. This allows you to be able to modify and adjust the content once the writer has delivered it to you without incurring additional costs. Once your price is set and agreed to, it’s not uncommon for a new writer to ask for a 50% deposit. It’s a safety net for the writer since he/she hasn’t done work for you previously. If things go well and you start using the same writer over and over for multiple projects, this shouldn’t necessarily have to occur each time. But, for the first project, it’s not an unreasonable request.

Following these recommendations will set you on a good course for procuring the services of a good content writer. We’ll delve into this subject more over time in future articles. There are certain pitfalls and dangers that need to be avoided when using sites like Guru and Elance. We’ll discuss those as well as define in detail what makes up good web content. If you have other recommendations, as always, please let me know and we’ll discuss them!

Popularity: 5%

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Hot Cosmo Title Examples

It’s hard to come up with goot catchy titles or headlines when trying to put together a nice piece of content. From reading a lot of blogs online I see that many suggest using the headlines on the cover of the Cosmopolitan magazine as examples. Take the title they have and modify it to apply to your article. Well actually I guess you’re suppose to do this the other way, create a catchy title first and then write the article accordingly. Many cases however, don’t turn out this way. I, many times, already have the article and need to create the title afterwards, so it becomes a bit harder.

Today I went through a handfull of Cosmopolitan magazine covers and picked out these headlines that can be modified to fit your content. Just fill in the blank.

Popularity: 6%

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What Web Designers May Not Know About Links

A Successful Home Page is a Link Rich Page

Recently I read an article about the rise and success of link rich home pages over the past several years. After reading through it and processing the information, I thought it would be a good idea to highlight some of the ideas that were brought forth in that article. It’s especially useful for web designers because we are in the business of building successful websites for our clients. So, this article and the following discussion about it could really be classified as one of those ‘magic lanterns’ I referred to in an earlier article. I don’t think that David Ogilvy will mind if we adopt his term for classifying this useful information.

Mr. Spool, the author of the original article used Dove soap’s home page as a ‘link poor’ example. He then alluded to how well their site map was arranged so that visitors could “find their way” to the information they were seeking. In essence he was saying that Dove’s home page should be more like their site map page. We have previously emphasized over and over again the need for simplicity in a site’s form and function. While the suggestion of creating a link rich home page may seem to go against that concept, it doesn’t have to at all.

“Nobody starts their design with the objective, ‘We need our home page to be as complex as we can possibly make it.’ On the contrary, everybody wants to build simple designs. Yet, somewhere along the line, simplicity translated into ‘Provide as few links on the home page as possible.’”

This quote sums up the problem well. It also targets exactly what we need to do to make a site successful for the end users. This is another one of those cases where we need to make sure that our focus is on what is best for the site users. It’s a complex negotiation between pleasing the client you are designing the website for while at the same time ensuring that the end user has a website that will work well for them too.

News websites have long understood the need to provide multiple links on their home pages. The majority of news sites are loaded with links designed to deliver in-depth information to users. CNN, Fox and many major newspaper sites have hundreds of links displayed on their home page. Is it too many? Take a look at the sites listed below and check out their standings.

*The Bureau of Labor and Statistics website isn’t a news site. However, it is a good example of a home page that is comprised entirely of links. While this site is very narrow in its appeal, it is heavily used as you can see from its rankings.

Judging from the rankings shown above for these link rich sites, it’s a good choice to include many links on your homepage. However, my advice would be to take a look at the manner in which links are displayed on these sites. They are done tastefully. So essentially what I’m saying is that you can still maintain the simplistic design approach while at the same time creating a ‘link rich environment’ which will perform well for the end users of the website.

This is also good reference material for you to use when discussing site creation with a potential client. Please feel free to use the information in this article to point out the need to create a great looking, link rich home page on your client’s website. Hopefully this information will help them understand just how important it is for them to allow you to create a home page that will grab a user’s attention and provide them with a wealth of information at the same time in an easy to use, easy to navigate format.

If you have other examples of good, link rich home pages for other websites, please let me know. I’d like to take a look at them and possibly review them here in the blog.

What Web Designers May Not Know About Links by
Web Design Ideas Blog is licensed under a
Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 3.0 United States License.

Popularity: 4%

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Another Sweet Tool For A Web Designer - Instant Article Wizard

Website: Instant Article Wizard

Alright designers, check this out. I posted the ad on the right and thought this should get them to check it out but it looks like everyone’s ignoring it. And I don’t blame you, it is an ad after all, I do get commission for it but the reason I chose to promote this program is that it seriously, is an awesome tool. I want to tell you about it so more of you at least see what it does before you deside that it’s not for you. I know their website is not much to look at but it’s hiding within it self a priceless tool for every web designer or developer.

There are times when you have to write an article about something and you just don’t have the words, it’s just not flowing, nothing, like it dried up. Then this tool comes along and makes it all better. It is a program that will concoct an article for you. It will look and sound like an expert did the research and wrote it, has infinate subjects and topics and is easy to use.

Here is an example of what an article on Home Theater Systems will look like, and there are several more examples like this on their website:

Theater Systems Are No Longer the Sole Domain of the Audiopiles

To some, home theater is simply a big television, but a home theater is really a combination of video and audio components that achieves a theater-like experience. Many people view home theater systems as a luxury. However, home theater is not just for audiophiles anymore. There are many simple home theater systems that are easy to set up. Home Theater is quickly growing hobby and the results that you can achieve even with a modest budget are quite remarkable.

DVD players are a “must have” in any home theater system. You may prefer an all-in-one DVD home theater system. This way, you don’t have to unplug your main DVD player from your current home theater system. High definition DVD is growing in popularity, so find out whether it’s time to buy HD-DVD or whether you should wait for the next generation. All DVD players also play audio CDs, so you can have a single component do the work of two units.

Speakers are the heart and soul of any sound system. Any audiophile will admit that a good set of speakers is what makes or breaks a quality home theater setup. Good speakers don’t have to cost a bundle, though it is easy to spend a lot. Audio/Video Receiver Speakers give you the most flexibility and full range of sound for surround sound home theater and music, as well as stereo audio.

Speakers vary a great deal in performance, as well as price. Good speakers and the components for a home-theater system cost less than ever. Determine what you can spend for speakers and then search out the best possible home theater speaker collection that will fit your spending limits. Wireless surround speakers are now available as well and save the hassle of running all of the wires through your home theater room.

A simple home theater is easy to set up, making home theater systems not just for audiophiles anymore. The future of home theater is going to be simplicity. These systems are becoming increasingly popular and are a great alternative to a night at the cinema.

This is an amazing piece of software. I recommend it for everyone in the web design industry. It is a tool that will pay it self off many many times over and over.

See for your self: Instant Article Wizard

I hope you had a chance to check it out.

Popularity: 3%

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Container Boxes Design Ideas

The source site for this is: http://www.thequantumcenter.com

Look at these container boxes. This is beautiful! The faint gradient from blue to white in the first image and the thin border is the eye candy I am talking about. And look at the second image, the diagonal lines together with the border that fade out about the middle of the container.

Popularity: 2%

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Balanced website design idea

The source site for this is: http://www.cravattificio.com

This website is very simple and clean. The white background keeps it light and the header graphic balances out the simplicity with a clean, crisp set of photos. The layout of components on the page is elegant, the three-column body looks nice. And I still can't figure out where tehy set the font for the headings. They have five style sheets and none of them specify the H4 font. If you can find it, could you post it in the comments? I am really curious.

Popularity: 2%

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An effective use of shaddows brings this page out.

The source site for this is: http://www.hbcweb.com

Make sure you look at this page before you leave, this is one of the most pleasant looking layouts and usage of shaddows that I have seen.

Popularity: 2%

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