Agency Articles

A CMS is a very powerful and useful feature for a website to have and it does give the client a lot more control than a static site, but from our experiences in the web design industry clients have several misconceptions about how a CMS will work for them and this can sometimes lead to frustrations and disappointed expectations.

Most of our CMS clients approach us wanting a website that they can edit and change, but their ideas about how that works can be vague and undefined. They are unsure of how it works and will often envisage adding pages, editing navigation, moving images and text around and adding functionality.

What many businesses don’t realise is that a CMS is basically an electronic document management system and most of them won’t need a high level of functionality to have it work well for them. In fact sometimes simplicity is the key.

Here are some key questions we have prepared that you can ask your clients when they start talking CMS:

• What key information are you planning on updating?
• How often will the information be updated?
• Do you want to be able to change the layout and graphics of the site?
• Will you have a key administrator who will be responsible for the site?

Next we start to put down the parameters of a CMS for the client. Content is anything that can be ‘edited’ that includes text, numbers, pictures. Edited means that the information can be deleted, replaced or expanded.

The second thing we point out is the difference between content and structure. Structure, design and layout of the site are not content and should not normally be altered by a CMS.

If the client doesn’t have a key administrator the next thing we will usually recommend is that they appoint one so that they know who is updating the information and keeping the style guide consistent. In our experience having numerous staff all accessing the same system without restriction leads to a messy website very quickly.

If this is the client’s first website then try and start with a simple specification for them with an option of a phase two once they are used to entering their own content. Most clients get overwhelmed when they have to learn a new system with complex functionality but if they get introduced to the idea of editing and adding slowly they will develop an appetite for it and will be more likely to embrace it and return for further enhancements.

ExpressionEngine is the customizable Content Management System that we develop on and integrate and although it can be highly complex it can also suit very simple and basic functionality. So once you know what your clients needs are we would be happy to customize something to suit them and your design.