A website content management system is used to publish a wide range of content. These can be simple pages, complex pages dynamic information sourced from databases, training materials, online manuals, and general business documents. The websites can range from large ecommerce sites to personal blogs, from school lessons to corporate sites. There can be thousands of pages with extensive linking between pages.
The very first thing you need to do in selecting a website content management system is to ask yourself about your future goals and potential needs. Obviously there can be no single best list of requirements which can cover everybody’s future needs and potential goals. Every organization or person is going to have unique requirements.
A website content management system goes through stages of development. It spans from the initial content creation to the final end user delivery. To simplify the process, stages of the life cycle can be categorized into groups: a) Content creation; b) Content management; c) Publishing; d) Presentation; and e) Contract & business.
An author must require content creation functionalities to generate materials on websites. A CMS must be easy to create and maintain in order to be successful. Content management is the foundation of this system. It is generally made up of a central repository and supported by various tools for manipulation and management. Key factors for content management are version control & archiving, workflow, security, integration with external systems and reporting.
The publishing engine takes the content stored in the repository, and generates the final pages. Key requirements include stylesheets and page templates. It may be required to support multiple formats such as html, print, pdf, wap, etc. Personalization and usage statistics are going to be needed on large sites.
An important element of a web page includes the appearance of the subject matter. This greatly influences the overall design and look of the web page. Several particular standards appeal to users and the presentation of the web page must adhere to the users’ expectations. The most important requirements include usability, speed, convenience, cross-browser support, metadata, and navigation.
Contract and business is the final requirement. It covers project management and business procedures when the system is executed by a third party or vendor. When the system is turned over to another party, issue such as the use of cms, required operation and maintenance skills, documentation, hardware/software or database resource requirements, cost, scalability etc. will need to be addressed.
A website content management system is often crucial to the popularity of the website that it helps creates. Millions of dollars may depend on the website in the case of complex enterprise system. Therefore, it is imperative that the website content management system meets the neccessay needs of the website. Addressing the goals and necessities remains the most important task, and all persons involved should perform this job beforehand.
- Robert Taylor

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