Choosing the right CMS - Basic You must know up front what you want then look for a tool that fits that need or at least can be customized to fit it without much hassle. Here are FIVE things to consider: 1. Determine what kind of site you are looking to have. Is it a portal, a blog or a static site for informational purposes? It is a project collaboration area or Is it one or a combination of all these things? This is the single most important step in deciding where to go next as it determines how large a playing field you'll have to deal with. 2. Now decide what features and functions you would like to use on the site. Do you need to present static or dynamic information? Will there be an events calendar, an image gallery or may be a poll or survey tool? Do you need a translation function? These are called "modules" or "plug-ins" and are typically add-ons to the core system (sometimes it is integrated as part of the base system) and can vary greatly from one system to the next. More established systems will have a lot of support which translates to a wide variety of modules and plug-ins, but on the other hand they may not have current support and modules may be incompatible with newer releases. Also it's important to note that just because a system supports a particular function, it's still important to see how it works and make sure that's what you expected. Different groups implement the same feature set in different ways and this is both a blessing and a curse. It helps to list all the things you need and use that as your shopping list to test against and experiment with. The key word here is experiment because that's the best way to understand how useful it may be. 3. Once you determine the base system and the modules to add it's time to decide on the presentation of your site. Most current systems utilize CSS (cascading style sheet) and templates that allow you to quickly update the look of your site. Some of the CMS even allows the registered user to pick and choose the "skin" or theme of your site. Sometimes this is referred to as "personalization." For example, you might be able to customize the "welcome" message when you login to the system to add your name as a greeting or change the color of the text or select the modules you would like to see when you login. All these features are handy and add an element of flexibility for both the user and you. 4. Content is king. Without content no matter how pretty a site looks, it's usefulness and utility will soon fade .No one is interested in visiting a site that doesn't have the information that you're looking for. The point is that information helps to keep your audience coming back. It is like candy for little kids, that's got to be a knowledge payload or your site will suffer a slow, spiraling death. 5. Last but not the least is on-going maintenance and renewal. When choosing a CMS think about how you'll be maintaining the system as it grows. What happens to the content when it grows old? Will it be archived and it be available online? Or will that even be necessary or desired? Will there be a way to restore the whole system to another area or even to a whole separate system if your server should crash? Different CMS handles these differently; some include an export function while others require a manual batch to be run periodically to capture the changes. This is a brief and simplified article for the first time CMS users. In case you need to develop a CMS for your Organization you can contact us for more information. We specialize in building CMS /ECM solutions for small and big organizations. Our development skills include integration with the latest technologies like RSS feeds, plug-ins etc. In case you need to outsource your CMS application development please let us know. We are a development company based in , we will help you in providing a solution. Our CMS Solutions include : - ColdFusion Content Management System, dotNet CMS (With Read More On Our Content Management Solution 
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