CMS Tie-In

While the user sees the front-end of the website, the administrator or designer sees the backend. Simple websites are made using simple html, sometimes extending templates from programs such as dreamweaver or even includes with PHP. Having separated files for your design (the coding) and the area which will be updated (the content) makes it easier for future updates and even redesigns. This is where content management systems (CMS) come in.

A CMS is a tool that enables a variety of (centralized) technical and (de-centralised) non technical staff to create, edit, manage and finally publish (in a number of formats) a variety of content (such as text, graphics, video, documents etc), whilst being constrained by a centralised set of rules, process and workflows that ensure coherent, validated electronic content. http://www.contentmanager.eu.com/history.htm

Why a CMS?

In simple terms, a content management system allows you to update and manage all the pages on your website without going through unnecessary code. When done correctly, it will allow you to update your content without hiring a web designer to do it for you – since you don’t have to dig and edit large amounts of code. This saves you money in the long run and makes you in control of your website.

The CMS Programs Out There

There are many open-source CMS programs out there, to name a few:

• Wordpress
• Textpattern
• Drupal
• Joomla

Here, we are inclined to use textpattern for most of our projects simply because we are the most familiar with it, and can bend it to fit most projects. Depending on your needs, we may prefer to use another CMS.