Website Owner's Manual

Chapter 8. Taking control

In this chapter

The pros and cons of a CMS

• The benefits of a CMS
• The drawbacks of a CMS
  • The cost of training
  • The effect on quality
  • The effect on functionality
  • The cost of redundancy and complexity
  • The cost of commitment

Establish your requirements

• Core functionality
• The editor
• Ability to manage assets
• Search
• Customization
• User interaction
• Roles and permissions
• Versioning
• Multiple-site support
• Multilingual support

Examine your options

• Using an off-the-shelf CMS vs. a custom-built CMS
• Choosing a type of CMS
  • Desktop applications
  • Partial CMSs
  • Blogs
  • Enterprise-level CMSs

Make your selection

• Licensing
• The development team
• Security
• Accessibility and code quality
• Documentation and training