CMS - Content Management Systems

Differences between the CMS concepts

How do I choose the right CMS?

1. Define the purpose of use and the project goal. If not already in place, also develop a digital strategy for your company.
2. Define the technical framework conditions such as databases, scripting languages, and operating system.
3. Pay attention to scalability. A CMS that can grow with your requirements and content is extremely important.
4. Choose a CMS that is multi-channel capable so that you can create not only websites with little effort, but also distribute content across additional channels if necessary.
5. Consider choosing a CMS that is not limited to a single code base. If you are not restricted to just one programming language, you have more options when selecting developers.
6. Choose a CMS with an intuitive user interface. This reduces training effort and increases acceptance among editors.
7. Test the CMS. Add test content and have editors and end users check whether content creation, frontend output, or export via the interface works satisfactorily.
8. Pay attention to workflow management and review the setup of these workflow processes.
9. Pay attention to interfaces. If the CMS includes APIs or a REST API, third-party systems and microservices can be integrated.
10. When selecting a system, also check what level of support is available. The cheapest system is of no use if adequate support is not available.
11. Rely on a single CMS solution and avoid using different CMS solutions within one company.
12. Pay attention to the security of the system and check, for example, whether regular bug fixes, updates, etc. are provided.

Selection of questions for CMS providers and additional tips

• Ask about available plug-ins for, for example, DMS systems and web applications.
• Check whether the CMS offers settings for search engine optimisation. For example, you should be able to specify a unique meta description for each page.
• Please look out for Web 2.0 features such as comments, ratings, feedback, social media functions, etc., if these are required on your part.
• We recommend including a gallery feature for displaying images. Key features here include thumbnails, lightbox views and controlled slideshows.
• Ask about an integrated form generator.
• Don’t forget to consider user authorisation models. Where possible, you should be able to assign roles. Ask about configurable user roles for role allocation in workflow support, for example within content management systems for authors, editors and webmasters who are responsible for creating, approving, publishing or releasing content.
• If necessary, ask about integrating Google Maps. This will allow you to embed a map on a directions page and even link it to a route planner.
• You should also look into options for migrating existing editorial content. Background: Not every CMS requires a database. Furthermore, not all CMSs with database integration have the same structures or use the same database types. Even within a single CMS, updates can result in changes to the field structure.
• Ask about options for image research or sourcing. Not every company has sufficient image material available for a website. When inserting photos into a website, copyright and usage rights must be taken into account. Find out, for example, whether there is an image archive that you can use.
• Ask about options for integrating database applications.
• Be sure to ask about options for exporting and importing data.
• Check whether there are options for automatic content aggregation. Examples include: grouping into categories, tracking changes over time and newly created content, machine-readable output of content for feeds such as Atom, RSS and microformats, APIs for integration with other services (e.g. as JSON), content that may be important or of interest to readers, and print versions.
• Please ask whether metadata such as version number, publication date, author’s name, table of contents details, etc. can be maintained.
• Ask about built-in search functions and try out the full-text search.
• Let us explain the integrated content lifecycle management features.
• Support for markup languages such as Markdown.
• Ways to identify and resolve error pages, e.g. 404 error pages. By reviewing a list of 404 errors that have occurred, potential website errors can be identified.
• Check whether the CMS software generates valid HTML code. This is important in terms of how the website is displayed in different browsers.
• Support for all common scripting languages such as PHP, Ruby, Perl, Python and JavaScript.
• Database support for, for example, MySQL, MS SQL and Oracle.
• Please also ask about any available style sheets or templates for the front-end layout.
• Automatic generation of the site navigation. If further pages or sections are added, they should appear automatically in the site navigation.
• Make sure that the CMS software receives security updates and ask whether these are easy to install.
• Ask whether it is possible to extend the CMS with your own functions, plugins or custom code.