A. content management system (or CMS) is a system used to organize and facilitate collaborative content creation. Recently, the term has been associated with programs for managing the content of web sites. Web Content Management (WCM) is also used to refer to these programs.
General information and an example
CMSs allow end-users (typically authors) to create new content in the form of documents. These document may be entered as plain text or perhaps with markup to manage document layout and structure.
The system then uses rules to style the article, which separates the display from the content, which has a number of advantages when trying to get many articles to conform to a consistent "look and feel". The system then adds the articles to a larger collection for publishing.
The systems also often include some sort of concept of the workflow for the target users, which defines how the new content is to be routed around the system.
A good example of a CMS would be a system for managing a newspaper. In such a system the reporters type articles into the system, which stores them in a database. Along with the article the system stores attributes, including keywords, the date and time of filing, the reporter's name, etc. The system then uses these attributes to find out, given its workflow rules, who should proofread the article, approve it for publication, edit it, etc. Later the editors can choose which articles to include (or ignore) in an edition of the newspaper, which is then laid out and printed automatically.
Web content management systems
WCM systems span a wide variety of needs, from small systems with almost no workflow for small user-groups and such, to large database-based systems for running large, very active web sites such as those for a newspaper.
A WCM-tool normally includes functions for administering users and groups and editing the content. You can, for example, have one group for administrators, one group for content editors and one group for visitors, everyone. Besides editing the content, a WCM tool often has functions for version control, to keep track of the history of the different versions of an item. Several WCM systems utilize standardized protocols like ICE or WebDAV for managing the site content technically.
As with all software areas, the companies that develop and sell/distribute WCM tools put more and more functions into them to make them as attractive as possible. The functions might include modules that are typically used when building a web site (intranet, extranet or public internet) like search engine, discussion forums, Online Shop, Customer Relationship Management, etc. Today many of these features are also regarded as part of the WCM area, even if they do not exactly deal with managing content. it is a good example !!!
See also
- List of content management systems (manually updated) and Category:Content management systems (dynamic)
External links
- CMS Matrix Content Management Comparison Tool
- Open Source Content Management and another CMS Matrix
- CMS Watch
- Open Source CMS Test out PHP/MySQL based open source CMS solutions
- CMS-Québec to test several CMS in PHP
- Content Repository for Java™ technology API
- Content Management Weblog by Ragnar Heil
- CMS Glossary A Glossary (wiki) containing concepts specific to CMS solutions.
- CMS Review Feature Comparisons and Resources
- Xmeta Content Management Directory CMS and XML resources
- Choosing the Right CMS a guide to different kinds of CMS software.