Consider the blogger. He may not know much about programming.  He may not even understand codes.  But what he has is a website that features his online musings, favorites and whatever else he feels like posting.  And his website gets updated and visited frequently by an unlimited number of readers.

How does he do it?  Simple. Through Web Content Management.  His little helper – Content Management Systems (CMS).

CMS is quickly becoming a phenomenon in the IT industry.  With this handy tool, anyone – absolutely anyone – can put up a website and maintain it without having to bother about codes. 

With CMS, there is more consistency, flexibility and ease in keeping your site updated.

What is a Content Management System or CMS?

Perhaps the best definition of CMS is to explain the way it is used.  It is a tool that makes it easy for anyone – tech-ignorant or tech-savvy– to get the most out of their website.  And it’s not just for personal sites, but it also works equally well for corporate sites.

A CMS basically takes care of the technical side of website maintenance.  All a person has to do is go into the system and put in the new content in terms of words, pictures and other forms of information (i.e. videos, audios, etc.).  The system automatically loads the new content and everything else it affects – like the list of latest posts, archives, quick links and the search menu.  There is barely any new programming or coding involved. 

Different kinds of CMS?

Many people have appreciated the convenience of program-free or “idiot-friendly” site maintenance.  In its recent history, the CMS industry has been on a boom. Application developers have since come up with a wide variety of CMS software that are able to cater to many different types of requirements.

However, the CMS industry is still only at its infancy with new developments occurring all the time.  With the huge variety of websites online today, site owners are looking for enough variety in the right CMS for their individual needs.

This has given birth to the beginnings of a delineation of functions among systems.

There are CMS’s ideal for a wide variety of websites as well as blogs.  A lot of these are free, like WordPress.  The problem is: these blog-friendly CMS’s are not as robust as the commercially available systems.  So, if you do more than post on your website, you need more features.

There is also the likes of Mambo, and it’s “god-child” Joomla.  These tend to be rather technical, and have been known to confuse most people.  Some even say that a working knowledge of PHP scripting  is needed to be able to fully appreciate these.  Still, despite that, many have used Mambo and Joomla and claim to be satisfied.

There are many more systems out there, all presenting solutions to different problems. But before you get down to shopping around, you should be guided by your particular needs.  As you define your needs, application developers will develop more refined systems.  From the looks of it, CMS is only going to get better and more defined as we go into the future.