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Revision as of 10:46, 10 March 2007 by 81.231.7.217 (talk) (Removed two large paragraphs that were unrelated to the page.)(diff) ← Previous revision | Latest revision (diff) | Newer revision → (diff)A content management system (CMS) is a computer software system used to assist its users in the process of content management. CMS facilitates the organization, control, and publication of a large body of documents and other content, such as images and multimedia resources. A CMS often facilitates the collaborative creation of documents. A web content management system is a content management system with additional features to ease the tasks required to publish web content to web sites.
Web content management systems are often used for storing, controlling, versioning, and publishing industry-specific documentation such as news articles, operators' manuals, technical manuals, sales guides, and marketing brochures. A content management system may support the following features:
- Import and creation of documents and multimedia material
- Identification of all key users and their content management roles
- The ability to assign roles and responsibilities to different content categories or types.
- Definition of the content workflow tasks, often coupled with event messaging so that content managers are alerted to changes in content.
- The ability to track and manage multiple versions of a single instance of content.
- The ability to publish the content to a repository to support access to the content. Increasingly, the repository is an inherent part of the system, and incorporates enterprise search and retrieval.
- Some content management systems allow the textual aspect of content to be separated to some extent from formatting. For example the CMS may automatically set default colour, fonts, or layout.
Operation
A web site content management system often runs on the website's server. Most systems provide controlled access for various ranks of users such as administrators, copy editors, senior editors, and content creators. Access is usually via a web browser program, possibly combined with some use of FTP for uploading content.
Content creators submit their documents to the system. Copy Editors comment on, accept, or reject documents. Layout editors layout the site. The editor in chief is then responsible for publishing the work to the live site. The content management system controls and helps manage each step of this workflow, including the technical task of publishing the documents to one or more live web servers.
The content and all other information related to the site is usually stored in a server-based relational database system. The content management system typically keeps a record of previous website editions and in-progress editions.
The pages controlled and published through the content management system can then be seen by the visitors to the website.
In larger organizations these server based documents need to communicate with desktop applications and Open Document Management APIs perform the necessary "translations". They have made substantial cost and time savings to document management overall, and assist in smooth flow of documents through enterprises, applications and processes.
Lately CMS systems have been associated with CRM, Customer Relation Management or Constituent Relationship Management, software programs. Because of that some software companies are beginning to create software platforms that bundle CMS and CRM functions.
Types of CMS
- Module-based CMS
- Most tasks in a document's life-cycle are served by CMS modules. Common modules are document creation/editing, transforming and publishing.
- Document transformation language-based CMS
- Another approach to CMS building with use of open standards. XSLT-based CMS compile ready documents from XML data and XSLT-template. XML Sapiens-based CMS compile a document from the stream of ‘pure’ data, design template and functionality templates.
- Web-based CMS
- Another approach to CMS building uses databases such as PostgreSQL, MySQL or MS SQL, and scripting languages or tools such as Coldfusion, PHP, jsp or ASP to interact with the data to parse them into visual content. Data stored in a database is queried and compiled into html pages or other documents and transformed using cascading style sheets. These systems can include a number of other functions, such as discussion boards, blogs, or email newsletters.
See also
References
- ODMA advantages
External links
- Template:Dmoz
- Make the Right Choice: A Nonprofit's Guide to Content Management Systems from Common Knowledge
- Directories of available systems
- Open Source CMS Demo showcase for many content management systems.
- CMS Matrix Overview of (web) content management systems.
- CMS Watch Annotated lists of major enterprise and web content management systems.
- Contentmanager Detailed list of content management systems (attention, paying entries are featured, they're not featured because they are better!)
- Open Source Scripts Open Source Content Management Systems.
- PHPXref CMS page Library of cross referenced Open Source Content Management Systems written in PHP.
- Comparing static webpages with Content Management Systems
- Content Management 365 Portal of content management system vendors
- Useful and interesting articles about CMS