Website & Blogs that use LightCMS

LIGHTCMS
OVERVIEW
FEATURES
INFORMATION ARCHITECTURE
EVALUATION

LIGHTCMS

http://www.lightcms.com/

OVERVIEW

LightCMS is a hosted content management system offering a range of easy to use content management tools to enhance the information architecture of different web sources. LightCMS handles the technical side of content management which consists of hosting, installation, upgrades, extensions and expansion, troubleshooting and optimization.

FEATURES

Listed below are some of LightCMS core features:

Automatically built sitemap and navigation menus when pages are created.
Simple control and editing of text, images and files
More advanced HTML access for more control and editing features
Form building that allows quick adding of surverys, forms, registrations and applications
Search engine friendly for clean code, 301 redirects, Google Analytics, meta tag editing and site map tools to name a few.
Continual upgrades
File management
Cross browser compatibility

INFORMATION ARCHITECTURE

LightCMS is an effective source for Information Architects in the provision of tools that ensure an organised web environment, as are both Drupal and moveable type. LightCMS doesn't provide as much or as extensive tools and modules as Drupal does, taking away the flexibility that is beneficial to the Information Architecture of a site. LightCMS has been built to support a range of search engines and sitemaps that work as an advantage when one of the main Architectural steps is to have adequte navigation and search functionality; along with Labeling and organisation.

LABELING

LightCMS labeling is essentially easy to create and is done by simple editing in page settings. The basic free download option does not much room for flexibility in relation to labeling, however the paid versionis more comprehensive and structures labeling more thoroughly through HTML.

ORGANISATION

For easy navigation organisation is one of the most important parts of Information Architecture. LightCMS is a simple easy website tool that requires little effort in the organisation structure of the site. Static and dynamic content is organised and edited as needed using a template and although there is some restriction on placement because of set paramiters the user is required to work within. Creating hierarchies is more easily done with the paid option of HTML.

SEARCHING

LightCMS (2011,para.1) promote heavily their search engine friendly environment and believe that visibility is achieved through search engine optimization. LightCMS tools automatically make available and set up user friendly sitemaps, Keyword-rich URLS, XML sitemaps and Top-tier could hosting. Customisation is possible if the automatic version for searching is not used. This is where LightCMS show a lot of flexibility for what can play a cruical role to the success of a website, if customised effectively.

NAVIGATION

Given that Lightcms provides effective search engine tools, has farily simplistic organisation it can be considered that navigation is optimal. The navigation tools are most evident in the back end when trying to set up the website. LightCMS do not have a seperate navigational tool but set up of the website is step by step guidance which gives a familiarity with how to navigate around the site. Navigation for the user of the site however depends on how well organised the content becomes.

EVALUATION

On the surface LightCMS appears to be simple, basic perhaps and has a secretive feel about it until signing up to create a blog, website or other websource. Being a hosted service there is always going to be content that is not available until the sign up occurs. The most evident frustration with LightCMS was not with the tool but with the site promoting the tool which lacked a search function. There was little room to move to find out about the Information Architectural tool except through the video demonstrations and an overview, this meant having to scan through everything before finding the information required before signing up, a tiresome task.

On a more positive note, a feature that is user friendly for an Information Architect is the settings that are managed on a page to page basis. This allows for differences on pages without an excess of coding to reach the desired effect. LightCMS is Information Architecture friendly, particularly due to the optimised searching options within the tool, however the lack of flexibility that Drupal advocates puts limitations on what the infromation architect can achieve.