So, you want to build a website?
When considering the development of a website, the content management system A tool for managing content, usually on a web site, that separates the design, interactivity, and content from one another to make it easier for content authors to provide content. (Kyrnin, n.d.) you select can have a profound influence on the end product itself, its capabilities, and of course, the time that will be required to maintain it.
But before we begin, in order to make the most of this site it might be helpful to explain the somewhat unusual anchoring styles we have used in order to allow for inline referencing while still keeping things as uncluttered as possible :
- The dotted underline represents a 'tooltip' This is a tooltip. Normally when we use these the complete reference (in APA Style) will appear in the right hand column of the page you are currently viewing. This tooltip does not have a reference. - used to provide a definition or a citation.
- If the anchor is a link to an external site, eg: Google, an arrow will appear to the right of the link, and the link will open in a new window.
- An internal link, eg: to the reference list, will look and behave just like the link anchors we all know and love.
Types of content management systems
Okay, there are obviously more than three, and we will see much overlap. But for this exercise we have decided to break down our CMS's into three basic types: The Wiki, The Blog, and Integrated or "complete" site solutions, . For each type of "CMS", we have selected one of the most-used open source solutions for review. These reviews (and the general information that precedes them) are done from the standpoint of the Information Architect.
Even if you are an experienced web designer, you will probably gain something from reading the general descriptions of CMS types and their particular advantages/disadvantages we have included here. But, if this is already getting too much to bear, you can cut to the chase and read the reviews of the three specific pieces of software chosen: Joomla, MediaWiki, and WordPress.
Still with us? Okay, let's begin.