A Content Management System, abbreviated to CMS, is server side software that allows clients to manage and edit most aspects of their websites content online. This editing takes place using just your website browser, and occurs in real-time. The CMS’s we use are Open Source, which means that they are widely used, with lots of plug-ins available.
What are the downsides of having my website running on a CMS?
The main downside is that CMS’s need regularly updating. Updating is required to keep the CMS as secure as possible, and minimise the website getting hacked. This is an additional cost, as updates take time, and often templates and plugins also need updating. However the good thing about updates, is that they often include new features.
Should I get a CMS Website, or a Static Website designed?
This largely comes down to how often you plan on updating your website. If you only plan on updating it once a year, and it is a simple brochure website, and you want to leave the updating to the professionals, then a static website maybe all you need. However if you plan on updating the content regularly, as well as doing other things through the website, such as blogging, then a Content Management system maybe you best choice. The ongoing maintenance costs for updating a CMS website, are higher than those for a static website. As static websites have no backend, there is a very low risk of them being able to be hacked, so they can sit on the server for years without any ongoing maintenance.
Why should I use Design Lounge to build my CMS Website?
One of the advantages of using us to design your CMS website, is that we will usually only use Open Source CMS’s. This excludes SaaS (software as a service) websites, which must run on the proprietary system from which they are supported from. Many other web design companies will instead use proprietary CMS systems or customised open source CMS systems, which lock their customers into using their systems and hosting. This means that their customers may not be able to move their website to another provider if they wanted to at a later date, without also losing the website. Instead they may have to get another web design company to set up a new website for them. Many of these proprietary systems may simply customise an open source CMS, which the web design company has re-badged with their own branding. However they may claim it is a proprietary system due to the customisations they have made to it, and they won’t allow to be transferred to another provider. Or if they do allow it to be transferred, they may charge you a large fee for the software, before they will release the website to be moved.
