This document discusses key considerations for choosing the right content management system (CMS). It emphasizes that a one-size-fits-all approach does not work and that the CMS should support the needs of the project, including technical requirements, editor skills, and desired editing environment. The document also advocates for structured content and simple formatting over rich WYSIWYG editors to better support the content strategy.

1. CHOOSING THE RIGHT
CONTENT
MANAGEMENT SYSTEM
Friday, 8 July 2011

2. RACHEL ANDREW
@rachelandrew
http://rachelandrew.co.uk
http://edgeofmyseat.com
http://grabaperch.com
Friday, 8 July 2011

3. WHAT IS A CMS?
(for the purposes of this presentation)
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4. A TOOL FOR CONTENT
EDITING
By non-technical users
Via some kind of web-based admin
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5. YOUR CMS IS AN
IMPORTANT PART OF
YOUR SOLUTION
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6. ONE-SIZE DOES NOT
FIT ALL.
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7. WHAT DOES THIS
PROJECT NEED?
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8. HOSTING
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9. LANGUAGE
PHP, .NET, Ruby, Python ...
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10. OTHER TECHNICAL
REQUIREMENTS
Working with existing software, user logins
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11. WHO WILL EDIT THIS?
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12. HOW MANY EDITORS?
and do they need protecting from each other
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13. SKILLS
Not just technical skills
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14. PREFERENCES
What do they love? What do they hate? Find and
fix the pain points.
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15. THE PROJECT SPEC
What requirements does this site have?
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16. SIMPLE PAGE-BASED
An obvious hierarchical site map
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17. BLOG-CENTRIC
Where a blog or blogs are the main feature
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18. COMPLEX CONTENT
STORAGE REQUIREMENT
A huge amount of content - not necessarily page-
based
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19. CMS SECONDARY TO
MAIN APPLICATION
Used for editing bits of content in an app.
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20. OTHER FEATURES
Galleries, news updates, e-commerce, calendars ...
what else?
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21. VISITOR NUMBERS
How busy do we expect this site to be?
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22. WHAT EDITING
ENVIRONMENT DO YOU
WANT TO PROVIDE?
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23. WHAT BEST SERVES
YOUR DESIGN AND
YOUR EDITORS?
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24. YOUR CLIENT IS
(PROBABLY) NOT A
COPYWRITER
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25. YOUR CMS SHOULD
SUPPORT THE
CONTENT STRATEGY
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26. YOUR CLIENT IS
(PROBABLY) NOT A
DESIGNER
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27. YOUR CMS SHOULD
MAINTAIN THE
DESIGN & TYPOGRAPHY
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28. DEFAULT TO THE
SIMPLEST THING
POSSIBLE
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29. USERS SHOULD NOT
NEED TO UNDERSTAND
THE DATABASE
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30. THE SOLUTION TO ONE
PROBLEM IS NOT THE
SOLUTION TO ALL.
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31. THE CURSE OF
WYSIWYG
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32. YOUR CLIENT IS
(PROBABLY) NOT A
DESIGNER
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33. ckeditor
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34. Emoticons anyone?
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35. Comic Sans please
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36. BUT CLIENTS NEED TO
BE ABLE TO STYLE THEIR
CONTENT!
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37. DO THEY, REALLY?
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38. WYSIWYG EDITORS
FOCUS ON HOW
CONTENT LOOKS.
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39. WYSIWYG IS A FLAWED
PREMISE
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40. WYSIWYG CREATES
NON-REUSABLE DATA
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41. This looks like contact information
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42. But is it really?
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43. WYSIWYG MIXES
CONTENT AND
PRESENTATION
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44. WYSIWYG PROMOTES
STYLE OVER
CONTENT
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45. SO WHAT SHOULD WE
DO?
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46. STRUCTURED CONTENT
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47. Contact information?
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48. Add a contact
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49. The Contact on a web page
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50. Contact mark-up
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51. SUPPORT THE CONTENT
STRATEGY WITH
STRUCTURED CONTENT
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52. MAINTAIN THE DESIGN -
EDITORS ENTER
CONTENT - NOT MARKUP
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53. STRUCTURED CONTENT
removes the need for editors to think about how it
looks.
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54. STRUCTURED CONTENT
can promote the content strategy and offer help
and advice in the form for novice copywriters
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55. STRUCTURED CONTENT
allows you to store data in a way that describes
what it is - so it can be easily reused
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56. STRUCTURED CONTENT
prevents a mess of html ending up in your
database, making it easier to re-present that
content elsewhere
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57. SIMPLE FORMATTING
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58. MARKITUP
http://markitup.jaysalvat.com/home/
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59. WYSIWYM
What You See Is What You MEAN
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60. PREVIEW
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61. VIEW CHANGES IN
CONTEXT
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62. “IN-CONTEXT” EDITING
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63. ONLY WORKS FOR VERY
SIMPLE SITES
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64. PROMOTES THINKING
ABOUT STYLE RATHER
THAN CONTENT
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65. REQUIRES JAVASCRIPT
AND MAY CONFLICT
WITH SITE JAVASCRIPT
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66. USE WITH CAUTION
http://allinthehead.com/retro/357/the-lure-of-
on-page-editing
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67. BE UNASHAMED TO BE
THE EXPERT
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68. BUT, WHAT IS THE RIGHT
CMS FOR MY PROJECT?
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69. A CMS THAT DOES NOT
FORCE YOU TO
COMPROMISE
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70. A CMS THAT ENABLES
EDITORS TO CONTINUE
YOUR WORK.
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71. A CMS THAT PROMOTES
EFFECTIVE USE OF
CONTENT.
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72. A CMS THAT PREVENTS
ACCIDENTAL
DESTRUCTION.
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73. A CMS THAT DOES
THINGS IN THE SIMPLEST
WAY POSSIBLE.
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74. DEMAND MORE FROM
YOUR CMS MAKERS
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75. NEVER SETTLE FOR
‘GOOD ENOUGH’
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76. HIGHLIGHT GOOD
PRACTICE
...and file bugs and complain about outdated,
crufty systems
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77. THANK YOU
@rachelandrew
Photos:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/ongline/3131142818/
http://www.flickr.com/photos/ongline/3131143218/
http://www.flickr.com/photos/ongline/3131143024/
http://www.flickr.com/photos/ongline/3131142976/
Friday, 8 July 2011