Naer VR: Advanced Research and Usability Testing Project
CMS Design_ 8 Design Considerations for CMS Development.pptx
1. CMS Design: 8 Design
Considerations for CMS Development
2. CMSs allow content authors and editors to manage their content without
needing to involve developers. They offer ease of use, a shorter time to
market, as well as a number of extensions and add-ons that can help you
customize your website’s functionality to suit your needs. However, when
it comes to getting the most value out of this, an immaculate CMS design
is the key.
But designing a website built on a CMS requires a good deal of planning.
You need to understand the strengths and weaknesses of your CMS of
choice in order to build a website that works for you.
Following a few best CMS development services can help ensure that the
content structure and experience are well suited to your business’s unique
content and requirements.
3. 8 tips to design a CMS-friendly website
1. Research the features of your CMS Design
What features does your CMS offer? Are there any limitations you have to
consider? Your website design should be one that can be easily created within
your CMS. If your CMS design philosophy doesn’t allow you to easily add certain
design elements without a lot of custom coding, you may need to rethink your
design.
Learning about the features your CMS offers out of the box can help you
streamline your website development efforts.
Also consider what plugins and modules already exist for your CMS and how you
can use them in your website and design.
4.
5. 2. Design the pre-existing elements
Your CMS may already offer some pre-existing features such as
forms, buttons, and more, out of the box. While these will come
with some default styling, in order to use them on your website,
you’ll have to create brand-specific styling for them. This would
make them easy to integrate with the rest of your website CMS
design.
6. 3. Create reusable components
A great way to get the most value from your CMS design strategy is to
use modular design. Reusable components and patterns help maintain
a cohesive look across your website while also giving content editors
the flexibility they need to create different layouts.
Instead of creating whole pages at a time, create reusable sections.
These can be made up of blocks or components that can be used
independently or combined to create larger elements within your
custom cms solutions. For instance, basic components such as
headings, images, buttons, and forms can be combined to create larger
elements such as a CTA block or a slider.
7.
8. 4. Create responsive and flexible designs
Do think about scenarios where content may be displayed in a different form
than expected. For example, with structured content like telephone numbers
and addresses, you will need to plan for the eventuality that some content
may be missing (such as a street name in the address), or in a different
format (such as a country code with or without the plus sign).
You will also need to consider what happens when content is significantly
longer or shorter than expected. Headings may spill over from one to two or
three lines, and body content may run into multiple paragraphs, making some
page elements display very differently in your design. Do add instructions for
what to do in this scenario, e.g. extending the background in case of
additional content, or resizing the text to fit within a box.
9. 5. Create templates
Consistent design templates make it easy to onboard new
content authors and editors.
Create templates for each type of page used on your website.
Follow a logical visual hierarchy, keeping heading and image
sizes consistent across pages. A few standard types of pages
you can create templates for include the home page, contact
page, blog listing page, and blog detail page.
10.
11. Do consider if any templates can be reused for other pages —
minimize the number of unique designs to prevent confusion among
content editors. Also plan for any content that is to be added in the
future. For instance, your website may not have any published case
studies, but if you plan to add these in the future, you should design
the template for them.
While content editors might need some options to edit templates, try
to find the right balance between giving them the control they need
and minimizing the chance for errors by providing limited options.
12. 6. Create accessible designs
Accessibility isn’t just a good-to-have. In some countries, it’s now
mandated by law. Your website design should meet WCAG guidelines .
These include the following.
13. 7. Design for non-technical users
Consider your website design from a non-technical user’s perspective.
Will they be able to manage content, media and design elements
independently in case something needs to be changed or manually
applied? If not, you may have to rethink your design.
It can help to create standards and processes for image selection and
styling of text for the use of editors, authors, and administrators. But
on the whole, ensure that you design the website or application so that
even if users make mistakes, the presentation isn’t significantly
affected.
14. 8. Test with real content
Finally, test your application with real content. Make sure that the
website behaves as intended even in scenarios where there’s much
longer or shorter content. Also try adding random pieces of content
from other sources to suggest scenarios you may not have
considered before.
Also, if there is existing content in a legacy website or application,
the design should also be able to accommodate it.
15. Maximize ROI with the immaculate CMS design
CMS platforms offer a number of powerful features within an easy-
to-use user interface. With thorough planning, you can design your
website to take advantage of all the flexibility and modularity that
your web application development company offers.
A good design will ensure that content authors and editors are able
to easily perform their tasks without any confusion and errors,
enabling you to streamline operations and maximize the return on
investment from your website.
