Choosing the Right Content Management System

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CHOOSING THE RIGHT CONTENT MANAGEMENT SYSTEM

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RACHEL ANDREW @rachelandrew http://rachelandrew.co.uk http://edgeofmyseat.com http://grabaperch.com

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WHAT IS A CMS? (for the purposes of this presentation)

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A TOOL FOR CONTENT EDITING By non-technical users Via some kind of web-based admin

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YOUR CMS IS AN IMPORTANT PART OF YOUR SOLUTION

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ONE-SIZE DOES NOT FIT ALL.

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WHAT DOES THIS PROJECT NEED?

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HOSTING

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LANGUAGE PHP, .NET, Ruby, Python ...

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OTHER TECHNICAL REQUIREMENTS Working with existing software, user logins

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WHO WILL EDIT THIS?

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HOW MANY EDITORS? and do they need protecting from each other

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SKILLS Not just technical skills

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PREFERENCES What do they love? What do they hate? Find and ﬁx the pain points.

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THE PROJECT SPEC What requirements does this site have?

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SIMPLE PAGE-BASED An obvious hierarchical site map

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BLOG-CENTRIC Where a blog or blogs are the main feature

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COMPLEX CONTENT STORAGE REQUIREMENT A huge amount of content - not necessarily page- based

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CMS SECONDARY TO MAIN APPLICATION Used for editing bits of content in an app.

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OTHER FEATURES Galleries, news updates, e-commerce, calendars ... what else?

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VISITOR NUMBERS How busy do we expect this site to be?

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WHAT EDITING ENVIRONMENT DO YOU WANT TO PROVIDE?

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WHAT BEST SERVES YOUR DESIGN AND YOUR EDITORS?

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YOUR CLIENT IS (PROBABLY) NOT A COPYWRITER

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YOUR CMS SHOULD SUPPORT THE CONTENT STRATEGY

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YOUR CLIENT IS (PROBABLY) NOT A DESIGNER

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YOUR CMS SHOULD MAINTAIN THE DESIGN & TYPOGRAPHY

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DEFAULT TO THE SIMPLEST THING POSSIBLE

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USERS SHOULD NOT NEED TO UNDERSTAND THE DATABASE

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THE SOLUTION TO ONE PROBLEM IS NOT THE SOLUTION TO ALL.

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THE CURSE OF WYSIWYG

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YOUR CLIENT IS (PROBABLY) NOT A DESIGNER

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ckeditor

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Emoticons anyone?

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Comic Sans please

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BUT CLIENTS NEED TO BE ABLE TO STYLE THEIR CONTENT!

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DO THEY, REALLY?

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WYSIWYG EDITORS FOCUS ON HOW CONTENT LOOKS.

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WYSIWYG IS A FLAWED PREMISE

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WYSIWYG CREATES NON-REUSABLE DATA

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This looks like contact information

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But is it really?

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WYSIWYG MIXES CONTENT AND PRESENTATION

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WYSIWYG PROMOTES STYLE OVER CONTENT

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SO WHAT SHOULD WE DO?

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STRUCTURED CONTENT

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Contact information?

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Add a contact

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The Contact on a web page

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Contact mark-up

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SUPPORT THE CONTENT STRATEGY WITH STRUCTURED CONTENT

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MAINTAIN THE DESIGN - EDITORS ENTER CONTENT - NOT MARKUP

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STRUCTURED CONTENT removes the need for editors to think about how it looks.

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STRUCTURED CONTENT can promote the content strategy and offer help and advice in the form for novice copywriters

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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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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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SIMPLE FORMATTING

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MARKITUP http://markitup.jaysalvat.com/home/

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WYSIWYM What You See Is What You MEAN

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PREVIEW

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VIEW CHANGES IN CONTEXT

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“IN-CONTEXT” EDITING

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ONLY WORKS FOR VERY SIMPLE SITES

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PROMOTES THINKING ABOUT STYLE RATHER THAN CONTENT

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REQUIRES JAVASCRIPT AND MAY CONFLICT WITH SITE JAVASCRIPT

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USE WITH CAUTION http://allinthehead.com/retro/357/the-lure-of- on-page-editing

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BE UNASHAMED TO BE THE EXPERT

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BUT, WHAT IS THE RIGHT CMS FOR MY PROJECT?

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A CMS THAT DOES NOT FORCE YOU TO COMPROMISE

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A CMS THAT ENABLES EDITORS TO CONTINUE YOUR WORK.

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A CMS THAT PROMOTES EFFECTIVE USE OF CONTENT.

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A CMS THAT PREVENTS ACCIDENTAL DESTRUCTION.

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A CMS THAT DOES THINGS IN THE SIMPLEST WAY POSSIBLE.

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DEMAND MORE FROM YOUR CMS MAKERS

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NEVER SETTLE FOR ‘GOOD ENOUGH’

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HIGHLIGHT GOOD PRACTICE ...and ﬁle bugs and complain about outdated, crufty systems

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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/