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Choosing the Right Content Management System
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Rachel Andrew
November 29, 2011
Technology
3
160
Choosing the Right Content Management System
a presentation given at the Highland Fling Conference, July 2011
Rachel Andrew
November 29, 2011
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Transcript
CHOOSING THE RIGHT CONTENT MANAGEMENT SYSTEM
RACHEL ANDREW @rachelandrew http://rachelandrew.co.uk http://edgeofmyseat.com http://grabaperch.com
WHAT IS A CMS? (for the purposes of this presentation)
A TOOL FOR CONTENT EDITING By non-technical users Via some
kind of web-based admin
YOUR CMS IS AN IMPORTANT PART OF YOUR SOLUTION
ONE-SIZE DOES NOT FIT ALL.
WHAT DOES THIS PROJECT NEED?
HOSTING
LANGUAGE PHP, .NET, Ruby, Python ...
OTHER TECHNICAL REQUIREMENTS Working with existing software, user logins
WHO WILL EDIT THIS?
HOW MANY EDITORS? and do they need protecting from each
other
SKILLS Not just technical skills
PREFERENCES What do they love? What do they hate? Find
and fix the pain points.
THE PROJECT SPEC What requirements does this site have?
SIMPLE PAGE-BASED An obvious hierarchical site map
BLOG-CENTRIC Where a blog or blogs are the main feature
COMPLEX CONTENT STORAGE REQUIREMENT A huge amount of content -
not necessarily page- based
CMS SECONDARY TO MAIN APPLICATION Used for editing bits of
content in an app.
OTHER FEATURES Galleries, news updates, e-commerce, calendars ... what else?
VISITOR NUMBERS How busy do we expect this site to
be?
WHAT EDITING ENVIRONMENT DO YOU WANT TO PROVIDE?
WHAT BEST SERVES YOUR DESIGN AND YOUR EDITORS?
YOUR CLIENT IS (PROBABLY) NOT A COPYWRITER
YOUR CMS SHOULD SUPPORT THE CONTENT STRATEGY
YOUR CLIENT IS (PROBABLY) NOT A DESIGNER
YOUR CMS SHOULD MAINTAIN THE DESIGN & TYPOGRAPHY
DEFAULT TO THE SIMPLEST THING POSSIBLE
USERS SHOULD NOT NEED TO UNDERSTAND THE DATABASE
THE SOLUTION TO ONE PROBLEM IS NOT THE SOLUTION TO
ALL.
THE CURSE OF WYSIWYG
YOUR CLIENT IS (PROBABLY) NOT A DESIGNER
ckeditor
Emoticons anyone?
Comic Sans please
BUT CLIENTS NEED TO BE ABLE TO STYLE THEIR CONTENT!
DO THEY, REALLY?
WYSIWYG EDITORS FOCUS ON HOW CONTENT LOOKS.
WYSIWYG IS A FLAWED PREMISE
WYSIWYG CREATES NON-REUSABLE DATA
This looks like contact information
But is it really?
WYSIWYG MIXES CONTENT AND PRESENTATION
WYSIWYG PROMOTES STYLE OVER CONTENT
SO WHAT SHOULD WE DO?
STRUCTURED CONTENT
Contact information?
Add a contact
The Contact on a web page
Contact mark-up
SUPPORT THE CONTENT STRATEGY WITH STRUCTURED CONTENT
MAINTAIN THE DESIGN - EDITORS ENTER CONTENT - NOT MARKUP
STRUCTURED CONTENT removes the need for editors to think about
how it looks.
STRUCTURED CONTENT can promote the content strategy and offer help
and advice in the form for novice copywriters
STRUCTURED CONTENT allows you to store data in a way
that describes what it is - so it can be easily reused
STRUCTURED CONTENT prevents a mess of html ending up in
your database, making it easier to re-present that content elsewhere
SIMPLE FORMATTING
MARKITUP http://markitup.jaysalvat.com/home/
WYSIWYM What You See Is What You MEAN
PREVIEW
VIEW CHANGES IN CONTEXT
“IN-CONTEXT” EDITING
ONLY WORKS FOR VERY SIMPLE SITES
PROMOTES THINKING ABOUT STYLE RATHER THAN CONTENT
REQUIRES JAVASCRIPT AND MAY CONFLICT WITH SITE JAVASCRIPT
USE WITH CAUTION http://allinthehead.com/retro/357/the-lure-of- on-page-editing
BE UNASHAMED TO BE THE EXPERT
BUT, WHAT IS THE RIGHT CMS FOR MY PROJECT?
A CMS THAT DOES NOT FORCE YOU TO COMPROMISE
A CMS THAT ENABLES EDITORS TO CONTINUE YOUR WORK.
A CMS THAT PROMOTES EFFECTIVE USE OF CONTENT.
A CMS THAT PREVENTS ACCIDENTAL DESTRUCTION.
A CMS THAT DOES THINGS IN THE SIMPLEST WAY POSSIBLE.
DEMAND MORE FROM YOUR CMS MAKERS
NEVER SETTLE FOR ‘GOOD ENOUGH’
HIGHLIGHT GOOD PRACTICE ...and file bugs and complain about outdated,
crufty systems
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/