Despite the apparent advancement of HTML-driven websites and
old-school methodology of designing Dreamweaver or NetObjects-based
websites, programming, designing and editorial preference has shifted
almost entirely to content management systems (CMS).
Since frameworks such as cascading style sheets (CSS), Java and other
rich PHP classes are designed for easier navigation and compliance with
language standards, content management systems have become the epitome
of all that is and is to come in the future of the Internet.
Unlike shopping for design software, choosing the appropriate content
management system with which to build feature-rich applications, is not
about picking the easiest program — it’s about choosing the best
program.
We now explore the seven tips for picking content management systems for design needs:
Scalable Architecture
For full support of futuristic marketing, developmental growth and
adherence to W3C standards, the architecture of the CMS framework needs
scalability without close-loop scripting sequences. Whether platforms
use Java or .Net frameworks to build content management systems is
secondary to the fact that scalability needs to have impending changes
in mind.
If CSS classes, plugin containers and other necessary implementations
change, the architecture must support these changes or face certain
demise. Our initial investigation has revealed that
Joomla should definitely be last on your list if architectural scalability is high on your list of needs.
The Top 5 which offer the most mountable architecture (in any order):
Open Source
The necessity for open source software or Web applications has become
critical from the programming perspective because one programmer can
simply piggyback off the coding of another. Simply look at the YUI
monstrosity that continuously adds CSS framework updates to reapply
toward content management systems, plugins and other cloud-based
necessities. If your CMS platform is closed, innovating closes with it —
it also makes the programmer’s job nightmarish because he or she will
have to strip the CSS and PHP apart to propagate the correct sequence of
calls, file complements and style sheets. Therefore, without deploying
an open-source content management system that is built by all, and works
cross-browser, you’ll have little room for growth when future
implementations are necessary.
Here are the Top 5 open source platforms currently on the market today (no particular order):
Mobility
Although currently speculation, it’s likely our future will be
reliant on complete mobility, even on the content management services
platform. With clear navigation, easy to scale front-end CSS templates
and properly-interwoven PHP, mobile content management will dominate the
blogosphere, business world and, therefore, will be an inevitable need
in both the entrepreneurial and programming sectors. With this in mind,
and the necessity to have easily accessible SQL scripts, we looked
closely at the most technically-sound content management systems for
mobile-friendly browsers that won’t snowball the end-user with errors:
- Radiant CMS — Built on ROR (Ruby on Rails) with logical CSS integration.
- WordPress — Already the leader in mobile content development of their open-source CMS.
- Contao
(formerly know as TYPOlight) — Integrates Ajax and PHP5, which makes
static pages and general blog layouts easier to manipulate.
- Frog — Similar to Radiant except uses solely PHP5, offering cleaner coding.
Security
Security on both front- and back-end portions of CMS sites is an
important programming feature. Code protection prevents hacks and
sandbox testing prevents publishing CSS that doesn’t fly with security
standards your clients want. To survive the CMS decision-making cut, we
disseminated the major content management systems and verified whether
they’ve updated, or planned program updates to enhance coding security
within CMS frameworks and database programming relevant to end-user
needs. Running test suites, updating patches and code reviewing are
instrumental in any CMS developmental stage or later enhancement.
Here are the picks of the litter when security is obligatory:
- WordPress
— although presently open source, programming contributors continually
make security updates to PHP code and offer easy-to-implement plugin
API’s to enhance SSL.
- Joomla — Continually updates program patches and potential coding loopholes to tighten security.
- DotNetNuke — A very large community of active developers assure that current security trends
remain free of security attrition.
- Orchard
— Microsoft gets its hands dirty in this New BSD License CMS which,
backed by a corporation built on secure platforms, should make this an
excellent choice for programmers.
- Umbraco —
Released in 2004, this relatively new CMS is written in C# which is
historically an expandable and secure programming script language.
Database Servers
Why would the authenticity of database servers be important when choosing a CMS? Simple:
MySQL and
Oracle
seem to be arm wrestling for speed, reliability and framework
compatibility — a fight that seems to favor MySQL considering Google,
YouTube, Yahoo and Facebook are all on-board with SQL, leaving many of
the non-conforming server-side scripts fighting for crumbs. Since the
big dogs rely on SQL, it will be shaping the future of our current
Internet as we know it. The decision of which database script will
connect your completed CMS to databases, tables and the like, will fall
under your choosing, although the top current CMS platforms are using
Linux or
Unix servers for SQL speed.
Packaged Size
When working with content management files, grid sheets, PHP scripts
and plugin containers, your final package needs to be small enough to
adhere to speed requirements of browsers, end-users and even your
clients. The final packaged size needs to be portable enough to install
quickly yet be equally powerful, meaning the code integrity needs to be
outstanding. These are the best final package CMS platforms guaranteed
to be smaller than competition platforms:
- Drupal
- WordPress
- Concrete5
- Joomla
- Orchard
Development Costs Versus Final Value
Although more compulsory for those who develop the actual platform,
keep in mind, programmers are vital in all phases of development, open
source additions and CSS template creation. Bear in mind, customers want
something for nothing. Your programming hours need to be considered,
however, because, obviously, you will not spend hours on framing plugins
or nifty CSS snippets to make $15,000 on your finished product, unless
extremely customized. Considering most CMS platforms are Commons
Licensed, these are perhaps the CMS platforms that offer easy and quick
scripting updates so both you and your potential clients can come out
winners:
- WordPress — Since many nifty themes can be
programmed to perform balancing acts, this CMS is the long-standing
champion of quick updates, integrations and CSS.
- Joomla — Packaged nicely and offers quick PHP, CSS and plugin integrations.
- Drupal — Building impressive websites quickly using gridded CSS sheets makes this CMS programming choice for database-savvy designers.
- DotNetNuke — ASP.Net programmers love this CMS
since the scripting is small, meaning the time necessary to update
front-end scripts is much quicker.
- Kentico —
A newer CMS built on ASP.Net framework and perhaps the newest CMS to
integrate quick coding scripts. DevNet gives this CMS a high rating.
Kentico has had an impressive 550 percent growth in three short years.
Summary
Choose your CMS based on the information above, although it would
appear the overall champion is WordPress. You should focus on mobility,
security and cost because the perfect culmination of the three from both
a programmer and customer standpoint will be key in the future.
Tim Wilson Post from:
SiteProNews