Content Management Systems (or CMS’s) are becoming much more widely used amongst web designers, but do you know what they are?

Managing content - the easy way!

A CMS does exactly what it says on the tin - it is a system by which content can be managed.  These systems were originally developed for sites which had large numbers of contributors, to enable content to be quickly updated or added.

CMS systems are particularly beneficial where the user who will be updating the content has little or no knowledge of HTML, as publishing tools similar to those found in popular office packages can be integrated into the CMS, allowing the user to format their content using “point and click” rather than entering the HTML code.

Affordable content management systems

Initially these systems were custom designed by programmers and expert web developers for each client, which really limited their use to corporations with large budgets.

During 2002, one of the first major open source CMS’s was released by Mambo which heralded a new era in web design and vastly expanded the accesibility of these systems to regular web designers.

Releasing Mambo as “Open Source” meant that the source code (the inner workings) of the system were open to anyone who cared to look, which in turn meant that amongst many other benefits, any problems could be fixed by users and developers, effectively speeding up development and resolving problems very quickly and efficiently. This also meant that there was huge scope for developing “extensions” for the base system - other “add-ons” which enhanced the basic functions of the CMS.

In 2005, a fork from Mambo arose due to political differences within the team, which was called Joomla.

Although many other systems have been designed, Mambo and Joomla remain the most popular CMS due to their ease of use and vast potential for customisation and scalability.

Is it all about websites?

CMS systems reach far and wide, beyond website design.  Virya Technologies are experienced in implementing a range of solutions including:

• Project management
• Human resources
• Sales and customer relations
• Intranets
• Stock management integrated with shop front end & warehouse back end

Virya Technologies are experts in the provision of Content Management Systems, and also offer ongoing support contracts for peace of mind, ensuring your site is always up to date with the latest patches.  We provide site design, management troubleshooting and hosting services as well - we're the experts!