Why use a CMS

[charlie]

this'll be a very brief question to probably more complex answer - can you tell me why i would use a CMS?

i understand that you can rapidly build a website and add content / features that might be more difficult to implement without the framework.

From my point though i see the CMS system as a simple user form with a selection of text boxes and options to enter content and enable / disable components.
Basically I'm try to measure what advantage I would gain by using one and not creating the forms / DB and dynamic pages myself - lets assume i have the skills

if i was attempting to build more than a few sites, wouldnt creating my own system be as plausable as using someone elses?

any thoughts appreciated.
thanks

 

[aquanuke]

Personally I would avoid CMS by their nature of being open source leaves them open to security issues. Best just to build your own.

 

[charlie]

Personally I would avoid CMS by their nature of being open source leaves them open to security issues. Best just to build your own.

haha - you think that will be MORE secure!

(just to clarify - my coding might not be 100% great)

 

[GreyWing]

There are ways to secure them more than the standard defaulkt settings, so I from Joomla point of view I wouldn't worry about that. Any site can be hacked from what I have seen, it's just a balance of how much the hacker wants in and how much effort and resources he is prepared to deploy to it.

For me it's the bolt on components that is the clincher, I can't go researching how to build an auction system, a review system, a booking system and all these systems when I can just install it off a peg onto my cms in 5 minutes.

For me the time and costs relating to using a cms is not in question.

I don't have the tech skills Chris does, so I guess it depends what skill level you have to start with on which is the best option.

 

[aquanuke]

End of the day most folks dont want or need the bulk of a CMS. Ie doing mini sites why would you need a login system and all the other modules that pose a risk.

Obvously all the popular CMS have hundreds of script kiddies analysing the source trying to find holes and then as soon as they do they make it public knowledge for others to use.

Theres no reason for them to try hack joe blogs site as its just one site if they can find a hole in a CMS then thats potentialy thousands of sites they can attack.

 

[Aaron Clifford]

I like using a CMS, If the site owner isn't comfortable with code, using a stripped down version of WordPress is great for them as they have total control over adding/removing content whenever they want.

Of course there is security issues but that's the same with the OS your server is running, If you were too make your own code It probably wouldn't be any safer. The fact is, if a security issue is found in the bigger scripts available it doesn't mean EVERY site running the script is going to be hacked, and they are usually pretty quick at releasing a patch.

 

[EnglishTeacher]

Sure

Personally I would avoid CMS by their nature of being open source leaves them open to security issues. Best just to build your own.

That is an interesting point, however CMS apps like Joomla have loads of free extensions which might be useful depending on the type of site being built.

 

[ratboy]

Naturally, if you built a CMS you'd want a good domain to sell it through, right, like cms.co.uk? Yah, sorry bad plug.

For most, like me, I like a management system as once set up it's very fast and easy to publish content. And that content is styled correctly and is no faffing around with design elements. I've worked with clients, who struggle with Word - well they find Wordpress easier to work with (not so sure about that) but for "dummies" it's a great and easy way of working.

 

[charlie]

in my experience clients arent that keen to add new content in terms of features but to update news or add new products is sufficent.
My question is rather than building a quick form with add/edit/delete why would you want to use an off the shelf CMS system, this must be overkill for a majority of users.

 

[ratboy]

I guess many web design firms will get use to using one system and therefore building additional sites using that cms is the quickest way. Hence why many sites might have an overkill of features.

Also, there is a massive difference in usability of systems - some are dreadful, while others (Wordpress, ExpressionEngine) seem really nice to use.

 

[infoman66]

Whether it is the open source CMS or a personal settlement of an CMS, the biggest advantage is you can refresh the content from anywhere in the world...

 

[Fabster]

Well...a CMS doesn't always work because the site you need is so specific and niched that the functions can't be handled by a CMS with the available plugins.

If the functions you need can be taken care of by a CMS, I see no point in wasting time by adding features that are already there in a CMS.