A Content Management System (CMS) differs from website builders like Microsoft FrontPage or Macromedia Dreamweaver. A CMS allows non-technical users to make changes to an existing website with little or no training. Web CMS typically require an experienced coder to set-up and add features, but it is primarily a website maintenance tool for non-technical administrators.
A web content management system is a software system used to manage and control a large, dynamic collection of web material (HTML documents and their associated images). A CMS facilitates document control, auditing, editing, and timeline management.
A Web CMS provides the following key features:
Automated templates
Create standard visual templates that can be automatically applied to new and existing content, creating one central place to change that look across a group of content on a site.
Easily editable content
Once your content is separate from the visual presentation of your site, it usually becomes much easier and quicker to edit and manipulate. Most CMS software include WYSIWYG editing tools allowing non-technical individuals to create and edit content.
Scalable feature sets
Most CMS have plug-ins or modules that can be easily installed to extend an existing site's functionality.
Web standards upgrades
Active CMS solutions usually receive regular updates that include new feature sets and keep the system up to current web standards.
Workflow management
Workflow is the process of creating cycles of sequential and parallel tasks that must be accomplished in the CMS. For example, a content creator submits a story but it's not published on the website until the copy editor cleans it up, and the editor-in-chief approves it.
Document management
CMS solutions may provide a means of managing the life cycle of a document from initial creation time, through revisions, publication, archive, and document destruction.
Content virtualization
CMS systems may provide a means of allowing each user to work within a virtual copy of the entire website, document set, and/or code base. This enables changes to multiple interdependent resources to be viewed and/or executed in-context prior to submission.
