Content Management Systems (CMS) have created immense change within the web, art and design contexts. CMS has allowed blogging to become so prolific. This has radically changed how people interact and what they create especially within an art and design context. Many CMS systems are free and open source e.g. WordPress (even though there are add on features that cost money, which extend the use of the CMS). This has allowed the web to become a more democratic place as now anybody can create a website or blog to communicate their ideas, design and art. In turn this has allowed a more global dialogue between artists and designers which has provided opportunities for collaboration. It has also allowed designers to gain a broader audience thereby providing them with more exposure and work and life opportunities.
However CMS is not limited to the fields of art and design. It is making impacts in all area of the web. It is safe to say that nearly every website that is up to date today is using some form of Content Management System, which is facilitating the following:
The popularisation of cms is due to the ease it brings in the following ways:
However Content Management Systems do have some drawbacks. They handle all aspects of website design but are restricted by the Content Management Platform for example the themes, content structure and plugins. If you are using a Content Management System that is ready made there are security risks as there can be loopholes for hackers in the code used to create it. The CMS user relies on the makers to make any upgrades that might diminish these risk factors, these upgrades can occur at anytime. These upgrades can make your site unusable as it relies on changes to the script used to configure the cms database. Spam and advertising can also be a problem on many CMS platforms, particularly those made available for free. However these can be moderated and deleted if need be.
CMS has become the very fabric as to how our online world is morphed and generated. With the ever increasing loss of distinction between the online and the physical, the local and the global it will be interesting to see how CMS is used in the future.
However CMS is not limited to the fields of art and design. It is making impacts in all area of the web. It is safe to say that nearly every website that is up to date today is using some form of Content Management System, which is facilitating the following:
- Online commerce
- Knowledge management
- Document management
- Information management and dissemination
- Integration with accounting, distribution or business systems
- Seamless login to the CMS from the network, such as Microsoft Active Directory
- Moving business processes online
- Business process engineering
- Interaction with community, whether staff, customers, suppliers or other trading partners
- Self- service capability, providing a more effective and lower cost of service
- Compliance
- artist portfolios
The popularisation of cms is due to the ease it brings in the following ways:
- You are no longer dependent on the web designers making changes for you.
- Changes can be made any time they are needed, day or night. This is increasingly important as your business comes to rely on the website as a communications channel.
- All the technical details are simply handled by the CMS, allowing anyone to manage and update the site.
- Multiple staff can keep the site up to date, instead of being restricted to just one person. The CMS will track who is doing what, avoiding potential confusion.
- You can even ensure that each staff person can only update the sections of the site they are responsible for.
- The CMS ensures that all the pages are consistent in design, and will build all the menus and other navigation for you.
- CMS software automatically handles aspects that are important in a social media driven environment such as tagging, categorisation and managing a search engine for you that would otherwise have to be done manually in an offline editor.
- The many other powerful features of the CMS allows the site to grow in sync with your business.
However Content Management Systems do have some drawbacks. They handle all aspects of website design but are restricted by the Content Management Platform for example the themes, content structure and plugins. If you are using a Content Management System that is ready made there are security risks as there can be loopholes for hackers in the code used to create it. The CMS user relies on the makers to make any upgrades that might diminish these risk factors, these upgrades can occur at anytime. These upgrades can make your site unusable as it relies on changes to the script used to configure the cms database. Spam and advertising can also be a problem on many CMS platforms, particularly those made available for free. However these can be moderated and deleted if need be.
CMS has become the very fabric as to how our online world is morphed and generated. With the ever increasing loss of distinction between the online and the physical, the local and the global it will be interesting to see how CMS is used in the future.