Web Design Using a CMS
There has been a big craze lately, everybody wants their site as
a database driven site or Content Management System (CMS). There
are many advantages to using a CMS over ordinary static page
site, the main on is site structure. You can change the
structure and the hierarchy of the site instantly.
A Content Management System could be best described as
integrating elements of a web site such as design, content,
media and database into one easy to use package. The System is
normally controlled by using a web interface (a form) which will
capture the data and store it in a database according to its
attributes (title, category keywords, description etc.). Some of
the better ones out there are Mambo / Joomla, and because it's
open source there is a large community are continually
contributing updates and addon's to the system. Here's an
example
Web Site Design
The design of the site itself is controlled by templates and css
style sheets making the design and development of the site is
much more consistent especially larger websites. Another
important factor is that because the whole site design is
controlled by a couple of files it can be easily updated to give
your visitors a themed season effect such as Christmas, Easter,
Summer, Winter etc. This is important when it comes to repeat
visitors, they know that the site is up to date and that the
designer / developer is actually thinking of the visitor.
Finally, as you become use to working with a Content Manage
System, you could spend more of your time concentrating on
content and maybe farm out the design or purchase some templates
for your site.
About the author:
Damien Kettle is a Dublin based web developer. Visit:
Web Design Ireland
