SilverStripe CMS
Nearly all my clients asked me about updating their website content themselves when I took on their projects. In the world of the web fresh content is key to a website’s success, so of course it makes more sense for my clients to add and edit content when they wish rather than paying and waiting for me to copy and paste it in. I’ve found that providing a Content Management System (CMS) can help clients engage with their website more and gives a greater sense of ownership and satisfaction with the end result.
Perch CMS
It may not always be worth the hassle of setting up a big CMS for a website if it really isn’t going to be updated very often, however there are plenty of small systems that allow a basic level of content management that are quick and easy to set up. Past experience tells me that clients who say they don’t need a CMS at the start of their website design project find that once the website is up and running, actually, they would like to do more with it after all, so I believe it makes sense to build in content management every time.
Choosing a CMS to work with
There are plenty of good free or cheap systems available so it’s worth spending a bit of time trying out demos. Look at the system from the user’s (your client’s) point of view as well as deciding if it it matches your development skill set. Some points to consider when researching a CMS:
- it shouldn’t constrain the design of the website
- it must be simple enough for your client to complete routine tasks easily
- it needs to support what the website needs to do, so choose the right CMS for the website being developed
- it should be flexible enough to be extended in the future if your client requests more features
- it’s helpful if it has a dedicated user group and support forum
- it needs to run well on your web host, check the CMS requirements against what your web host provides, there’s nothing worse than setting up a chunky CMS only to find it runs painfully slowly on your web host.
Helpful article: 10 things to consider when choosing the right CMS
I spent plenty of time researching, testing and working out which CMS I should be using and I’m comfortably using three to suit the way I build websites and the way my clients need to work…
SilverStripe CMS
SilverStripe is a fairly heavyweight CMS and suitable for websites that have a lot of content added/updated regularly and that need features such as latest news/events, integrated blog, RSS feeds, photo gallery, e-commerce, forums. It can support multiple website editors and although is suitable for medium to large websites can also be used for small websites that need more advanced functionality, for example I recently setup a website for a wedding photographer who wanted to to upload client photos and administer individual log-in areas for each client. The development learning curve may be a little steep for CMS newbies but it’s worth the initial frustrations and difficulties.
What I love about SilverStripe is that it’s really flexible. Its templating system means that it integrates smoothly into any website design and the user admin screens can be customised to support what tasks the website editor needs to carry out. I find I can keep the editing interface as simple or as involved as is needed depending on the client’s technical confidence. The admin interface is intuitive and clients who were worried about doing anything web related are using it happily!
What I’ve used it for: artist and creative websites where new photos or products for sale need to be added. Clients can easily create a product page, upload an associated image and add in PayPal payment buttons.
WordPress
Although essentially a blogging platform, WordPress can be used for content managing entire websites. It’s suited for sites that will have a few informational pages but will be driven by regular blog type content.
WordPress is quicker and easier to set up than SilverStripe but it’s not possible to fully customise the CMS admin screens. However, what’s great about WordPress is the multitude of plugins available that provide extra funtionality for photo galleries, SEO, twitter/social media integration, commenting, forms etc.
There are plenty of resources on the web for help with developing WordPress so you don’t need to know much about PHP, you’ll find some code somewhere that does what you need. That said, because it’s not quite as flexible as some of the bigger CMSs you need to make sure that you don’t end up squishing your website into it and compromising design and usability for your client.
What I’ve used it for: clients who want a few simple content pages and a blog to help establish them as leaders in their field and also improve their ranking in Google.
Perch CMS
Perch is great for small brochure style websites that need basic or infrequent text/image updates. It only took me 2 hours to install and integrate it into the first client website I built with it. Simple PHP tags are pasted into your HTML/CSS code where content areas need to be edited, so the website design is never compromised. The admin interface is clean and simple for clients to use and you will only need to supply the briefest of training notes (if at all). Perch isn’t free but the small one-off cost is outweighed by the speed and ease with which it can be set up and I definitely prefer it over other comparable small systems I’ve tried.
What I’ve used it for: restaurant and boat hire websites that need menu and availability text to be updated weekly.
Client support for a CMS
Once a CMS is set up, training and support will be needed for clients to get the best from it. Throughout the CMS development keep in mind that you’re wanting to keep things as simple as possible for your client, so strip out or suppress functions that aren’t needed and write simple task based training notes with screenshots to help clarify what needs to be done. Your aim with building a content managed website is to have your client happily working away with it!
