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Top 10 Things to Look For When Choosing a CMS

Posted November 18, 2008 By Manoj Thomas |

Finding a content management system (CMS) that’s robust in features yet easy to work with can be a challenging task. Many CMSs either offer solid functionality and compromise usability or vice versa. Here are the top 10 things I look for when deciding on a CMS (in no particular order).

1. Scalability – Nothing’s better than working with a system that has a wide variety of plugins and extensions to handle all the functionality you’re looking to achieve. Many CMSs like Joomla!, Expression Engine, Drupal and WordPress offer these useful add-ons, most of which are freely available for download.
2. Solid Documentation & Community – Add-ons are great unless you don’t know how to install and configure them. That’s why it’s crucial that your CMS choice offers substantial documentation detailing all the ins and outs of the system – everything from installing to customizing. My experiences with forums and various developer communities have proved to be helpful, too, not just for help answering questions, but for getting the inside scoop on other’s opinions about future functionality and development.
3. Member Management – It’s important that a CMS has the ability to manage multiple members. This allows for better flexibility when trying to manage who can access what on the front end (the visible, public part) of your site and who can edit or publish within the CMS.
4. Content Migration – Chances are that you already have pieces of content that simply need to be moved over into your new CMS. Migrating this content, though, can be much more difficult than one would imagine. A solid CMS should give you multiple options for importing and exporting content seamlessly and it shouldn’t require hours of work to do so.
5. Clean URLs – Simply put, clean URLs are prettier and easier to read. The real advantages of clean URLs are far greater – they increase search engine optimization, are much easier for users to remember and they help give users a better understanding of the hierarchy of a site. Although many CMS’s offer some type of ability to control URL structures, some are more clear than others (which is why proper documentation is essential).
6. Versioning – Something often overlooked in a CMS is its ability (or inability) to restore previously edited entries or templates. When you have multiple people working on a site and editing entries it becomes easier for mistakes to be made. Built-in versioning provides a good solution by allowing administrators or users with the proper rights the option of reverting content back to a previously saved version.
7. Security – There are a slew of security features available to help meet your safety measures when managing a Web site. Most popular CMSs offer solutions or add-ons that can ensure a secure site. These include the use of CAPTCHA in forms, throttling, IP and email banning, or word censoring.
8. Multiple Languages – There are many sites that require content to be displayed in multiple languages and this can be cumbersome to manage, which is why it’s important to find a CMS that can help you take control of the translated content without having to do repetitive steps for each language.
9. Entry Status – A small feature that I’ve found extremely useful over the years is the ability to flag content as “Published” or “Unpublished” (the terminology varies, but the functionality is the same). Flagging allows you to temporarily remove or unpublish content from the front end of the Web site without having to actually delete it. Then, when you’re ready to have the content reappear, it’s as simple as removing or changing the flag to “Published”.
10. Price – Although there are a handful of CMSs that are free to use, there are others that have a required license fee. Budget will always be a factor, but many times the fees turn out to be just a nominal price to pay for the quality, functionality and support you get in return. As important as price is, it’s vital that it doesn’t become the driving force when choosing which CMS to use.

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