What Web Designers Should Be Looking For In A CMS

These days, most custom websites are created with a built-in content management system (CMS) that enables the owner to make changes and updates from the comfort of their home computer. They range in size from lightweight micro-blogging platforms to massive enterprising packages, each suiting a number of different websites. When web designers are choosing a CMS to use in the websites that they create, however, there are a number of things that they should be looking for:

• What is the learning curve?
  Unfortunately, there are plenty of web designers out there who will choose a CMS based solely on how easy it is to figure out. Whilst this is important for your clients, it should not be the defining factor in choosing a CMS for your websites to use. You should also take into account how much time you have (both to learn the CMS and to teach it to your clients), as this will help to form a part of your choice.
• Is the theme-ing flexible?
  The theme of the CMS is another way to describe the skin (appearance) that web designers can apply to it. If you are after a CMS that you can fully customise with your brand colours, you need to look into how flexible the CMS in question is – some are easier to theme than others and you need to decide how much playing around you are prepared to do.
• Is documentation and resources available?
  Even the most amazing CMS will be dropped by a web designer if they become stuck and cannot find the relevant documentation to help them out. Before you get too involved in learning the system, you should take a look at the documentation and resources that it comes with – if it looks as if necessary information is missing, perhaps it would be best to keep looking for a better CMS.
• Is it user friendly for clients?
  At the end of the day, it is important to remember that you are not the only person who will be working with the CMS – your clients will be required to use it, too. Whilst it may be easy for you to understand and figure out, will your clients feel the same? Consider how easy it is to edit existing page content, add new pages, add photos and videos, and so on.

Choosing a CMS to work with involves a lot more than just closing your eyes and taking a stab in the dark – it is important for web designers to delve much deeper into the system before deciding whether it is the one for them. By assessing each of the above factors before making a decision, designers can rest assured that their websites will be easily edited by themselves and clients alike.