The Evolution of the CMS2 min read

CMS stands for Content Management System. The purpose of a CMS is to allow users to create, manage, and modify your website content. Most CMS’s also give you the ability to manage text, images, embedded video, audio, and other features of your website. It is a great way to make sure your website content stays current and fresh, and gives your users reasons to return to visit your site.

Below, we’ve defined some examples of common CMS software, and for what each system is best suited.

WordPress

WordPress is a leading Open Source CMS (Content Management System) platform on the Internet today. From its early days as a blogging tool to a popular framework for modern website development, it is estimated that WordPress controls nearly 60% of the CMS market. WordPress offers a wide variety of options for customization and has many tools available online since there is an expansive developer community. This community also provides excellent resources for support as well as constant updates and improvements.

WordPress also offers significant advantages in SEO (Search Engine Optimization) and Responsive/Mobile Design. These are both powerful options in the current web market.

If you have need of an easy-to-use E-Commerce solution, WordPress also offers WooCommerce, which is a WordPress module that can be integrated into any WordPress site, allowing you to engage your customers in online sales fairly quickly.

Drupal

Drupal is another Open Source tool that is a powerful and scale-able framework. Drupal is very well-suited for more Enterprise-level applications. While not as easy to use and customize as WordPress, it offers development tools. Drupal does rely more on an existing programming knowledge base, so it is not as well suited for beginners or for small websites.

Drupal is the longest-running CMS on the web, first released to the public in 2001 (WordPress in 2003, Joomla in 2005). It also offers a large and dedicated community that is constantly offering new extensions, updates, and support.

Joomla

Joomla falls somewhere between the ease-of-use of WordPress and the scale-ability options of Drupal. Joomla is also a simple and flexible system that has many powerful features.

Joomla offers one of the most detailed sets of administrative tools out of the box. It is weaker, however, in how it builds themes and visual content creation tools. Its community, like WordPress and Drupal, is active in coming up with new add-ons and regular updates.

This list is far from exhaustive, as it only highlights 3 of the many CMS options available today. Sharp Innovations has experience in all the above listed CMS solutions, as well as a custom-built framework that can be tailored to your company’s unique needs. We can help identify which CMS is right for you – contact us for a free consultation!