How to choose the 'right'
CMS for a website
Spiros Trivizas
STiX - web based solutions
stix.gr
Internet World 2012 - April 24th
This presentation will help you
choose the most appropriate
Web Content Management System
for your (or your customers')
website!
IS THIS REALLY NECESSARY?
Is it so hard to choose?
AgilityCMS
Sitecore
Liferay
Mambo
Typo3
Autonomy
Wordpress
WebNodes CMS
STiX CMS
PHP
RubyOnRails
Concrete5
CivicSpace
Open Source
LAMP
Python
Joomla
Mambo
Adobe CQ5
OpenText
ExpressionEngine
Ektron WCM
HippoCMS
EzPublish
Sitefinity CMS
Drupal
Sharepoint
DotNetNuke
OpenCMS
Alfresco
Magnolia
PHP-Nuke
XOOPS e107
Proprietary
SaaS
Java
Microsoft ASP.NET
Perl
Zope
MVC
ColdFusion
Too many options/technologies...
BUT WHO AM I
TO GIVE ADVICE TO YOU
FOR WEB CMS?
WHO AM I? = Spiros Trivizas
● Developing websites professionally since 1996
● Built my first "WCMS-like" tool on 1997
● Built my first WCMS on 2002 (project goes on till today
as "STiX CMS")
● Developed hundreds of WCMS-driven websites using
custom or popular WCMSs and frameworks
● Experience in many "worlds" (MS ASP, .NET ,PHP,
JAVA, C, Perl) and database systems (Sybase, Oracle,
MSSQL, PostgreSQL, MySQL)
The History
of WCMS
The early 90's
● Most websites were "static" (html files)
● Partial non-static content using scripts and
the Common Gateway Interface (CGI)
● HTML editors did the job, e.g. HotMetal Pro,
Frontpage
The late 90's
● Again many "static" websites (html files)
● Database driven websites emerged (using
Perl, PHP and ASP mainly for scripting)
● Web content management started by "big
players", e.g. Vignette, Microsoft, OpenText
etc.
● TYPO3 emerged after 1997
The early 00's
● Open source WCMS first steps (Mambo,
TYPO3, PHPNuke, Drupal, OpenCMS etc.)
● Java frameworks and ECMs rule the
enterprise content management world
● Many custom WCMS offerings by web
development companies
The late 00's
● Open source goes wild! Joomla, Drupal,
Wordpress, TYPO3, ExpressionEngine etc.
● .Net joins Java in the ECM world
● Many web development companies drop
R&D to adopt open source WCMS
Today
● Open source kings: Wordpress, Drupal and
Joomla
● SaaS logic kicks in the WCMS market
● Proprietary software offer an attractive
bundle of marketing services as well
● Liferay and Alfresco rule the world of Java
MORE THAN 100 CMSs TO CHOOSE FROM!
Gartner's magic quadrant
Magic Quadrant for Web Content Management, Gartner
What led to WCM systems?
● For users:
the need to update their website without
having to be professional web authors
● For developers:
the need for efficiency in database-driven
websites
The Criteria
of choosing a WCMS
As a website owner
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Template driven
Easy to use
Workflow capabilities
Media and document management
Multilingual capabilities
Versioning
Comply to standards
Cost effective
Fast
WYSIWYG editor
Easily and cheaply hosted
As a website developer
●
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Well documented
Steep learning curve
Extensible
Modular
Scalable
Capable for user permissions and roles
Easy to install
Common requirements
● Documentation, training, community or
company supported
● Viable vendor / community
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Support server caching
Social media integration tools
Multi-device output
Content syndication tools
Integration with other tools (e.g. analytics)
Usual problems
● Awkward implementations
● Problematic support
● Lack of features
● Difficult to use
● Difficult or expensive to host
Examples
and case studies
Category #1 : small website or blog
In this category:
● corporate websites or product
websites (online brochures)
● landing pages
● blogs or blog-like sites
● personal websites
(little traffic expected)
Case study: newschoolathens.org
CRITERIA:
● no need for custom design
● low traffic expectations
● sufficient off-the-shelf widgets to do the job
● low initial budget
SELECTION:
Wordpress with premium theme, WPML
module and several free widgets
Category #2 : a content website
In this category:
● large corporate websites with
corporate content
● online magazines
● news websites (vertical or not)
● educational websites
(growing traffic expectation)
Case study: newwinesofgreece.com
CRITERIA:
● Multilingual content (different in each
language)
● Growing traffic expectations
● Content architecture and custom design (25
different document types, many front-end
applications)
SELECTION:
Custom CMS based on STiX Technology
Category #3 : web application
In this category:
● members-only websites
● directories
● portals
● bespoke website development
● etc.
Case study: extranet.inogate.org
CRITERIA:
● members-only area
● need for custom design
● need to get information from public website
(Joomla)
● custom roles and permissions
SELECTION:
STiX Framework using STiX CMS and Joomla
for administrative content
Conclusions
for WCMS choices
“A content management system is
not a magic bullet that solves all
your content woes. However, it can
be a useful tool if selected
carefully”
Paul Boag, (http://thinkvitamin.com/author/paul-boag/)
Small website or blog
the 'right' choice is...
ANY
WCMS
Custom website
the 'right' choice is...
NONE
(out-of-the-box WCMS)
“The two things that always kill me
are upgrades to customized sites
and security”
Paul Boag, (http://thinkvitamin.com/author/paul-boag/)
“... a much-needed demand in the
WCM market for a quality opensource offering backed by a vendor.
Decision makers with whom
Gartner has spoken have
highlighted the growing need for
support services beyond what are
usually provided by an open-source
software community”
Gartner research (http://www.gartner.com/)
The effort and methodology of a
custom website development is
almost the same in any WCM!
So choose your WCM partner
carefully, not the WCM itself!
Questions?
welcome!
Questions and/or advice...
Here, in IW 2012, right outside the theatre:
Spiros, [email protected]
Dimitris, [email protected]
John, [email protected]
http://www.stix.gr
In the U.K., any time
Billy Dertilis,
http://www.MindTheNet.co.uk