Which CMS should you choose for a site?
The start of the year is the customary time for planning new undertakings, business projects among them — the ones you intend to launch and grow. One of the important decisions to make is choosing a CMS for your site.
Why does so much depend on the engine?
How simple a site is to run and support depends largely on the CMS you choose for it. A CMS also affects a site's SEO: some platforms create duplicate pages and other technical difficulties.
Besides, the functions your project needs are not implemented equally well in every CMS.
What functions should a modern CMS have?
What is expected of a CMS's functions today? A content management system should provide:
- Fast, simple publication of new articles, pages and other content. Every modern CMS should have a convenient content editor that formats text and adds photos, video, external links, contact forms and other elements. Such an editor should have a preview function before publishing.
- Several ways of structuring content. A modern CMS should support different types of site. It matters that the platform lets you run a blog and create multi-level menus without modifications or plugins.
- A variety of settings for every function. It matters that a CMS lets you configure a site's main parameters. In most cases the colour scheme, the menu structure, the widgets on pages and the format of the home page can be set at CMS level.
- A developed community of webmasters and developers. This point is not directly connected with the CMS itself. But we would still recommend choosing platforms around which a community of active users has formed. In subject chats and social media groups you will be able to discuss non-standard problems and technical tasks, get help and find a good web developer.
Choosing between paid and free CMSs
Many business owners try to follow the process of building their site. That is entirely logical, but it puts them in front of many difficult questions. One of them: which CMS is better, a paid one or a free one? Sometimes developers and web studios feed inexperienced clients myths in order to sell their services at a higher price. Examples of such arguments:
- Web studio staff may talk about having developed, or bought an exclusive licence for, a super-secure CMS. But in most cases such engines turn out to be either out of date or unjustifiably expensive. On top of that, using a rare paid CMS makes the client dependent on the web studio.
- It is often said that open source CMSs are more vulnerable to break-ins. That is untrue. Hackers attack sites on paid, closed-source engines as well. WordPress sites, for instance, are broken into most often simply because there are more of them.
- Serious businesspeople work only with paid products. That is not even an argument, merely manipulation. Thousands of large online shops, the sites of well-known media outlets and of international companies run on free CMSs.
- Search engines prefer sites on paid CMSs. Another outright deception. Google has requirements for the quality of a site, its content and its usability; which tools you use to meet those requirements is of no interest to the search giant.
- A paid CMS has more functions. This is the only argument worth taking seriously. But it matters in far from every project. It is important to understand which functions of a paid CMS you need and to be sure they cannot be implemented for free.
For most projects a free CMS is entirely sufficient. Plugins and code modifications by an experienced web developer will fill out what it offers.
Below we go through the best free CMSs, their particulars and their strong and weak sides.
The best free CMSs for shops, portals and business sites
In this section we go through the platforms that most sites run on — up to 80% by various estimates.
WordPress: the long-standing leader among free CMSs
This platform is used both by beginners and by web development professionals with years of experience. Beginners value the simplicity of the interface and its logic. Experienced developers know that WordPress offers a mass of scope for modernising and extending a site's functionality. On WP you can build a corporate blog for several authors, or an online shop with product filtering and numerous integrations.
Installing WordPress takes a few minutes, and with Host4Biz it is simpler still. You only need to go to the Script installation menu and choose WordPress. The system does the rest, and within a couple of steps you can move on to configuring the site.
Simpler still is choosing specialised WordPress hosting. There the CMS comes installed out of the box with a set of plugins and other useful tools.
The WordPress community is the largest of its kind in web development.
The CMS and most of its plugins are updated regularly, which raises the system's security and functionality. Most WordPress themes and add-ons come in paid and free versions, which makes building sites on this CMS more affordable.
Our conclusions on the CMS
Advantages:
- a large choice of regularly updated themes and plugins;
- simple to configure and to use;
- regular updates;
- a large, active community.
Among WordPress's drawbacks is that the CMS loads hosting rather heavily, and 0-day vulnerabilities are found in it from time to time.
With WordPress you can launch and support business sites, portals, online shops, blogs and other types of resource.
CMSimple — a light, fast CMS with no database
Most CMSs store the information they need in databases. That is the standard solution, but it increases the load on hosting. CMSimple belongs to the class of engines that store information in text files. All they need is a web server with PHP.
The platform will publish every kind of content and change a site's appearance through user applications and themes. An excellent solution for small sites and for businesses just starting out.
Our conclusions
Advantages:
- minimal load on hosting;
- relatively simple to work with.
The drawback is limited functionality.
Drupal — a platform for building a brochure site or a social network
The first version of Drupal came out in the now distant 2001. Since then the CMS has been updated dozens of times, and over the years the developers' approach to its functionality has changed. The basic version of Drupal today offers a minimum of capabilities; the rest is added through numerous modules. With a certain level of command of Drupal you can create modules yourself and deploy even a social network on this system.
The CMS will suit portals, blogs, forums, online shops and other resources.
Our conclusions on Drupal
Advantages:
- flexibility and a wide set of settings;
- a variety of add-ons and themes.
The system's main drawback is how hard it is to learn.
Joomla
Another CMS that has been popular for a long time. The out-of-the-box version of Joomla has perhaps the widest capabilities of any CMS. It lets you configure what users of the site can do, messaging among it. Without installing add-ons you will also be able to publish, edit and format content and make the site multilingual.
Should the basic functions not be enough, various components and themes can be installed.
The CMS will suit practically every type of site.
Our conclusions on Joomla
The system has several advantages:
- serious out-of-the-box functionality, enough for some projects with modest requirements;
- a large choice of plugins and themes to extend the functionality and shape the appearance;
- multilingual support by default.
Joomla's main drawback is its complexity for beginners and for anyone who has not met other content management systems.
MODX
In how it works MODX resembles Drupal. The system's capabilities are added to and extended through functional modules. But Drupal has pre-installed modules for a gallery, a blog, a forum and other functional elements. In many cases the out-of-the-box functionality of MODX will be enough for you. If it is not, you will have to look for ready components or write them from scratch.
The CMS is universal and will suit every type of site.
Our verdict on the CMS
The main advantages:
- the system's flexibility and universality;
- a variety of add-ons and user themes.
The drawback is the CMS's complexity.
OpenCart — a specialised solution for online shops
OpenCart is a content management system built specifically for online shops. The basic version is entirely sufficient for launching a shop with a standard set of functions. For additional functions, plugins can be installed from the CMS's official site, where there are already more than 12000 of them. OpenCart plugins will handle integrations with accounting software, CRM systems and other third-party tools.
Our conclusions
OpenCart is a very capable and flexible CMS. The only relative minus is that the system is narrowly specialised.
Chamilo — a solution for online courses
An unexpected guest in our selection, but with OpenCart on the list it is only logical to mention a CMS for an online school. Such products are called LMSs (learning management systems). Chamilo is a capable, intuitive tool for creating online lessons and organising the learning process, and several teachers can work in the system at once. The tool is open source and free, which sets it apart from expensive and complicated competitors.
Our conclusions
Advantages:
- the system gives you plenty of useful tools for online learning;
- every function is available free;
- the interface is convenient and clear.
The relative drawback is that Chamilo's functionality still falls short of its paid competitors.
Summary
The requirements for a CMS have stayed standard, but what business asks of one has grown. A site's platform should provide the widest possible functionality, integrate well with third-party services, and be oriented towards the needs of the type of site you plan to launch.
In most cases a free CMS will be the optimal choice. Any functionality can be built on one, along with convenient work on the site and the security of your data.
Systems such as WordPress, Drupal and Joomla place a heavy load on hosting, but their capabilities justify it. And with WordPress hosting from Host4Biz you will not notice any difficulty.
Choose the CMS for your site and deliver your online projects with Host4Biz.