CMS (Content Management System)

A Content Management System or CMS as it is commonly called is a database driven system that manages content for a website.  Today's social networking sites and other sites that let you log in and manage them from your web browser are usually CMSes.

 

When a web site is based on a database, you can mix and match content and move it around without having to rewrite pages of HTML. Most CMSes have a user friendly interface that lets you add and edit content without knowing anything about HTML or CSS or Javascript (the main languages of the web). Instead you can use an editor that looks like a word processor. This is much easier than in the early days of the web when you had to know HTML and upload files every time you wanted to make the simplest change.

 

Don't let the ease of use and familiar look fool you though — websites are not the same as word processing documents on your desktop. Word Processors write one kind of code that your computer understands while CMS editors write HTML code that your web browser understands. They are different languages even though they use the same alphabet and look similar - kind of like English and Spanish. This is why it is generally a bad idea to copy and paste from a word processor such as Word to your web page. Even though they look similar you are actually pasting in incompatible code and you may get very strange results.

 

Examples of popular CMS systems are Drupal®, Joomla®, Wordpress® and Blogger®.What kinds of content you can add depends on the system you are using. Full featured systems like Drupal and Joomla offer more options than systems geared more for Blogging, like Wordpress and Blogger. That's why we use Drupal. Its possibilities are endless.