How do you manage the pages of your website? The most common way for much of the last decade was to pay a savvy web nerd (someone like us!) to update your pages for you. You send over the words and photos (referred to as “content” in the industry parlance), and she / he updates your web site per your instructions. These days, most sites designed by Watermelon Web Works are implemented with a Content Management System (CMS). A CMS puts the control in your hands. You are able to update existing pages and add new pages, images, PDFs, and whatever else you may dream up at 3 a.m..
Some of our clients prefer that we update the website anyhow, just to be sure that everything looks grand as a birthday cake. That’s fine by us, and we are also happy to mix and match (we’ll do the more challenging stuff for you).
CMS’s and websites are like peas in a pod for many reasons:
- Content (your verbiage and photos, etc.) for the site is standardized within a professionally designed template, so the pages are uniform and easy to navigate.
- Layout and content for the site are easily separated. This means that the “look and feel” of the site won’t break easily.
- Extensible. This is a fancy word that just means that we can expand the capabilities of your website easily. So when you decide that you want a forum for your website, or a small shopping cart, or a contact form, there is often less effort required. This sort of functionality is built in to most CMS’s.
- Customizable. This is where the development part comes in. Say that you want a contact form that recognizes the part of the world that your website visitor is in, and you want to display a greeting in that person’s language. The basic contact form from the CMS won’t have this ability, but we can adjust the code so that it will. All in the same system that lets you edit your pages at 3 a.m.!
A popular content management system – WordPress
So you’re convinced. A CMS is not a hard concept to get behind. You get to be in complete control of your website, and we can help when you need it. But what are some of the options for content management systems? Below is a list of CMS’s that Watermelon Web Works has used for different clients over the years.
WordPress
Note: we also work with Joomla and Drupal, but WordPress is a better choice in the vast majority of situations.
Contact us for your web development needs
Use the form on the right to contact us about your web development needs. We pride ourselves on speaking your language and avoiding Geek-ese whenever possible.