CMSimple vs. Website Baker

Content Management Systems are a must for modern web developers these days; clients want the ability to change the content on their site on their own. In a tough economy clients don’t want to spend lots of money but still expect a lot from their web developer, so it’s important to know which open source Content Management Systems are right for your Clients. CMSimple and Website Baker are two CMS that are worth looking into as they are both open source and absolutely free.

Installing:

The comparison of these two begins during the install, for CMSimple once you download the program and extract the files to your localhost you’re basically done. All you have to do is copy the folder and you can then begin coding your new site. Website Baker is not as simple to get going as CMSimple, with Website Baker you must have a php server and mySql installed on your localhost, once you have that done you can begin the install of website baker and it’s a little more complicated. Website Baker is a true database driven website and requires a mySql database to be created before you run the install to create the website. Once the database is created you can run the install file located in the wb folder. The install will bring you to setup screen you will have to enter the information to properly set up your database and website, and then just click the install site and your done. In my opinion CMSimple is wins hand down in the install as it is far easier and doesn’t require a true database, copy the folder and you have a website wherever you put it.

Creating a Website:

Creating and coding a website using CMSimple requires the use of three files in two locations, the content for the site is located in the content folder in a file called content.htm. This is where all the data for every page that is on your site is located in one single htm page. Creating different pages for your site only requires that you place H1, H2 and H3 tags in your code and it will automatically create a new page and generate a menu for you. The next two file that you will need are located in your templates folder and they are the template.htm and the stylesheet.css and this is where of course style your site. The reason I tell you this is that it can be confusing having to go between the two locations to do certain task. The editor in CMSimple is very simple and allows you to do most anything you need to accomplish.


Website Baker is much more robust with its way of doing the coding and creating pages, once you have it installed it will bring you to the control panel where you can modify any of the settings in your site and create new pages at the click of a button. Website Baker is far ahead in this area and I really like the simplicity of its control panel, even for the new developers it easy to understand. The editor is easy to use and straightforward and allows you to upload all types of media to your site and it will even unzip them for you, how cool is that? Website Baker is the winner here by far and I truly love the control panel. Although both CMSimple and Website Baker have templates that you can download and install Website baker wins here again, Website Baker had many different templates to choose from and you can install any template from the control panel and choose which one you want to use, so at the click of a button you can choose which style you like and the look the you need for you clients.

Which Do I Choose?

That is a toughs question to answer; it really depends on the client’s needs and what kind of site they are wanting. CMSimple backs itself up each time you log out of the system which is way cool and you can even configure how many backups you want to keep. Website Baker you have to backup the database manually at the control panel and then make a copy of your folder, but Website Baker is a much more robust CMS. CMSimple and Website Baker both have a loyal following and both will be here for a long time as for which is the best one, hum… I would have to say Website Baker for me. It really depends on the client’s needs as to which one I would use and where. My recommendations are dive into them and decide for yourself which is better for YOU!

Download them both CMSimple and Website Baker and Enjoy !

References:
This one is just from me and are my own thoughts. Scary uh?

Introduction to Content Management Systems(CMS)

A Content Management System is an excellent tool for a company to maintain a website without having to understand Markup Languages needed to create and manage a website. CMS systems allow companies to have less dependence on their developers for quick edits and daily changes. A developer can configure you website to run with a CMS and with minimal training, an employee of the company can add photographs, links, and other content as needed without having to pay the developer to make changes. This reduces the cost of the overall website and the frustrating waiting time it often takes the developer to make the changes.

Basics Feature of a CMS:

A CMS comes with all types of features, some features are necessary have just to operate and manage a website. The basics are a simple GUI that will allow you to create content and manage your site, the features are a text editor with simple formatting options that also allow you to upload images and other types of media, a user login to control administration and allow for updates. They will also offer basic templates to choose from but are very limited.
Advanced Features of a CMS:
More advanced CMS systems come with all types of bells and whistles and require much more knowledge to utilize, some features to look for are the ability to use CSS and create your own templates and styles necessary to control the presentation of your site. Most advanced systems offer many types of plugins in order to give the users more options, flexibility and control. Complex CMS systems offer a more dynamic range of options to allow for many different levels of users and security and even reporting options.

Designers and CMS:

In the modern world of business today, more and more companies want to update their own content on their site. A designer and web developer needs to be competent in the various CMS available today. The needs of the company will dictate which type of CMS it will need; some will only require a simple version to update the textual data and images while others will need a fully functioning database system for e-commerce. The developer will need to be aware of the many different types of CMS in order to maintain flexibility for his/her client base and provide a cost effective solution. The best way for a designer to learn a CMS is to jump in and start using it, create simple sites and practice, practice, practice.

CMS and SEO:

Search Engine Optimization is largely about using good semantic web standards and coding practices which would lead you to believe that using a CMS would be a big help, not necessarily so. Many CMS are not designed with SEO in mind and problems with spiders being able to read them can even reduce the sites SEO, for example, bad Meta tags where some CMS do not even use the title or description tags. Some content management systems even have a practically invisible structure of pages that spiders cannot see
To make the most of your content in reaching better search engine rankings, your CMS users must easily be able to optimize content as they create it. For this, you need a CMS that allows non-technical users to specify keyword rich URLs, title tags, descriptions and image alt text. The system should provide feedback on these elements in terms of how they will affect the page's performance for selected keywords. This kind of CMS allows users to create and optimize content in one tool rather than having to switch back and forth between a CMS and a set of SEO tools.

References:

http://www.idatatechnologies.com/en-US/SEO_and_CMS_how_do_they_Relate.aspx
http://www.websmx.com/dme/?Lectures:Web_Development:Content_Management_Systems
http://ithemes.com/5-reasons-to-use-a-content-management-system/
http://www.seowebsitecms.com/