I have a question concerning Content Management Systems. I can design a website and utilize CSS with no problems in the layout and structuring of my templates. I have done many websites this way with no problems. I am not a programmer but have used pre-made javascript and some php scripts.

The question is...what exactly does a CMS do? I mean, I've checked and looked at a few of the popular CMS, but don't see how it can be advantageous to me or my clients (because of the confusion of it all, I couldn't explain to my client how to use it). First of all, they are all confusing and I don't understand any of it.

When does one use a CMS? Is it only if you wish a forum or blog or surveys on a website? What else does it do? How would one incorporate already designed templates and CSS with a CMS? What I'm getting at is this - you design a website for someone. This person wants to edit and handle their own website after you complete the design and everything is good and looks great. Would a CMS be necessary for them to be able to perform edit functions within their own Cpanel? Is a database necessary to utilize a CMS? Or is this another subject altogether?

Could someone please explain this to me? Or..at the very least, guide me somewhere to read about "CMS for Dummies"?

Totally confused,
DianeD

I've tried Contribute by Macromedia/Adobe and basically all you do is specify ftp details for your already developed site. You start it up, and navigate to the page you want to edit, as if you were using a normal browser but once at the page you can click on the page and start editing. Clicking on a 'Publish' button ftp's the changes to the remote file so your changes are committed.

CMS's are basically for people who want to update content without touching html - as far as I understand.

Originally Posted by DianeD

The question is...what exactly does a CMS do?

How would one incorporate already designed templates and CSS with a CMS?

Would a CMS be necessary for them to be able to perform edit functions within their own Cpanel?

Is a database necessary to utilize a CMS?

Totally confused,
DianeD

I am a cms newbie also. I edited your post to try and answer at least a couple of your questions.

A CMS system offers a pre made template and CSS structure. The only way one could incorporate that into an existing site and have it all look exactlly the same is to customize the theme or convert the site to a similar template.

A CMS is best utilized for a site that will have continual updated or added content. A fairly static site doesn't really need it. But then you mentioned "client updating the site"!!!

A CMS might be a good choice if the client only wants to update certain portions of the site. Reason: they can't break anything except the text that they alter if you the designer set the the CMS up properly. Retain all functions control for yourself and only allow them to upload text or graphics. Most CMS software allows for several levels of user control. They won't call you on the weekend saying the site is down because they broke it if you set it up so they can't.

It is possible to set up some of the CMS software in a sub directory and have the content appear on other pages of the site using php. I haven't gotten that far in my studies that I can tell you how it is done.

Based on some of the stories I have heard from my son, ISP engineer, IMHO most clients should not even be given their cPanel password.

All the popular CMS stuff use a mysql database to to store the text and links to the images. All the pages are dynamic.

Ask more questions if you like. I or some one with more knowledge will answer.

One thing that I have against most CMS systems is the inablity to define the Title tag. Often times it is hard coded and each page has the same title, Or, they are set up to use the first H1 of the page to also be the title. Which I don't particularly like.

If you can get one that lets you define your own Title tag for each page this can be very important to SEO.

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also the meta description tag. Although this tag does little for ranking, it is very beneficial for click through rates from the se's