On Thu, Mar 29, 2012 at 4:48 PM, Ann Nordby <[log in to unmask]> wrote:

> Can I please have opinions on content management systems?
>
> 1. Yes or no?
> We are evaluating the benefits of going to a CMS. What are the chief
> benefits? We are currently using Dreamweaver. Would Adobe Contribute
> suffice if all is going well with my team of web contributors now?
>

If there is a lot of content that requires frequent updates, a CMS might be
a good tool. Especially if you want to distribute that work to several
people.

If the goal is to allow non-web staff to update their own content I feel a
CMS still requires some level of governance or at least an understanding of:

   1. Communicating/writing on the web
   2. Technical requirements

Having done some volunteer work for political campaigns in the past where I
set up a Wordpress site only to see the users use headings for entire
paragraphs (because they wanted them bold) or upload huge images that,
while they where properly sized with height and width attributes, were
full, hi-res photos straight from the camera.

All I'm saying is that it's not as simple as setting it up and walking
away. Having said that, I know CEHD has had success with setting things up
and then keeping the lines of communication open to fix the kinds of
problems I mentioned above.


> 2. UMContent?
> Does UMContent work well for anyone? It is centrally supported and free.
> Any problems with it?
>

Apologies to any UMContent users out there, but the last time I went to a
UMContent demo, it looked...cumbersome. Other options provide better
usability in my opinion.

I think Drupal or Wordpress offer perfectly viable, flexible options. Both
require access to a web server running PHP and MySQL. Not everyone on
campus has that. So there is a barrier there.

Since I've probably offended UMContent users already, I'll go ahead and
offend the Drupal developers too by saying I personally think Drupal is
over-engineered for most use cases. Most simple content management needs
can be met by Wordpress. Like Drupal, it also has a huge user and developer
community. If you need more sophisticated interaction, Drupal might offer
better tools.

Wordpress' popularity does bring it into sharp focus for security exploits.
Generally speaking, you'll be fine if you have someone who can keep it
up-to-date, but themes and plugins often have security holes as well.

Thanks,

Tony

-- 
Tony Thomas
Web Developer
University of Minnesota
Student Unions & Activities
300 Washington Ave SE, Ste 500
Minneapolis MN 55455

Direct: 612-626-9820
Fax:     612-624-7256
sua.umn.edu <http://www.sua.umn.edu>