Thread

I’ve been trying to get my head round this for the last couple of days so I thought I’d try and get other people’s opinions on the matter.

As a side project I’ve been trying to develop an adaptable CMS for clients that get overwhelmed by open source concepts and need their hand held every step of the way.  I put some outlines on paper and started brainstorming some ideas but I kept hitting a point where the system wasn’t a CMS anymore.

What I mean is most CMS’s have to do allot more than just manage content, they seem to be managing the entire site.

Structure, templates, configuration settings are just some of the aspects that need to in a CMS to be called a CMS.

Have I been thinking about this too long or is there some logic to my madness?

You’ve been thinking too long. The ‘system’ in CMS just means that it’s a system which manages content.

Just like you can have a registration system, it is just describing what it’s doing.

Exactly! that’s what I’m getting confused about. It doesn’t describe what it is doing very well, ok yes it manages content but to pull your example into it most CMS’s manage user registration also.

Most CMS systems are more like website management systems as opposed to primarily dealing with content.

Yes, but what you’re failing to realize is that a ‘System’ means one big unit that functions together to accomplish the task at hand.

Just like a computer, there are tons of different functions in a computer to handle its separate tasks.

No I do understand the system aspect of it. The “Content” part is what throws me. It just seems to be an understatement for the functionality these systems provide as standard.

Also keep in mind… it’s not called a “website content management system”.  The word “content” does not couple it to a website, nor does it necessarily mean “content” in that sense of the word.  Maybe if you think of it more like “data” or “digital content” other than “content”...

Think of an enterprise level system that manages company documentation, customer relations, employee statistics, etc etc… this, too would be considered a “content management system” although it’s not a “website” in the common sense of the word.

Just don’t pair “content” and “website content”.  Not the same things.

Thanks Developer13.

You gave me a light bulb moment, that’s exactly what I was getting stuck on, the definition of “content” in the name. I know it seems quite trivial but its just one of those things I’ve been saying for years and never even thought about the definition. Its amazing how the simplest words can throw you when you really stop and think about them.