Features of Content Management Systems
FEATURES OF CONTENT MANAGEMENT SYSTEMS

Some of the interesting features of content management include; site manager which is a 3D visualization for websites that can be zoomed in and out to closely monitor the architect of the website(Burlaca, 2003)

Another feature is XXL Builder is an interactive development system for viewing interfaces being built. They provide; text view, graphic view and widget view  and another one is Newtenberg Engine ;  a framework for building websites using boxes
Burlaca, 2003)


PROBLEMS FACING CONTENT MANAGEMENT SYSTEMS

Burlaca(2003) argues that content management system is a great idea, easily understood but hard to accomplish

Content management systems can only be a success if it is accepted by designers, developers and general users (Burlaca, 2003) . Most content systems are more technologically inclined than they are users’ inclined, in other words they are not built with users in mind. (The Standish Group, 94) and this is a major challenge because information technology projects are not successfully until accepted by the users.

Another problem is costs involved in content management projects. According to Lombardi(2003), the average CMS project cost is about $6.6 million

Software vary, it requires many skills such as writing, gathering assets, authoring, workflow, implementation, it requires coordination across diverse departments and it requires rigorous project management.

According to white (2002) a CMS writer and consultant, Content management systems is probably the most complex rollout to manage

White[2002] reiterates that the problem most organizations make is under estimating the cost involve in implementing content management system by not setting realistic schedule for procurement and implementation.

There ate four major stages of development; carrying out research on type of document and content that needs to be managed, availability of classification tools and the extends to which CMS needs to be integrated with existing systems such as Enterprise Resource Programme (ERP)


FUTURE OF CONTENT MANAGEMENT SYSTEMS
The cost of commercial open source is still very high smith (2005), however
As technology advances so are the costs of implementing technology drastically falling. Over the last 10 year, open source has gained momentum and the there is no better place to explain open source movement than in content management systems. Some of the most popular content management systems include; joomla, drupal,

Websites such as http://opensourcecms.com/ , have come up where open source (written in php programming language) can be tried for suitability before actual purchase. Some of the examples of  open source content management systems are;
http://www.oscom.org/ is a website managed by the international association for Open Source Content Management, they have open source content management written in other programming languages.

These websites enables the testing of open source content management systems, because not all open source content management systems are applicable in each and every situation, they all have their advantages and disadvantages.

There are approximately over 40 open source content management systems, some examples include; 1024, AIOCP, AssoCIateD, BigAcem bitweaverm, bloofoxCMS, ChiCoMaS, CMS Made Simple, CMS-Bandits, CMScout, Concrete5, ContentNow, DBHcms, Diferior Dragonfly CMS, Drupal, e107, EasyHP, eazyPortal, Elxis, Enano CMS, Etomite, Exponent, ExV2, eZ Publish, Falt4, Frog, Fundanemt, FuzzyLime, Geeklog, Glorilla Icy Phoenix, iGaming CMS, ImpressCMS, Jasmine CMS, Jaws, Joomla, Kajona³ Limeware CMS, LoveCMS, Mambo, MDPro, MemHT, MiaCMS, MODx, Monkey CMS, Netious, NexPro, OneCMS, Ovidentia, Pheap, PHP-Fusion, PHP-Nuke, PHPizabi, phpwcms, phpWebSite, PLUME CMS, RunCMS, Seagull, SilverStripe, TGS CMS, TikiWiki CMS, toendaCMS, TRIBiQ CMS, Typo3, Typolight, iennaCMS Website Baker, Xaraya, XOOPS, YACS, Zikula

According to Smith(2005) when accessing content management systems; the following need to be put into perspective

Default capabilities such as how many features come when a content management system has been installed, does it provide a good starting point. Template flexibility;
Template refers to the default architect of the system, most of these systems have very basic, un appealing, generic interface which needs to be customized to reflect the organization’s theme. One of deterministic factor is; how easy is it to change the look
Maintainability; how easy is it to maintain the system. Has the access layer been separated from presentation? (Smith, 2005)

Most open source content management are built using style sheet. According to w3, style sheets describe how documents are presented on the screens, in prints, how they are pronounced. W3 Consortium as come with several recommendations such as CSS1, CSS2, xpath, XSLT (W3C, 2008)

Style Sheet separates the codes from the presentation and provide a faster way of updating the website because an update on a style sheet is propagated on the entire website