Summary
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
 
Content Management Systems
 WEBSITE CONTENT MANAGEMENT SYSTEMS
Content management system function on client-server architect ; it enables  information to be well structured and automates maintenance

Content management means managing unit of digital information which can either be text, graphics, video or sound.  Web Content Management Systems exists to allow non technical users to edit information, the structure also known as a template is concealed from the editor such that they only deal with manipulation (addition and deletion of information)

It is a complex blend of functionality, acquiring, managing and approving information .  This encourages scalability because the website can grow without losing structure or template and it allows the separation of the content from the structure such that the users of the systems are only concerned with the information

Content Management systems have been popularized by open source so much such that every time a CMS is mentioned, people that are knowledgeable in Information Technology think it refers to one of the open source. However there are also commercial content management systems.


There are software and tools for creating web pages and even websites, but it takes time to learn how to use them, but with content management system, once the architect of the site is settled, other pages can be added automatically thereby freeing the designers to design, programmers to program and content managers to manage the content of the website (Burlaca, 2003). The importance of this is that it enhances the outlook of the company, as information is kept fresh and current

The value added by content management systems are enormous; they are as follows just to mention a few; increases chances of displaying correct information since editors can easily edit the content, reduces the chances of legal issues since content can easily be edited and the website owners do not have to depend on the web designers. It enables decentralization of content creation because different people can login from different locations and collectively edit enhancing collaboration. In these days of rapid technological advancement, there is a need to respond quickly to change.
It creates competitive advantages because a website with fresh content shows a forward looking company

Content management is not just enhanced integration but it is also automation of process that leads to efficient dissemination of information

(Browning and Lowdes, sept, 2001) argue that the cost of implementing a content management system may be similar to purchasing a student record system which even though both are essential, content management system will strategically place the company on competitive edge.

Content management system can be divided into three categories; authoring, storage, workflow and publishing. Briefly explained, authoring is a process by which many users can contribute content within a controlled environment, workflow is the management process between authoring and publishing e.g. when the legal team or the manager sign off the website. In the past it was done outside the software but with content management system it is inbuilt into the flow. (Browning and Lowndes,  2001)

In storage, information can either be stored into a database or extensible mark up language (XML) and be retrieved when needed.   Publishing is the process by which stored information can be delved either as wireless mark up, html or pdf (Browning and Lowndes,  2001)

In 2003, Browning and Lowndes predicted that investing in C.M.S was riskier than investing in other established systems. That prediction should have changed now with the rise of many open source systems for content management. (Browning and Lowndes,  2001)
 
Usability Engineering

Why is Usability Important?

 Usability has shifted from loose practices to an engineering discipline involving empirical methods and grounded in scientific theory Companies now hire teams of professional experienced in psychology, human –computer interaction and human factors. Usability Professional Association (2005)

In website, leaving is the first option when a user encounters difficulty. If they can’t find it, they will leave. Nielsen(2003)

According to Nielsen J.(94) even tests that don’t seem significant should be done because it improves the quality of decision significantly especially where you have an alternative of two interfaces, if testing is done it will improve decision making process. (Hugo, 2003)

Careful methods are normally expensive in terms of expertise and money therefore simpler methods stand a better chance of actually being used in practical design. This method known as discount usability engineering [Nielsen 1989b, 1990a, 1993] is based on the following techniques; scenarios, simplified thinking aloud and Heuristic evaluation.

 

1.    Scenarios

The main aim of scenario is to reduce complexity of the implementation by eliminating part of the full system. (Sulaiman, 1996)

Since scenarios are small and easy to implement, they form a better method of getting user feedback because they can be changed frequently. Scenarios can be implemented as paper mock –ups

2.    Simplified Thinking Aloud

This is effectively done by interface designers and psychologists, it involves bringing in real users, giving them test tasks and asking them to think aloud while performing tasks. According to Nielsen(94) between 3 to 5 users should be used to simplify the  testing while achieving the  benefits of using many users (Hugo, 2003)
Computer scientists are able to find usability problem even while using primitive methods. (Nielsen, 1992b)

Data analysis can be performed from notes taken by the experimenter, in traditional thinking a loud, this is normally done by video recording, video recording and analysis. This takes a lot of time, which should be spent on iterations between interfaces to improve it. (Pressman, 1992)

3. Heuristic Evaluation

These are rules and guidelines to follow in order to make the product more usable. According to Nielsen (94), there are so many rules out there and so he gives 10 basic usability principles, Visibility of system status, Match between system and the real world, User Control Freedom, Consistency and Standard, Error Prevention, Recognition rather than recall, Flexibility and Efficiency of use, Aesthetic and minimalist design, Help users recognize, diagnose, and recover from errors, Help and Documentation


References

  1. Nielsen, J. (1994) Ten Usability Heuristics (Revised 2005) [online]. Available from http://www.useit.com/papers/heuristic/heuristic_list.html [cited on 12-03-07]
  2. Nielsen, J. (2006) Severity Ratings for Usability Problems (online). Available from http://www.useit.com/papers/heuristic/severityrating.html[cited on 12-03-07]
  3. Tog B., (2005) First Principles of Interaction Design. [online] Available from http://www.asktog.com/basics/firstPrinciples.html [cited 30th April, 2007]
  4. Nielsen, J. 1994b. How to Conduct a Heuristic Evaluation. Available in http://www.useit.com/papers/heuristic/heurstic_evaluation.html. [cited 30th April, 2007]

 
 
Why you need a Website

Facts

  • More than 20 million shoppers are now online, purchasing everything from books to computers to cars to real estate to jet airplanes to natural gas to you name it. If you can imagine it, someone will figure out how to sell it online
  • With a well-designed site, your little operation can project the image and professionalism of a much larger company.
  • If you do not have a website you are losing to companies that have
  • Your site may be the first chance you have at making a good impression on a potential buyer. "If your site looks like it was designed by a barrel of colorblind monkeys, your chance at making a good first impression will be lost".1
50 Reasons Why you Need a Website

1. Promote Your Products
A website allows you to showcase your products for everyone to see. You can explain the benefits, compare it with other products, or show testimonials of happy customers that already bought the product.

2. Promote Your Services
It is hard to showcase services in a store, or office. The web allows you to introduce the service, the professionals providing the service, and how several services can complement each other.

3. Promote Your Organization
People buy from people. People support organizations and causes that they believe in. A website is a fantastic tool to promote an organization and build trust - that is, if you do it right... A well-developed website can convey trust and credibility, making people to buy from you, or support you.

4. Promote Yourself
Whether you are a professional looking for a job, or an expert in your industry: you can show that to the whole world by having a comprehensive website. The use of an associated email address also increases perceived professionalism: a letter from someone at me-the-expert.com will certainly open more doors than an email from a hotmail account.

5. Promote Your Ideas
Political campaigns are now all over the web. A website can be a powerful way to promote your ideas, and build a following of like-minded people. Or you can just write online journals ("blogs") to ventilate some of your thoughts and concerns.

6. Promote Your Events
Have a fundraising event? Want to promote your business with seminars, workshops or a tradeshow? You will increase awareness when you create a website for the event. Show dates, programs, prices and riving directions - to name but a few features that will be greatly appreciated by your target audience.

7. Sell Your Events
Want to take it a step further? You may even want to consider selling (or pre-ordering) tickets for your events on a website. Shorter line-ups, less expenses: it sounds like a good idea to me...

8. Sell Your Organization
Whether "selling your organization" is a figure of speech (to convince people) or a true selling effort, a website can be considered a very valuable asset to your organization.

9. Sell Your Services
A website can be a great tool to not only promote, but also actually sell your services. You can automate many repetitive tasks, such as registration, billing, collecting and much more. Whether you are selling phone services or speaking engagements: you can effectively do it with a website.

10. Sell Your Products
A few years ago, after all the dot-boms, people lost faith in e-commerce. Now e-commerce is booming. Gift moments like Christmas and Valentine's Day show record sales numbers, and money-guzzling giants like Amazon are starting to make money. Offering a great user-experience and minding usability is the key to success.


11. Save Costs
By integrating systems and automating certain tasks you may be able to actually save costs. For instance, by integrating your e-commerce website into your inventory and accounting systems. Build extranets to connect with suppliers and clients alike. You can provide downloadable documents on a website rather than mailing them out. The opportunities are endless.

12. Build A Community
Want to be perceived as a leader? Want people talking about you, or provide a platform for people to share ideas and ideologies? A website, especially with a forum or bulletinboard, can be a great help in building an online community. It may even be the cement that keeps an offline community together, because of its empowering character and 24/7 availability.

13. Share Pictures, Sound And Other Files
I just watched wedding photos, I enjoy watching funny commercials from all over the world, I like listening to music - on a website. You can use it to share Media Kits, sound bites, or PowerPoint presentations. A website is a great tool to exchange multi-media.

14. Offer Service 365/24/7
This may not be of great value to you (it may even be a burden...), but to your customers it is very empowering and important. The Internet puts the web browser in control - and if you are not there, you will be more and more passed over in favour of an online competitor.

15. Answer Frequently Asked Questions
Answering the same questions over and over again can be a great waste of money and employee morale. A carefully crafted list of Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs), posted on a website, can reduce the stream of repetitive questions so your Customer Support department can actually start supporting customers, and your Sales Department can really devote their time to selling!

16. Improve Branding
Branding is a way to differentiate your product, service or company from its competition, and create loyalty. The content of a website, its style and tools such as newsletters allow for many ways to differentiate yourself, make the visitor feel good about you, and build loyalty. More worrisome: if you do not do this, a competitor may snatch not only your prospects sales, but also their loyalty away from you with their website! Eat, or be eaten!

17. Reach A Local Market
More and more people use locally defined keywords in the search engines, which indicates that they use the Internet do find local information. .

18. Reach A Regional Market
A website is one of the easiest tools to expand your exposure into a wider geographical area. W

19. Reach A National Market
Political campaigns are just one example where websites are being used to service a National audience.

20. Reach A Global Market
If your target audience is "the world" then you really need a website.


21. Reach An International Market

22. Reach A Specialized Market
Do you sell cat and dog helmets? , a website will expand your possibilities of promoting or selling your product or service - wherever in the world your prospects may be.

23. Test New Products And Services
With a little bit of help from search engines and directories, or by linking from high-traffic websites, you can create a new website to test new products or services. You may even keep quiet about the fact that you are behind this new product or service site. A dedicated website can prove to be a very valuable test case before fully launching your new success - or quietly taking it off the market again if the market is not quite ready yet ;o)

24. Solicit Feedback From Customers
A contact form on a website can provide you with a lot of valuable information from customers, prospects and other interested people. You may even get them to take an online poll - especially if you say they can win a prize as a reward. And if the stakes are high enough, the free word-of-mouth promotion will start automatically...

25. Start A Movement
Want the US Army out of Iraq? Want to preserve a local trail? A website is a most effective way to promote your viewpoint, recruit volunteers, build a community (by adding an online forum), make press releases available, and much, much more.

26. Spread Ideas
Even if you do not want to start a movement, a website allows you to share your views and ideas with like-minded people all over the globe. It also allows you to easily explain things by means of adding audio, video or animation to your website. It can be like having your own radio or TV station...

27. Educate
Online education can be very effective; more and more people are taking courses over the Internet. If you provide workshops, or complete courses, you may consider offering them online too.

28. Update Information Quickly
Catalogues have been around for a long time, and they still prove to be successful. Newspapers are still a popular way to find out what is going on in the world. They have one major disadvantage, though: you cannot update them very quickly. A website, however, allows you to make changes almost instantly.

29. A Sales Tool Outside The Office
Employees away from the office can be kept informed with a website. A new press release? A new price list? Newsworthy things happening in your industry? You can quickly post information like that on an Intranet, which is a website only available for your employees, so they can see it wherever and whenever they want. If you add features like a forum you are also able to facilitate 1-to-many communication between employees.

30. Integrate Supply Chains
By offering your clients online ordering you are able to integrate whole supply processes. You can offer them password-protected areas with their information, such as prices, year-to-date ordering information, and more. This can be considered additional customer service, but may also be forced upon you by powerful clients or suppliers.

31. Reward Clients
By offering clients access to a website just for them, you can reward them for their loyalty. This website can for instance be used to offer specials, unique tips or other benefits. You can create an online club for Loyal Customers.

32. Run Contests
If you want to run a contest, a website may be a very viable solution. With a carefully chosen domain name it can foster word-of-mouth promotion ("tell a friend!"), you are able to track all the entries in an online database (without having to enter them manually), and you are able to promote it with links from other websites, or search engines.

33. Communicate With Your Target Audiences In Their Own Language
Addressing your target audience in their native tongue will certainly improve your chances of success.

34. Inquiry Marketing: Be Found - Period!
A major advertising conference mentioned recently "advertising is dead". Interruption marketing does not work as it used to, due to video on demand, TiVo, the Internet... The consumers are more and more difficult to reach. Instead, they are in control; they are searching - on the Internet. It is inquiry marketing. Search and be found, or fail to be found and lose the customer.

35. Improve Communication
Brochures and flyers only allow for a few lines of communication. A carefully crafted website can guide your clients, suppliers or employees through page after page of information. Another advantage is that you can add audio and video to these pages - something that paper communication tools cannot offer.

36. Change Communication From One-To-One Into One-To-Many
Conventional marketing tools allow you to promote or sell 1-on-1. A website can cater to many prospects at the same time. An effective website will also help you build a buzz: word-of-mouth promotion.

37. Share Basic Business Information
People use the Internet often trying to find quick answers to basic questions. What are your opening hours? Do you offer payment plans? What is your phone number or email address? These are the days of "Inquiry Marketing"; so get a website if you do not already have one, and make sure that people can actually find it in the search engines and directories.

38. PR Tool
A website can be a great PR tool. You can post Press Releases on it, or articles, or a complete Press Kit - with pictures, sound files, bios, and more! You can also start a forum or blog (an interactive type of online diary), which can be a great PR tool.

39. Expand Your Product OR Service Offerings - Exclusively Online
A website allows you to differentiate your product or service offerings. You may want to consider offering slightly different services online than you do offline, for instance to foster repeat visits, using it as a test market, or target different geographical areas than you do with your store or office.

40. Communicate With Audiences Worldwide
The world is your oyster - especially with a website, which allows you to communicate with audiences worldwide (as long as you both understand the same language). Geographical locations or time zones are no longer a problem with the 24/7 availability of a website.

41. Cross-Sell
When it is busy in your store, not all visitors will be able to speak to one of your sales people. Opportunities to cross sell ("did you see that we also sell ...") are lost. But on a carefully constructed website you can make sure that people are exposed to other offers that may interest you. A classic example is Amazon.com, which is very successful with an automated suggestion feature ("Customers who bought this title also bought:...").

42. Increase Customer Loyalty
By Giving Them More Control These are the times of inquiry marketing, and anything-on-demand. The customer wants to be in control, and websites are a perfect example of that. The customer decides what they want to see, and when, and if you do that right, you will have acquired a loyal customer.

43. F U N
Websites allow you to present your target audience with something fun. Flash animations as a quirky way to make a point or explain something, can build a lot of goodwill. Skilful copywriting can be used to solicit a wink and a smile from time to time. Sales is all about emotion, and websites allow you many ways to evoke these in a favourable way. But make sure that the FUN is appropriate, or else you will be evoking powerful negative emotions.

44. Family Sites
Many families are no longer in the same geographical area; they may even be spread over several countries... A website can be a great way to keep in contact. Share pictures, movies, stories on a website for all family members to see. Added benefit: you will have an email address @ yourname.com or .uk, so you will never have to change addresses again! (Not even in case you decide to witch Internet providers - for instance from sympatico to cogeco)

45. Make Life Easier
Websites can make you customer's lives easier - and yours! Look at online banking, or ticket ordering. Whole new industries have emerged because people want to be able to do things themselves, from their home or office - because it is easier. So: what will make your customers' lives easier?

46. Find Employees
A highly effective way to use a website is to use it as a recruitment tool. You can obviously use it to post vacancies, but you may also consider placing a more general invitation to send resumes. This way you may already know the right person for the job before a vacancy even occurs.

47. Pre-Ordering
A well-promoted product launch on a website allows you to take fully automated pre-orders. This is a great tool to supplement your sales force. You can have an online presentation, and shop, so that enthusiastic clients and prospects can pre-order immediately.

48. Build An Appetite
Pre-launch campaigns can be highly effective. Websites can be used to build the buzz, have a few teasers, a countdown clock, press releases and news about the ongoing campaign. You may even show a picture of just a tiny part of the new product: "can you guess what it is?"

49. Email Address Forever
Let's say that your domain name is agoodname.com. Using email address This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it is a good way to promote your website, because people will guess your website based on the email address. And if you keep your domain name indefinitely, you will have that email address indefinitely. No more sending of emails to your friends and business, stating that "you moved to another email service provider; can you please update your address book?"

50. Play With The Big Guys
Many small companies successfully take on the big Guys. Websites can be relatively inexpensive (compared to running a brick-and-mortar store), and with proper usability and search engine optimization your website can be as good as your larger competitors, or even better!

51. Check You Out Anonymously
One of the things many people like about the Internet is that they can research anonymously. No pressure. This is why it is so important that you have a website that is easily found on the Internet - you cater to the preferences of your target audience.

52. Facilitate Knowledge Building
You can use a website to sell seminars or e-books, for people to learn from. You can create password-protected modules so people can learn online. You can build forums where people can exchange questions and answers. A website is an ideal tool to facilitate the exchange of knowledge.

53. Enhance Marketing Effectiveness
Success does not come from doing one thing right. What you need is a marketing mix, and a website can be a powerful ingredient. Mentioning a website in a radio, TV or print ad may just be the thing that wins people over - especially if the online experience feels similar to the offline communication.

54. People Expect It
By having a website you show the world that you are a viable business. Not having one makes you suspicious in the eyes of many prospects. It is silly but true: a website will enhance perceived professionalism.

55. Competition Forces You To(o)
Your competition will force you to get a website, if you do not already have one. Customers (especially the newer generations) will demand you have a website, and will pass you over if you do not have one. It is a matter of adjusting to shifting market conditions. And things will continue to shift, at an amazing speed - just look at how fast the Internet has become an integral part of our lives...

 

    * References

   1.

      Knox T., Why You Need a Website,  even if you're not planning on selling online, a well-crafted site is essential for any business. Available http://www.entrepreneur.com/ebusiness/gettingstarted/article65204.html
   2. http://www.u-cwebs.com/usability-reviews-articles/50reasons.htm
 
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