Should you design your next website with HTML or a content management system (CMS)? To be sure, each has its pros and cons.
HTML – We are on the dawn of a new age with HTML. HTML 5 is currently in development and some website development experts have already started using it, either in purity or in conjunction with a CMS. New developments in the Web’s basic language make it extremely attractive, especially for pure website designers who want to build a website from scratch.
There are many good reasons to design your website with HTML, but you’ll always be relegated to updating your website one page at a time. A CMS doesn’t have that disadvantage.
CMS – While a content management system has its flaws – decreased security, for instance (and even then they have come a long way to defeat breaches) – a good CMS can make your life a whole lot easier. Instead of focusing on design with every website update you undertake, you can focus on the implementation of your content and save yourself oodles of time in the process.
There are free open source CMSs available that can make your website look like a world class website. And there are systems that you can pay for that will do the trick as well. Either way, a good CMS can offer many of the same advantages as HTML.
So which is right for you, HTML or a CMS? That sounds like a question a web design consultant can answer for you.
The debate has been going on a long time. Some proponents of web design prefer to design their website using HTML. Others prefer a content management system, or CMS. But which is better?
I think it depends.
First, some CMSs are better than others so you have to be careful which one you use. Do you go for a paid CMS that you have to spend oodles of money on or do you opt for the paid open source version?
Here are some things to think about before deciding to use HTML or a CMS.
- Security is better with an HTML website
- Designing a website from scratch is usually easier and quicker with a CMS
- You have more control over design with HTML
- A CMS can be enhanced with plugins and add-ons
- Traditionally, SEO has been more effective with HTML, however, many CMSs now rival HTML with search engine optimization
- CMSs are often code heavy and can slow down your website, which diminishes your SEO effectiveness
- You don’t have to know any coding languages to work with a CMS
- If you design your website with HTML, it can be very tedious; one character out of place can mess up your entire website
There are pros and cons to using either a CMS or coding a website with HTML. Weigh your options and choose the one that is best for you.
When it comes to web design, not many people can do their own. It requires special skills such as knowledge of HTML, CSS, PHP, JavaScript, and maybe even other Web languages. But many small business owners and community service organizations are beginning to design their own websites now with WordPress as a CMS. Is that a good idea?
Actually, it’s a great idea, but don’t think that using WordPress is going to absolve you from having to know any programming languages. You can build your own website using WordPress, but there are some functions for which you might need professional help.
For instance, if you want to include your Twitter stream in your blog, where’s the best place to put it so that it doesn’t get in the way of your reader’s enjoyment but still provides the content benefits that you are looking for? Do you know how to map an image inside of your header? A lot of people don’t.
Special knowledge aside, there are plenty of benefits to using WordPress as your web design CMS:
- It’s flexible
- It’s free
- You can tweak it and customize it to fit your needs
- Built in search engine optimization
- Cuts down on time when designing a website
While the benefits are there for using WordPress as a CMS, you can still get more out of it if you let a professional web designer build your site then teach you how to upload your own pages. You won’t have to pay for ongoing design and management, but you can get a good looking website right from the beginning. Then, when you want to add to it, all you have to do is log in and write your pages.
Should you design your website with a content management system (CMS)? There are some definite advantages to doing so.
Some people don’t like CMS applications because the perception is that they aren’t very good at SEO. But that’s not really true any more. Joomla has come a long way in its implementation and WordPress has always been good at SEO. It hasn’t always been a great CMS tool, but lately it has expanded into quite a web design alternative.
One of the primary benefits to using a CMS is that you don’t have to hard code every web page. The CMS does a lot of the code work for you. But you also have tools to help you develop your website when you work with a CMS. WordPress calls them templates and plugins. Joomla calls them templates and modules. They do the same thing.
The key to CMS web design is to pick a template that you like and alter it for your own use. Then take the modules that do the things you need for your website and install them. Then it’s a matter of marketing.
Should you use a CMS for web design? You don’t have to, but it’s one option.
You’ve decided to build a website to promote your business online. You don’t have a huge budget and you have limited technical skills. Should you build an HTML website or use a content management system?
There are pros and cons to doing it either way. But I’d say if you are a small business and you are on a tight budget then you might consider a content management system (CMS).
You are likely going to pay someone to set it up for you if you don’t have a lot of technical skills yourself. But you’d pay someone to design you a website using HTML as well. Either way, there’s an expense. And it costs about the same for HTML or a CMS design. The big difference, however, is in the ongoing maintenance.
With an HTML website, every time you want to update it you’d have to pay someone to update your website for you. It may not be much, but it’s an expense. With a CMS, once the initial set up is done, you can upload your content yourself. Just log in to the CMS and input your content. You can do that on your own and it won’t cost you a penny.
The only time a CMS will cost you is when performing routine maintenance or when fixing a periodic problem that requires technical skills you don’t have. Otherwise, ongoing expenses are less than for an HTML site.
The question may come up for your company on whether or not you should hire a website designer to build you a site using HTML or whether you should use a content management system (CMS). Which is best for you?
Whether you design with HTML or use a CMS depends on a number of factors. Let’s start with how big a site you need. Do you need a large site or is a five-page portfolio all you need? If you are going to put up five pages and that’s that then you’ll probably do well just to build with HTML. It’s a quick down and dirty. But if you’re planning a larger site, say a couple hundred pages or more, then a CMS can be a great benefit.
Budget also plays into the factor. Got a large budget? Is the moon the limit? Then by all means, hire a fancy designer to do your site the right way. Can’t afford a great designer? Alright then, find one who will design you a site with CMS and teach you how to upload your own content.
Just one word of warning: If you do build with a CMS, make sure you configure it correctly. Some CMS systems do not crawl well and some will only crawl well if you set them up in a certain way. Dynamic pages, for instance, may see issues. And adding shopping carts and other third-party software to a CMS has its own issues. Just because the uploading of content is easy doesn’t mean that setting it up is easy.
A CMS can be a big time saver for companies that want to do a lot of their own, but don’t want to learn how to code with HTML. Some web design firms will work with you and teach you how to do some of your own uploading. You’ll just have to do your homework and do what is right for you.
