Hybrid CMS Solution Please
I was reading a post this morning about CMS vs Frameworks and it got me thinking about how I like to work on projects. I think there are some great CMS’s (content management systems) out there to allow you to manage content on your website, including WordPress that I’m using to write this blog post (you may have noticed that I’m writing a lot more in the last week since I upgraded to the latest version). They come with some great features and are really great to use for me and for my clients. What this article highlighted for me is two things… there is usually a learning curve around a new CMS in terms of setting them up, tweaking them, customising them to way you want, etc. and also that you often loose a lot of control over the output because you are using the accompanied frontend code.
For me as a designer and developer, I like to have a lot of control of the pages that appear on the frontend but I often need to include CMS functionality for my clients so they can update the content on an ongoing basis. So, what do you do… do it all with a custom build, e.g. custom database, custom cms, custom frontend development? Or use an off-the-shelf CMS that you can build the site around and include sections that you need? I’ve done both of these a number of times over the past few years and which one really depends on budget and timeframe.
We have our own Property Manager CMS (see www.gorhomes.ie for a sample) for our property company clients that we’ve built and maintained for the past few years. This was a custom build but we try and keep costs down by specialising in this market. On the other hand, I’ve used the likes of ExpressionEngine to build a couple of CMS driven sites (see www.trimgaa.ie for an example). Both options have their pros and cons, such as:
Custom CMS Build
- Pros – Complete control, works the way you want
- Cons – Costly to develop and maintain, takes longer to develop
Off-The-Shelf CMS
- Pros – Code updating managed for you, quicker to deploy, cost effective
- Cons – Less control over outputted code, learning curve (e.g. EE tags in Expression Engine), frustration with new development procedures (e.g. editing css/xhtml in a browser instead of in your favourite development programme)
So, what I’ve done a few times now is try a hybrid solution and I think I want to do it more in the future. Instead of using a full off-the-shelf product for the CMS and the frontend, I’ve tried using the CMS and database only, and then integrate a custom frontend website/application into that database. This way, i feel you’re getting the best of both worlds: a CMS that is quick and low cost to deploy and maintain while still taking full control over the frontend with custom hand written code.
An example of a fantastic CMS application that I’ve used in this hybrid fashion is SlideShowPro Director. I’ve used SlideShowPro a number of times on sites and it’s a great way of showing a gallery of photos or a portfolio but these days, I’m tending to stay away from flash if I can, and use javascript instead. Therefore, I don’t want to use the SlideShowPro frontend flash output but I do love the CMS that Director is. So, I’ve been able to use SlideShowDirector as a backend CMS to manage a portfolio and at the same time, custom write a frontend javascript based gallery to work directly with the database and it works the way I want it. I didn’t need to extend the CMS in any way, just see how it worked in relation to the database and away I went. I’m thinking of trying something similar with the new ExpressionEngine when it comes out as I love the way you can build custom sections in the database from within the CMS.
So, what do you think? Do you lock yourself into a particular CMS and feel confined? Or do you custom build every CMS and find you’ve never any time? Or are you looking at this Hybrid CMS Solution and if so, can you tell me any other ones you’ve used or would recommend?