Content Management Systems & The Future of Web Design

August 18, 2008 at 1:10 am · Filed under Web_Design

In recent years, website development has massively increased in popularity. With new concepts, standards and technology, comes the demand for more independent and functional solutions - increasingly, this demand has been targeted towards the Content Management System (CMS).

A typical example of a website owner is an entrepreneur who doesn’t have the time (or possibly money) to chase web designers to make minor site adjustments, or the technical know-how to make the necessary changes themselves. Up to date and regularly refreshed content is now a must to ensure visitor loyalty - no-one will read the same articles or news items every day. The solution? A Content Management System.

With content management becoming more and more affordable, the more in demand it will become, hence any web design companies who cannot offer this service may find themselves missing out on potential clients. Of course there will always be the need for web designers, but the introduction of the content management system actually decreases the amount of work required per project, allowing increased time spent on generating further business.

So what does a typical CMS allow?

- Add/remove/edit pages.

- Update content within each page.

- Add images or documents where needed.

- Update contact information.

- Show updated listings (e.g. News Items, Articles, Catalogues).

+ Many extra features not listed here.

In conclusion - If you offer web design services and do not have Content Management Systems available to your visitors, this might be the time to consider this ever growing popular service for your company; there is a shifting demand for this ever-popular freedom online.

http://www.fooshy.com

RB
http://www.fooshy.com

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Web Design Using a CMS

August 16, 2008 at 5:14 pm · Filed under Web_Design

There has been a big craze lately, everybody wants their site as a database driven site or Content Management System (CMS). There are many advantages to using a CMS over ordinary static page site, the main on is site structure. You can change the structure and the hierarchy of the site instantly.

A Content Management System could be best described as integrating elements of a web site such as design, content, media and database into one easy to use package. The System is normally controlled by using a web interface (a form) which will capture the data and store it in a database according to its attributes (title, category keywords, description etc.). Some of the better ones out there are Mambo / Joomla, and because it’s open source there is a large community are continually contributing updates and addon’s to the system. Here’s an example http://www.ketec.net

The design of the site itself is controlled by templates and css style sheets making the design and development of the site is much more consistent especially larger websites. Another important factor is that because the whole site design is controlled by a couple of files it can be easily updated to give your visitors a themed season effect such as Christmas, Easter, Summer, Winter etc. This is important when it comes to repeat visitors, they know that the site is up to date and that the designer / developer is actually thinking of the visitor.

Finally, as you become use to working with a Content Manage System, you could spend more of your time concentrating on content and maybe farm out the design or purchase some templates for your site.

Damien Kettle is a Dublin based web developer. Visit: Web Design Ireland

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Fast Web Design For The Skint Webmaster

June 29, 2008 at 9:01 pm · Filed under Web_Design

About two years ago, I had a go at commercial web site design. I put a medium-sized ad in a London classified ad paper. Nothing fancy: “Web designer seeks work …” etc. This was expensive, about

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