content management system

A software suite that is used to create and manage documents and websites. The term is generally associated with Web content, but systems are developed to maintain all kinds of information (see document management system).

One of the features of a comprehensive content management system (CMS) versus a basic Web authoring program is its ability to update the entire site when global changes are made, eliminating the tedium of updating each page one at a time. The CMS may allow the Web designer to manage the site from a single console, and it may also provide versioning, which keeps track of all the changes made to each Web page so they can be rolled back if necessary.

The CMS accepts third-party plug-ins that provide functions such as banner advertising, shopping carts, blogs, wikis, newsletters, opinion polls, chat rooms and forums. Over the years, a few Web publishers have custom-coded their own content management systems, but there have been myriad CMS packages available on the market offering quite a variety of different features and approaches. However, as of 2020, the most popular open source CMS platform is WordPress. Joomla! and Drupal come in a distant second and third. See WordPress, Drupal, Joomla! and OSCOM.

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References in periodicals archive

When converting to a content management system, you can generally choose among three options:

Managing Web content: what's your system? Learn the ins and outs of effective content management

Of course, any content management system that is going to be used for global content should have Unicode support.

Why content management should be part of every organization's global strategy: to meet the challenges of creating, using, and sharing content in a global marketplace, organizations should consider a content management system

Dynamic content management systems such as Ektron's CMS 300 open a whole new world of control for your Web site.

Dynamic content management on the Web

The new content management system to be supplied by on-IDLE will enable the charity to manage their own content so that they can keep audiences up-to-date with their many events and appeals, the company said.

on-IDLE to design The Variety Club website

According to information published by the consulting firm Gartner, Stamford, Conn., the average price of a web content management system in 1999 was $500,000.

Oh, what a tangled web ...: web content can be unruly. Here's how campus webmasters are using content management systems to gain control

With the Fission Content Management System, DataForm has the ability to create, edit, and update an unlimited number of content pages from any computer with internet access at any time.

Data Form Software Converts to Fission CMS

According to the company, the content management system will ensure quality, currency and depth of regional and local information while at the same time eliminating the need for the regional offices to produce their own versions of national content.

Office of the Deputy Prime Minister launches Mediasurface solution

They could exert this new control, while making it possible for employees with little or no knowledge of HTML or coding to make the changes content management system also allows the school to ensure design consistency and information accuracy throughout the site.

Taming the web infrastructure beast: as web demand accelerates on campus, IT managers must corral multiple technologies to improve services and functionality