Content Management Systems
Content Management Systems (CMS) have evolved over the last decade into much more than editing and publishing website content. The advent of Web 2.0 technologies has meant that they are all about collaboration with the user, workflows and scalability. A web CMS allows you to easily create, edit, index, and publish website content, while giving users and developers greater flexibility in customizing their look and functionality.
There are many hundreds, if not thousands of web CMS in the marketplace, and we regularly review up and coming products, however, we have selected the very best of breed to suit our clients needs. Whether advanced, enterprise level (high volume, multiple editors, and signifcant volume of changes), or simple smaller enterprise needs, with fewer needs.
Each of our CMS platforms have a simple GUI (techy term standing for Graphical User Interface), or put in plain english a simple dashboard from which all the administration of the website is completed. A good dashboard will make it quicker and easier for you to make changes and keep your site refreshed with content. And it goes without saying that each of our platforms of choiceare built with valid xhtml and accessibility in mind.
We have outlined an overview of our preferred CMS systems.
EPIServer CMS
EPiServer CMS is the best of breed 'Enterprise level' CMS. Recognised as the world's fastest growing commercial CMS platform - because it is fast, flexible and robust. Used across the globe by many thousands of organisations.
EPIServer allow you to update text, pages, images, workflows quickly and easily. The rapid development and simplicity to use have made it a favourite with both our developers and clients.
EPIServer have been established for about the same length of time as Prodo Digital - so a long time in the digital world. And therefore have developed the latest versions over many years experience, to ensure this platform is the best of the best.
With all the best Web 2.0 features built in, both employees and customers can collaborate online, allowing fast access to products and services, freshly update by your own inhouse teams.
Customers and communities create their own services and software from shared services.
SiteFinity
Sitefinity CMS is a flexible ASP.NET-(Microsoft technology) based content management platform that is used for the construction and management of commercial websites, community portals, intranets, etc. We selected this product for a number of reasons, not least because it is best of breed. To quote SiteFinity 'The product's architecture leverages the .NET development patterns, including Master Pages, templates, standard and user controls, themes and CSS.'
In essence Sitefinity CMS is built with felxibility and extendibility in mind, our technical team find it easy to work with as it gives the ability to extend it and integrate it to multiple platforms, and our designers love it because it doesn't constrain the designs of the sites. Our clients love it because it really is very simple to use, but gives them access to great Web 2.0 features such as built in blogs, new module, rss feeds, customer polls, galleries and many more, with simple 'drag and drop' functionality.
This video by SiteFinity gives a really good overview of the product and lets it speak for itself.
Umbraco
An opensource (no license fee) CMS built on Microsoft ASP.net platform. Umbraco has a simple to use User Interface (or a UI if you prefer), based on many desktop applications so it feels familiar to use and is easy to pick up. It suitable for basic upto complex sites, we tailor the UI to suit your needs, and create relevant short cuts for each customer. As with all our CMS platforms of choice, we can create different permission levels so that, for example, you can have one person who is only ever able to update the news section and others who can access all areas.
Umbraco doesn't have the same 'out of the box' Web 2.0 modules as the others, but it is fully extendable, and we can add in modules so that it can grow easily with your needs. Our technical team like the simplicity and access to the code
Umbraco has a basic, but sound What You See Is What You Get editor (sometimes referred to as WYSIWYG) and as per the other platforms has no limitations on the designs that can be created.
