Let me further elaborate on the CMS had I use for my project. CMS or better known as a content management system is a system for managing the content of a website. CMS allows the author to manage the creation, amendment and repeal of a website content without the expertise of a webmaster. In addition, and uses this information to update the site. The characteristics of a CMS system vary, but most are Web publishing, format management, revision control and indexing, search and retrieval.

The Web publishing feature enables individuals to use a template and other tools to create or modify Web content. The format management function enables content including documents in HTML format or Portable Document Format (PDF) for the site. The revision control feature allows content updated to a newer version or return to an earlier version. Revision Control tracks and any changes to files of individuals. Another feature is the indexing, search and retrieval. A CMS system indexes all data within an organization. Individuals can then search for data using keywords, the CMS system calls.

Drupal, Joomla, Mambo, PHP-Nuke, WordPress and Movable Type are some of the popular CMS out there. All these CMS are quite similar in terms or content management, and applications. I had been using Drupal for a class project for quite some time now and I find it very reliable. We can add applications to Drupal by downloading it from the Drupal website. This system of applications tools is also implemented in other CMS. In Drupal, these applications are called ‘modules’. Joomla refers to it as ‘extentions’ while Meebo refers to it as “extensions”. To get the feel to most of the open source CMS out there, try Open Source CMS. It provides a small and simple demo for each of the CMS listed there.

In short, CMS is a way to site development much easier and faster. What Web developers take days to do with the conventional Web development methods, we can do now, in a few minutes. However, there are restrictions on what you can do with the help of a CMS than that of using the traditional method of production of websites.