CMS Jam Content Management Systems: News and Resources

It’s only right that the very first CMS I touch on is the one that is my favorite - CMS Made Simple (or CMSMS for short). I chose this system for my own use because it’s name rings true. It really is easy to install, easy to set up, and easy to use…in other words, it’s simple. I’m geeky, it’s true, but that doesn’t mean I want to spend all my time working with overly complex tools. The geek in me can easily appreciate the time-saving factors of working with tools that are rich in functionality, but quick and easy to use.

I create and manage multiple web sites. What I don’t have a lot of is time. In fact, I’m constantly multi-tasking, and anything that can save me a tiny slice of time is something I need and want. So, when I went off in search of a content management system, I wanted something I could get up and running with a minimum of hassle. I’d rather reserve my brain cells for churning out kick-ass content, than use them all up trying to figure out how some application is supposed to work.

When I read about CMSMS, I thought it might sound “too good to be true”. Luckily, the application is open source (in other words, it doesn’t cost anything; it’s free, baby), so it wouldn’t cost me anything to try it out.

I followed the instructions exactly as given, and within an hour or so, I had a fully functioning web site up and running. The only reason it took that long was because I spent a fair amount of time searching for a nicely designed free theme. Otherwise, it would only have taken a few minutes to set up.

Because I have extensive knowledge of SEO (search engine optimization), my first concern was that the system produce search engine friendly code and URLs. It is imperative that search engines such as Google and Yahoo be able to read and understand every page on your site. The traffic you receive from search engines is vital to the success of your web site, so you don’t want to use a CMS system that prevents the search engines from crawling and ranking your site. Luckily, CMS Made Simple creates search-friendly URLs (web page addresses), and has absolutely no issues with creating search engine friendly content. Once I determined that, I moved on to analyzing the ease of use.

What can I say? CMSMS does its name proud. Everything about the system just makes sense. It is extremely usable, in that even without reading the documentation, you could probably figure it all out very easily. Luckily, however, the documentation does exist and it is very well written, so any confusion you might have can quickly be cleared up with the help files.

I plan to talk a lot more about CMS Made Simple in the future, but for now, I’ll leave it at this. Try it.