CMS and the Art of setting up a Website in Minutes

CMS or Content Management System enables you to set up a Website in Minutes at a near zero cost without writing a single line of code. CMS enables the author to concentrate on generating beautiful content without worrying about the technically challenging tasks of Web Site Administrator, Developer and Publisher. CMS is a robust piece of code, backed by a community and supported by a dedicated group of volunteers. Some CMS even offer paid support.

What is a Web Site

In the ancient days a Website used to be a collection of HTML pages. For example a company Web Site had say five pages, Home, About Us, Contact Us, Products and News. Each page had some design, text and images. They also had a way to link up with each other with the help of a menu on top having each page marked as a button. HTML pages correctly linked with each other are placed on a Web Server which serves the website to visitors.

Such a website used to take days to get ready by a team of programmers and coders after which it used to be tested and then hosted on the Web Server. All this costed lots of money. Any changes to the website meant that the same or another set of persons need to do some changes to the code which again costed money.

What is Web 2.0

Soon it was apparent that static HTML pages had no or limited interactivity with the audience or visitors. A whole new set of technologies and tools came into being to allow us to interact with websites, carry out cash or similar transactions, do shopping and interact with friends. This meant even more complex coding and hence necessarily meant more money to make such websites.

A website becomes dynamic by breaking up in static component and dynamic content which is stored in database. When user wants to view the website, the static and dynamic components are combined together to form the website which is shown to the user.

What is a CMS

CMS is a package of neatly written codes. When I say neatly written, it means that codes have been prepared for a specific purpose, but the end user need not read or understand them. With changes and customisations using a GUI or interface, the user can configure the CMS package for use as per requirement.

CMS package comes in a ZIP or similar format. It needs to be extracted on the Web Server and connected to a Database. A few more setting here and there and you have your Website in Minutes.

Steps in install a CMS or Website in Minutes

• Copy the website to the Web Server
• Extract or unzip the package
• Begin installation by accessing the website through a web browser
• Alternatively made necessary changes in the configuration file
• Website is ready in minutes

Website is ready, what next

Once the website is ready, your role as an author sets in. You can keep adding content and the CMS will take care of its appearance and how your visitors are going to see it and navigate through your website. If you are not satisfied with the look and feel of your website, you as an author can carry out changes on your own. Some setting for advanced users are also within the reach of authors.

CMS means that the author can post content and is also able to perform all roles for running the website. This is a boon to single author or bloggers who want to have a big time online presence.

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