Web Content Management: What is it?

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Web-based content management systems allow non-technical users to update website content and sometimes layout. They use a database to store content, allowing for dynamic page creation. They are used for blogging and can change site presentation through templates and widgets.

Web-based content management is a system created to help people update their websites through a web interface. Often a web-based content management system allows people who have no knowledge of HTML or other coding languages ​​to update the content of a site and sometimes even allows them to make minor changes to the layout and structure of the site. Web-based content management is used extensively for enterprise systems, where many people may need to edit content, and where it makes sense for those people or departments to have direct access to your site, rather than having to work through an intermediary web designer .

Usually the back end of a web based content management system is built on top of a database, often stored as XML. This allows you to use pieces of content over and over throughout your site, in the form of smaller modules. This gives site owners and operators a lot of leeway in terms of creating dynamic pages from pre-existing pieces of content, such as image pools or specific text segments such as mission statements, contact information or articles. Since the content is stored in a database, the user can edit a single instance of the content and have the changes reflected across the entire site wherever that form is referenced.

For many people, the web-based content management system is used for just that: content management. The structure and design are set up in advance by a web designer and builder, who also installs the content management system itself. Therefore, company members with access privileges can only edit the content. This editing usually takes place in a pane within a web browser and often includes basic formatting options, in much the same way as in a word processing program. So there might be a button to make the text bold or colored differently or to insert hyperlinks. More advanced content management systems may also include options for inserting multimedia content, such as images, video or audio files.

All of this can be done without any HTML knowledge, making it ideal for both small businesses and larger enterprise systems. There are a number of web-based content management systems out of the box for installation on a server, usually by a web master. Larger companies usually rely on a custom web-based content management system, although these custom systems can sometimes be built on top of a pre-existing framework.

One of the best-known uses of web-based content management is blogging, whether for business or personal use. Software like WordPress or Movable Type is a specialized form of content management software, designed to make running a blog easier. These applications have huge followings and support structures, constantly developing plugins and design themes, allowing people to extend their functionality without having any programming experience of their own.
Many content management systems also allow for the presentation level of the site to be changed through the system. This is usually done through the use of templates, which people can easily download and install to change the entire look and feel of the site. Often the presentation layer will also include widgets, which can be dragged and dropped across an intuitive interface to move things around on the page.




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