But anyone with an old house can tell stories of pipes that have become clogged by mineral deposits, pipes that leak and then freeze, hot water that runs cold, not to mention toilets that back up. Web pages can be slow to display, include links to things that no longer exist, display information that is out of date and/or irrelevant, and require the user to tie themselves into knots in order to find what they want.

What does it take to be a good CMS system? Thankfully, this category of software is a "mature" product. This means that there are many viable choices, many of them "open source", and they all meet minimum requirements that exceed the needs of the novice users. It really is that simple.

What does it take to be a great CMS system?

How quickly and easily a system can be learned, how efficient it is for regular users, whether users will remember how to use the system after a break, how user errors are managed (and ideally prevented).

• Usability is a major success factor in a new content management system. It determines how quickly and easily a system can be learned, how efficient it is for regular users, whether users will remember how to use the system after a break, how user errors are managed and prevented.
• If you have a team of people working on a website, then it needs to understand who the members of this team are (roles), include workflow features designed to prevent unproofed text from being published to the website, and include automatic notifications.
• If you are serious about the content within your website (the copy), it needs to be referenced from a variety of places or indexed according to multiple keywords (tags), then the CMS system will include a separate repository system (or database) of the text in question.
• If you want to "personalize" the experience of the site, you will likely be looking for "community" features, which include user profile management. In some cases these profiles are held in a separate database, or even customer relationship management (CRM) systems.
• Web 2.0 features such as RSS and seamless integration of widgets from other sites will abound. Social networking capabilities expand the definition of community to include peer-to-peer interactions.

Who are the players?

In the community foundation field, the platform with the most sites is the VisionMgr platform (Neulogic/Stellar), with about 55 clients. In a 2007 survey of the field, this represented 25% of respondents. The rest are a hodgepodge assortment largely determined not by the foundation, but by the external consultant selected to create the site.

While some foundations have moved into the use of advanced features, the vast majority of foundation sites fall into the "good" category. They do not take advantage of the features that define excellence in today’s market.  Many providers offer products with features that define a "great" CMS system:

The good news is that the tools to construct and maintain an attractive and dynamic site are available and are not expensive. 

The bad news is that the effort required of an organization to construct and maintain such an attractive site is an order of magnitude higher than a simpler "good" site. Such effort translates into full-time staff or substantial resources dedicated to an outsourced provider.

From a strictly at the technical platform perspective, two open source solutions are widely recommended:

• Joomla is appreciated by individuals who are more creative, and are looking to quickly put together an attractive site. http://www.joomla.org/
• Drupal is often chosen based upon its architectural sophistication, and is the choice of larger organizations. http://drupal.org/

Both systems have passionate followings, and it is fair to say that a resourceful web programmer can make either one jump through hoops. What is fascinating is that in a feature-by-feature comparison of the two, shortcomings were plain.

• Joomla does not have a content repository, and
• Drupal struggles with end user forms.

This is one reason why modern websites are so expensive, (the other being that the name of the game is doing something "new").

For more on this comparison, see  http://www.alledia.com/blog/general-cms-issues/joomla-and-drupal-%11-which-one-is-right-for-you?/ 
 

Another Option: 

If your organization would rather not have to worry about finding a hosting provider or worrying about how to install the latest upgrades to your CMS system, a Software as a Service (SaaS) provider may be a good option. These platforms are typically not open source.

For instance, Kintera’s Sphere makes administration easy, provides a nice range of functionality, and has and excellent interface to its CRM system. For those that wish to include Web 2.0 features, such as blogs, or wish to include online event registration and donation features, this is a stable option. The point remains, however, that any organization wishing to extend its web presence by using such features will need to provide the resources to make it happen.

In today’s market, there are more options than ever for CMS platforms, and the platforms themselves are adding options by the month. Decisions, decisions, decisions…

Doug Yeager
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note: the website http://www.dougyeager.com uses Joomla.