Content Management System Concepts

Every web site is a set of pages (static or database generated) linked to each other.

Navigation within the site is provided using:
- hyperlinks using images or text within the page
- menu system giving quick access to most important pages (main areas) of the site
- site map – showing a listing of all pages arranged in categories (headings or subheadings)

Different pages have different design, but usually follow have similar look and feel, which is represented in templates.

There are tree types of functionalities that any web content management system will provide for:
- Maintaining the site (adding new pages, site hierarchy, maintainance tasks such as backups, checking for broken links etc…)
- Manipulating pages (Layout templates, and ability to manipulate content in those templates)
- Different add-ons, typically database-driven, dynamic functionality: simple example would be example guest book or feedback form. More complicated examples will include e-commerce functionality: shopping cart, user account, checkout procedure etc…

Other functionalities (for more complex solutions) are more to do with how the site, or group of sites is maintained and typically will include:
- users with various access levels
- page creation workflow and change history
- web analytics tools