3 Good Reasons for Content Management being the Future of Web Design

There are three arguments that support the statement;

Logic
Historical Evidence
Current Trends

Logic

A traditional website would be made up of a series of HTML files all linked together to make a whole. The server then displays each page (HTML file) one at a time as requested.

The problem with this approach is that it is inherently 'static' and rather like a photo, it only delivers the site and your content as and when it was created. If you want a change or an update then the creation process needs to start again and this will include a website designer.

The problem with website designers is that they are probably busy and therefore your update will be 'sometime next week'. They probably also cost money and so you only request updates when you have a meaningful amount to make a difference.

The overal result is that your site is static and neither reflects your business nor internet progress as a whole.

The solution is the means to update your site when you require using average IT skills and still keep up with the latest internet buzz and this is what Content Management can elegantly provide.

Historical Evidence

If you look at manufacturing history and the Industrial Revolution you see the rise of machines de-skilling labour and yet making the very same labour force ever more productive and capable.

The history of the personal computer and the applications used has progressed in exactly the same way. If you created an application on a Sinclair ZX81 you would have used ‘machine code’ to tell every component exactly what to do and how to do it in minute detail. What might have taken 500 lines back then can be done in 2 lines in the ‘high level’ languages of today and the same is true of the applications we currently use. As applications get ever more capable and enable you to do more and more, they reveal nothing of what is going on behind the scenes. And why would we need to know?

Web sites and their technology are following a similar route. Hand-written HTML has given way to the HTML editor and finally the What You See Is What You Get editor. Content management is the natural next step in the process as they allow you to manage your site in ever more sophisticated ways without necessarily knowing how it is all done behind the scenes.

Current Trends

The second age of the Internet has arrived; well it certainly has as far as the Stock Market is concerned. With it probably is the coming of age of internet technology and how sites are delivered.

Having been involved in producing web sites for about 10 years I have seen internet technology become accessible and then inaccessible alternately to normal people with average IT skills; the WYSIWYG editor allowed anybody to design a web page…and then came online databases. The current trend is to slowly replace nice and friendly HTML code (the language used to create web pages) with XML controlled by CSS with Blogs all done up in RSS. All of which are rather more complicated than HTML. On top of that is the hugely increased pressure from the Search Engines on the traditional suppliers of desktop operating systems through their multi-billion dollar successes.

What this means is for the internet to become far less static, far more immediate and more desktop like. The rise and rise of ecommerce, online databases and media (TV, music etc) will continue and all of it will talk to your desktop computer with seeming ease.

Your simple HTML editor will not be able to cope but help is at hand. Content Management is an evolving technology and by nature most content managers are in constant development and will pass on updates as they occur. You are therefore buying in to a technology pool when you use them for your site. This has not been lost on Large Corporations and well known commercial web sites. Not only do content managers allow them to use teams of people to edit the site but controls costs and leverages new technology to their advantage.

Expect to see Content Management in your neighbourhood any day.

Site tailoring since 1999 WebStory Content Management. WebStory is a web content management system that has been delivering internet sites since 1999. With WebStory Hosting we aim to give you reliable and flexible site hosting combined with unsurpassed site management to meet all your needs at a truly affordable price.