Which Content Management Systems should I use?
Whilst all website designers and developers have their favourite tools, the truth is there is no CMS that is perfect for every task. We make software recommendations to our clients when we fully understand their requirements, and which system we believe to be most suitable for their needs.
Self Hosted Content Management Systems suitable for Websites
At Digital Butter, we have a lot of experience with Craft CMS, MODX CMS, Orchestra CMS and Wordpress.
- Craft CMS allows for beautifully designed tailor made experiences with rich content and is very strong when it comes to operating a website in multiple languages, which is a necessary requirement for many Hong Kong companies. Because of its versatility, we use Craft CMS for the majority of our Hong Kong web design projects.
- MODX CMS has strengths when it comes to development of very large portals and enterprise websites. With the ability to manage multiple websites from within a single control panel, and strong Intranet integrations, our enterprise clients find that MODX is a perfect fit for them.
- Orchestra CMS is a content management system built directly into Salesforce. Direct integration with Salesforce allows clients to tightly link their CRM with their website. This is a great option for our enterprise clients who are already using the Salesforce cloud.
- Wordpress started as a blogging platform but has evolved into a popular system for running full websites, sometimes even e-commerce stores. Wordpress has become popular due to its ease of setup, and vast number of plug-and-play themes and plugins. We do not usually recommend our clients to use Wordpress for anything other than a blog, but given its popularity in the market and occasionally due to time constraints, we may use Wordpress as a basis for a full website design.
Hosted Content Management Systems suitable for Websites
There are a number of emerging web applications that allow users to create websites using in-browser design tools based on themes, sometimes without using code at all. Some of the better known website builders are:
- WIX.com is a drag and drop website builder marketed towards individuals and small companies. Users can change elements of a theme such as typeface and colors, and upload certain brand assets (e.g. their logo) to customise the theme.
- SquareSpace is a direct competitor to WIX, and works in much the same way, though has a different set of themes and plugins to choose from as a basis.
- Webflow allows for more custom data structures to be used within their visual website design tool, and a design tool that works very similarly to PhotoShop.
Tools like these are most useful for when there are severe time constraints and having a completely custom/uniquely branded website is not at the top of the priority list. With millions of users and only hundreds of themes to choose from, many sites developed using these platforms end up looking alike.
The biggest problem with Wix and SquareSpace is that they own the content, and you cannot download the files to host on your own if you choose to do so later. Webflow does slightly better at this, and charges you a fee to do so.
It may make sense to develop temporary holding websites on these platforms whilst a proper, custom designed website is being developed, so that some SEO gains can be made in the meantime, especially so for larger scale projects that can take a few months to finalise.
Our pricing for website design & development is derived based on a number of hours we expect to spend on a project. Taking a theme based approach using one of the tools listed above can mean that it takes less time and effort to develop a website, and therefore reduce the total cost to accommodate very tight budgets or timelines.
Other platforms
As the internet continues to evolve, so must we as we continue to sharpen our tools in the digital space. If you have a project with requirements using software not mentioned here, not to worry, we may have experience with it already.
Get in touch, we'd love to hear from you.
