I love to design! Seeing things from imagination come to fruition.
For most of us, a rainbow of colours envelopes our lives.
Good valid code makes it easier for you to go back to projects and make amendments later on :)
Designing websites, writing code and debugging it all is thirsty, lengthy (and sometimes tiring) work.
Your website is only as good as the coding behind it.
Websites built on popular CMS' (Content Management Systems) can take the hassle out of editing your website, it's as easy as using a word processor.
“What’s the smartest, most affordable way to revamp my website?” These days when folks ask me that question, I find myself recommending a Content Management System, or CMS, almost exclusively. No other website solution offers more bang for your buck.
What is a CMS? In a nutshell, it is website management software with optional, flexible modules such as web pages, forums, calendars, and newsletters that can be easily added, subtracted, moved around within the site, or held for later publishing. A single administrative interface is used to manage all components and to assign “permissions” to various individuals and groups to include editing rights, administering other users, accessing only certain parts of the website, and more.
Change Makes Sense.
The idea of a CMS isn't new. What is new is the way CMS’s have evolved into affordable, easy-to-use systems within the average business’s reach. Here are nine advantages a CMS-based website has over a non-CMS-based site:
A CMS provides an interactive experience.
Your typical business website is a static, online brochure with text and images to describe your business. It may be lovely to look at but lacking in depth. A CMS-based website provides an interactive experience that invites people to add comments about what they read, hear and experience (all within your control). This stimulates thought and helps the business and its pastors feel the pulse of the business and its website visitors.
All parts of the site, even message boards and guest books, have the same look and feel.
When you start trying to add new features to a conventional website, each is provided by a different program and therefore has its own look and its own navigation menu. But since a CMS has all of these modules integrated, the CMS-based site has a consistent appearance and navigation menu throughout, making it easier for visitors to find their way around the site.
The webmaster doesn't have to be a web design professional.
The typical business website is created by a professional or volunteer who is proficient either with HTML or website development software like Frontpage or Dreamweaver. This severely limits who is able to change and update the site. A CMS includes a user-friendly web-based text editor that works like a word processor and is built right into the website.
The website can be maintained by multiple staff rather than a single webmaster.
Business websites usually have one webmaster who acts as “gatekeeper” to the entire site. This can work well if a full-time staff member has expertise in this area, but that’s often not the case, resulting in frustration and delays. A CMS is overseen by one administrator who has the ability to grant permission to individual staff and volunteers to update specific parts of the site. The youth pastor can have access to update just the youth pages, the administrative assistant can have access to update just the business calendar, and the pastor can be given access to publish a devotional blog, but none of them are given access to change (mess up) other sections or the overall design of the site.
The website is updated regularly and remains current.
If all responsibility for updating a website falls on a single “gatekeeper,” the site often languishes with outdated information when the webmaster is busy, on vacation, or leaves the business. On the other hand, since a CMS-based site can be updated by various staff and volunteers it’s usually updated several times a week or even daily.
A CMS provides the means to offer not only public site access to designated areas, but also private, internal web pages, calendars, newsletters, and forums. The average business website has all content out in the open for everyone to see, but does nothing to improve internal communication and productivity among staff and ministry teams. In addition to those public features, a CMS includes the capability to create private features to enhance the productivity of your leaders. You can create web pages, calendars, newsletters, and forums that are only accessible to staff or specific ministry teams to foster better internal communication.
Site design can be easily updated.
With the typical business website, a volunteer builds the site in FrontPage and no one on staff knows how to make edits. The problem can get complicated if the design is less than desirable but the site was donated to the business, making the staff seem ungrateful if they wish to change it to something more attractive and usable. With a CMS-based site, content is housed in a flexible structure that grows and changes, with user-friendly web-based editing tools. Changing the look and feel of the site is as easy as switching out a template. Moving blocks of site content around involves a few mouse clicks.
New functionality can be easily added in the future.
If the business wants to add some additional functionality (such as an email newsletter) to a typical site, the webmaster has to go out and find new software, install it, configure it, add links to it in the menu, and so on. With a CMS, new modules can be added with just a few clicks giving your website the ability to grow and change along with your business.
