Re: Content Management System versus Static (Dreamweaver)

[Joe Malin <jmalin -at- jmalin -dot- com>]

Dreamweaver used to have something called Contribute that helped with
content update.

"Static content" is all relative. How often will it change? Who will
make the changes? How much time can the maintainers apply to making the
changes? Will the changes be content only, or formatting/layout? Are
content changes usually text-only?

A "static" web site works quite well if you are making scheduled
changes, have the time to make them in an orderly fashion, and have the
people for it. You can put the work in the hands of the "editors":
people with accumulated knowledge of the site who can maintain tone and
consistency.

A CMS system can be very time-consuming. You get tremendous flexibility,
but you also get huge complexity. I used a CMS called Plone at my
previous position. It has enormous power, but is also tremendously
complex. I eventually concluded that we didn't really need the power it
was offering, and we didn't have the time or people to maintain the
complexity. In our case, a wiki served our purpose exactly, and that is
what they currently use.

The proposition "Dreamweaver implies static" is false, as is the
equation "static implies unchanging". By the way, the proposition "CMS
implies no editor" is also false. Regardless of what you choose, you
must assign someone as the site editor. At the very least, that person
shows people how to put content on the site. That person also maintains
consistency.

For example, if you don't have an editor for your wiki, it will soon
fill up with "junk". People don't realize that a page with their subject
already exists, so they create a new one. People make editing mistakes,
put in bad links, and so forth. For an internal-only site, this isn't
bad, but if you plan to expose it to the world, it becomes unprofessional.

Joe

Tracey Austin wrote:
> After questioning every developer I know, I decided to turn to this
> group for a more decisive answer!
>
> I'm a Technical Writer who has been charged with the task of creating a
> new website to house all of our factsheets, pamphlets, q&a, online
> surveys, etc.
>
> We are currently using a CMS (Joomla) for our non-for-profit company
> website (public health). We find the CMS to time consuming and not
> reliable. Our .css continually gets dumped and simply posting a .pdf is
> very time consuming. We are thinking about switching to Dreamweaver (we
> currently use Adobe CS2 and RoboHelp for all else) but have been
> cautioned against a static content site. Our site will have appx. 300
> htm files and 100 pdf. Is Dreamweaver a wise choice? (Personally, I'd
> like to roll the whole thing into a RoboHelp webhelp file!) 
>
>  
>
> Tracey Austin
>
> Information Developer
>
> Haldimand-Norfolk Health Unit
>
> Phone:(519) 426-6170 Ext. 3203
> Fax: (519) 426-9974
> Email: tracey -dot- austin -at- hnhu -dot- org <mailto:tracey -dot- austin -at- hnhu -dot- org> 
>
> Visit: www.hnhu.org <http://www.hnhu.org> 
>
>  
>
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