Choosing the right CMS for your website can be a stressful choice. You want to get it right, because it’s not easy to switch your CMS. We live in a world where websites are the key to the internet, and having it managed and displayed at a high quality level is crucial. Content management tools have easily become one of the internets most powerful web developer tools since PHP. Firstly, some of you may ask, “what is a CMS?”. A Content Management System (CMS) is a web application that uses a database to create, edit and store HTML content in a manageable way. Developers get an admin panel which is an interface where you can create and update pages, posts and other types of content such as images and videos. You can also change the design of the site by installing themes and design templates. The beauty of CMS is that all actions are done through simply clicking buttons. No coding or scripts needed!

Nuscreen uses Craft CMS for all of our content management needs, and we find it does wonders. We’ve been using it for the past 4 years. It’s a great combination of all the great CMS’s and is easy to use. Craft CMS is used by many high profile companies such as Netflix, Oakley and Salesforce. It was also recently voted the best CMS for Small to Midsize Business and Best Wordpress Alternative in CMS Critics 2017 Peoples Choice Awards.

The Perks

It’s user friendly. The Matrix Fields make everything easier for content flexibility on Craft CMS. It’s a win-win for clients, designers and developers. It allows you to build pages based off of predefined content blocks such as : call-to-action banners, embedded videos, images, news posts and more. You can drag and drop these blocks into whatever order you prefer, making the functionality even easier! The Live Preview option is also helpful, letting you see your changes in real time while you update your content.

Craft is laser-focused on doing one thing really well: managing content. Craft CMS allows you to design and construct your content structure to meet your specific needs. More than specific. Each different type of content can be given a unique set of fields and templates to help define its final presentation.

Localization done right. Craft CMS lets you localize target specific languages and territories. It’s extremely easy to work with and diversifies your language options on your website. Individual fields can be translatable and other content can be shared across multiple languages. The multi-language support is fully integrated in the system, meaning theres no third parties involved.

You always have support when you work with Craft CMS. Craft CMS is regularly maintained and handled by a small core team and an active community. They are constantly updating and improving the software, with small changes being made almost weekly.

When asked about Craft CMS, our very own Imaan Pirani had this to say, “Having used Craft on a number of client projects, it combines the ease of use of an entry-level CMS such as Wordpress, with the functionality and framework that developers love as well. It really is the best of both worlds.”

So how do you make the ultimate decision of choosing the platform for the website? One important thing you need to consider before choosing a platform, is how much time you are prepared to invest into this website. How much time are you prepared to spend developing and maintaining this website? Do you have the sufficient funds to continue the growth of your site? You have to take all these questions into account. If you’re past the startup stage, and an already functioning business, you might want to get in touch with your IT, Marketing and Sales departments. These areas of your business should have the most opinion of which CMS platform to use. IT deals with all your latest technology, and may need to maintain and update the CMS regularly. Marketing plays a big role, as the CMS is basically just another marketing tool. Sales is also a big player, if you are looking to increase your sales efficiency and effectiveness of the business through the close integration of CRM and CMS.

Craft CMS is a great option if you are getting into developing and still want that easy to use platform. It’s a great combination of all of the top CMS’s. The great thing about Craft is that even for clients to use, there isn't too much of a learning curve, making everyones job easier.

Always remember to research the CMS you may want to use before investing any time or money into it. There are tons of CMS’s out there and you could pick one that’s not right for you pretty easily. Also, never forget that the main purpose of a CMS is to make your job a little easier. It’s there to help make creating and editing content simple and easy. Best of luck!