The term “Content Management” is very broad, especially the way it’s used in many systems and processes around the world. In fact, there are multiple types of content management systems, so to avoid causing any confusion over that term, I want to clarify what CMS will mean for this course.
A content management system can refer to any process or system that allows an individual or an organization to manage content.
These “management” systems can be online or offline, open source or proprietary, and focus on a single content type or manage a range of different types of content. It’s not uncommon to encounter the term CMS across multiple industries or disciplines, even if they’re referring to entirely different processes.
Many CMSs are proprietary and are very powerful enterprise-level systems that are designed to manage content for large organizations, across multiple media types and distribution channels – think Amazon or any fortune 100 company.
Our focus will be on the smaller, often open-source CMSs that are primarily focused on managing web sites and their content. These are sometimes referred to as web content management or WCM systems. Although that term is probably more accurate, most web designers and developers simply refer to these solutions as a CMS.