In today's web development environment, a content management system (CMS) is an essential and powerful tool for businesses wanting hands-on control over their website content. This technology allows site administrators to easily edit content themselves, providing a greater distinction between the technical and content elements of a website. The ability to edit your site through a user-friendly interface without any development knowledge at all is a great advantage for any website owner, and one that empowers clients to take greater ownership of their website, reduce maintenance costs, and have a continuously active influence on the effectiveness of the site.

But when it comes to choosing a CMS for your website, the choices can be overwhelming. A quick search reveals hundreds of options, and there is a vast mix ranging from free-to-use, open source solutions to high-end enterprise products. Open source solutions have taken off in recent years, a trend that is mirrored right throughout the software development market. Strong community contribution, continuous incremental improvement and minimized costs are some of the attractions of such products. Whilst commercial solutions can be robust and polished, they can sometimes lack the flexibility of open source and often go beyond the budget requirements of most small to medium sites.

Perhaps the most important thing to consider is that your CMS should not determine what your website can do. It should be capable of handling anything you can imagine, and should do so in a manner based on common and standards and technologies. This aspect of a CMS is all about flexibility, and it has a big impact on the design and maintenance of a site.

This is where Umbraco really excels - nothing is impossible! It is based on the powerful and widely used .NET platform, allowing us to leverage this power and create web applications that meet any business requirement. It uses open standards, meaning any web developer that works with it will never have to learn a whole new set of proprietary technologies just to maintain or further develop the site (unlike many commercial products). Finally, Umbraco is continuously evolving. Dedicated community contribution and a collaborative development process means that the product is always improving in direct response to user needs. If there is a requirement for a feature that doesn't currently exist, we can make it happen thanks to the benefits of open source.

There are times when a commercial CMS solution may be preferred, especially if the desired product meets the exact requirements straight out of the box. For many large websites requiring complex features for the CMS, this inherent, well tested and documented functionality along with the dedicated support of a commercial vendor can make a strong case for using such a product. But when it comes to offering a solution that is flexible enough to work for any site, based on tried and tested development best practices, Umbraco is the answer.

Ryan - Application Developer at Zeroseven