Skip to main content

Web Standards, Part II: The Problem with Content Management Systems

This article was originally posted at Blogs@SI on April 22, 2005.

Content management systems are the only sane way to manage Web sites. Once you've worked with a CMS, you will not want to go back to the bromidic and irksome labor of diddling with static Web pages.

I don't care how large or how small the site is; pull it out of that WYSIWYG editor, get it into a CMS of some kind, get it under control, and make the most of your content. There's a world of open-source tools and accompanying support communities out there; you do not have to purchase a behemoth.

That said, if you are evaluating content management systems, watch out for the code cranked out at the other end. There are some very laudable systems that produce standards-compliant Web pages (see www.cmswatch.com). Others, however, generate verbose and mungy code.

Still another issue is WYSIWYG editors. Not the kind like Dreamweaver, but the online variety that work as part of the CMS toolkit. Find me an online WYSIWYG editor that successfully disallows all naughty bits of uncompliant code from entering into the system through the front door, back door, side window, or cat door. I'm really asking you. Find me one.

If the WYSIWYG editor has a certain colanderlike quality, it doesn't matter if the CMS does a stellar job of generating standards-compliant code. This can all get botched by goofball tags dumped in from Microsoft Word, shaggy HTML imported during page migration, or content providers who pride themselves on their knowledge of font and table tags.

The caveat:

1. Validate several Web sites generated by the CMS that is courting you, and go through the source code with a flea comb.
2. Test the CMS by attempting to pour garbage code into it (this is kind of fun).
3. Educate your content providers, and monitor the code side of the content as part of your workflow. I can't emphasize this last one enough.


07.08.2006
Followup to this post: Two open-source WYSIWYG editors - Kupu and FckEditor - both used with Zope/Plone, have done a very good job of addressing this issue.

Popular posts from this blog

Plone Advocate Andreas Mantke to Lead Site-Administration Workshop at 2012 LibreOffice Conference

I just published this article at plone.org on Andreas Mantke, a deputy member of the Board of Directors of the Document Foundation for LibreOffice . Mantke led a workshop for new Plone site administrators in the LibreOffice community during its annual conference last week. See the full article at plone.org/news/andreas-mantke-to-lead-site-administration-workshop .

Announcing the 45th Eastern Primitive Rendezvous

The 45th Eastern Primitive Rendezvous takes place September 23-October 1, 2022.   For more information, visit the official EPR website and Facebook group . We will be hosting the 45th Eastern Primitive Rendezvous on our family farm, near East Smithfield, PA. The dates are September 23 - October 1, 2022.  This is a living-history event depicting 18th-century activities. Visitors can tour the camp each day from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m.  Tuesday, September 27 is School Tours Day, during which we welcome classes from all of the area schools. Campers need to preregister ( nrlhf.org/pdf/pre-reg.pdf ), and period-correct clothing and gear are required.  For the exact location and more details, visit the  official EPR website  and Facebook group . For those of you who attended the 2017 EPR, this is the same location.