7 Reasons to Love Working With Web Content Management Systems (WCMS)

01 October 2021

The first encounters of software engineers with Web Content Management Systems (WCMS) generally happen very early, even during their studies. And the tasks that are entrusted to those who are just entering the world of this IT niche relate to the development of websites that are not so demanding. And, as a platform for work, they get those such as, say, Joomla CMS which, at a given moment of professional development, seems like an easy and simple site creation tool. The initial tasks consist mostly of adding a few pages and integrating several plugins, all in accordance with the requirements of the given project.

Such systems seem quite rudimentary, with a couple of interesting features that give them a certain charm and usefulness. Of course, talented software engineers from the very beginning notice their exceptional usefulness for non-technical users and it is clear to them that the system itself had no use value on large, commercial projects. All this until they start working for serious companies specialized in providing technical expertise in the implementation of CMS solutions for large corporate clients.

The difference between CMS and WCMS is extremely small. CMS solutions are used in the classical sense for managing everyday business documents, although they can also be used for multimedia management. WCMS is a subgroup of CMS and relates to content management on a website. Also, some CMS solutions stand out for their functionality and settings, such as SDL Tridion. At first glance, it looks like any other CMS, but IT experts know that this is not the case.

So, let’s take a look at some of the features of CMS solutions that make the job of a software developer interesting and challenging…

Serviceability (Technical Support)

The first thing developers are told when they start working is that solutions like the above-mentioned Tridion are supported pieces of software. For corporations whose businesses are based on a 24/7 accessible site, the availability of technical staff to install, configure and monitor products, and identify bugs – and all in order to solve the problem in the product itself – is one of the key options.

Serviceability itself very often leads to lower operating costs during implementation. What exactly does this mean for the developer? Above all, efficiency in implementation and delivery.

Software Extensibility (Upgradeability)

Most CMSs are upgradeable. Are you missing some functionality in the CMS itself? You can easily develop and incorporate it into the solution itself using a large number of different APIs. This is a very powerful feature that in itself allows the CMS to become “something more” for the client.

The APIs themselves are different, vary from CMS to CMS, provide different capabilities, and are based on different programming languages (C #, Java, or something else). Working on extensions implies a good knowledge of C # or Java programming language, HTML, JavaScript, and CSS. Since data is exchanged in XML or JSON format, then knowledge of the same is a necessity and is imposed as a standard. Most of the implementation activities are related to working with different APIs in order to develop additional functionalities. Very often it is necessary to know how to work with databases, where the given framework of activities ranges from database creation and data manipulation to its maintenance and administration.

Personalization

Personalization is a concept that involves serving content to website visitors based on their preferences as well as sending newsletters based on the same criterion for the creation of which Benchmark stands out as the best platform, offering a variety of templates and an easy-to-use design editor. The visitor of the website from the data related to the needs, desires, characteristics, and goals (age, gender, geolocation, shopping history, etc.) is classified into a certain group – a persona. The requirement for developers, in this case, is twofold:

• Implementation of rules for defining personas (user profiles)
• Implementation of rules for defining personas (user profiles)

Integration With Translation Systems

Translation systems are a must if you work with large clients who translate their corporate portals into a large number of languages. In this case, the developer is in charge of adjusting the existing connectors or developing completely new ones, where both options are possible but not equally interesting.

The connectors themselves are REST web services, most often implemented in C # or Java programming language. A CMS developer is very often in a situation to develop both.

Integration With DAM Systems

In most cases, the client chooses to store their multimedia (which can be extremely extensive) on special platforms, and these digital content storage and management systems are called DAM (Digital Asset Management) systems. This, as a result, requires developers to implement connectors to them or to develop solutions that allow the management of external multimedia content from the CMS system itself. Very often, CMSs support native integration with certain DAM systems, making integration easier, but that does not mean the path is paved for developers.

In addition, developers are often in a situation to develop solutions aimed at supporting business requirements related to the management of the multimedia itself (developing tools for searching, organizing, modifying, or reviewing multimedia). Also, the developer can very often find himself in a situation to develop tools for exporting/importing multimedia from one CMS solution to another during migration.

Scalability

Scalability in this case implies analysis of the entire system, identification of bottlenecks in the form of performance, as well as proposing specific improvements. Here, the job of a developer overlaps with the job of a system architect, where it is necessary to identify changes in the architecture in order to ensure the most optimal functioning of the system.

For example, if publishing is found to be slow (publishing is the process of transforming artifacts from a CMS to HTML, XML, JSON, or other blocks to be visible on a website), the developer can then suggest the introduction of a new server based on performance metrics, increasing resources on the server itself, or a complete redesign of the system if really necessary. System optimization in this case requires that the developer has a sixth sense to identify bottlenecks.

System Administration

Most of the time, the job of a developer is based on the development of various tools, services, or applications but, sometimes, it also applies to system administration. In this case, it is a consequence of the complexity of the CMS solution. A large number of commercial CMS systems are complex platforms with a client-specific architecture. With the complexity of the solution come both advantages and disadvantages, thus moving the developer business to the DevOps field.

The job of a CMS developer, in this case, is based on identifying the problematic part of the system (whether it is a network problem, poor server or database performance, poorly deployable application, etc.), which in some cases can be extremely difficult. It is important to note here that very often the system itself consists of a combination of Linux and Windows servers, Dockers, and applications implemented in Java, C #, or Basic – which, of course, is an additional challenge because it requires an additional set of skills.

Conclusion

The main ‘problem’ of this article is that we would be able to write for days about the different characteristics and possibilities of CMS solutions, which in itself should help the reader of this article to draw certain conclusions. Working on complex systems in itself requires a wide range of different properties and skills.

CMS developers and consultants feel more and more like children in a toy store every day, being in a situation to work on a part of the system that they have not had the opportunity to meet before, mastering new knowledge and skills. And every time they think they have mastered the system, a new version of the same comes out with new architecture, new APIs, and services, where then their work starts all over again. This job is not for everyone, but for those with an adventurous spirit – it is perfect.