A content management system, often abbreviated as CMS, is a software tool that helps you build a website without needing to write all the code from scratch (or even know how to code at all). Users can create, manage, and modify content on a website, whether it be a static site, eCommerce site, or a simple blog. Instead of building your own system for creating web pages, storing images, and other functions, the content management system handles all that basic infrastructure  so that you can focus on the public-facing parts of your website.

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With Drupal, it’s about giving your team the tools to move smart and agile. Flexible design and incredible scalability, as a full web-solution or multi-channel, means your representation in-market is as unique as one's brand. Drupal is one of the leading CMS open source platforms in the world.  It has excellent community support and is the first choice for the highest ranked websites at UC Santa Barbara. Many of the campus templates available, including the UCSB Web Theme, are built using Drupal 8 and 9.

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The WordPress open source project has evolved in progressive ways over time — supported by skilled, enthusiastic developers, designers, scientists, bloggers, and more. WordPress provides the opportunity for anyone to create and share, from handcrafted personal anecdotes to world-changing movements. People with a limited tech experience can use it “out of the box”, and more tech-savvy folks can customize it in remarkable ways.

Other popular content management systems out there also provide good functionality, but not all are open source, and therefore, free. Whether a CMS costs or not should not be a critical motivator when making a selection, as sometimes they can service all of a site's needs and provide excellent security at the same time. It's a matter of exploring, reviewing, and testing out the right tool for the job.  Here at UC Santa Barbara, there are some really good content management systems packaged with style frameworks that meet many department's needs. 

 

More CMS Examples

  • Squarespace
  • Wix
  • Shopify
  • Joomla
  • Ghost
  • Magento