It seems like all of my web design customers these days are demanding content management systems (CMS). They don’t come right out and say that’s what they need, of course. They talk about how they want to be able to add things to their web site without the hassle of contacting me or any other designer for every little change. They want their web site to be a tool they can use to improve their business. They want a web designer to give them a site that isn’t going to be filled with old and irrelevant information six months from now. I can’t say I blame them.

A content management system can solve all of those problems. The idea behind a CMS is that you create a structure for how different blocks of information are going to be displayed. The actual information is left up to the site owner, and can change at any time.

If you think this sounds a lot like a blog, you’re absolutely right. But before I spend too much time explaining how easy it is, perhaps I should discuss why you would want to use WordPress in your client solutions.

Several years ago the interaction between a web designer and a customer went as follows. Designer builds site. Customer pays. After a few months customer asks designer to make a few changes. Designer makes changes. Customer pays. After a few months customer asks designer to make a few changes. Designer makes changes…

The pattern is monotonous, and can be frustrating for everyone when you have a heavy workload that keeps you from getting to the changes in a timely fashion. The client may come to resent their web site because it takes phone calls, emails, and invoices just to add a few sentences. The client tells other professionals that they aren’t satisfied with their site.

I know the counter argument. Those changes down the road allow a designer to build up revenue. Those type of edits require far less time per dollar than trying to land a new client and build a site from scratch. That is a good point, although if your client sours on the product you’ve delivered, they won’t keep handing over fistfuls of cash- at least not to you.

Putting aside any doubts you may have about your technical ability to provide customers a CMS, consider the business ramifications if you did. You create a site where your client can regularly post news announcements, add links, create photo galleries, respond to relevant current events. Instead of cringing when they think about their site, it’s something they look forward to getting their hands on each day or week or whenever. They tell other professionals how pleased they are with the site, which leads to more business for you. While maintaining information on the site they get a great idea about adding a calendar or a newsletter. Naturally, they hand you a briefcase full of cash to add the new feature. You have a complex and robust site to include in your portfolio.

Sounds great, right? Sure you don’t know how to program all that, but you don’t have to. It is relatively easy to find open source software, where someone else has already written and tested all of the most difficult parts of creating a blog. Of course, everyone wants their blog to look unique, so it’s very easy to create new themes with a completely new appearance, that run on the existing code. Sounds too easy?

1. Download the latest version of WordPress
2. Install it on your server
3. Under wp-content/themes/ make a copy of the folder default with the name custom
4. Make whatever changes you feel appropriate to wp-content/themes/custom/style.css
5. Login to your administration area and select the Presentation tab
6. Change the theme to Custom

Your customer can now add posts, static pages, and links to the design that you created. The code has already been written and tested. If that isn’t enough, there are a host of plugins available that allow you to add additional functionality to the base WordPress package. And new plugins are being created all the time.

filed under: Web Development