What is a CMS?

A Content Management System, or CMS, is a software-based system that allows you to update your website, usually from any internet-enabled computer. It manages the resources (images, video and text), and allows users to create and edit pages, and either publish them directly, or to send them to other users for approval.

There are a huge number of CMSs on the market - in our opinion some of the best are those that are available free (called open-source). Names to look out for are Drupal, WordPress, Text Pattern, Joomla and Moveable Type.

Your web design company will probably have their favourite, and each application has their own strengths and weaknesses, but the best bet is to trust their judgement on which to use.

However, if you have a particular feature in mind that the CMS simply must have, then make sure you let them know at the start - swtiching the CMS later on is likely to be costly!