Having worked with content management systems both proprietary, home grown and open source in the past, I’ve taken a little time lately to step back and look at the pros and cons of each. Let it be known that while I’ve been heavily involved in the development of a home grown CMS in the past, and am a big advocate of the proprietary system Realm Platform, I do use WordPress and Textpattern, so I am not necesserily bias either way.

This may come across as a rather opinionated post, but it’s my view, and my blog. Any thoughts (logical, non trolling comments) would be most appreciated.

I’ve broken the different types of systems into

• Home Grown CMS
  A system built in-house rather than buying one or customising another system.
• Open Source CMS
  A system built by a community of developers under a sharing community based methodology. Usually free. Examples – Joomla, WordPress, Typo3.
• Proprietary CMS
  Built by one company, maintained, supported and available as either a one off cost, or licencing payment structure. Examples – Realm Platform, Expression Engine, Vignette.

Home Grown CMS

Up until late 2007, I was heavily involved in the design and development of a content management system called SimpleCMS. It’s since been discontinued, thought it continues to effectively power a few websites. Successfully adopted as it was, suffice to say, the development team lost steam and we opted to count our losses and move on.

The concept behind developing a home grown CMS system is a very noble -if not misguided- cause on the most part. I tend not to talk in absolutes, but if you don’t have a rather large budget (£50,000+) or an exceptionally self motivated and enthusiastic development team it’s a classic example of a reinvention of the wheel.

If you have the infrastructure, and an exceptionally strong need for something custom that is not done by one of the many established systems, then this could be an option. Word of warning here… do your homework on what’s available!

Home grown CMS systems are sustainable when you have a long term team of developers with a proven track record of successful developments.

Pros

• Write your own system and have it do exactly what you want.
• If it’s a niche system, and licenced accordingly, it could be resold later to others.

Cons

• Prohibitively expensive.
• Can take a good deal of time to develop.
• Often you can get the functionality you need from free or relatively inexpensive alternatives.

Open Source CMS

A system that is free to download, install and work with. What could be better? On the surface, this seems like a no-brainer, but when you dig a bit deeper, there are some serious cons that creep into the mix.

The popular systems out there, amongst others, include Joomla, Drupal and Typo3. Some systems initially intended to power blog style sites are also evolving into quite competent content managers. WordPress and Textpattern being the two that I know the most about.

If you’re looking at cost, you’re mistaken in thinking that getting a professional result from an open source system on a smaller budget is likely. More often than not, the professional Joomla or WordPress designer and manipulator comes at a professional, market related price. The fact that the system is free means little when you want a specific design, layout and modes of publishing, moderating and syndicating.

The world of open source CMS’s does cover an extremely broad field of requirements and a large percentage of websites should be fine on one of them. More than a little research should be carried out before deciding on a system and any future possible requirements.

Open source CMS systems are sustainable when you are aware of the fact that although you’re getting it for free, you still have to put a lot of work in. Slapping up a default theme and expecting things to do themselves is counter productive, and you won’t get far.

Pros

• Most systems are supported by a large community and you will find assistance all over the globe.
• Modifications to the site, including the CMS itself is permitted by the GPL licence, so it can effectively be “white labeled”.
• A large selection of systems and features.
• The decent systems are constantly being updated, and security flaws patched up.
• The software itself is free.

Cons

• Due to the large community, there are a lot of semi-skilled and outright charlatans out there proclaiming to be gurus.
• When things go wrong, the solution could prove costly and take time, unless you have a true specialist on call and available.
• Due to their popularity, they can be targets for spam and hacking.
• Training and support is often hard to find, but not impossible.

Proprietary CMS

Getting a system that has been built up commercially by a company dedicated solely to developing their system can be a very good thing. The sustainability of a proprietary system with the possibility that you paid for it, and it is maintained by those who developed and support it can’t be under emphasized.

You’ll have an initial cost, and that price can vary. Don’t  be confused with someone charging to install and customise an open source system to a company that is selling their own product. Chances are the open source guy does not know a lot about the underlying code in the CMS and when things go wrong, fixing can be a problem.

Selecting a proprietary CMS is also a matter of truly establishing your requirements and finding one that is suitable. There are some truly amazing systems out there like Realm Platform and Expression Engine.

Proprietary CMS systems are sustainable when you work with a reputable company and understand what they do (and don’t offer) before setting up your site.

Pros

• You’re dealing with the people that made the system. Likely from the ground up.
• Features are often plentiful and can accommodate most site’s requirements.
• Custom features are often an option (at a cost of course).
• Training and support are offered.
• Constant development ensures security and bug fixes are attended to promptly.

Cons

• Initial cost can be perceived as high.
• You are putting a lot of trust in one company, so choose wisely.

Summary

Really, as usual, it highly depends on how you approach your project, who you are, what you need, how quickly and how much you have in your budget.

I am heavily swayed towards the Open Source or Proprietary options unless you have extraordinarily unique requirements, a ginormous budget and a good deal of time.

Leaving the two options of open source and proprietary, I’d have to say that given the right people, either option could be suitable to you. For some clients, I know they can make do on a WordPress site, while for others, I wouldn’t dream of using anything other than a system that is fully supported by an established company.

In conclusion, I’d say I will normally opt towards the proprietary system as the optimal solution, but should the budget or requirements be lower, the need for support and training be less, I’d look at something like Joomla or WordPress.