cms features
Our evaluation of CMS products started about a year ago. Review of the options takes time. We are not the pioneers on this work however. If you would like to see more features and view comparisons with various CMS products, visit the CMS Matrix site. (Caution: the side-by-side comparisons can make your head explode.)
Here are just a few (giggle) features the re.web team has considered when reviewing CMS options.
| Features | Description |
|---|---|
| Accessibility compliance | Section 508, W3C |
| Cross browser support | Windows/Mac, Internet Explorer and Firefox |
| Content versioning with rollbacks | Restore a previous version of a page or piece of content |
| Customizable WYSIWYG | Text editor functionality |
| Freshness reminders and/or reporting | Notification of outdated content |
| Friendly URLs (ability) | www.wm.edu/it/software instead of www.wm.edu/it/?id=5 |
| In context editing | See the page you're about to edit as it appears on web |
| LDAP authentication | Use your WMuserid and password to log in |
| Link management | Automatically changes and removes links as content changes or moves |
| Management of multiple domains/subdomains | www.wm.edu AND www.vims.edu AND education.wm.edu, etc. |
| Metadata | Think library catalog |
| Per user access control | Set permissions by user |
| Reusable content (i.e. news) | Share content across different sites. Reduce reuse recycle! |
| RSS syndication | Distribute headlines across web ("really simple syndication") |
| Support multiple templates | Grad and professional schools have similar but not identical look to wm.edu |
| User groups with access control | Set permissions by group |
| Workflow | Approval process for web page edits |
| Workflow - customizable | Ability to have different approval processes |
| Content repurposing (text-only, pdf, WPA) | Ability to transform web pages to other formats |
| Edit comparison | A difference of what's changed on a page as edits have been made |
| RSS reader | Pull headlines from the web |
| Simple forms generator | Create simple forms and generate them simply |
| Admin dashboard | Control panel for using the CMS |
| Breadcrumbs | Like "Home > Forest > Candy House > Oven" |
| Analytics | Site statistics |
| Calendar | You know, the passage of time |
| Event registration | RSVP |
| Photo gallery tool | Smile you're on candid camera |
| Search engine | Googling, do you Yahoo!? |
| CAS | Supports this authentication method |
| Content taxonomy | Standardized metadata vocabularies, not to be confused with stuffing animals |
| Dynamic navigation menus | System builds site menus automatically |
| Image repository w/ custom management | Library of photos and graphics suited for the web |
| Multiple instances | Ability to have multiple installations |
| Scheduling of content | Future publication or expiration date |
| Simple forms processor | Collecting and storing form data |
| Unicode/multilingual support | Non-English characters |
| Online documentation/help for editors | Online help pages |
| iCal parsing | Displaying standard calendar data |
| Migration tool | Help move content from current site to new CMS. Students, wanna job? |
| Mulitmedia administration (Flash, etc.) | Tool for managing multimedia within the CMS |
| Printer-friendly | Send a snail mail page to grandma |
| Keyword search including faculty bios | Find faculty experts. Who knows about John Henry? |
| Content security | Password protecting pages |
| What? You actually got this far? | Great! You qualify for a treat during the CMS demo! |
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