If you’ve ever worked with a web designer or researched a new website, no doubt you’ve heard terms like “content management system” or “wordpress website”. Maybe you have been presented options for an “static website“, “content management system website“, or “e-commerce website“. But what do these phrases mean? Let’s take a look at some common web design terms and their meanings.
Content Management System
Anyone that has explored web design services for their business and wanted to control the website has likely heard this term. A content management system does exactly what it says – lets you manage the content of your website. In web design, “content” most commonly refers to the pages of the site, and the text and images inside of it. Other areas, depending on the system, can be controlled – such as blog posts, articles, videos, podcasts and more. This information is stored in a database, separate from the code and media files. This type of website is called “dynamic”, because one file can be used for multiple pages – showing the information for the page by pulling the requested page’s content from the database. Additional features of a content management system are that the page templates, or design and layout, determine the content’s display to the website visitor.
Currently, the most popular content management system in the world is WordPress, which is simple, user-friendly, and can adapt to allow for many types of site content to be managed. Other popular content management systems are Joomla and Drupal.
While typically more expensive up-front, a website with a content management system is always recommended if you want to manage your website.
A static website refers to a website that has no content management system, and must be managed through editing the code files. This makes it an unpopular option primarily because a web designer must be paid to add pages and edit their content. In most cases, each page is a unique file, and each pages’s resources must be organized manually.
The term “static” is also commonly used by web professionals to describe places in a website that are not controlled by a content management system.
Static websites may be less expensive at first, but changes to the site usually incur costs by a web professional, who will be needed to make the changes.
E-commerce websites are websites that sell products. This term is frequently set aside for websites that sell multiple products, not just one product. E-commerce websites can be managed by a content management system, or can be static. An e-commerce website features a shopping cart, allowing for the visitor to check out and pay using an online payment gateway like Paypal.
Most content management systems can accommodate e-commerce features and transform any website into an e-commerce website. Dedicated e-commerce website systems are also an option, like Shopify, Volusion, and Prestashop – where the entire content management system is dedicated to being an online storefront.
E-commerce websites are usually more expensive than standard websites due to the added store functionality.
The more you know…
No matter what you are in the market for, it’s good to know what you’re getting. Understanding these terms will hopefully help you choose what is best for your business next time you’re looking for a website.
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