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Expert Management for your Website since 2011

Software for your website

Software for your website

In previous articles, I asked what your website should do and what you want it to say. Now I sketch out some SOFTWARE options for you to consider.



Selecting your Software


People often imagine that selecting software is the most crucial decision. But more foundational are the questions I asked previously:

Let’s assume those are decided. Now we can talk about software systems. The goal is to select a software system that matches your needs, both now AND into the foreseeable future.

There are thousands of website software systems. Or maybe tens of thousands.

But broadly speaking, for the purpose of most websites, we can lump the most likely candidates into these categories:

  1. Website Builder
  2. Traditional CMS
  3. Flat File
  4. Static
  5. Dropbox-Based



1. Website Builder


These are turnkey solutions. You sign up, they provide the software and hosting and a selection of themes. They probably provide your domain name. They take care of all software updates and outages. They back up your site regularly. If your site gets millions of visitors, they scale up your server capacity accordingly.

With a Website Builder you avoid the complex behind-the-scenes work that is necessary for a Traditional CMS. You avoid paying a developer to do those things for you.

Once everything is set up, you can focus on the tasks you actually want to do. Like writing stuff for people to read.

Website Builders are the easiest to use. You input your words and images, and the site works. Simply.

If you select a Website Builder, you can probably build your websitw yourself. Or you can ask somebody (like me) to help you.

I see two main disadvantages of Website Builder software:

  1. They cannot be configured for complex functions.
  2. All your content is buried within software that is 100% proprietary.

In the future, if you ever want to switch to different website software, you will need to hire a web developer to “migrate” all your content for you. That means they extract it and transform it into something that can be used by the new software.

There are many Website Builders:


2. Traditional CMS


The abbreviation “CMS” stands for Content Management System.

Almost every major website in the world runs on a Traditional CMS.

A Traditional CMS is powerful. And super-flexible. Most can handle millions of pages. And prodigious numbers of simultaneous site visitors. They can be set up to provide pretty much any features you would like. Most are free. There is no charge.

However, even though they are free, your costs will be a lot higher than with a Website Builder. You will have up-front costs that will be non-trivial.

Up-front-costs include paying a developer to do things like these:

Ongoing costs include paying a developer to do things like these:

A disadvantage of a Traditional CMS is that the software can be difficult to use. The learning curve is higher than with a website builder.

You will need to invest more time and effort to learn how to post your content.

Otherwise, you will be paying somebody like me to post your content for you.

There are many Traditional CMSs:


3. Flat File


There are many Flat File CMSs:


4. Static


There are many Static CMSs:


5. Dropbox-Based


There are many Dropbox-based CMSs:



Originally published on January 10, 2018

Last updated on October 29, 2022

TOPICS: Blot, CMS, Concrete, Directus, Website,

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