website administration

Every year, I like to slow down my technology usage for a few weeks. I don't think as human beings we were meant to be immersed in the huge quantity of digital information that we are today. From the moment I am awake to the moment I go to bed, my body is being loaded information. The email, cell phone, and the Internet seem to have a never ending presence in the lives of us IT folks. I don't have much control with removing technology from my work day, but I do have options in my personal life. It's time for me to unplug and officially begin my annual Technology Break.

As I  have done each and every year,  I'm taking a break from technology. From now through August, I'll be posting and managing the site a little less. I won't be abandoning CMS Report, but you will be seeing me a little less. My slogan for Tech Break 2009 is Blog less, Relax more.

To be honest, taking a break away from CMS Report is going to be difficult for me. I'm extremely excited with the new look and the new attitude we've found for CMSReport.com. I have additional changes planned for this site and I think most everyone will continue to like the new direction we're taking. However, for an IT guy like me, putting those changes on hold for a few weeks is going to be a challenge. In some ways, I can't wait until August gets here so I can clear the ticket for the site redesign.

As always, I appreciate help in any articles submitted to CMSReport.com.  If you want to really help out, create an account today and start contributing your own CMS stories. I'll be checking email now and then for submitted posts so we make sure you're not waiting too long to see your story published. Have a good rest of July!

A number of content management systems allow for data to be classified using taxonomy (sometimes called categories or tags in a CMS).  Most of us that use CMS and taxonomy aren't experts in how best to structure our vocabulary and usually end up with a mess of terms.  In the end, we have a mess on our hand and wonder how best we should approach cleaning up the terms we're using.

A blog post by Lars Trieloff, The Art of Mining a Folksonomy, gives some great suggestions for cleaning up your taxonomy.  The post was written for the Day's CQ5 CMS, but should be of use to almost any CMS user with taxonomy.

As you all know, CQ5 supports tagging and taxonomies and both side by side. Taxonomies are great, because they allow multi-dimensional classification of content, but sometimes there are things that do not fit into the taxonomy. And this is where it comes handy that you can just type and add a new tag to the standard tag namespace folksonomy. Using this feedback from the folksonomy you and enhance and improve your taxonomy. But what happens if you do not start with a neatly organized taxonomy, but with a wild-west folksonomy that has been created by numerous authors and you want to bring order into the chaos?

I've never agreed and disagreed so much with one article as this one from The Sydney Morning Herald, Drive your own website.

I agree...

I hate being held to ransom. And I'm sure you do, too. But that's the scenario you're creating when you hand over your website to a web designer or developer and relinquish control over when and how you can change your content...

...That's why I think it's vital for small-business owners to use their own content management systems (CMS). My recommendation is to initially use a designer to create the overall look but after that you at least want to be able to change the text on your website whenever you want.

I disagree...

If you are planning to use a free CMS, such as Wordpress, Drupal or Joomla, expect a steep learning curve and a lot of time poring through forums and blogs trying to figure out how to insert that picture just the way you want.

On the other hand, monthly subscription-based models can offer more flexibility. While you might baulk at being tied to a monthly subscription, the benefit is this is usually accompanied by technical support - so you can call or email for help

The fact of the matter is whether you're going to be using a CMS that is propriety, open source, or subscription based...there is always a learning curve involved.  The advice I often give to those looking for a CMS is to look at which CMS meet the requirements then worry about the licensing along with the how/where the site will be hosted. The fact is that if the CMS doesn't meet your requirements...no subscription-based model for that CMS is going to meet your needs.  Also, if you think Wordpress has a steep learning curve...you likely haven't done your homework on Web content management systems.  Just my opinion...

Earlier today, Matthew Mullenweg announced the official release of Wordpress 2.7.  This new version of Wordpress is a dandy with significant improvements made to the Wordpress administrative interface and dashboard.  The choices you now have to customizing our blogging workflow is almost endless.

While we could start reading off from the changelogs for all the new features in Wordpress 2.7, It's probably just as easy to show you the video.