{"id":183108,"date":"2025-04-13T21:57:22","date_gmt":"2025-04-13T21:57:22","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/peraltafinancing.com\/analytics\/modern-cms-top-5-features\/"},"modified":"2025-04-13T21:57:22","modified_gmt":"2025-04-13T21:57:22","slug":"modern-cms-top-5-features","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/?p=183108","title":{"rendered":"Modern CMS: Top 5 Features"},"content":{"rendered":"


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You are right now enjoying the fruits of a very popular content management system, or CMS, whether you know it or not. This blog is published via WordPress<\/a>, a modern CMS if there ever was one. In fact, if you add a comment to this post with the form below (hint, hint), you will be participating in content creation, using tools that come out-of-the-box in this particular platform.<\/p>\n

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But what makes a modern CMS? Is WordPress the perfect choice for you or your business? Well, I\u2019m not going to review the products on the market, so I\u2019ll leave the second question to you or your IT manager. However, I will take a stand on the first question, as I look at what makes a modern content management system. What are the must-have features it should boast, and what can you live without? My word is not doctrine, but I do have a long history of working with CMS\u2019s and with clients who only want the best.<\/p>\n


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The top 5 must-have features of any modern CMS<\/h2>\n

5. Modularity<\/strong><\/p>\n

Unless you have the kind of money to pay for a tailored solution created from scratch just for you and your needs, you\u2019re going to want a modular platform. Actually, even if you\u2019re shopping around for a customized solution you\u2019ll still want it to be modular. The reason is simple. No matter how far-sighted you think you are, your needs will change and the requirements you attach to a CMS will change as well. Lack of modularity leads to a number of problems, with cumbersome change management at the top of the list.<\/p>\n

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Furthermore, if the platform is modular, development will be more cost-efficient. An able version management plan for the core as well as the modules ensures that only the necessary changes are implemented in each release cycle. Trust me, you will be thankful when a new core package doesn\u2019t automatically result in the quick and merciless incapacitation of your installation.<\/p>\n

In addition to architectural modularity, where the core features and the components are separated in the code, support for dedicated and third-party plugins, widgets, apps etc. is a huge plus. To have an entire community working on the development is what a modern CMS is all about. Which brings me to the next key feature:<\/p>\n

4. Open source<\/strong><\/p>\n

This could be easily debated, as there are a number of hugely popular proprietary CMS\u2019s out there, such as Microsoft SharePoint<\/a> and EPiServer<\/a>. The problem with these solutions is that their development is governed by the company who owns the software. This means that the community\u2019s impact is diminished, since the company can usually support only a singular product vision. Furthermore, SharePoint, for example, is so much more than just a CMS. It\u2019s a full-blown web platform for enterprises, and its development is surely not geared to making it the best web publishing solution around.<\/p>\n

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Open source software takes the development away from a single point-of-origin and brings the power to the community. The mark of a modern CMS is to stay up-to-date, fresh and vitalized. A vibrant user community, where everyone partakes in the design, development and support of the platform can ensure just that.<\/p>\n

Open source does have its own issues, ranging from the significant (lack of a proper support process, exaggerated focus on template design) to the insignificant (unpredictability of community-driven development, uncertain platform life cycle), but the pros of having an open-source platform outweigh the cons. But as I said earlier, whether or not this point is a key feature of a CMS is debatable. What I do believe with absolute certainty is that community- and user-driven development have a far more significant impact on defining what a modern CMS is than development that is hidden behind the interfaces of a closed source application.<\/p>\n

3. Control over the content<\/strong><\/p>\n

In many ways, this is the single most important feature of any modern CMS, and will most probably affect your decision the most. There is simply no excuse for a software solution which doesn\u2019t provide all the necessary tools for advanced content manipulation. Here are some of the features the CMS must be able to tackle:<\/p>\n