CMS Design: 8 Design Considerations for CMS Development

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CMS Design 8 Design Considerations for CMS
Development
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• CMSs allow content authors and editors to manage
  their content without needing to involve
  developers. They offer ease of use, a shorter
  time to market, as well as a number of extensions
  and add-ons that can help you customize your
  websites functionality to suit your needs.
  However, when it comes to getting the most value
  out of this, an immaculate CMS design is the key.
• But designing a website built on a CMS requires a
  good deal of planning. You need to understand the
  strengths and weaknesses of your CMS of choice in
  order to build a website that works for you.
• Following a few best CMS development services can
  help ensure that the content structure and
  experience are well suited to your businesss
  unique content and requirements.

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• 8 tips to design a CMS-friendly website
• 1. Research the features of your CMS Design
• What features does your CMS offer? Are there any
  limitations you have to consider? Your website
  design should be one that can be easily created
  within your CMS. If your CMS design philosophy
  doesnt allow you to easily add certain design
  elements without a lot of custom coding, you may
  need to rethink your design.
• Learning about the features your CMS offers out
  of the box can help you streamline your website
  development efforts.
• Also consider what plugins and modules already
  exist for your CMS and how you can use them in
  your website and design.

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• 2. Design the pre-existing elements
• Your CMS may already offer some pre-existing
  features such as forms, buttons, and more, out of
  the box. While these will come with some default
  styling, in order to use them on your website,
  youll have to create brand-specific styling for
  them. This would make them easy to integrate with
  the rest of your website CMS design.

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• 3. Create reusable components
• A great way to get the most value from your CMS
  design strategy is to use modular design.
  Reusable components and patterns help maintain a
  cohesive look across your website while also
  giving content editors the flexibility they need
  to create different layouts.
• Instead of creating whole pages at a time, create
  reusable sections. These can be made up of blocks
  or components that can be used independently or
  combined to create larger elements within your
  custom cms solutions. For instance, basic
  components such as headings, images, buttons, and
  forms can be combined to create larger elements
  such as a CTA block or a slider.

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• 4. Create responsive and flexible designs
• Do think about scenarios where content may be
  displayed in a different form than expected. For
  example, with structured content like telephone
  numbers and addresses, you will need to plan for
  the eventuality that some content may be missing
  (such as a street name in the address), or in a
  different format (such as a country code with or
  without the plus sign).
• You will also need to consider what happens when
  content is significantly longer or shorter than
  expected. Headings may spill over from one to two
  or three lines, and body content may run into
  multiple paragraphs, making some page elements
  display very differently in your design. Do add
  instructions for what to do in this scenario,
  e.g. extending the background in case of
  additional content, or resizing the text to fit
  within a box.

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• 5. Create templates
• Consistent design templates make it easy to
  onboard new content authors and editors.
• Create templates for each type of page used on
  your website. Follow a logical visual hierarchy,
  keeping heading and image sizes consistent across
  pages. A few standard types of pages you can
  create templates for include the home page,
  contact page, blog listing page, and blog detail
  page.

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• Do consider if any templates can be reused for
  other pages minimize the number of unique
  designs to prevent confusion among content
  editors. Also plan for any content that is to be
  added in the future. For instance, your website
  may not have any published case studies, but if
  you plan to add these in the future, you should
  design the template for them.
• While content editors might need some options to
  edit templates, try to find the right balance
  between giving them the control they need and
  minimizing the chance for errors by providing
  limited options.

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• 6. Create accessible designs
• Accessibility isnt just a good-to-have. In some
  countries, its now mandated by law. Your website
  design should meet WCAG guidelines . These
  include the following.

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• 7. Design for non-technical users
• Consider your website design from a non-technical
  users perspective. Will they be able to manage
  content, media and design elements independently
  in case something needs to be changed or manually
  applied? If not, you may have to rethink your
  design.
• It can help to create standards and processes for
  image selection and styling of text for the use
  of editors, authors, and administrators. But on
  the whole, ensure that you design the website or
  application so that even if users make mistakes,
  the presentation isnt significantly affected.

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• 8. Test with real content
• Finally, test your application with real content.
  Make sure that the website behaves as intended
  even in scenarios where theres much longer or
  shorter content. Also try adding random pieces of
  content from other sources to suggest scenarios
  you may not have considered before.
• Also, if there is existing content in a legacy
  website or application, the design should also be
  able to accommodate it.

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• Maximize ROI with the immaculate CMS design
• CMS platforms offer a number of powerful features
  within an easy-to-use user interface. With
  thorough planning, you can design your website to
  take advantage of all the flexibility and
  modularity that your web application development
  company offers.
• A good design will ensure that content authors
  and editors are able to easily perform their
  tasks without any confusion and errors, enabling
  you to streamline operations and maximize the
  return on investment from your website.