It’s been a while since the last time I blogged, the reasons have vary from being extremely busy to defining my own existence. It’s funny, it began as a school assignment, and then when I started working, the urgency of writing brought me back to this page again. I have to say it was encouraged by a friend of mine who also happened to be a colleague.
When I was first introduced to CMS, I reacted negatively towards adopting this way of building websites. I had to admit, it was a very premature decision. It was probably because I felt very strong about hand coding and following design processes that I refused the solely idea of using an online tool that would condense all these things and frame my freedom of “designing”. It might have been also because I was exposed to an ASP.Net web development tool that, at that time, seemed very complex and meaningless to me. When I think now about those early days, I realize that the reason that caused me such immediate rejection was not only my lack of knowledge but also the response of my basic design instincts.
There are many open-source options out there; each on them has its own limitations; however that shouldn’t limit designers to do what they are supposed to do, of course, without losing track of its purpose. At the same time, we can’t blame CMS for being so practical that allows pretty much anyone to just pour content in it. There is a bad practice for designing sites with content management that leads clients to believe that’s how things should be done. As designers it is our responsibility to spread the news and allow people to consider presentation for this powerful tool. As I became more familiar with CMS, I understood the reason of its nature in the business world, and its value, whether it is ASP.Net or PHP base. However, there are more things than just having your name on the web, or being SEO efficient; design can provide a better user experience and have those first time visitors back and interested in your content. Let’s design all together, it could be fun.
