What is a Content Management System (CMS)?

A content management system (CMS) is the application used to manage the content of your website. Typically, a CMS consists of two elements: the content management application (CMA or commonly referred to as ‘Back-end’ – see below) and the content delivery application (CDA or commonly referred to as ‘Front-end’ – see below).

The CMS allows the content manager or author, who may not know Hypertext Markup Language (HTML), to manage the creation, modification, and removal of content from a Web site without needing the expertise of a Webmaster. The features of a CMS system vary, but most include Web-based publishing, format management, revision control, and indexing, search, and retrieval.

The Web-based publishing feature allows users to use a template or a set of templates approved by the organisation, as well as wizards and other tools to create or modify web content. The revision control feature allows content to be updated to a newer version or restored to a previous version. Revision control also tracks any changes made to files by users. An additional feature is indexing, search, and retrieval.

Front-end and Back-end

Back-end and front-end are expressions that describe programs relative to the user. A front-end program is one that users interact with directly, while a back-end program supports the front-end services.

A ‘front-end’ application is one that users interact with directly. A ‘front-end’ application might interface directly with users and forward requests to a remotely-located ‘Back-end’ program on another computer to get requested data or perform a requested service.

A ‘back-end’ application or program interacts indirectly in support of the front-end services, which involves a person or computer entering or modifying data on the ‘back-end’ application