I miss my CMS

I’ve just moved to a new job and left behind a content management system (CMS) that I specified, procured, and then worked with for about three years. Call me sentimental, but I miss the old girl. And not just that particular CMS – I miss having one at all (except for a teensy bit of the intranet).

I'll explain why I’m feeling so bereft:

• Speed. With a CMS you should be able to add an item to the site’s A to Z in a couple of clicks rather than 15 minutes copying, pasting and editing multiple pages.  And who wants to have to search the whole site every time you change a link, making the same change in multiple places, when you could  update it in a link library just once and have it shared immediately across the site.
• Workflow. Forget pestering your boss to ask her to approve your work. Within a managed system she might get an automatic notification, or maybe even a nice orderly approval queue. And wouldn’t it be nice if she could see exactly what changes you made from the old version, and refer to an audit trail that doesn’t rely on manual updating of spreadsheets.
• Quality assurance. As well as spotting broken links and accessibility issues, if you can lock down your WYSIWYG editor you can prevent all sorts of extraneous colours, fonts and styles sneaking on to your website or intranet (those pesky contributing editors...).
• Support. When it all goes wrong, it’s great to have a whole user community and some experts (paid to be) on the end of the phone, rather than always having to wade your lonely way through reams of code or rely on – gulp – IT support.

Of course all this depends on having a CMS that is fit for purpose, that suits your way of working and that’s really giving you value for money.

There are always a few niggles. But guys, however much you hate your system when it doesn’t save your painstaking editorial changes or forces you to go into the code to sort out a nested list, spare a moment for CMS-less me.

Send technology, and tea.

PS They didn’t pay me.

Managing contributors in a devolved content management system

One of the toughest parts of a web manager’s job is dealing with the groups of authors who have access to your content management system (CMS).

Not every organisation has a CMS, and the question of whether or not to devolve any element of editing in the first place is quite another blog post. But if you use any kind of devolved system you will probably have come across some or all of these challenges:

• People who insist on access ‘just in case’ but actually never use it
• Regular users who simply can’t – or won’t – take on board house style, web best practice, or anything else you regularly end up correcting
• Managers who want to have final sign-off and don’t understand why communications / the web team want to check their work
• Profligate uploaders who have no idea about version control, putting on multiple versions of the same document
• Tweakers who just want to play with the code or use every colour and heading and clip art image they can find

And there are plenty more. But rather than make this post a moan, here are my top tips for reducing the pain. 

In fact, you might even reap some benefits and save some time and energy.

• Make it a prerequisite that editors must use the CMS regularly. It is the once-a-year users, and those who try to use it for the first time six months after their training, who cause the most problems. It will usually be genuinely quicker and easier for them, and you, if they simply email you their updates.
• Provide more than just technical training, whether that is running workshops, a blog or providing one-to-one support. Help editors understand style, accessibility, writing for the web; share your expertise. Make sure they know how to get help.
• Keep editors informed of changes and ask their opinions – making them feel valued and part of a community will help your relationship with them.
• If you can, adjust CMS settings to restrict the amount of freedom your editors have. If possible, prevent them from being able to get into the code, or make simple changes such as removing the ‘italicize’ button from the style options in your WYSIWYG editor.
• Don’t just rely on your CMS though - use a workflow to approve or reject content centrally. This enables you to ensure consistency and uphold standards. There will always be someone who uses bold instead of an H2 style, or insists in writing all in caps.
• For those who oppose you approving their pages:
• Demonstrate the value your editorial hand can add, for example by re-working a section of their content and providing evidence of improved usability.
• Suggest a trial period to allay their fears.
• Ensure you really are adding value; you may have no need to approve committee papers, policies, financial statements or press releases. Considering allowing this kind of content to bypass the workflow.
• When rejecting items, explain what the editor has done wrong and why and ask them to make corrections. If you always do it yourself you can’t expect them to learn.
• Regularly review the list of CMS users and don’t be afraid to disable accounts of those who haven’t used it recently or who are unresponsive to training.
• Work with key stakeholders to enshrine your principles in formal policy.

Do you disagree with my list? What rules work for you?