Content Management Systems

Content Management Systems (CMS's) refer to web applications designed specifically to create, edit and manage content on a website.  Numerous off-the-shelf products exist for purchase, but they typically tend to compartmentalize a site into one of a few pre-defined templates. 

Since most websites' content is managed by a database, the simplest form of Content Management Systems are just desktop database applications, such as Microsoft Access, that link to the master database located at a centralized location (usually at the web hosting facility).  More elaborate and effective CMS's take the form of "behind-the-scenes" websites in which the user logs in with an ID and password, and is able to make edits and additions to the site's content quickly and easily, using intuitive and user-friendly tools, and without needing any web-authoring skills such as HTML. 

CMS's range from very simple to very complex, with a wide variety of features and looks and feels.  Datasushi's approach to developing Content Management tools is to keep them as simple and intuitive as possible, and to only include features that address the specific needs of the site itself.  Generally it's best to design a CMS around a website, rather than vice-versa. 

Datasushi's signature CMS, the DS Designer,  described below in the first and third examples, offers the most intuitive user interface available:  after logging in, users simply double-click an area of content they wish to edit.  A popup editor appears, allowing them to change the site's content, or add new content.  After making their changes, the user clicks a Submit button, whereupon the editor dissapears and the original page refreshes, with the new content displayed.

Please follow the links below for examples of CMS's Datasushi has developed.  For a live demo of the DS Designer, click here.