There are now a wide variety of content management systems (CMS). Although WordPress, Joomla and Magento are definitely among today's leaders, at least in the midst of open source CMS. Each of them has its own specialty and adapts to some specific goals. Knowing this difference as well as your strengths and weaknesses can be very helpful when choosing a CMS for your own site.

Content management systems: brief definition

Many websites have a lot in common, especially one and the same feature group: menus, contact and order forms, site search, user registration and authentication, comments, spam protection, news sources, as well as photo galleries, product catalogs, etc.

A content management system provides typical functional blocks, such as a set of ready-to-use but customizable modules, as well as an environment to manage them, as well as some other writing, collaboration, reporting, etc. Users can select the required modules and the additional plug -ins, configure them according to their needs and, as a result, substantially simplify website development as well as publishing and updating content (texts, images, video, documents).

Moreove, CMS helps to:

* Maintain an organized website as an integrated whole

* Increase data security, control data access

* Reduce site maintenance or update costs

* Improve communication and content contribution for visitors.

* Provide version control

Select CMS: Step 1 - Define the requirements

First, define the site requirements:

* List the top priority sections and features of your site. They often include, but are not limited to: pages of basic information (about a company, its services or products), news and promotions, product catalogs, order systems, photo galleries, etc.

* Social networking integration and features: which social networks do you plan to use, and if you need settings such as blogs, forums, tagging, content syndication, comments, user-generated content?

* Editorial features: visual text editors, spell check presence, add video or images.

* Multilingual support: do you need support for multiple languages? Any localization or translation?

In addition, evaluate the following points:

* Weigh your security requirements

* Think about whether you expect to use third-party technical support or if you want to manage the site yourself

Step 2: Make a short list of possible candidates

When you have more or less clear requirements for a CMS, you can create a short list of potential candidates.

There is free and paid CMS on the market now. Small and medium-sized businesses often prefer, at least initially, free open source CMS. In fact, its implementation is not completely free because it generally needs help with installation and especially customization and customization.

Next, we consider the most popular free open source visitor management and check-in system in more detail.