Using Content Management Systems vs. Static sites

Content Management Systems (CMS’s)

Negatives:

  • They used to be more work to set up in the days of when you had to manually create a database and connect to it. Those days are pretty much gone with the advent of auto-installers on most web hosts.
  • CMS’s require that all components are kept up to date to protect them against hackers. If you don’t do it you’re asking for trouble.
  • While lots of themes are available they can be considerably more work to customize if you can’t find that perfect fit. The more complicated the theme the more difficult it will be to customize
  • A heavily customized CMS site is almost always going to cost more than a static site.
  • They are more susceptible to hackers if security updates are not maintained. Regular back-ups of your site should be done just in case it is ever hacked.

Positives:

  • You can often get a full featured site up and running quickly, especially if you can find a theme that works well for your site.
  • CMS’s are often much easier to update content on, especially if the updates are primarily changes in text. There’s usually no need to learn code. The only thing that is required is to learn to navigate the administration interface. They generally use a basic word processor for updating the site.
  • CMS’s can provide functionality that would take hundreds of hours for a programmer to create. If the functionality they provide is needed on your site they are often the best and most cost effective way to go.

Static Sites (conventional)

Negatives:

  • They require someone experienced in web design languages such as HTML, CSS and JavaScript or someone who has learned how to use a good (and often expensive) web design program.
  • If your site requires updates you will be dependent on that person to do the updates for you, usually at an hourly rate. If the updates are frequent it can start to add up.
  • They are generally not as feature-rich as CMS based sites are. Including those features usually means custom programming which can become very costly.

Positives:

  • Conventional sites often load quicker, especially for anyone still on a slow (dial-up) connection.
  • They require minimal maintenance to keep running.
  • They are not open to the same security problems that CMS’s  are because they don’t use the technologies that blogs need to run on and therefore don’t have those vulnerabilities.
  • It’s often easier to layout out a page exactly how you want it. With CMS’s it’s often going to be a lot of work to change the layout significantly if you can’t find a theme that meets your needs.
  • You won’t need to learn to navigate a CMS’s administration interface if you send updates to your web designer and let them take care of it. Of course that does mean paying for having updates done. This is probably one of the main factors to weigh before deciding which way to go. If your site does not require frequent updates it may be easier and cheaper to go with a conventional site.

Note: This information refers to websites where the CMS software is installed on your hosting account. This is seen as more professional because you can have your own unique domain name without a hosted blog or CMS’s name included as part of it. A website/blog hosted on your account is also more customizable than one that is run on a hosted blog/CMS account.