Static HTML Versus Blog Versus CMS.

Once you decide to build your own website, you are faced with a wide array of choices.  Do you want to build a static HTML site?  How about a blog site and, if so, which platform?  Perhaps you want more.  Is a full-blown CMS (content management system) right for you?  Once you start concentrating on these choices, it won’t take long before your mind flies into a complete tizzy.  Well, before you get frustrated, it’s best to ask yourself, “What do I want this site to do?”  That’s the important question.

If you’re planning a little site to be an online brochure that won’t need to be updated very often, HTML is probably a very good option for you.  HTML is fairly simple to learn and there are many great software HTML editors out there.  They range in price from free up to several hundred dollars.  The truth is, however, once you learn HTML, you don’t need any of them.  You can edit an HTML page just find in notepad or some other text editor.

Now, if you want to go the HTML route, but don’t want to do it in notepad (perhaps you’d like a WYSIWYG editor), I highly recommend CoffeeCup’s HTML editor.   I’ve used it for years and have found it to be one of the best and least expensive out there.  I actually prefer it to Dreamweaver which costs hundreds of dollars. 

The big drawback to HTML pages is that you have to edit and upload a new page every time you make a change, and, if you add a new page, you have to edit your navigation on each page and re-upload those too.  That can get very time consuming and labor intensive if you do a lot of updates.

If your website will be updated regularly, you probably want to consider using a blog or CMS.  Basically, these are applications that allow you to edit your content using a back-end interface.  The system stores the data in a database and then creates dynamic pages whenever a user clicks on a link to access that specific content. 

Now, if all of this is new to you, you’re probably going “Whoa!!  There’s no way in the world that I can code all of that complicated stuff.”  Well, rest easy.  You don’t have to.  There are many fine blogging and CMS platforms freely available.  Two that I use regualrly are WordPress (blog) and Joomla (CMS).  In fact, this site is built on the WordPress platform.

What’s the difference between a blog and a CMS?  Well, I’m glad you asked.  Put simply, blogs (or web logs) started out as online diaries.  Blogs usually consist of a number of messages grouped together by common subject.   On the other hand, a CMS usually contains many of the same features as a blog, but also include other features such as message boards, community builders, etc.  So, you would think the choice would be fairly easy.  If you just want an easy way to get your message out, and maybe have your visitors leave a comment or two, create a blog.  If you want to build an online community, get a CMS.  It’s that simple, right?  Well, not so much anymore.

You see, some of the blogging platforms, such as WordPress, have expanded to include more CMS features as well.  The line between the two platforms is fairly well blurred now.

Personally, out of all the various platforms and applications out there, I really like WordPress.  It’s easy to understand.  It’s easy to install and to use and search engines love it.  What more could you ask for?  Of course, I still also love Joomla for my more involved projects.

Best of all, many webhosts offer both Joomla and WordPress as “one click instalations.”  Check with your webhost to see if they offer this.

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