There’s been a growing demand for suggestions and advancing designs to facilitate the idea of the SaaS CMS. The truth of the matter is, there really aren’t any CMS designed built around delivery and facilitation of CMS for the moment, and there likely won’t be, at least not in the sense that defines CMS at the moment.
CMS (or content management systems) are a wildly popular form of web framework which eliminates the need to design a website and its underlying components. Rather, a boxed system is available, with templates and extensions available, through which the administrator or web master merely submits content.
This saves a lot of time and expense, and makes running a web interface and delivering intuitive content much easier. But, when it comes to the idea of SaaS CMS, as in CMS designed to deliver SaaS, well, that’s just not practical.
However, CMS systems in and of themselves are a form of SaaS, and theoretically, some of the better CMS systems could be worked into delivering SaaS, if you design it around the CMS in question. Let’s take a very brief look at a few CMS systems that’re exceptionally popular and effective.
#1 – WordPress
WordPress is mainly geared to bloggers and other literature and journalism pursuits, but you see it just as widely used for other serial content provision applications as well. I know a lot of artists, video producers and developers who use WordPress in a similar fashion, to great avail.
It’s very configurable, and it has the most extensive API and capacity for extension and complex template development I’ve seen. This one could be made into a framework for SaaS probably more easily than any of the others.
#2 – Joomla
I’m less accustomed to Joomla myself, and I don’t know as many people who use it, but my study of it shows that it’s basically a direct competitor to WordPress, and thus brings all the same target features and mindsets with it. I have seen it in action, with the same extended uses by a number of content creators, and it seems just as flexible and programmable as WordPress.
Still, it seems a bit less popular with people than WordPress, so I’d be more comfortable recommending Joomla as a potential alternative, rather than the first thing out of the gate.
#3 – Squidoo
Squidoo is a little different. Where WordPress and Joomla can be employed locally or over the cloud, Squidoo is entirely a cloud system. It’s simplistic, and I don’t honestly entirely understand the mentality or the model behind this one.
But, it gets a lot of praise, so clearly I’m the exception not the rule in my not getting Squidoo. I’d be quite remiss in not noting it.
#4 – Wikis and LMS
Wikis are more of a storage and retrieval of information solution, with a user-friendly interface mentality behind it. We’re all accustomed to Wikipedia and Wiktionary, as well as Wikia sites, and huge information bases in numerous fan communities, all powered by the vaunted Wiki infrastructure.
These are often used as an LMS as well, and other LMS systems such as Moodle are also applicable for certain application of CMS solutions as well. These are mostly honorable mentions, though.
So, SaaS CMS in the sense of boxed framework for delivery of SaaS isn’t a thing for now, but if you’re looking for an SaaS solution to deliver other content, then depending on the content, one of these CMS solutions is bound to suit your needs, or can be shaped to meet them.
