The future of CMS

I had an epiphany recently regarding the future of CMS - does it really have one ?

If you consider how most people are having to use separate non-related softeware for every aspect of their web site, it makes me wonder if CMS has a future beyond just basic webpages

ie,
website/ (cms software)
/forums/ (forum software)
/shop/ (shopping cart software)
/news/ (mail list software)
/articles/ (blog software)
/wiki/ (wiki software)

additional software is also available for misc sections of a website such as faq, contact, events, etc

clearly, independent software does the job more effectivly perhaps than CMS and when it comes down to it, there appears to be more of a future for skinning applications to make them all have the look of the website, then anything else.

It would be great to see more all-in-one software but how do they standup against the real deal ? probablly not very well by comparision, so where does that leave CMS as only a basic page tool creator or something more.

If you build sites for companies, and especially custom apps, you’d probably have a different perspective. Try training an administrative assistant on 6 different applications with 6 different logins to manage their online presence.

CMS is big business it won’t go away.

I agree with Ryan unless you’ve got tech competent users you fight a losing battle. That said I agree with using dedicated applications where possible as there’s always a bag egg in ’all-in-one’ applications. But there are some commerical CMS that cater for all these type of addons.

Besides those that can, find worthy applications that they can build bridge connections too.

To borrow a phrase from Jason (and it is the right phrase, just sounds Trekkie to me ), "Federated User Management" ... or something like that.

well well, let me think again...

hm...if something goes away, something else has to come, or am i wrong?

Quote from: rthrash at Jun 12, 2007, 10:34 AM

To borrow a phrase from Jason (and it is the right phrase, just sounds Trekkie to me ), "Federated User Management" ... or something like that.

lol I love it, but the again I am a trekkie fan

About the future of CMS, well... the future of CMS is not...CMS. Kind of sound like a self appointed prophet here but let me explain...

I think we’re already past the point where web applications can afford to specialize into a single task or task group. The CMS + wiki + forums + project management + etc... is already a thing of the past. Office applications are moving from the desktop to the web. Corporate clients (and possibly end user too) want all feature in one place (single sign-on made simple is what we need ! Maybe OpenID ?), with a comprehensive, consistent yet simple interface (now here is a BIG challenge).

They don’t care what we call those apps, they don’t care that they’re different application right now and more often than not they’re frustrated with the different interfaces, mutiple sign ons, design constraints : they want something that works for them, something to handle and publish all kinds of content, period.

I kind of think 37signals or less known Joyent are right on track on this path. Of course they’re not perfect but they kind of manage to balance the equation quite well. They are market benchmarks. But that’s hosted app, which can’t be customized - just used - and it’s a lot easier to achieve than building a content management framework (Of course you could say those companies are using a "higher level" web application framework since their app is Ruby On Rails powered though).

Now where is MODx in this future ?

I think it lays right between those high level web application frameworks (such a Ruby On Rails, Symphony or Django... which require a fair amount of developpement) and the low level CMSes, wiki, forums we have today (speedy and cheap to deploy, a costy nightmare to customize most of the time).

In terms of market, right now "high level" frameworks are something only bigger corporation can afford because though it’s faster to build an app with RoR than with no framework, it’s still a costy process. End users and smaller companies can’t afford that and stick with lower level applications (more specialized and fragmented). There is - in my opinion - a gap between those two.

If I got things correctly (please correct me Ryan and Jason if I am wrong) MODx will seat right between higher level frameworks and lower level specialized applications. In a way, it will be an "extended" content management framework. I used extended because the CMF term is so overused it tends to be depreciated now. Many so called CMF are in fact, to my eyes, mere CMS. You can’t build applications with them. With MODx you already have a lot of power to build customized content management for your clients, but it will become even more so in the future. Tomorrow you’ll use MODx/Tattoo to build your forum, your wiki, your file repository, your project management app...

I am not saying that MODx is the future of CMS, but it might just be leading the pack in the transition we are witnessing... now is the future hosted, generic app or installed, customized app ? I don’t know. Probably the market will be shared as it has for the past years between the two options.

What do you think ?