When it’s time to finally create a website, the process for many although exciting is usually thought provoking and time taking.

After all, it’s a new website that you’re building and sometimes you are building it all over again. But if you’re new to this practice, this whole process may not be all that exciting and fun.

It can be quite intimidating and can feel daunting which can lead you to make a wrong move. So how do you go about making the right choice that will actually help you get what you want? 

Well, this guide on HTML website design v/s CMS software is here to help you understand these two concepts better and help you enhance your knowledge, so that you make the right decisions in the short and the long run. So let’s begin with the basics…

Content Management System Software

Content Management System Software (CMS) are computer softwares to create, edit, manage and modify content that is digital or online. So in simple terms, it helps the user modify the content on a website without the need for any technical knowledge. Awesome right? 

There are currently 465 CMS softwares that are available. So if you want to build a website and have absolutely no technical knowledge on how to go about it, then these types of softwares make life easier for the user to do so hassle free.

Thus it’s become quite the opposite of what we had once thought of as a super technical process. Though it’s important to know of such related softwares to ace the website creation and management process. 

Currently there are more than 63.3 million live websites that have CMS softwares functioning on them. 

How does the CMS software work? 

In the generic sense, a CMS software has more than one application layer. This is to enable and support the functionality of the CMS in an effective way and help serve as a guide for the connection of the different parts of the CMS software. 

The Content Layer

This is the application layer which manages the content part of the CMS. It can carry out various related functions like the modification of content, editing, content storage, etc. 

The Layout Engine

Here the next step of the process takes place. It assembles the content in a particular format and presents it through the Delivery Layer. Delivery Layer is usually referred to along with the Layout Layer as this step of delivery comes immediately after. 

Through an Application Programming Interface (API), the Delivery Layer requests the Content Layer to deliver it to the viewers. When that is done, it triggers the content to move through the Presentation Layer which is then finally displayed by the Delivery Layer on screen. Fascinating, isn’t it?

Now, the next thing to understand is the types of CMS. Here’s a small explanation. For a more detailed understanding, click here.  

Types of CMS Softwares

Over the past twenty years, this field of content management has undergone massive changes and transformation. Gartner states that of the world’s organizations, 95% of them are already using a CMS software that’s suited for them.

There are in total, 4 main types of CMS softwares. 

Web CMS software

This is the type of CMS software that helps you manage mostly HTML content with better ease. It basically controls all the web material that contributes to content in terms of HTML documents and more. 

As per Gartner, 95% buyers will shift to Web Content Management since it is known to contribute to agility and computer systems interworking. There are three types of Web CMS softwares – Open Source, Commercial Content Management and Custom Content Management Systems. 

Open Source is where you can download an open source CMS with no additional costs on the licenses or other aspects. These are common systems and best for minimal integrations. They include WordPress and Joomla.

On the other hand, CCMS is where a company builds and controls the commercial content software. They need to pay for special licensing and other factors. It’s mostly ready-made and so faster to integrate than the open source ones. A couple of them are Siteco and Adobe Experience Manager. 

The Custom CMS is exclusive and branded. They cater to specific business requirements that may need special tweaking. Features are updated every now and then on the custom CMS due to their dedicated and exclusive service to various businesses.

Digital Asset Management System software

Digital Asset Management System (DAM) software, enables distributed groups or teams to find the correct asset that can help deliver particular customer experience through the correct channel in place on their system. 

Enterprise CMS software

When there is unstructured and unorganized data in an organization, this type of CMS helps with the collection, storage, delivery, etc. of the data which could be in the form of emails, reports and other types of documents. Then the accurate, best fitted content is delivered to the right audience effortlessly.

Here, easy access is given to all the stakeholders to  enable them to make informed decisions and complete their assignments at the right time. 

Component CMS software

Here content is organized at a more individual level. Here the content is tracked and controlled not page by page like in the case of the other types of CMS but in a more detailed manner through paragraphs, photos, phrases, etc.

This is usually recommended for media and publishing companies that deal with content frequently on mobile, PDF, etc.

Benefits of a CMS software

You don’t need to be a techie

Not every user is okay with big technical stuff and so it’s advisable to keep such processes easy and accessible for them. Using a CMS software makes writing, publishing content and images easier for users of the system.

Moreover, in the case of new staff needing to use the Content Management System software, you won’t have to spend a lot of time in training them since it’s quite user friendly. 

Design tweaking is not all that complicated

Always remember that if you’re using a CMS software, the content designs are in two separate virtual boxes. So even if you want to make a change, your website will still be up and running just fine as you make these changes since the live site remains unaffected.

The changes will take effect and go live only when published. You can also make a change in the admin dashboard and have it work through the site. So you will be online consistently and these changes can help further reinforce and strengthen your brand.

You’re in control of what you do

One of the biggest benefits of using a CMS software is that you’re in the control seat and can work on it by yourself. 

Maintenance is not a hassle

Updating your CMS is a part of the maintenance strategy which needs to be followed up. If you choose to use a Content Management System, you won’t need to worry about making changes to every single page on the back end. 

You will just have to make the small tweak whether it is to do with the updates or for any other functionality purpose, you won’t have to separately shift through multiple pages making a change in each of them.

Additionally, if you choose the correct CMS for your publishing needs, the work of updating the software too won’t be a hassle as it would be mostly automated.

It’s SEO friendly

Search engine optimization (SEO) is an important aspect of a good marketing strategy. With a CMS software, this will be made easier as you can add meta descriptions, tags, SEO friendly URLs, etc. 

In some CMS softwares, they also allow you to use redirects and many other functionalities such as if you would like to further work on a page by unpublishing it or rather want to completely get rid of it by deletion. 

Upgrades are faster

If you’ve interacted with any web developer, coding is a major task. But using a CMS software? It makes life easier as it saves you much of your time and energy. CMSes already have some important features for various functionalities which you can utilize once it’s downloaded. 

Additionally, there are customer support persons or teams who are also quite helpful and perform software updates in no time. 

HTML Website

Most people tend to think of coding more in the context of HTML. And while it can be quite complex to understand, HTML has contributed widely to the field of web building and coding. HTML means HyperText Markup Language. This is one of the many other languages used to create websites, pages, etc.

The other languages used for the very same purpose are Extensive Markup Language (XML) and Generalized Markup Language (GML). 

HTML is important because without it, web pages would just look like text that is not formatted correctly. With HTML you can embed videos, add in images or format them or even put your own style to the text, all as you wish. 

How is a HTML website created?

HTML is basically coding but with this, you can build a website or develop web pages as you’d like. The process of developing a website includes a series of short codes which are typed into a “text-file” by the author i.e the one who is writing the language.  

Once this is typed, it is then saved as an HTML file. Post this step, the browsers like Google Chrome, Internet Explorer, etc. then present it to the viewers in a readable format. Basically, how this happens is that the browser first reads the files and then it translates the texts which then the readers can read and comprehend.

When the text is translated, it is converted to a readable form as envisioned by the author. But this can only be done successfully given that the correct tags are used for the creation of the design. For this, most web designers and developers use text editors or graphical editors to develop the web pages.

The tags in HTML separate the usual text from the HTML code. Something like <b>, tells the browser that a certain text is supposed to be in bold. So according to what is written, various tags have a variety of functions.

So when you look at the final work that’s up on the web page, you’re not going to view the code but the outcome of the coding that has been done. 

Benefits of a HTML websites

HTML is used widely since it is supported in every single browser. That’s one of the many reasons why web developers must have knowledge of HTML. 92.6% of websites are HTML websites.

HTML websites are also considered to be light weight and hence they load faster than other websites. In fact, one of the key point recommended by most web developing experts to increase the speed of your website is to include some HTML files. 

Additionally, softwares are not needed to be downloaded to be able to use and write an HTML code. As mentioned earlier, it’s present in every browser and thus by default, this makes it more accessible too. 

HTML is also used for data storage just like in the case of XML syntax and hence understanding and using HTML is advisable.

The difference between CMS software & HTML website

Management of website

Creating a website and planning to keep it to the bare minimum? Then HTML websites might be the better option for you. Here’s why. If you don’t need constant updates, then HTML websites will work just fine when there are only a few web pages out there. 

But if you’re running a full fledged business or need to have an elaborate website, then HTML websites might not be the best option. This is because in the case of the HTML websites, authors need to code every single page.

However, with a CMS software, it already uses HTML coding and most of the updates of tools and features are carried out by the software itself. Plus, as stated earlier, if you need to edit a web page, you can do that effortlessly by yourself, with HTML websites, that’s not possible.

Marketing your business

A CMS software is awesome to get your website up and running since it already has the required themes, tools and features in place for you to start your website and business. In fact, a CMS software has pre-built themes. But at the same time, these pre-built themes don’t really set you apart as a business. 

This is because these pre-built themes don’t have a lot of customization options as you’d prefer, so here’s where HTML websites coding comes in handy. When you use HTML websites coding, you will be able to personalize your website better. So knowing some basic HTML coding can be super helpful.

For HTML websites, you’re literally starting off from scratch and hence this can get quite expensive depending on your web building requirements. 

Personalization of the website

If you want to tweak or make changes to your website, it’s relatively easier on a CMS software than on a HTML website. A CMS software makes the process easier because of the user-friendly interface. 

But with a HTML website, making changes can be quite difficult and if you don’t know coding at all, you would have to hire outside help to assist you. 

Testing out your website

With respect to a CMS software, once you’re done with the editing of the website you can just click preview and check out your work. If you feel like that there are some changes that still needs to be done, then you can go ahead and do that too. 

But for HTML websites, that’s more difficult and you might need to have some help with it. When you would want to preview your HTML website, you will need to copy and paste your HTML code on a plain text file. Then you need to save and close the file. 

Once that’s done, you then open it in your browser to preview your website. If you see an error, you would have to go through all your coding files to seek out the problem. For more information about this, please refer to Coredna.

Conclusion

As the final say, if you’re not very well versed with HTML and cannot allot much money towards a brand new website, then you need to use a CMS software. This way, most of the work in terms of editing of content, using themes and tools can be done by you or someone you train. 

But if you aren’t looking to launch a serious site, then you can go ahead with a HTML website since you don’t have to think much about updates. Additionally, HTML makes the website quicker.

However, customization is an aspect which you might want to pay attention to in the near future, and thus then switch to a CMS based website.

To conclude, a mix of both, HTML website along with a CMS software will be most beneficial for your business website.