{"id":20228,"date":"2020-01-29T13:17:34","date_gmt":"2020-01-29T13:17:34","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.arimetrics.com\/glosario-digital\/cms"},"modified":"2026-09-18T19:17:27","modified_gmt":"2026-09-18T19:17:27","slug":"cms","status":"publish","type":"encyclopedia","link":"https:\/\/www.arimetrics.com\/en\/digital-glossary\/cms","title":{"rendered":"CMS"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"boxpad alignright wp-image-14069 size-full\" src=\"https:\/\/www.arimetrics.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/01\/cms-1.png\" alt=\"CMS\" width=\"300\" height=\"300\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.arimetrics.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/01\/cms-1.png 300w, https:\/\/www.arimetrics.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/01\/cms-1-150x150.png 150w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px\" \/><strong>Definition:<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>A <strong>CMS<\/strong> (<em>Content Management System<\/em>) is software that enables people to create, organise, edit, approve and publish digital content through an administration interface. It separates content management from some of the code and infrastructure used to present that content, although the degree of separation depends on its architecture.<\/p>\n<p>It can manage websites, blogs, catalogues, portals, intranets and other digital services. <strong>A CMS reduces the need to edit code directly for every content change, but it does not remove the need for design, development, maintenance or governance.<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><code><\/code><\/p>\n<h2>How a CMS works<\/h2>\n<p>Specific capabilities vary between products, but content management commonly combines four functions:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>Content structuring:<\/strong> organises text, images, files, categories, fields and relationships so they can be reused and maintained consistently.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Editing and collaboration:<\/strong> provides a dashboard or <a href=\"https:\/\/www.arimetrics.com\/en\/digital-glossary\/backend\">backend<\/a> where several users can prepare content according to their permissions.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Editorial control:<\/strong> may include drafts, revisions, scheduling, versions, approval states and change records to coordinate work.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Publishing and delivery:<\/strong> combines content with templates or distributes it through interfaces and APIs to a website, application or other channels.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>Content is commonly stored in a database or repository and media files in an associated system. Templates control its presentation, while plugins, modules and integrations can extend the available functions. <strong>Each extension also introduces compatibility, update and security requirements.<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>A CMS can support digital content production, but the editorial workflow, responsibilities and publishing criteria need to be defined outside the tool.<\/p>\n<h2>CMS architectures<\/h2>\n<p>The relationship between content management and presentation supports several architectures:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>Traditional or coupled CMS:<\/strong> the system manages the content and generates the user interface through its own templates, themes or components.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Decoupled CMS:<\/strong> the backend manages content separately and sends it to a distinct presentation layer, although the product may retain tools for both sides.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Headless CMS:<\/strong> focuses on the repository and administration layer and delivers content through APIs to one or more independently developed frontends.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>Some platforms provide a hybrid model that combines CMS-managed templates with API delivery. <strong>Headless does not mean that content has no presentation<\/strong>; it means that presentation is not included as one mandatory layer within the content management system.<\/p>\n<h2>CMS types<\/h2>\n<p>Content management systems can also be grouped by the content and processes they manage:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>General publishing:<\/strong> manages pages, articles, media, taxonomies and users for blogs, corporate websites and portals.<\/li>\n<li><strong>E-commerce:<\/strong> adds catalogues, inventory, orders, prices, payments and other commercial functions to content management.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Enterprise or specialist management:<\/strong> provides content models, permissions, localisation, approval workflows and integrations suited to particular organisations or sectors.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>Purpose, architecture, licence and hosting are separate dimensions. A CMS can be <a href=\"https:\/\/www.arimetrics.com\/en\/digital-glossary\/open-source\">open source<\/a> or proprietary and, independently, installed on an organisation&#8217;s infrastructure or supplied as a managed cloud service. <strong>SaaS describes how software is supplied and operated, not a licence category equivalent to open source or proprietary software.<\/strong><\/p>\n<h2>CMS examples<\/h2>\n<p>WordPress, Joomla and Drupal are open-source systems used for publishing, corporate websites and portals, with different content models, extensions and administration approaches. TYPO3 is also used for projects with complex structures, permissions and languages.<\/p>\n<p>Magento Open Source and Adobe Commerce include content management within e-commerce platforms. Shopify and Squarespace provide hosted services that combine content editing with store or site-building functions. Contentful and Strapi represent headless approaches centred on structured content and API delivery.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Products are not interchangeable merely because they belong to the CMS category.<\/strong> Each supports different editorial models, extensions, architectures, channels and levels of control.<\/p>\n<h2>Scope of a CMS<\/h2>\n<p>A CMS can speed up publishing, maintain a common structure and distribute responsibilities among authors, editors and administrators. These capabilities do not by themselves guarantee ease of use, scalability or content quality: the outcome depends on configuration, model design, information volume and the team operating it.<\/p>\n<p>It does not guarantee organic search performance either. A CMS may support titles, metadata, URLs, redirects and sitemaps, but indexability, performance, internal linking, accessibility and editorial quality depend on the implementation. <strong>Installing an SEO extension does not replace technical configuration and review.<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Security requires updates to the core system and its extensions, restricted permissions, protected access, integration reviews and recoverable backups. Evaluating a CMS also involves editorial workflows, languages, publishing channels, integrations, data portability, operating costs and maintenance capacity.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Definition: A CMS (Content Management System) is software that enables people to create, organise, edit, approve and publish digital content through an administration interface. It separates content management from some of the code and infrastructure used to present that content, although the degree of separation depends on its architecture. It can manage websites, blogs, catalogues, [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":6,"featured_media":80083,"template":"","encyclopedia-tag":[1277],"class_list":["post-20228","encyclopedia","type-encyclopedia","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","encyclopedia-tag-web-components"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.arimetrics.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/encyclopedia\/20228","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.arimetrics.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/encyclopedia"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.arimetrics.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/encyclopedia"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.arimetrics.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/6"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.arimetrics.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/80083"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.arimetrics.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=20228"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"encyclopedia-tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.arimetrics.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/encyclopedia-tag?post=20228"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}