An Analysis of The Rolling Stones website

As I delve in deeper to Wordpress, I am learning so much about the way content is handled and organized.  And one of the best resources that I found that helps to build and better blog and/or website is to research other websites and see how they use a content management system. Though what I’ve learned is that there are wrong and right ways to use a CMS but there are also many different ways to organize information as well, not necessarily wrong, but different.

The site that I researched for this post is the band site for The Rolling Stones. I must say I am a little bit of a Stones fan, but I am even a bigger fan since they are using a CMS to do their web stuff. 

One important element of Wordpress that all builders, new and experienced should always take into consideration is the difference between posts and pages, when to use each one. This is a great feature of Wordpress and if done correctly cannot only make your site/blog more organized but it can also improve the visual aesthetic as well. The eye can definitely pick up when something is designed well, even if you can’t pick out what it is about the site that sets it off. The Rolling Stones site manages their posts and pages in this way. The pages function statically and hold the appropriate content, while the posts show up on each page. Some of the posts, you can tell are set to be sticky (holds them in place and ignores the reverse chronoglogical function of posts on pages) which actually works with the other content that they have. I think this display of posts is most functional on the home page. 

They also use Wordpress plugins very well. Wordpress is really just very basic without the thousands of plugins that are used to tailor so many different aspects of a site. From incorporating Javascripts to multimedia, plugins are definitely one of the most important features that Wordpress offers. ( Which sadly I found out the hard way by using a free Wordpress.com site for Capstone) There was actually a pretty good example of the Stones incorporating a Lightbox-like photo gallery that I know was made possible via Java.

I think navigation is what really sets Wordpress apart from other types of CMSs and

webbuilders, because you can almost guess that a site was created by Wordpress just by looking at the navigation. I like the Rolling Stones site because it uses custom menus and parent/child pages to help navigate content. Everything that I could possibly want to find on the Stones' site is easily accessible without having to search and sift through information. 

If I would give any cons to the site, I would definitely say that the text sections (scroll down once you click the link) have too much information for a user to digest at any moment, and that I would hope that they might go through and shorten/ condense some of the info to make it more user digestible. 

Why Content Management Systems are Preferred

For this blog, I am going to discuss why content management systems are preferred over traditional web building methods and why they should be considered for websites and the future of the internet.

Having used both web building software and browser based CMS, I can definitely say that first, in my personal opinion that I cannot believe how much simpler and easier building a complex and nice looking site is with a CMS. Not downing on Dreamweaver ( the website building software I used to use) because Dreamweaver definitely fits its purpose and now have available all kinds of plugins that can enhance the features of Dreamweaver.

However, Dreamweaver is code based. And I truthfully, I don’t mind noodling around with code, I find it interesting other than the fact that it can get repetitive at times and somewhat tedious after long intervals, however for me, I think it’s easier to pinpoint problems with a site if you can find the exact code where something is wrong, not exactly the easiest thing in a CMS.

So, to first start off, I guess I should explain what a content management system is or rather give an example of how I understand CMS. The easiest way that I can explain CMS, is like a big  self-organizing filing cabinet. It’s browser based really large database where you can store all your web’s content and have it organized any way that you want. Which I prefer to Dreamweaver, because I like being able to not having to use code all the time. Oh yeah, did I mention that it’s much less code focused than a program like Dreamweaver? It is. Oh yeah.

Well, not that code bothers me, it doesn’t ( see above) but I haven’t had a strong background in coding, (I knew some, but not enough above novice level) and a content management system allows me to bypass alot of the menusha code ( though it is still good to know CSS for stylistic purposes).

Also from a business end, CMSs just make sense. Websites are crucial to a business's success and you need an attractive, working, and current site, to make it in the market. One online company explains the benefits of using CMSs like this,  " Business websites frequently need to perform tasks like upgradation, content management, sales analysis, vistor analysis, etc... A majority of business websites prefer CMS solutions thanks to their ease of use and extraordinary features that make these tasks a lot easter. With the help of CMS solutions, online business management has become a lot simpler than it e was ever imagined to be."

What are some of these features you may ask? The plugins available for CMS are almost limitless there are thousands and thousands of them, from shopping cart and online web store plugins to photo and product design, to marketing enhancers, membership logins, security based, newsletters and so so so many more.

One webmaster, Christopher Heung of thesitewizard.com also describes some time saving, effort saving benefits of switching to a CMS, " Unlike an offline web editor, where everything you want done on your site has to be added manually, blogging and CMS software handle things like tagging, categories and a managing a search engine for you. 

-Simply tag your post as having a certain keyword, and a new index page is automatically generated for you with a list of posts that have that particular tag. There's no need to contemplate whether it is worth the effort and time to create a new page for that particular keyword or tag. The software does it for you. 

-Your visitors automatically have the option, if they wish, to check out all the other articles having the same tag. Unlike an offline web editor, where everything you want done on your site has to be added manually, blogging and CMS software handle things like tagging, categories and a managing a search engine for you. 

.-Likewise, adding a search engine to your website is no longer a hassle. In fact, the few popular blog software that I have tried automatically add a search engine for you whether you want it or not.

-The blogging software automatically increases the usability of your website without adding complexity to your job as a webmaster."

Content Management Systems

CMSs or content management systems have completely changed how users access and create content on the web. Without content management systems, we wouldn't have blogs or the intuitive user interfaces that we have now, you can even build websites using CMSs which eliminates the tedious amounts of code that web designers and builders have had to use in the past. Many content management systems such as the ever popular www.wordpress.com, allow you to upload and enter all of your data and content for what ever purpose your need, website, blog, any other kind of correspondence and then allows you to organize in a way that meets your needs and needs of the people that access your information.

CMS has streamlined the way that we present information and allows those of us who have never known about web design and construction to start building without much previous hardware knowledge. Design is the key instinct in CMS, and will store your data no matter what kind of design that you use with your blog, website, etc. And all of the information that you put into a CMS is there, and ready for a designer to organize it. This is called indexing, Techtarget, a online tutorial site based off of a CMS says, "An additional feature is indexing, search, and retrieval. A CMS system indexes all data within an organization. Individuals can then search for data using keywords, which the CMS system retrieves." Which in turn provides a quick and easy directory for site or blog visitors to have access to all of your site's information, seamlessly and intuitively. 

Wordpress, one of the top CMSs out there, is something that I am actually using for my own Capstone project and something that I am going to be working rather closely with for the whole semester.

 One online tutorial site says that "The backend layout is streamlined and intuitive, and a new user should be able to easily find their way around the administration section. Wordpress also comes with built-in image and multimedia uploading support."  

Meaning not only do content management systems store and display data in a user friendly and readable manner, but they also offer support and user information so that you always know if you are using your CMS to its potential, or if you need help in learning how to use a CMS.

Dreamweaver Review

In my Advanced Internet Production class, we are back to working with Adobe Dreamweaver, which is an web page creation program.  Back in the day, I remember when I used to dabble a bit in HTML coding myself, just for fun of course and not very much, but I do remember what a pain it was to try and sort through layers and rows of monotonous code, and then lest you make a typo error, you hope that everything doesn’t get corrupted or misinterpreted along the code reading.

Adobe's Dreamweaver icon

Therefore, when I was introduced to Dreamweaver last year, I was completely dumbfounded. It really makes website creation and editing a breeze!

However, Dreamweaver, though a great tool, has to be learned. One of the hardest things about learning Dreamweaver is learning how to edit using the program, rather than knowing what you want to edit. I find that I do better if I use split screen mode so I can see both the viewer and the code. And I still don't understand many of the upper level capabilities that Dreamweaver is able to do. 

One of the best things about Dreamweaver though is that once you understand how to use and how to use for what ever you need it for, it makes web editing go by quickly without having to type in the code. You can make a very basic website in less then 10 minutes if you know what you are doing.

What works well for me with Dreamweaver, is that is allows me to get in my zone and once I know what I am doing, it just works. However, what I think is difficult is that every time that you want to make a change to your website, you've got to take it down and edit it and then re-upload to the server. Many times what the biggest problem is, is that though Dreamweaver is an improvement to straight coding, there are already web-based web editors that allow even easier functions such as drag and drop and change features with a mouse click. The sad part about Dreamweaver for me is that it's slowly headed out of style instead of headed toward more dramatic and interactive web sites.