In a previous post we discussed the fact that some web sites, the “showcase” web sites, can be built rather quickly, by using the right tools. Does this mean that anybody with zero informatics knowledge can setup a web server or open an hosting account, deploy a Content Management System (CMS), and setup their website, as they imagine it, in a few minutes? Unfortunately, no.
Even if the installation of a CMS is a rather simple and requires few basic skills, the configuration and customization of the system, and more importantly the update and maintenance and the security aspects involved, are another story. Experience and specific skills are required.
I witnessed personally, quite recently, a telling story. A person I know was in need of a web site for his newly founded association. Budget was tight, and anyway, as it happens, the website was seen as something that should be inexpensive. This person was offered “a CMS-based web site” for an extremely competitive and attractive price. To my surprise, a nice website was indeed delivered, based on the Joomla platform (a well known and widely used CMS). Nice and clean graphics, the guy had done his job, nice backend for managing contents. After 3-4 months, the site was hacked and became unreachable. Likely, the web guy did install and customize Joomla, but he did not make sure the latest security updates were installed. On such “mainstream” CMS systems, new vulnerabilities and “backdoors” are regularly discovered by hackers. Once a new vulnerability is discovered, all the (thousands?) installation of this CMS, that are not patched/updated become vulnerable to attack and penetration.
One thing is to install a CMS and get a website online, another thing is to keep it secure, up and running reliably.
So again, is it really quick and easy to setup a CMS-based website? Yes, if you are skilled and can go through the setup process on solid grounds, or if you can find someone to do the dirty tech job for you so that you can concentrate on your web site, your contents, your visitors. Please feel free to contact us if you wish to discuss these issues further.
Image credits: Vi O’Walker Flickr – http://www.shorttraveltips.com