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Usable Content Management Systems

Tuesday, June 26th, 2007 at 9:32 AM Category: Business, Meryl's Notes Blog, Tech 6 comments

A large nonprofit organization uses Kintera.com to ensure all of its Web sites contain the same look and feel while providing volunteers and employees an easy way to update the Web pages. Unfortunately, Kintera isn’t easy to use. It also has a ghost in its word processor. In trying to fix a bulleted list, the bullets would keep disappearing and I had to keep clicking the Bullets button until it “took.”

In building several Web sites for a nonprofit organization, I opted to use MovableType as it has a friendly back-end for creating, editing and deleting content. Blogger is probably easier to use, but I needed more control over the design.

I want to find more applications like Kintera — where a nonprofit organization can set up a back-end that already has design templates letting the locals have control over the content and navigation. Anyone know of any?

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6 comments

Posted by Blackbaud NetCommunity on June 26th, 2007, 10:45 AM
Have you ever used Blackbaud’s NetCommunity? It’s an easy-to-use content management system, and the industry’s only solution that integrates directly with The Raiser’s Edge.
Posted by Phil Truluck on June 26th, 2007, 10:58 AM
Definitely check out Convio. They have a CMS that my org recently switched from CommonSpot to use. It’s easy to use and very powerful, but definitely more pricey than some of the options you listed (e.g. Moveable Type, Blogger).
Posted by CMS Monitor on June 26th, 2007, 9:27 PM
Unfortunately, you will run into these issues with each vendor. I have worked with them all, and you are probably best situated where you are. While you may fix this particular problem by moving, the others will then present different problems to you. So, my suggestion is always the same. If you are able to do 75%-80% of what you need, a move would not be worth it, especially financially as there is no 100% perfect solution.
Posted by iMIS Software on June 27th, 2007, 1:21 PM
iMIS is an enterprise non-profit software system that has a Content Management System (CMS). The CMS includes design templates.
Posted by Tim Wall on June 27th, 2007, 3:57 PM
Hi. My company offers an online, hosted CMS that might work for you. It’s built specifically for designers and agencies to resell as their own. Our two main emphases on the product are simplicity (ease of use) and custom design flexibility. It’s called Light and the website is http://www.speaklight.com. Let me know if you have any questions.
Posted by Andy Mason on June 29th, 2007, 6:36 PM
I use CMSMadeSimple (www.cmsmadesimple.org) to manage the content on my web site. It’s easy to learn, easy to use, flexible & open source. There are a number of templates available that can be customized to meet individual site needs. One of the great features is the friendly and knowledgeable community to whom you can address questions via their support forum.