Key functions of good CMS’

There are some rerally important features that make a great CMS. Since the main issue is usability with the current cms, this is going top be the main focus of the redesign. Simple adjustments that will make a world of difference to the user.

The Editor

The content needs to be easily editable and this is one of the key features of every cms. Therefore a great question is whether to use a top-aligned editor or an inline editor? This is reasonably easy to answer, the main editor should be available at all times while the inline editor should be available in a live edit mode. A great inline editor is the medium editor (https://yabwe.github.io/medium-editor/).

 

Managing assets

The user must be able to see images via upload date, and also search for file names, they should be able to delete or upload images to the assets section of the site.

Help/Search

The help and search feature is an important one, it offers users with no technical know-how information regarding a specific topic they are stuck with. For example they could search questions into the guide to get specific help with something, they could search for the title of a page they are looking for so they can edit it quickly. This feature could save the user from wasting valuable time.

Customisation

Customisation of the site should vary depending on the users needs. The majority of the sites the client designs for are predesigned and should not allow for further editing. That said, should the company want to update the looks of their site they should be able to without having to pay the company more to do so.

Customisation on a smaller scale could be like allowing the user to update the colours used in the navigation bar or site wide fonts.

Versioning

Versioning is a great feature that allows the user to have the safety of knowing that if they accidentily content, they can revert to an older version of the site. This makes it easier for them to update the site for short periods of time with short promotions etc with the ability to easily revert.

Social Media Integration

Social media is such a large part of running as business today, it should be relevant for the organisation to have a hub of all the social media on the site. The site could pull the integration even more into the design so that when the site developer adds a story to the blog they have the option to easily share the story through their social networks.

Analytics

Analytics should offer the organisation an outlook at hit views so they can track success of their posts on the site, what sections are most important to their users. Allowing them to move forward with enhanced knowledge of their business.

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Using a phone as a key

A very interesting application of the smartphone could be to allow it to open doors using a provided the user scans it’s finger on the fingerprint scanner.

This is a great idea because it means that you could give family or friends access to your house by selecting them from your phone, it would allow you to moniter which doors are open/closed and who has been in the house and when. It would also be a great way to know if anyone is home or not.

Considering someone may possibly be able to access a house if they steal someone else’s phone, security is definitely an issue but the fingerprint reader on the iPhone would ensure no one but the user could access the house.

There have been a few  attempts at this, but none being so secure with such possibilites, you can see one example here;

This is something that is very likely to happen as Apple have alreadly begun to explore within key access using the iPhone and hotels, especially since Apple introduced a way to pay using your phone which uses NFC (Near Field Connection), this isn’t a huge step compared to what they have alreadly acheived.

References;

http://www.kwikset.com/kevo/default.aspx#.VrTZJjbJxhE

http://www.macworld.com/article/2844021/forgot-your-hotel-room-key-use-your-iphone-instead.html