"Content is king." Cliché, yes; but it has never been more true. It is easy to contract a web developer who has mastered HTML and learned a few neat tricks in JavaScript and Dynamic HTML to design a pretty impressive-looking Website for your company or organization. But your next task must be to fill that fancy page layout with some real information. Any site that successfully attracts repeat visitors has to have fresh and constantly updated content. In the world of traditional site building, that means HTML files - and lots of them. |
The problem is that, more often than not, the people who provide the content for a site are not the same people who handle its design. Frequently, the content provider doesn't even know HTML. How, then, is the content to get from the provider onto the Website? Not every company can afford to staff a full-time Webmaster, and most Webmasters have better things to do than copying Word files into HTML templates anyway.
Maintenance of a content-driven site can be a real pain, too. Many sites (perhaps yours?) feel locked into a dry, outdated design because rewriting those hundreds of HTML files to reflect a new look would take forever. Server-side includes (SSIs) can help alleviate the burden a little, but you still end up with hundreds of files that need to be maintained should you wish to make a fundamental change to your site.
The solution to these headaches is database-driven site design. By achieving complete separation between your site's design and the content you want to present, you can work with each without disturbing the other. Instead of writing an HTML file for every page of your site, you only need to write a page for each kind of information you want to be able to present. Instead of endlessly pasting new content into your tired page layouts, create a simple content management system that allows you to post new content without the slightest knowledge of HTML!
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