{"id":2261,"date":"2026-04-08T14:52:51","date_gmt":"2026-04-08T12:52:51","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/o-matic.ch\/blog\/non-categorise\/what-is-a-cms\/"},"modified":"2026-04-08T16:08:27","modified_gmt":"2026-04-08T14:08:27","slug":"what-is-a-cms","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/o-matic.ch\/en\/blog\/websites-and-web-applications\/what-is-a-cms\/","title":{"rendered":"What is a CMS ?"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p>You\u2019ve no doubt come across the term \u2018CMS\u2019 when thinking about creating your website, but you might be wondering, \u2018What is a CMS?\u2019, \u2018What is a CMS used for?\u2019\u2026<\/p>\n\n<p>That is why I am going to explain what a <strong>Content Management System<\/strong> is, and the different types available\u2026<\/p>\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-rank-math-toc-block text\" id=\"rank-math-toc\"><h2>The content at a glance<\/h2><nav><ul><li class=\"\"><a href=\"#a-quoi-sert-un-cms\">What is a CMS used for?<\/a><ul><li class=\"\"><a href=\"#la-gestion-du-contenu\">Content management<\/a><\/li><li class=\"\"><a href=\"#la-gestion-des-utilisateurs\">User management<\/a><\/li><li class=\"\"><a href=\"#la-personnalisation-du-design\">Customising the design<\/a><\/li><li class=\"\"><a href=\"#les-plugins\">Plugins<\/a><\/li><\/ul><\/li><li class=\"\"><a href=\"#les-differents-types-de-cms\">The different types of CMS<\/a><ul><li class=\"\"><a href=\"#les-open-source\">Open-source<\/a><\/li><li class=\"\"><a href=\"#les-proprietaires\">Proprietaries<\/a><\/li><li class=\"\"><a href=\"#les-headless\">Headless<\/a><\/li><\/ul><\/li><li class=\"\"><a href=\"#en-resume-que-pouvons-nous-en-tirer-de-cette-analyse\">In short, what is the best solution?<\/a><\/li><\/ul><\/nav><\/div>\n\n<p>Among the best-known, you\u2019ll recognise names such as <strong>WordPress<\/strong>, <strong>Shopify<\/strong> and <strong>Wix<\/strong>\u2026 According to <a href=\"https:\/\/w3techs.com\/technologies\/history_overview\/content_management\/ms\/y\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">W3Techs<\/a>, WordPress alone accounted for nearly 60% of the market as of 8 April 2026.<\/p>\n<div class=\"wp-block-image\">\n<figure class=\"aligncenter size-full is-resized\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"900\" height=\"500\" src=\"https:\/\/o-matic.ch\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/10\/graph-CMS.png\" alt=\"Comparison chart of CMS platforms\" class=\"wp-image-2244\" style=\"width:650px\" srcset=\"https:\/\/o-matic.ch\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/10\/graph-CMS.png 900w, https:\/\/o-matic.ch\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/10\/graph-CMS-300x167.png 300w, https:\/\/o-matic.ch\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/10\/graph-CMS-768x427.png 768w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 900px) 100vw, 900px\" \/><\/figure>\n<\/div><div class=\"wp-block-image\">\n<figure class=\"aligncenter size-full is-resized\"><a href=\"https:\/\/o-matic.ch\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/10\/tableau-comparatif-CMS.png\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"822\" height=\"300\" src=\"https:\/\/o-matic.ch\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/10\/tableau-comparatif-CMS.png\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-2245\" style=\"width:650px\" srcset=\"https:\/\/o-matic.ch\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/10\/tableau-comparatif-CMS.png 822w, https:\/\/o-matic.ch\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/10\/tableau-comparatif-CMS-300x109.png 300w, https:\/\/o-matic.ch\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/10\/tableau-comparatif-CMS-768x280.png 768w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 822px) 100vw, 822px\" \/><\/a><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"a-quoi-sert-un-cms\"><strong>What is a CMS used for?<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n<p>To begin with, I\u2019ll walk you through the various features of a content management system, breaking it down into four sections: content management, user management, design management and plugins.<\/p>\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"la-gestion-du-contenu\"><strong>Content management<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n<p>As the name suggests, you\u2019ll be able to manage content! <\/p>\n\n<p>Stop joking around \u2013 what we mean by content management is the very structure of your website. This includes its pages, blog posts, products in your shop, and even settings such as the title, logo and favicon (you know, the little image on the tab or in Google search results). <\/p>\n\n<p>It is thanks to a CMS that you don\u2019t have to code each blog post individually, but can instead use page templates and, above all, organise your content into a hierarchy: you can, for example, write a post about cooking potatoes in the \u2018starchy foods\u2019 sub-category, which is part of the \u2018food\u2019 category on your site that brings together everything found in a kitchen <em>(including the collection of tin-plated copper saucepans from the Castellac family\u2019s Regency period, for those <a href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=NtLnbWuMlp0&amp;ab_channel=LesInconnus\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">in the know<\/a>).<\/em> <\/p>\n\n<p>In short, your CMS allows you to easily <strong>format<\/strong> your content, <strong>structure<\/strong> it and, above all, <strong>organise<\/strong> it.<\/p>\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"la-gestion-des-utilisateurs\"><strong>User management<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n<p>Showcasing and selling your cookware is all well and good! But what would be even better is managing who does what! <\/p>\n\n<p>Don\u2019t panic, the CMS is your friend; you keep it with you at all times (another reference for those who spot it\u2026 I don\u2019t know what\u2019s got into me with <a href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=YhP_yO19BGU\" data-type=\"link\" data-id=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=YhP_yO19BGU\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">French references<\/a> today). Let\u2019s say you\u2019re selling those famous saucepans: when a customer places an order on your site, it\u2019s important that they can\u2019t access other customers\u2019 orders. Nor should your intern, who\u2019s in charge of updating your blog, take it upon themselves to offer all your products without supervision.  <\/p>\n\n<p>To do this, you\u2019ll discover the wonderful world of <a href=\"https:\/\/o-matic.ch\/en\/blog\/websites-and-web-applications\/wordpress-user-roles-their-permissions-and-how-to-manage-them\/\" data-type=\"post\" data-id=\"92\">user management<\/a>. When you want to grant a colleague access to your CMS, you can assign them user rights ranging from read-only access to full permissions allowing them to delete anything (except the CMS itself \u2013 only the developer has that power\u2026). <\/p>\n\n<p>As you can see, without proper management, it\u2019s chaos.<\/p>\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"la-personnalisation-du-design\"><strong>Customising the design<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n<p>Ladies and gentlemen, we are now moving on to the practical part of the subject, starting with the design.<\/p>\n\n<p>A website without a design looks like Netflix\u2019s \u2018Hello World\u2019 page, which is no longer available these days, much to my regret\u2026 <\/p>\n<div class=\"wp-block-image\">\n<figure class=\"aligncenter size-large is-resized\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1024\" height=\"656\" src=\"https:\/\/o-matic.ch\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/netflix-hello-world-1024x656.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-177\" style=\"width:650px\" srcset=\"https:\/\/o-matic.ch\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/netflix-hello-world-1024x656.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/o-matic.ch\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/netflix-hello-world-300x192.jpg 300w, https:\/\/o-matic.ch\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/netflix-hello-world-768x492.jpg 768w, https:\/\/o-matic.ch\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/netflix-hello-world.jpg 1170w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px\" \/><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n<p>There is one element that is central to the design of a CMS: the theme!<\/p>\n\n<p>Its role is simple: it makes the content that you and your users enter over time look attractive. It ensures that all pages have a consistent look and feel, whilst allowing, for example, the products on your e-commerce site to have their own page styles, just like your blog posts. All this without having to style each page individually. This is what is known as a page template.   <\/p>\n\n<p>This is where the front-end developer comes in. Their job is to take the raw content returned by the backend (in this case, the CMS) and transform it so that the visual output matches the mock-up created by the designer (it reminds me of a <a href=\"https:\/\/o-matic.ch\/en\/\" data-type=\"page\" data-id=\"33\">Geneva-based development and design agency<\/a>). <\/p>\n\n<p>However, if you\u2019re on a tight budget or short on time, you can find templates to download that allow you to tweak certain aspects before you\u2019ve even had time to say, \u2018Darling, we\u2019re going off air.\u2019 (More <a href=\"https:\/\/youtu.be\/gxIrn10NV1g?si=lS62mq19k-WAGvpM&amp;t=91\" data-type=\"link\" data-id=\"https:\/\/youtu.be\/gxIrn10NV1g?si=lS62mq19k-WAGvpM&amp;t=91\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">references<\/a> \u2013 it\u2019s mad.)<\/p>\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"les-plugins\"><strong>Plugins<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n<p>Ahhh, plugins \u2013 so wonderful and yet so dangerous.<\/p>\n\n<p>Let\u2019s take WordPress as an example, which is essentially a blog CMS. Since its inception in 2003, the main purpose of WordPress (which remains the same today) has been to write posts with tags and\/or categories to organise content. However, WordPress is now much more than just a blog: it is a true Swiss Army knife, enabling you to blog, create a showcase website, sell online, run a forum\u2026 and do it all at the same time.  <\/p>\n\n<p>So you can thank plugins (or \u2018plugiciels\u2019, as our friends in Quebec call them) \u2013 code extensions designed to expand the basic functionality of your content management system. You\u2019ll find some that are paid, some that are free, and even some that are malicious if you\u2019re not careful. <\/p>\n\n<p>This brings us to the dangerous side of things. It is important to always be careful about what you install, as these extensions can sometimes contain security flaws and even be a drain on performance. <\/p>\n\n<p>In short, plugins have brought about a minor revolution on the web, but try not to overdo it, as this could backfire on you.<\/p>\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"les-differents-types-de-cms\"><strong>The different types of CMS<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n<p>As you will have gathered, CMSs share the same core features, but there are several types of CMS, each with its own specific characteristics. Some are geared towards blogging, others are more geared towards e-commerce, and others are better suited to forums. <\/p>\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"les-open-source\"><strong>Open-source<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n<p>I\u2019ll start with open-source platforms, which include <strong>WordPress<\/strong>, <strong>Drupal<\/strong>, <strong>Typo3<\/strong>, <strong>PrestaShop<\/strong>\u2026<\/p>\n\n<p>You can recognise them because you have access to the source code, which allows you to modify it and contribute to it.<\/p>\n\n<p>The advantage is that you\u2019ll have full control over your project, including where you host it. This also allows you to benefit from a free solution that often comes with strong community support. <\/p>\n\n<p>The downside is that, in most cases, you\u2019ll need some technical know-how to set it up, and you\u2019ll have to manage the hosting yourself.<\/p>\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"les-proprietaires\"><strong>Proprietaries<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n<p>To name just a few of the biggest names, this family includes <strong>Webflow<\/strong>, <strong>Shopify<\/strong>, <strong>Wix<\/strong>, <strong>Squarespace<\/strong>\u2026<\/p>\n\n<p>You\u2019ll be able to spot them because you don\u2019t have access to the source code and won\u2019t be able to host your solution wherever you like. However, they do have their advantages too. <\/p>\n\n<p>As you won\u2019t be responsible for hosting, you\u2019ll be able to make use of platforms with a wealth of resources. This means you\u2019ll have virtually no need for technical knowledge to build your project from scratch. <\/p>\n\n<p>Let\u2019s move on to the drawbacks: you won\u2019t be able to do exactly what you want; you\u2019ll be limited by the tools and plugins provided. Costs can sometimes become exorbitant if your project grows in scale, not to mention that you\u2019re at the mercy of a single company that holds all the power. <\/p>\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"les-headless\"><strong>Headless<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n<p>This category is a bit unusual and technical to grasp. To understand it, you need to realise that the front-end (the visual part of your website) is separate from the back-end (the CMS): technically, you end up with two sites: one where your users will browse and one for managing your content. For those in the know, it isn\u2019t actually necessary to have two sites, but we\u2019d be getting into a topic far too long for this article; however, it could be the subject of a second article.  <\/p>\n\n<p>This category includes solutions such as <strong>Strapi<\/strong>, which is open source, <strong>Contentful<\/strong>, which is proprietary, and many others, such as <strong>WordPress<\/strong>, which could also be included in this category.<\/p>\n\n<p>As for the benefits, in my opinion you get the best of all: visual freedom. More often than not, when your CMS includes your front-end, you\u2019re restricted by the technical stack. For example, with Drupal, your front-end is rendered using <strong>PHP<\/strong>, which significantly limits page transitions and micro-iterations that you could otherwise achieve with a solution like <strong>NextJS<\/strong>. You can even link your content to your mobile app using a headless solution.   <\/p>\n\n<p>The downside is that you end up having to develop your own interface and ensure the connection between the visual elements and the content, which means you need specific skills.<\/p>\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"en-resume-que-pouvons-nous-en-tirer-de-cette-analyse\"><strong>In short, what is the best solution?<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n<p>As with everything, there\u2019s no such thing as a good or bad situation; there are only encounters (I promise, that\u2019s the <a href=\"https:\/\/youtube.com\/shorts\/2Rty8Wx6RaU?si=K-hmGD95iSjoC9ZY\" data-type=\"link\" data-id=\"https:\/\/youtube.com\/shorts\/2Rty8Wx6RaU?si=K-hmGD95iSjoC9ZY\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">last one<\/a>)\u2026<\/p>\n\n<p>It all depends on your project:<\/p>\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>If you\u2019re planning to build a large-scale mobile app with a website, content and complex logic, you can certainly opt for a headless solution, but we would advise against choosing a proprietary solution. <\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Si vous d\u00e9veloppez un site pour la vente de casseroles, les solutions open source et propri\u00e9taires seront bien plus adapt\u00e9es en termes de budget et de temps.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n<p>Here at <strong>O\u2019Matic<\/strong>, we favour <strong>open-source<\/strong> and <strong>headless<\/strong> solutions to give you full control over everything we deliver, from the code right through to hosting.<\/p>\n\n<p>If you\u2019d like to develop your project but aren\u2019t sure where to start, please feel free to download our <a href=\"https:\/\/o-matic.ch\/en\/specification-template-pdf\/\" data-type=\"page\" data-id=\"437\">specifications template<\/a>, book an <a href=\"https:\/\/o-matic.ch\/en\/audit\/\" data-type=\"page\" data-id=\"439\">audit<\/a> or <a style=\"color:#fe7f2d;\" href=\"https:\/\/o-matic.ch\/en\/contact\/\">get in touch<\/a> with us.<\/p>\n\n<p>Sur ce, je vais aller r\u00e9viser mes classiques du cin\u00e9ma.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>You\u2019ve no doubt come across the term \u2018CMS\u2019 when thinking about creating your website, but you might be wondering, \u2018What is a CMS?\u2019, \u2018What is a CMS used for?\u2019\u2026 That is why I am going to explain what a Content Management System is, and the different types available\u2026 Among the best-known, you\u2019ll recognise names such [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":2260,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[47],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2261","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-websites-and-web-applications"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/o-matic.ch\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2261","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/o-matic.ch\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/o-matic.ch\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/o-matic.ch\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/o-matic.ch\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2261"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/o-matic.ch\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2261\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2262,"href":"https:\/\/o-matic.ch\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2261\/revisions\/2262"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/o-matic.ch\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2260"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/o-matic.ch\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2261"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/o-matic.ch\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2261"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/o-matic.ch\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2261"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}