The big reason to avoid a proprietary, closed CMS
From time to time I learn of businesses who, at some time in the past, had a web site built in a web development firm’s proprietary CMS. Often, clients don’t care (or even know) about the technology behind their web site. As long as it works, they don’t worry. Clients often choose a web develpoment firm on the basis of a relationship with that firm, not the technology. And this makes sense—if you have a deck built for you, you’re probably more concerned about the quality and appearance of the deck rather than what size bolts and washers are holding it together.
However, there is one giant problem with having a site built in a proprietary CMS—it ties you to one small business, one which can and may disappear at any time. You may have gotten an excellent web site from WebRocks, LLC. It’s built in WebRocks CMS 2.0, and works and looks great. But you still have that nagging problem: if WebRocks goes out of business or you don’t want to deal with them anymore, guess how many other web developers out there are familiar with WebRocks CMS 2.0? Zero. Now it’s pretty certain that your site is stuck with the same layout, features, and hosting, forever. Additionally, if you find any bugs in the CMS, there’s no easy way to correct them.
I imagine that most businesses don’t consider this, because as I mentioned, they built a relationship with a firm, not a technology, and trust that firm will steer them in the right direction.
Enter the open-source or open-architecture CMS
This site is exclusively about ExpressionEngine. ExpressionEngine is open-architecture software. It differs from Drupal, Wordpress, Joomla, etc. in a few key ways:
- It’s not free.
- You can’t alter it and resell it.
- It is supported by a vendor rather than a community of volunteers. Well, there still is a community of volunteers who help each other, but technical support is provided by the vendor, Ellis Lab.
Many web development firms get good results with ExpressionEngine and other non-proprietary CMS. And now the big advantage:
You’re not tied to one web development firm
If you have a site built in one of the above CMS, if that firm goes out of business, or you don’t want to work with them anymore, all you have to do is find a developer competent in your CMS of choice. You can Google your inquiry, try LinkedIn, or someone in IT you trust.
Before you consider working with a firm that provides their own CMS, consider whether you want to rely on technology understood by five developers or thousands.
