6 Best Design Approaches for Creating a Stellar CMS Website

We live in a digital age that is packed with millions of websites. Businesses need to regularly update and maintain their websites in order to increase the functionality of the website and keep the messaging consistent to potential customers.

Today a large number of websites are powered by content management systems.

WordPress, Drupal, Joomla, and other systems are based on highly efficient content management systems that give website owners the flexibility to update content regularly.

It has now become indispensable for businesses to create websites with highly efficient content management systems that allow marketers to publish content on their own.

Designing a content-first website is a sensible strategy that makes it easier to manage and maintain your websites without knowing specialized technical knowledge.

With the help of a CMS, you can handle different types of infrastructure, allowing your web design and development team to focus on improving the functionality of the website.

If you are planning to design a CMS-friendly website, here are some design strategies you need to consider before creating CMS-driven websites and applications.

Let’s get started.

1. List Down All CMS Features

When it comes to creating a content-first website, it is important to do some research and discover the most important features of a CMS-friendly website.

You need to first discover the requirements of the company and the website architecture that will help you understand what features your CMS should include.

From creating a personalized relationship with your customers to improving the customer journey, you need to figure out what are the important goals you want to achieve with your CMS website.

Here is a list of CMS features you need to include in your web design project.

2. Figure out the Page Types

Before creating a content-first website or CMS-driven application, it is important to have a clear information architecture pattern in mind.

There are a number of page types that you can include to your website, depending on the requirements of your website.

Have a look at some of the most important page types you can include in the CMS system.

– Category Page
The category page is an important part of your CMS that allows users to navigate through all the available posts. You can filter the posts by category, attributes, and other specific criteria.

– Post Page
It is the most important page of a CMS website that includes the important information related to the topic.

– Front Page
It is the main page that highlights the most recent posts or featured posts. The page usually shows the post title and short detail of each post.

– Search Page
Creating a dedicated search page is a worthwhile strategy to enhance the functionality of your CMS website. It allows users to find out relevant content on a particular keyword.

– Dashboard
The dashboard is the main page that includes all the important information related to users, recommended content, recent activity, and statuses.

– User Profile
The page includes information related to the author that creates posts. Many news sites, blogs, and user-generated applications are managed by multiple authors.

3. Keep the Visual Hierarchy in Mind

When designing a CMS website or any other website, keeping a visual hierarchy is the most important design strategy that can make or break your design project.

Your design team should have specific content pieces before defining a style.

When you have real product images, case studies, videos, and other content available, it will make it a bit easier to demonstrate the style that best fits with the content.

This way, designers can create mockups that perfectly fit with your brand’s aesthetics and style. Using real images and carefully crafted headlines for wireframing helps the design team to come up with a stellar design for your CMS website.

4. Set Standards for Images and Text

The purpose of creating a CMS website is to give content creators the flexibility to publish, edit and manage content on a regular basis.

Designers can set some guidelines and standards for publishing content, choosing images, and text styling.

Before publishing the post, designers can review the content to identify a bad-quality image or lengthy headlines to ensure the quality of the design.

5. Make it Technically Feasible

The beauty of content management systems is that they don’t require any technical or coding skills to manage and update content.

When designing a CMS-driven application, it is important to keep this element in mind and make it technically feasible for users, administrators, and authors.

For instance, if there is a special text or link style required in the post, make it is easier for users to add those styles.

Providing easier and flexible options to these minor details will help you develop a website that is user-friendly and creates an awesome user experience.

6. Embrace New Technologies

With the advent of different technologies such as machine learning and augmented reality, creating content-driven design has become a trend.

Many websites have integrated augmented reality into their website design,

and many are thinking of using it in their upcoming design projects.

Using real-world objects allows you to create highly interactive web experiences that can increase customer engagement.

Implementing AR into your CMS allows users to manage AR content and easily edit by simply the drag and drop function.

AR CMS is the best choice for mobile apps and eCommerce websites that allow users to upload 3D.

content and can create customizable AR experiences.

Many web development companies in Dubai are leveraging augmented reality to create fully-fledged and advanced websites.

To Sum, All Things Up

Designing a CMS-driven website needs extra planning and visual hierarchy, as it is based on a content-first approach. You need to design a website by keeping content in mind.

The ability to provide flexibility to content creators makes CMS web design a preferred choice for a majority of websites.

Considering these design strategies will help you come up with a robust and highly functional,

CMS website that allows users to make changes to the content and provide the best possible experience to your customers.