So today I was setting up a couple CMS solutions for the .NET platform, and I'm still setting up some other open source systems.

One thing I noticed about a couple of them was how difficult it was to manage content. The systems are not done inline within the site structure themselves, but rather have a back end interface to manage the content. It's like being in two different worlds. One was a little easier to use, and the other was aimed at developers.

I went through the default setups on all platforms. Granted I'm bias on DNN, but the default install gives me a working business site. I get an example of what my site could possibly look like for hosting my business. Another CMS provided me with a slew of development information. Now it's been a while since I really sat down and wrote some code, but I don't really care about how your CMS is architected, it's almost scary to see all this content aimed at MVC, Linq, data models, and other technical concepts right on my homepage. How does this help enable me to do business on the web?

All I saw was blah, blah, blah, blah. What does this have to do with getting my site up and running? First thing I'm going to do is scream out to my technical folks and have them remove this stuff.

Seriously, do I want to see this stuff if I work for a marketing department for a business? It means nothing to me. Granted it's great geek stuff, but geeks don't manage websites for companies. The purpose of a CMS is to pull the geek factor out of web management and enable the business user. The ideal role of the geek should be to install it, get it running, and then leave it alone. Let the business folks manage the site.

Just one word of advice, keep it simple stupid.