---
title: "Why use a cms"
description: "When first learning to code its very common to hard code everything right into the code. This happens with most folks in just about any language. Whether its..."
date: 2020-07-14
published: true
tags:
  - dev
  - webdev
template: blog-post
---


When first learning to code its very common to hard code everything right into
the code. This happens with most folks in just about any language. Whether its
HTML or markdown for front end content, or even hardcoding parameters in our
backend languages like python, or node.js.

## 🤷‍♀️ What's wrong with hard coding everything?

Hard coding everything right into your code makes it really hard for
non-technical collaborators to join. It makes it nearly impossible to hand
websites off to clients without needing to come back for routine updates.

The cms generally come with a rich content editor that feels more like
something most folks are used to. There are buttons for changing the font,
font-size, adding images, bold, italics, etc.

## Sometimes I don't feel technical

Even when you are developing for a technical audience there is a layer of
polish that comes from giving them a nice interface to edit their content in.
YouTube doesn't have you manually inserting records into the database to add a
comment, or upload a new video, nor would anyone expect you to.

![Edit on GitHub](https://dev-to-uploads.s3.amazonaws.com/i/sgqd23rbbusjpfxqr7bl.PNG)

> I recently added an edit button on my posts that allows me to jump right into
> edit on GitHub.  I have used this so much, I should have done this long ago!

There are times when I want to edit my blog on the go from my phone while on
the go. I use [forestry.io](https://forestry.io) to do this for the most part.
It gives me an image uploader, and a markdown editor to edit this blog right
from my phone.

![forestry editor](https://dropper.waylonwalker.com/api/file/0555114b-1c25-41c4-803b-43d0a528e3cc.png)

> My Blog on forestry.io

## What do they output

There are a number of different CMS's out there, and I haven't touched most of
them. Some write content into a MySQL database while others kick out HTML or
markdown to a git repo. I prefer the ones built off of a git repo for my site
because I am cheap and I am not making anything from this blog yet, but you
might want to check into some of the other options if you plan on handing your
site off to a client.

## 🤑 pricing

Be aware of the various pricing models. They are priced every which way, per
content editor, per site, per number of edits. Some offer free versions. Some
are open source but require you to host it somewhere. Before you pick one make
sure that you know your requirements.

## CMS's are more norm than I realized

When I was first starting into web development, I was completely unaware of the
concept of a CMS. I had thought that content needs to be in HTML, or markdown,
with a few specific places that users could edit. This may have been the case
many years ago, but not anymore. The first time I ever designed a website for
someone other than myself I got quite a shock when I realized how many edits
they wanted, and how un-appealing markdown is for most.

## Where CMS's fall short 🍂

Please correct me if I am wrong here, I would love to be wrong on this. CMS's
are not for developing the whole site. They hold data for content like site
title, description, menu items, or blog posts. They don't necessarily give the
user a full website designer, with drag and drop, and every widget imaginable.
The web developer still needs to implement the site design and data
integration.