Because content management systems provide abundant features, they are immensely popular. However, in the case of mobile content management systems (MCMS), specific mobile constraints, such as limited storage capacity, small screen and bandwidth limitations play a vital role in the smooth delivery of mobile content. A distinct system, MCMS stores and delivers content to mobile devices including smart phones and PDAs. A complete review of the top MCMS that cover aspects of user-friendly features, plug-ins, E-commerce and support may be helpful for personal as well as business users.
Top Five Free MCMS:
WordPress: WordPress MCMS GUI (Graphical User Interface) is easy on the eyes, easy to understand and use. It offers customization that is flexible and modified easily. A powerful blogging tool, WordPress offers a WYSIWYG editor for non-programmers. It is easy to work with their CSS files as they fit well into the mobile screen. WordPress plug-ins enables a simpler version of blogs in PDA. Special features including discussion forums, polls and shopping carts can be easily added. USP: Blogging.
Joomla! – Joomla MCMS offers extra features that enable creating categories and sub-categories for magazine-style sites. Though it offers customization, it is for users with advanced HTML and programming skills. Mobile Joomla has image adaptation options and the ability to distinguish four mobile devices. It has many extensions that include polls, shopping carts and discussion forums. USP: Portability of components through usage of modules.
Drupal: Drupal MCMS is for programmers. Although special features like polls and shopping carts are abundant, Drupal is not an easy-to-use MCMS. Though it has fewer templates, it has plug-ins to support image resizing. Special plug-ins to apply style changes to attributes like “class” and “id” also exist. USP: Flexibility and multiple user communities.
Silverstripe: Silverstripe MCMS emphasizes flexibility. By providing a flexible PHP framework to develop a custom PHP module, Silverstripe helps customize your website. It offers SEO support and content version control. It also has mobile-optimized small screen adaptability. Plug-ins provide detection of mobile devices and simple GUI for mobile configuration. On the downside, Silverstripe has poorly designed default templates. USP: Mobile cross-browser compatibility.
TYPOlight: An ideal solution to web developers, TYPOlight MCMS integrates social networking sites like Twitter and Facebook. Its plug-ins use a special style sheet and a separate site structure. TYPOlight creates sites with enormous functionality and maintains multiple sites. USP: Publishing news to social networking sites automatically.
Top Five Paid MCMS:
SquareSpace (SS): SS MCMS has a snappy and well-designed interface. Its images are hosted on extremely efficient and fast servers, and it has numerous configuration possibilities. SS is cost-effective and emphasizes usability. Support is remarkably fast. USP: Management of multiple accounts and tiered discount models.
ExpressionEngine (EE): EE is flexible and easy to use. Its caching system is multilayered and helps minimize database usage. The multilayered caching system includes template caching, tag caching and query caching. EE allows multiple sites on just one installation of the system. USP: Multilayered caching system.
Business Catalyst (BC): BC is mainly an E-commerce MCMS. It is a powerful tool with advanced features such as e-mail marketing and in-depth site analytics. BC allows you to manage customer database, track customer’s actions and sell products or services online. It integrates well with payment systems such as PayPal etc. USP: Customer tracking and database.
Tekora: Tekora MCMS offers multimedia services and accesses worldwide mobile sites in surf mode. Non-technical users may find Tekora easy to use. Tekora’s key features include complete SEO optimization, Google Analytics integration and CAPTCHA support on all forms. USP: Creating mobile website in three minutes.
Magento: Magento MCMS provides timely product updates and targeted marketing to its users and thus enable them to increase their engagement level with customers. It supports popular payment systems and shares product information on all social networking sites. Easy to use, Magento MCMS targets E-commerce to a major extent. USP: Dynamic screen and image adjustment, intuitive and focus on E-commerce.
