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Why we chose a modern open source CMS

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Why we chose a modern open source CMS

October is built on Laravel, the best existing PHP framework. The framework includes all of the tools and classes that are necessary for building quality websites and applications.

Concerning the October CMS versus something similar to WordPress, the Zimple development team conducted a thorough analysis over three years ago as the CMS we were using was reaching its end of life. During this time, we carefully reviewed the WordPress and October CMS to understand which CMS would best serve current and future clients. 

 We started our exploration with an understanding that our business works with a diverse range of clients, who often require custom integrations and ongoing updates due to the fluid nature of their companies. The priority of ease of use drove this examination due to various users coming into contact with our CMS, including administration staff, marketing and IT managers.

Please find below some of the key findings that may help your decision-making. 

WordPress has a user interface that we found to be unintuitive. The primary cause of this poor user experience was how Plugins changed over time, leading to fragmentation of the backend. Alternatively, the October CMS presents a clean backend that is easy to navigate, as demonstrated by the attached video. 

 Content is much easier to update in October for a range of users depending on permissions. Our developers have greater control in customising the CMS based on key stakeholder requirements. Essentially more time has been taken with the October CMS to ensure the user interface is scalable and easy to navigate.

Why we chose a modern open source CMS

Coding Updates

WordPress has had more time in the market with its origins as a blogging platform; however, this time has led to legacy code issues concerning the customisation of its plugin system. When updating WordPress, there are often times when developers will need to access the framework code, which has many versions making it sometimes challenging to build extensions that work across the codebase, presenting scalability issues over time. October CMS plugins are bound to project IDs which are universal across all environments the site operates, including local, staging and production, meaning when an update is made, all versions of the website auto-update, making deployment of code streamlined.

Security

As the October CMS is built on the Laravel framework, the only file accessible directly is the index.php in the root directory, meaning any suspicious activity can be stopped before internal directories are compromised. Additionally, all plugins go through an approval process to verify their quality and security.

 On the other hand, WordPress allows any PHP file to be run, creating vulnerabilities from a security perspective. This, coupled with no plugin approvals and the presence of insecure plugins, presented a risk to our team, which we were not as confident in minimising as opposed to the high level of security for October.  

Features

When it comes to actual CMS features, the following items are a good summary of why we use the October CMS over WordPress:

  • Zimple’s difference is our custom designs that allow greater flexibility when creating user experiences aligned to business objectives. On the other hand, WordPress is driven through themes that, although modifiable, do not allow the high level of execution to be reached that our business expects.

  • October is built on Laravel allowing greater flexibility should our team be required to drop down a layer of code for more complex integrations at the enterprise level.

  • October pages are built with reusable components that allow new pages to be created, knowing the website will not break.

  • The October CMS allows faster load speeds which are important for search engine optimisation.

  • The October CMS presents a superior user interface presenting better stakeholder outcomes when updating the website.

In summary, the October CMS provides the versatility to design and develop custom feature-rich websites in a manageable and maintainable way for all stakeholder's needs. 


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