What's the downside? Why don't we use the SelectEdit approach for all of our sites? The basic limitation to SelectEdit sites is related to the flexibility of the approach. The SelectEdit tools allow clients to not only edit content but site structure as well. We accomplish this by using the same page content structure for every page in the site.

For example, a standard SelectEdit page typically includes a page title field, an abstract field, a content field for the body of the page, a couple images and document uploads with corresponding caption fields, and an optional "side bar" field for related information or related links. Every page of a SelectEdit site uses these same fields, albeit these fields would be used differently for different kinds of pages. A main section overview page would use the title field for the page's title, and the content field for the body of the page's text. An FAQ page would use the title as the question field and the content field as the answer. A press release page would use the title field for the press release title, and the abstract field would hold the date/by-line, and the content field would hold the body of the press release as well as the contact information of the press contact.

This is fairly simple and straightforward. However, it is one step removed from the utter simplicity of our more refined NewfangledCMS sites. For instance, a press release page, in a standard NewfangledCMS site, would have custom field definitions individually labeled according to their specific use. The press release date would have its own date field. The press release by-line would have its own by-line field. The press contact information would be broken up into a contact name field, email field, phone number field, etc.). Based on these fields the customized press release template would display each part of the page with the appropriate formatting embedded. The press contact's email address, for example, would automatically display as a clickable email link. With a SelectEdit press release page the client would need to manually add the contact information within the main content field and use the NewfangledCMS built in formatting tools to apply formatting details such as adding a link to an email address.

This is the basic limitation to the SelectEdit approach. The significance of the limitation increases or decreases based on how detailed or complex the site's content needs to be. Because SelectEdit is intended as a starting site for small companies, this limitation should rarely be problematic.   next >