Content Management Application (CMA)

Content Management Application (CMA)  - a computer program used to provide a joint process of creating, managing, and editing content.

The main functions of the CMA:

• Provide tools for creating content, organizing collaboration;
• Manage content: storage, versioning, adherence, document flow management, etc.;
• Publish content;
• Show information in a convenient form for navigation and search.

A content management application can contain a variety of data: documents, photos, scientific data, phone number, and so on. Such an application is often used to store, review, manage,  and publish documentation. Version control is one of the main advantages when content is accessed by a group of individuals.

Kinds of Apps

In general, CMAs are divided into:

• Enterprise Content Management Application(ECMA);  
• Web Content Management Application (WCMA);

Due to the fact that CMA have a deep internal classification by subject areas, the term CMA replaced the WCMS, becoming a synonym for the website management system. Such CMAs allow you to manage textual and graphical content of the site, providing the user with a convenient interface for working with content, handy tools for publishing and storing information, automating the process of placing data in bases and its output in HTML.

There are many ready-made solutions for content management, including free ones. All applications available can be divided into 3 types according to the way they work:

• Generate pages on request. Applications of this type operate on the basis of the principle “Editing module → Database → Presentation module”. When requested, the presentation module generates a page with content, based on the information from the base. Database information is modified by the editing module. Pages are re-created by the server with each request, which creates an additional load on system resources. The load can be repeatedly reduced by using caching tools that are available in modern web servers.
• Page generation when editing. Systems of this type are used to edit pages that, when making changes to the content of a site, create a set of static pages. With this method, you are sacrificing interactivity between the visitor and the contents of the site.
• Mixed type. It combines the advantages of the previous types. It can be implemented by the caching principle - the presentation module generates the page once, later it is loaded much faster from the cache. The cache may be updated either automatically, after a certain period of time or when making changes to certain sections of the site, or manually at the command of the administrator. Another approach is to save certain data blocks at the stage of editing a site and to assemble a page from these blocks when a user requests a corresponding page.