I recently used CushyCMS on a project and found many things that are GREAT for designers that need something that is easy for the client to update. If you have never heard of it, go to CushyCMS and watch the video.
First of all, CushyCMS isn’t a full-blown CMS application. It isn’t meant for someone to edit their entire site like most are. It is for those clients who have never tried their hands at html and the like (which for me is quite a few). It does, however, couple ease of use AND easy implementation. For the designer/developer, all you need to do is add class=”cushycms” and that area then becomes editable. It is even possible to add to the <head> tags or even embedded php. From there, the client would log in to their user account and edit the information just like they would in a Text Editor. If your worried about the client messing with the design, this is perfect since they won’t even see it. You can also set permissions to which pages you want the ‘editors’ to see.
Though the idea of this program is great, there are quite a few limitations that will keep this from being “the cms”.
- Weird HTML errors: The code is far from perfect, sometimes I noticed the functions doubling or setting ‘/’ tags where I didn’t want them. The only way to fix them was to use the HTML editor and fix it manually. Though this doesn’t happen this often and is fairly difficult to recreate, I am still worried that the client will be able to do it.
- Branding at $28/mo: As a business venture, this is very smart thing for them to do. However, it will turn away a lot of developers that have access to Open Source options that they are comfortable with and can brand for free. For a lot of designers that aren’t heavy on the developer side, this remains a pretty good option if you have a lot of clients that will use it.
- Hosted on their server: This is the potential deal breaker that turns most people away. There is no way to host the CMS locally and can be very unnerving since you have to provide FTP info for your site to edit files. Also, clients having to go to cushycms.com to log in (or site.clienteditor.com for the pro package) can be viewed as unprofessional by a lot of clients. They claim that it would be ultimately more expensive to make the remote hosting option available. Whether this is true or not who knows, but I know I would love it if they did. And what happens if CushyCMS.com falls through? Will we have dozens of clients contact us about it? That could be a lot more work in the long run.
Though not perfect, CushyCMS remains a good option for many. It’s an attractive solution for designers and users alike who are looking for ease of use. There requires almost no instruction for the client to use if they know how to use a word processor. It is something that I will continue to use on a case-by-case basis. Ultimately, it will be up to my clients and I as to what CMS solution will be best for them.
