You’re building an online portfolio. What’s the best content management system to use?

The ease of use of a content management system is crucial for the success of a solution. Means, that users (editor or also dev) should be able to use the solution intuitively. For editors that could be an integrated visual preview of the content they prepare or a customizable UI to integrate all tools needed for the content creation in one place and not across x tabs within the browser. For dev that could also mean to have easy to understand and use APIs for the content delivery or management and SDKs of the common web technologies they want to use. Ease of use / User experience can heavily depend on the unique requirements of an organisation or a vertical when evaluating a content management system.

Designing a frontend for a web/portfolio site involves two main approaches. 1. Prebuilt Template: These offer a quick time-to-market but have limitations in custom design and extensibility. 2. Custom Frontend: Using modern technologies like Vue.js or React.js allows for a tailored frontend that meets specific needs, offering greater flexibility and extensibility. However, this approach involves more development time, including establishing connections with the CMS backend, resulting in a slower time-to-market. The decision depends on the actual need. Start fast and have less control on your design or start slow and have the full control towards the design.

Effective asset management is a crucial part for any CMS to make it possible create experiences efficiently with various media formats. There are two main approaches: Integrated: Many CMS platforms have built-in image services to upload and edit images including CDN capabilities, offering fast, global access and features like automatic resizing and format conversion. External Digital Asset Management (DAM): For advanced needs, integrate an external DAM. This can provide extended capabilites like metadata tagging, version control, and rights management, handling storage and delivery while the CMS manages content. The right choice depends on your unique requirements and needs to be evaluated.

When evaluating a content management system a headless cms can be a feasible choice. A headless cms offers significant advantages for SEO, primarily through improved performance and flexibility. By decoupling the content management backend from the presentation layer, it allows for the use of modern frameworks that create fast-loading websites, crucial for higher search engine rankings. The flexibility in content delivery means that content can be tailored and optimized for any platform, optimizing its SEO effectiveness. Improved content structure, thanks to the unformatted storage of content, allows for better organization and easier implementation of schema markup, boosting search visibility.

Following three I recommend and have used personally - 1. WordPress: Offers a wide range of themes and plugins, making it highly customizable for portfolio websites. It's user-friendly and widely used, with robust community support. 2. Wix: Provides a drag-and-drop interface and customizable templates, ideal for those without coding experience. It offers built-in SEO tools and hosting services. 3. Squarespace: Known for its sleek and modern templates, Squarespace is a user-friendly option with integrated analytics and e-commerce capabilities.

There are two main considerations when it comes to content management: Web CMS (e.g. Drupal, WordPress) suits for web projects with integrated front-end, ideal for web only content like blog and business sites. Decoupled CMS (e.g. Storyblok, Contentful) separates content management from presentation, best for consistent content across multi-platform applications out of one repository needing advanced customization and scalability. Choosing the right CMS depends on the specific use case. Web CMS are good for web content, while Decoupled CMS are great for content on different channels including web.