Scaramanga ❤️ Craft CMS

Why do we think Craft CMS is so good

Craft CMS by its own admission is a “flexible, user-friendly CMS for creating digital experiences on the web and beyond”. This short description pretty much sums up why here at Scaramanga we love building and creating websites with Craft CMS.

The fact that you start with a blank canvas means it is incredibly flexible for creating anything a client might require, and the fact that the CMS (Content Management System) is so much more intuitive than many other CMS platforms means our clients and content managers love it too.

There are lots of things I could write on this subject. The documentation, the quality of plugins, the support, the Craft developer community, but I want to focus on three key points, which are important to me and us at Scaramanga. These are flexibility, usability and accessibility.

Flexibility

There isn't a one-size-fits-all solution when building a site with Craft CMS, instead, it provides a robust foundation that can be tailored to fit a wide range of project requirements. This flexibility stems from its architecture, which separates content from presentation. Craft allows us to create custom content models (sections, fields, and entry types) to precisely match the needs of a project. This means we're not limited by predefined templates, themes or structures, making it suitable for anything, from simple websites to complex web applications. The matrix field is a prime example of this flexibility.

The Matrix field (in case you didn’t already know) lets you create diverse and dynamic content structures through different block types. Each block type represents a specific piece of content or section of a page, such as a text block, image block, testimonial block, or any custom block you create. This has great benefits to the user because they can build out content on a page in a unique and flexible layout, but still maintain consistency of the overall look and feel of the site. Matrix fields can be reused across different sections of a site, which also makes it good for templating as well as giving a client increased flexibility in how they build out content across their site.

If you are curious then check out our Page builder demo, where we have created a library of the most commonly used design patterns on the web today that our clients can use to easily build their page content.

Another benefit of flexible custom content modelling, relates to future proofing. If content is correctly organised in its own specific place and not tied down to design, it means it is not repeated in multiple places (good for content editing), and when it is time for a site refresh or complete redesign, we can easily handle this, because the majority of the content is already in its correct place, eg. team members in a teams channel or projects in a projects section.

Feature rich and secure

One of Craft CMS’s super strengths is the fact it comes with so many amazing features as standard — no plugins in sight.

You can read our Craft overview to get a greater insight of what Craft has to offer and there are a few standout features for which we have provided more in depth information on our website:

• Asset management
• Publishing workflow
• Live preview

User-Friendly (usability)

Next, we move on to the usability of Craft CMS. Craft is designed with both developers and content editors in mind, offering a seamless and intuitive experience. Unlike many off the shelf Content Management Systems, the control panel's organisation, along with customisable sections and fields, allows tailoring to the specific needs of the website or client. This flexibility results in an interface that is clean, straightforward, and efficient for content creation, editing, and organisation.

Craft's Live Preview feature takes usability to the next level by enabling content editors to see changes in real-time across different viewports. This feature, coupled with Craft's user-friendly interface, empowers non-technical users to maintain content quality without requiring extensive technical knowledge.

Another aspect of the usability of Craft CMS, is the further enhancements a developer can make by adding UX tips, warnings, and instructions within the CMS. These annotations serve as helpful cues for content editors, ensuring that they utilise fields in the most effective way possible.

Craft CMS's commitment to usability, through customisable options and user guidance features, makes it a standout choice for those who want a really user-friendly content management experience.

Accessibility

Finally we move on to accessibility. Craft CMS places a strong emphasis on creating accessible websites. Accessibility is not just about compliance with standards like WCAG (Web Content Accessibility Guidelines) but also about ensuring that websites are usable by everyone, including those with disabilities.

A good example of this is the Craft control panel, which you can navigate with just the keyboard. This is crucial for users who rely on screen readers and the keyboard to navigate the web, and it is one less thing as a developer we have to think about building, because it is already taken care of.

Another example of an accessibility feature built into Craft is the user display options, these are there to help users with visual impairments such as poor vision or colour blindness (which I always take advantage of for my own user accounts).

Both of these enhancements, amongst others, are important to us at Scaramanga as we are advocates of making the web accessible for as many as possible, and we aim to build the front end of our websites to a high level of accessibility, which complements what Craft do with the CMS.

In June 2023, the W3C launched their new website, which was built with Craft CMS. The W3C is responsible for key standards that make the World Wide Web work (such as HTML, CSS, accessibility, web payments and more). So choosing Craft CMS is a massive “thumbs up” for what Craft delivers as a content management system.

What’s next for Craft CMS?

The latest offering from Craft CMS is expected to be released at the end of March 2024, and with it will bring many changes and improvements to this already great Content Management System. Some standout enhancements for Craft CMS 5 relate to accessibility in the CMS, such as improved Breadcrumb and sidebar navigation. There are also improvements in usability such as cards to display elements and relational fields with a large thumbnail image and customisable content previews. Two factor authentication is also coming in this update with two step verification and quicker backend logins, using a passkey based on finger or facial recognition included as standard.

In conclusion

Craft CMS is a really great solution for your website's Content Management System, for many reasons but in particular, its flexibility, usability and accessibility. The existing functionality already provides so much, and future releases will add to, and enhance these points further.

Hopefully this gives you a small insight into why we love building websites using Craft CMS. I personally am looking forward to building many more sites with Craft, and am excited to see what future versions and enhancements bring.