Positioning

OSCOM member Wyona developed a positioning diagram that can be used to assess various CMS. By going beyond the usual tick list of features, it offers a richer way to compare and contrast various CMS, and discover their strenghts at a glance.


The positioning diagram defines 8 areas, with a relative weight of 1-7. The idea is that the various CMS make a critical self-assessment of both their current product (dark area) and their roadmap (light area). The various areas are defined below:

1. Community
   How viable is the community supporting the product? Are there independent contributors? How active are mailing lists, web sites? Is the community healthy, friendly and welcoming to newcomers?
   
   
2. Low Entry Barrier
   How easy is it to get started? Is the prodcuct a turn-key solution with immediate value after download? How consistent is the documentation, how hard is it to familiarize oneself with the codebase?
   
   
3. Product Maturity
   How robust is the underlying code? Are sound software engineering practices in use? Is the architecture clean and consistent? Are changes to the code regression-tested?
   
   
4. Industrial Strength
   How much does the product scale? How flexible and stable is the product, how well does it perform? Is it secure?
   
   
5. Off The Shelf Components
   How much does the product make use of standard components? Is the architecture modular to accomodate external code?
   
   
6. Feature Set
   Does the product have a conservative feature set, or does it have many bells and whistles?
   
   
7. Standards Compliance
   How much does the product use and interoperate with standards?
   
   
8. Usability
   Is the user interface understandable for non-technical persons? Is it consistent? Does it follow usability best practice?