Posted on 10.29.09

Top Five Reasons to Upgrade Your CMS

by Stacy

Using an outdated system to manage your website’s content is fraught with many potential problems, including the possibility that the site could get hacked. Arts organizations and non-profits are particularly susceptible to this because they are often resource-constrained in technical departments and if they have IT resources at all, upgrading the website’s content management system typically isn’t at the top of an already long list of needs.

But it should be. Your website is often the first place people go to find out more information about you or your organization. If it is compromised in any way, your integrity is at stake. And security isn’t the only reason to stay on top of things.

Here are the top five reasons to keep your CMS current.

1. Security
If your website’s security is compromised, you not only risk the integrity of your data but it’s also possible that the privacy of any registered users may be jeopardized. One of the most common cause of site hacks is due to outdated software.

Deanna Shoss of Intercultural Talk runs a blog that covers issues of race and multiculturalism. With such sensitive subject matter, she realizes her site could be a potential target. “I’m upgrading to the latest version of WordPress so I can connect in more meaningful ways with more people and to ensure my site performance remains stable and secure,” she says.

2. New Features
CMS upgrades also often come with a bevy of new features. While some new versions offer only specific security patches, major upgrades typically involve support for new data types, easier media integration, better editing tools, iPhone integration, and so on.

Support for a new multi-featured shopping cart provided the impetus for Chicago theater institution the Neo-Futurists upgrading to the latest version of Joomla.

“We were interested in trying out new plug-ins for the site…especially plug-ins that would enable us to embed YouTube videos or use a new kind of shopping cart for our merchandise section, but those weren’t compatible with our older version of Joomla,” Managing Director Lindsay Muscato said.

3. Performance
Speed, performance and reliability improvements are also typical components of each major CMS upgrade. As the system matures, developers find new ways to conserve resources, optimize functions, and improve its stability. This results in an improved user experience that is faster and more reliable.

4. Usability
Each new version of a content management system inevitably includes some sort of rearranged interface. While sometimes this ends up in user confusion, most times the improvements are greatly needed and result in an easier to use product.

5. Support
As new versions of any software become available support for older versions ultimately drops off. There’s no hard and fast rule as to how many versions behind you can safely be before the support rug is ripped out from under you, but if your CMS is a commercial product and two or three versions behind the most current one, you might suddenly find yourself with an unsupported product.

Depending on the level of customization your site requires, upgrading can be a simple or complicated process. Plug-in compatibility, custom themes or templates, server software, and customized modules are just some of the things to research when considering an upgrade.

As of this writing, these are the latest version numbers for systems we typically install for our clients:
WordPress: 2.8.5
Expression Engine 1.6.8 (2.0 officially comes out December 1, 2009)
Drupal 6.14
Joomla 1.5.14

If you are running a version other than those listed above and want to discuss what the options are, feel free to give us a shout.