Content Management is a term with a very broad definition, largely because the word "content" can refer to nearly anything that can be posted on the web; papers, videos, photos, PDFs, and many others. The defining factor of what makes a system a content management system versus another type is what it does with the content.

Content organization, tracking, and web display are the basics of any Content Management System. This doesn't narrow down the definition much, but it does give us a grey area to work within. Articles are organized and can be displayed in a variety of ways, choosing exactly which ones to display when, what order to place them in, which ones to hide, and what menu item layouts other articles should appear on. Each article also has an ID number associated with it so any category name changes or article title changes do not affect where or if it is published. This also allows you to move content around at your will while keeping links and configuration in tact.

Various systems have various strong points, so choosing what is most important to you at the beginning can determine if you'll really be able to maximize the features or if forcing some features into a system that doesn't regularly support them will be necessary.

Blog features

Traditionally a blog is thought of as a "web log" and articles appear in a most recent first listing. This is still the most popular type of article ordering for regularly updated sites. Many systems offer this, as well as other ordering options, to display articles. One key difference is how intimately this "timetable" ordering is ingrained in the system as some include easier "archiving" or listings by date as well as including the dates in the URL.

If these "blog" features are strongly desired, choosing a system that uses them as core features is highly recommended. In this case, Wordpress would be a good choice. Joomla! and Drupal both include various blog layouts, but handle URLs differently. Wordpress also has a more generally appreciated content entry system for novice users.

Display features

Any content you enter into a system will need to be retrieved at some point in some way and the more pleasantly it's displayed, the easier it is to read, enjoy, and add to. Templating and flexible styling has been a focus for some systems as that is what is the most fun aspect of setting up any site. Let's face it, you wouldn't make your site deliberately ugly, you want using it to be an enjoyable experience.

A Content Management System can include innumerable ways to display content including both in style as well as placement. If you're not as concerned with a daily, weekly, or monthly timeline of articles displayed, but want to show them in various orders with flexibility in both layout and menu item options, then a system like Joomla! may be your best choice. Joomla! allows for the making of any section or category into a blog layout ordered in various ways while having a wider range of styling options that can be included. Having full control over a system style requires choosing a system built around this priority.

Modular features

"Modular" refers to a system's ability to move content around to various positions, include and add content in various ways through extensions, and style various aspects individually. This is largely tied to the "Display" aspect, but includes the easy additions of various types of content in different ways. Wordpress does a fair job of this, Joomla! is the real winner here, and Drupal lands between the two.

Administrator features

Control over user permissions, both access permissions and viewability permissions, and other administrative aspects like multiple editors or authors is difficult to include or add to a system later, so choosing one with this as a strong point up front is highly recommended. Drupal is the winner here with more flexibility for user access level control as well as the ability to run multiple sites from one installation. Joomla! is a close second, while lacking the multisite functionality, it does include various user access level permissions, just not to the extent that Drupal offers. Wordpress comes in third but should not be considered a distant third as it's included features are usually more than what most sites will ever require.