Very few commercial Web sites do not have a Content Management System (CMS) these days.  The tools to create an easy way to add and update content for your site are easy enough to use and implement that even small businesses can easily put together a Web site using WordPress, Drupal or Joomla with or without the help of a Web Design and Development firm.  These 'stock' installations of these popular Open Source Content Management Systems offer a lot of great features that the average company will be able to use, and skinning them so that they look like a company's unique identity can be quite simple to do if you are just wanting to change basic colors and logos.

Larger Web sites, however, can be much more complex to set up, and often have unique needs that the basic installation of one of these free, Open Source systems do not have 'out of the box.' For instance, Drupal might have a user registration module, but the entire workflow and registration process for your organization might have drastically different needs.  The question is: do you compromise what you want, or get your Content Management System to work the way you want it to?  I will always recommend the latter.  There are so many options out there that you should never have to compromise your vision.

There are three ways to approach the challenge of truly unique needs and requirements:

1. Modify an Open Source Content Management System to suit your needs.
Again, this is something that I've done countless times and it definitely possible.  If you are drastically modifying the core of the CMS, I would strongly recommend finding a company that has a lot of experience with the Content Management System you are using.  You want to make sure that it will be relatively painless to upgrade the core system without making too many modifications.  A less experienced programmer might unknowingly make a change to the Content Management System's underlying functionality that will prove problematic later on.

2. Find a Content Management System that has the functionality you are looking for, or something very close to it.
This might involve moving towards a licencsed, proprietary Content Management System.  There is certainly nothing wrong with this option, and many larger organizations have found that the Open Source CMS options out there are good, but not tailored towards the larger, enterprise mindset and need for scalability.  There are plenty of great licensed CMS platforms out there, ranging anywhere from $5,000/year to upwards of $100,000/year and, like anything else, the more you pay, the more flexibility, expandability and technical support you will get. You will be able to get the system customized to your liking as well by working with either the CMS company itself or a preferred vendor. Obviously, companies and organizations with little to no annual licensing budgets will quickly find that what they are looking for is out of reach, and might go back to looking at the Open Source options.

3. Create your own Content Management System
Some times, there are just such specific work flow and functional needs for your Web site or Web-based application that it does not make sense to use either a standard Open Source CMS or another proprietary one. For a site that interfaces with other very unique systems, has unique user/member needs, or has only one aspect that needs to be controlled by a WYSIWYG editor, some times it makes sense to just develop a custom Content Management System that handles these parts of your Web site. The advantages of a customized CMS is that it does EXACTLY what you want it to, the way you want it to.  The drawback, of course, is that if you want to change Web Development vendors, you will want to make sure that your new vendor can work with your system.  The benefit of an Open Source system is that there is a large community of developers familiar with the system, and the benefit of a proprietary system is that most of the time there is a highly qualified preferred vendor network that can help you if you need to change Web Development providers.

Choosing a Web Content Management System is not an easy task, but the most important thing to keep in mind is that your CMS should not determine what your Web site can do.  Make sure you find the one that will let you and your organization accomplish its goals.

It is a lot of fun to design and develop Interactive Flash games for clients and these interactive games can accomplish a number of important things such as education and awareness, viral marketing for the end client, or they can just be a fun enhancement to a Web site that provides stickiness and return visits.

Here are four important things to keep in mind when designing your Flash game:

1. Make it difficult, but not impossible

Players like a challenge, but they like to be able to envision victory.  A game shouldn't be so easy that you can win it every time, but don't go to the other extreme by making it so difficult that it is very unlikely that someone could win it without the computer gods intervening on their behalf. No one likes to feel foolish for trying to play an impossible game. 

If the game is very hard, build in small rewards along the way that keep the user engaged and keeps their spirits up while they get better and train to become a champ.  Many times this is done by starting off with an "Easy" level, or by creating different modes of difficulty that a user can choose before starting the game.  For instance, you can give them the ability to choose between novice, intermediate and expert modes.  This way, they know that they might not have a chance to win at expert mode until they've practiced up a bit.

2. Make it easy and rewarding to play again

Even if a player wins your game, make it a rewarding experience for them to play again.  Randomize some elements of the game, or give them the chance to play a slightly different version somehow, each time they start.  Think about other ways to give your players an incentive to play multiple times.  This is an easy way to encourage your Web site visitors to come back often.

While you're at it, think about what else you can put on the Web page that the Interactive Game is on that might benefit them, or cause them to want to browse the rest of your Web site.

3. Make it easy to share

When the player wins (or loses) the Flash game you designed, what happens if they had fun and want to tell their friends?  Make it easy on them to share the game.  Now it's very easy to add a bookmarking button (such as AddThis or ShareThis) to the page that has your game on it.  Try to think of some other creative ways that will encourage your game players to share it.

4. Don't let technical hurdles get in the way

Try to design and develop your Flash games in a way that ensures the maximum number of people will be able to use them and get the most out of them.  For instance, did you know that users of Internet Explorer will not be able to reload a dynamic XML file you load in your Flash file unless you use what's called a "cache buster?"  It took me a couple minutes to figure that one out myself.  Try to use the correct version of the plug-in, depending on the audience as well.  More tech-savvy users will probably upgrade to the latest Flash Player, but some less experienced users might be stuck 1 or 2 versions back.

After completing a large Website Design and Development project, some times it's just nice to call the project complete.  After all, several months of living and breathing Web messaging, images, colors, functionality, work flow, and so much more can leave you relieved that your project is live, looks great and works like you intended.

It is very important, however, to take a look back and see how successful the project really was.  Each project will have a different measure of success, and some times the goals might shift slightly along the way, but here's some things to help you determine if your Web site Design and Development project accomplished what it needed to.

1. Review the original projects requirements

Did the original project requirements get fulfilled?  For instance, if a requirement of your Web site project was that you allow for paid event registration, does your new Web site have that?

Secondly, was the paid event registration implemented in the manner that you had originally imagined?

Finally, does the way that the functionality was created for your new Web site work well with the marketing and business processes your organization has in place? 

If you answered "yes" to all three of these questions, that's great -- you and your Web Design and Development firm were able to keep things in scope and created a piece of functionality that is exactly what you needed.

If you answered "no" to any or all of these, there are two possibilities:  either your objectives might have shifted during the process or your project was not successful in the area of having the basic requirements fulfilled. 

The first case (objectives shifting) is nothing to be worried too about. Many times some objectives or specifics can change once you are in the midst of a project.  It is important to be mindful of "scope creep" or asking for functionality above and beyond what was originally agreed to, because this could affect both the time line and the overall cost of your project, but you need to make sure that the product you end up with is what your organization really needs.  Much of this can be determined by going through a proper Request for Proposal (RFP) writing stage, and by working with your contracted Web site Design and Development firm to fully discover any additions or changes from your written RFP.

If you answered "no" and your needs and requirements did not change, it is a problem.  Why does your Web site not have this functionality you need?  Was there a miscommunication between you and the contracted firm?  Were the requirements not clearly documented?  Were you not able to review the finished Web site before a 'final draft' of the product was available to view?  Just as importantly, what is being done to fix this problem? 

2. Ask a Sampling of Customers and Colleagues

Another way to gauge your Web Design and Development project's success is to ask the opinions of a select group of people familiar with you and your business objectives.  Given that these people have an understanding of your target market and what you do, they can give you some advice about what was done right and what could be improved.

It's not a bad idea to get some of these same people involved much earlier in the process.  A Beta testing group is a great way to make some final text and graphic tweaks to your pages.  Be careful not to let people's individual tastes in color, spacing, fonts and other things compromise your vision, though.  Pay attention to the larger idea behind their feedback.  Instead of heeding the advice of someone who says "I hate that color orange that you used for your registration buttons," find out if the registration button itself was easy for them to find.  Even if they don't like the color, the important point is that they are able to get through the registration process, not if the buttons are shaded in their favorite colors.

3. Check Your Analytics

Before you launch your new Web site, make sure you have statistics on how people were interacting with your old site.  This is crucial to determine if you have improved processes or not.  Some times the purpose of a project is really just to modernize the look and feel, and that is perfectly fine.  If, however, the purpose was to drive more sales conversions, acquire more Email addresses, or something like that, you need to have the historical data to make an educated assessment of whether or not your changes worked.

Google Analytics, is cheap (it's actually free) and easy to use.  It's an easy yway to get instant feedback on how many people are getting to your site, where they are going, and in many cases, what they are doing on your site.

4. Take A Survey

Some times the friends and colleagues who know about you and your organization might not be able to take that additional step backwards and give you the opinions that someone less familiar with you can.  If it is appropriate, find a way to survey some fresh eyes and see what they think.  See if they were able to get the basic idea of what you are selling from only spending a few minutes on your Web site.  See if they were able to easily contact you using the navigation on the site.  

5. Do a Personal Review

What about your Web site would you change after going through this process?  Chances are, it's not something that you would have thought about before the entire process started. Don't be too hard on yourself for overlooking something that you could only see after getting your Web presence to this new point, but instead be realistic.  Is this a positive step forward for you and your organization?  Is this what was agreed upon from the beginning?  Are your customers responding better to the new design and functionality?  Are you getting good feedback from the colleagues who regularly check your site?  If so, congratulations!

These 5 things should help you determine if your Web site Design and Development Project was successful.  Make some notes about each aspect and see what could be changed easily, and take a little time to see if some of the things on your list might not be necessary after all.  When you spend several months living and breathing a project like this, it's easy to get stuck in the minute details, but given a little perspective and time you might find that your original plan had a lot more wisdom in it.  Take a little time to let the newly launched project take life and review things again in 1-2 months.  You might have some even better ideas then, and you might also realize that a lot of what you have is perfect as is.