VWD-CMS is an open source content management system for ASP.NET

What is VWD-CMS?

I wanted a simple CMS that I could completely customize without any limitations. Debugging is also a critical issue that depends on quality and consistent code - with VWD-CMS it is easy to locate where an exception is occuring and usually have a fix in a few minutes.

Most CMS products available today end up restricting what a developer can do - this is unacceptable. VWD-CMS does not force a developer to use the CMS - some pages in the site can be managed by the CMS, while others can be completely independent, or even run under a different CMS.

In order to be flexible, a CMS should allow you to design your own template/layout for your site - you should not be forced to choose from a few predifined templates. VWD-CMS is based on ASP.NET Master Pages which are essentially web page layout templates. You can build as many Master Pages as you need to handle all of the different layouts for your pages.

VWD-CMS has been built entirely in Visual Web Developer (VWD) which is a completely free version of Visual Studio from Microsoft.

VWD-CMS has been designed for ASP.NET developers...one of my primary goals was to build a CMS that wouldn't give developers such a headache all of the time. Use the functionality if it works for you otherwise customize your pages, VWD-CMS will not become an obstacle.

The traditional approach to designing and building a CMS is to identify all of the tasks that a user of the system needs to complete, such as editing the title of a web page, and building easy to use tools that don't require any technical knowledge on the part of the user. This approach assumes that the user of the CMS is a non-technical person, and as the scope and complexity of newer content management systems expands, this assumption is no longer valid. A modern CMS products should provide end to end support for website deployment, development, and maintenance that goes far beyond simple content edits like page titles and navigation menus.

The approach I have taken with VWD-CMS is to initially focus on the tools and features that benefit ASP.NET developers when building customized web applications. For this reason VWD-CMS currently has many technical tools for configuring and developing ASP.NET websites and a number of advanced server controls that develpers can use to build highly functional web pages.

Non-technical users should be aware that the current release of VWD-CMS does not come with wizards or WYSIWYG content editing.