I may have a somewhat biased opinion of using a Content Management System. For over the past 5 years I have worked on client websites using WordPress, from simple squeeze pages to complex shopping carts, from out-of-the-box themes to building a responsive theme from scratch using the Zurb Foundation framework.
WordPress is a free open-source content publishing platform, which offers a fairly limited hosted version through WordPress.com and a fully independent version through WordPress.org where you download the files and provide your own hosting. [i] Most people will find that the hosted version through WordPress.com too limiting so the better route is to start with WordPress.org. You don’t need to purchase hosting but can install WAMP or MAMP on your own computer. There are a lot of DIY instructions on the web.
The pros of using a CMS is primarily development time. For an open source CMS like WordPress you do not have to be a developer to get started because of the ready made themes and plugins created by the open source community.
The cons of using a CMS are the limitations and restrictions of the framework, ability of end users to modify the look and feel with HTML and CSS (basically mess things up), and bloated code.
While Rachel Andrew may have some valid arguments in her article “Your WYSIWYG Editor sucks.” I find that most of her issues can be mitigated with proper training and support documentation. She claims that in most CMS implementations, what you see is a text area, with a bunch of buttons at the top and you can see what your changes will look like in the context of that box – not on the site you are managing. [ii] In WordPress there is a preview button where you can easily view the web page so this has never been an issue for me.
In his article “It’s About the Developer, Not the CMS”, Christopher Butler discusses the importance of the client/developer relationship and the pros and cons of open-source vs. proprietary CMS. In either case he estimates that the lifecycle of the average active website is 3-5 years, which has to also be able to quickly accommodate emerging technologies. Basing the decision on the client/developer relationship will provide relatively long-term stability.[iii]
[i] Saric, Marko (2014) WordPress.com Vs WordPress.org Comparison: Which To Use? Retrieved from http://howtomakemyblog.com/wordpress-com-org/
[ii] Andrew, Rachel (2011). Your WYSIWYG Editor sucks. Retrieved from http://www.rachelandrew.co.uk/archives/2011/07/27/your-wysiwyg-editor-sucks/
[iii] Butler, Christopher (2011) It’s About the Developer, Not the CMS. Retrieved from http://www.printmag.com/imprint/its-about-the-developer-not-the-cms/