Craft CMS: A Comprehensive Guide by aiPopuli

Craft CMS is a database-driven content management system (CMS) designed for building and managing content-heavy websites. Released in 2013 by Pixel & Tonic, a company that initially developed commercial add-ons for the ExpressionEngine CMS, Craft offers a robust platform for developers and content creators.

While Craft isn't a website builder and requires knowledge of HTML and CSS for front-end development, it aims to enhance both the development and authoring experience. Explore the features section of the Craft website for detailed descriptions and screenshots showcasing its capabilities.

Craft's Business Model

Craft CMS operates on a commercial model but offers a free Personal License, allowing you to try the software risk-free. Upgrading to paid licenses is straightforward with in-app purchases directly within Craft.

Paid versions of Craft can be run locally (e.g., craft.dev or mysite.dev) without purchasing, enabling experimentation with commercial features or client site development without licensing issues until project launch. At launch, the appropriate license must be purchased.

Licensing Options:

  • Personal: Free, limited to one user account, and excludes some features.
  • Client: $199 per site, includes an additional client user.
  • Pro: $299 per site, supports unlimited users.

All licenses include unlimited content sections, fields, and more. Check the pricing page for detailed information on each license type.

How Craft CMS Works

Craft allows you to customize entry forms and organize content and data into content buckets. It offers several conveniences, such as the ability to reuse fields across different content sections.

Sections

Craft stores content in Sections, which can be one of three types:

  • Channel: For collections of related content like blogs, news articles, or products.
  • Structure: For hierarchical content collections, such as documentation.
  • Single: For unique pages, commonly used for homepages.

Fields, Field Layouts, and Entry Types

Each Section in Craft can have multiple Entry Types, allowing for various Field Layouts (collections of fields) to be assigned to a Section Entry Type. Fields can be reused across layouts and sections, promoting efficiency and consistency.

Advanced Features and Customization

Templates Using Twig

Craft uses the Twig template engine for parsing and displaying website templates. Twig allows you to use your own HTML, CSS, and JavaScript without creating a theme, offering flexibility for developers and ease of use for non-developers.

Routes

Craft's flexible Routes feature allows custom URL structures, routing URIs to render specified templates based on exact matches, wildcards, or regular expressions.

Control Panel

Craft's Control Panel is fully responsive, enabling content creation and editing from any device. It features a simple, elegant design, making it user-friendly for all skill levels.

Live Preview

The Live Preview feature allows users to see how content will appear when published, using the same front-end templates and responding to content changes in real-time.

One-click Updating

Craft offers one-click updates from within the Control Panel, backing up files and databases before updating and rolling back automatically if an update fails.

Why Choose Craft?

Craft appeals to various user groups:

  • Developers: Appreciate the flexibility, performance, and extensibility via plugins.
  • Designers: Enjoy implementing designs without compromise.
  • Clients: Benefit from an elegant and straightforward authoring experience.

Getting Started with Craft

Spin up a free sandbox site to explore Craft CMS for yourself. Numerous community resources are available to assist you, including:

  • Straight-up Craft
  • Craft Stack Exchange
  • Craft Cookbook
  • Craft Slack
  • #craftcms on Twitter

Frequently Asked Questions about Craft CMS

What makes Craft CMS different from other CMS platforms? Craft CMS stands out due to its flexibility and user-friendly interface, allowing custom content structures and an intuitive control panel.

Is Craft CMS suitable for large-scale projects? Yes, Craft CMS can handle complex content structures and multi-site setups, making it ideal for large-scale projects.

How secure is Craft CMS? Craft CMS adheres to best security practices and is regularly updated to address potential vulnerabilities.

Can I use Craft CMS without coding knowledge? While coding knowledge is beneficial, Craft's user-friendly control panel allows content management without technical expertise. For advanced tasks, HTML, CSS, and Twig knowledge may be needed.

Does Craft CMS support e-commerce? Yes, through the Craft Commerce plugin, which offers robust features for e-commerce sites.

How does Craft CMS handle SEO? Craft CMS is SEO-friendly, supporting clean, semantic HTML and various SEO plugins for optimization.

Can I migrate my existing website to Craft CMS? Yes, though migration can be complex and may require developer assistance.

Does Craft CMS offer multilingual support? Yes, Craft CMS supports content management in multiple languages.

What kind of support is available for Craft CMS users? Comprehensive documentation, community forums, and various support resources are available for Craft CMS users.

Is Craft CMS free? Craft CMS offers a free Personal License for personal projects or small businesses. For larger projects, the Craft Pro version includes additional features.