All three of these things can be considered different. You as a designer and or website owner need to decide which one you (or someone you hire) will be using when you create, edit, and manage your site.

So, Let’s define the three types of publishing platform:

Editor:Probably the most common. Everyone has heard of these. They are the DreamWeaver’s and CoffeeCups of the world. They are HTML editors with lots of great tools to help you create a nice site. You see the HTML in one window and a MS Windows like display (which you manipulate just like Word or Power Point) in another. You can edit both the code and the display. You don’t necessarily need to know HTML but it helps a lot if you need something specific done and the editor isn’t helping you. You are completely free to edit the code and add anything you want to it (such as Java scripts, or Flash animations).

Site Builder:Also very common. Typically you get one of these when you buy your hosting/from your hosting company. It is an editor of sorts but not nearly as flexible as the Editor I spoke of above. You see just the display, and manipulate it like a Power Point slide. If you want to manipulate the code you have to figure out where the heck you can do that, and it is in a different place with most builders. Also, the builders don’t always let you mess around with the code that was “written” by the builder when you were editing it in the display. Great for someone just starting out, frustrating and inflexable for someone who knows a bit of HTML and is ready for more advanced stuff.

Content Management System:Can be the best tool for large or corporate sites or those with members needing to sign in. This is a program that writes the pages for you, and also let’s you edit all of the code. It however keeps track of your styles and statistics very well. Instead of editing each page individually you edit portions of it, while the management system keeps everything looking nice and uniform in the rest of the page. You fill out work sheets most of the time in order to create things in it. Don’t know how to put something in your shopping cart, no problem, fill out this work sheet and you are all set. Want to know who joined your site today, click here. It’s a very nice way of organizing and keeping track of a huge site while keeping every page looking nice and uniform and preserving your branding. It also integrates very easily with an Email Database and or Shoppingcart. The closest thing to a CMS that is fairly common is a blog; You fill out a kind of worksheet in order to post, click post, and then you can see that post up on the site.

So while you could say these are all the same thing, they are not. There are some pretty important differences that make a difference to your site, and what and how you can edit it. I hope it has been helpful. 

Have a great week!