Should I always put in a CMS?

[webdesignoob]

Hey guys quick question. I'm still not that familiar with CMS' and I think I'll start with wordpress or drupal. I know it depends precisely on what the needs are of the webmaster, will it have dynamic content etc. But I'm just wondering if it's just a good idea anyway if it doesn't take that long. Also, I don't really know how the php in wordpress works, how say it creates an html/css file on the server. What would happen if you deleted the html page created with wordpress that has been optimized and has backlinks connected to it. Would you have to change the linking URLs from the referrers or is there another way around it? Cause you know, it would be pointing to a non existing URL i.e. if you deleted the page and recreated it, it would still have a different url right? Like ?=doa124214.html or something. I know that you can use Rel="canonical" to put duplicate urls under "one page".

Also I don't know for instance if the site will use drop down menus either. Would I need to redo the html/CSS completely and just convert that into say a wordpress template? I think either way I need to learn how to convert HTML/CSS files into a wordpress template (I know doing the reverse is kinda difficult, and probably breaches the terms anyway).

[ralph.m]

But I'm just wondering if it's just a good idea anyway if it doesn't take that long.

Personally, I don't think every site needs a CMS. I still do simple, static sites for people who don't need many updates. Static sites still have their place, I feel.

What would happen if you deleted the html page created with wordpress that has been optimized and has backlinks connected to it.

You'd need to do an htaccess redirect to avoid errors. Preferably link to another resource, or the new location of the page.

Also I don't know for instance if the site will use drop down menus either. Would I need to redo the html/CSS completely and just convert that into say a wordpress template?

You can just add in a drop down menu to the existing theme.

[rickibarnes]

+1 on not every site needing a CMS. Some sites aren't really complicated enough/frequently updated enough to justify it. Also occasionally I will implement a very limited custom CMS that allows the client to update only certain parts of the site, e.g. if they have just a news section that they need to be able to add to or suchlike.

My pricing structure takes into account the amount of control that the client needs to have over the site - having a CMS costs more than not - and I like to give the client what they actually require rather than upselling a CMS on every website.