What is Kirby CMS?

When I introduce Kirby to a client, I rarely start with the technical side. What matters day to day is the place where you log in to change a text, add a news item or replace a photo. In Kirby, that place is called the panel. And unlike the WordPress dashboard, it is never the same from one site to another.

Kirby is a CMS, a content management system, just like WordPress. It does the same job: it lets you edit your website without touching the code. The difference lies behind the scenes. Kirby uses no database, your content is stored in plain files, and the site does not rely on a collection of plugins that need updating every week. If you are curious, I go into more detail in Kirby CMS, the freedom to design without technical overhead.

For you, the most visible difference is elsewhere: the editing interface is built for your site, and for your site only.

In WordPress, everyone gets the same menu: Posts, Pages, Media, Comments, Appearance, Plugins, Settings. You then have to learn where your own content is hidden, often among menus added by plugins and update notifications.

In Kirby, I start from your content. If your site showcases projects, a team and events, that is exactly what you find when you open the panel. On class40.com, the team manages skippers, races and boats. Each record has its own fields, and nobody sees what does not concern them.

The panel home page can also act as a dashboard: the latest published news, the pages still in draft, direct access to the site settings.

To create a page, you click “Add”, give it a title and choose its type: a news item, a project, a team member… Kirby then opens the matching form, with only the fields that matter.

The page starts as a draft. Only you can see it, and you can preview it exactly as it will appear online before publishing it. Once it is ready, you simply change its status. The order of pages in a menu or a list is set by drag and drop.

Each field can come with a help text, an example or a character counter. This is very handy for search engine optimisation: the title and description meant for Google show a counter that warns you when you go over the right length.

This is where Kirby really stands out. I do not just choose which fields to display, I also decide how the interface is organised, one page type at a time. A few examples.

A list of pages can be displayed as compact rows, as a table or as cards with an image. For a portfolio, cards showing a photo of each project let you find your way at a glance. For a hundred news items, a list sorted by date, with the status of each one, is far more practical. The choice follows the content, not an imposed template.

A rich record can be split into tabs: the content in one, the photos in a second, the SEO settings in a third. Inside, the fields are arranged in columns. The main text takes the centre stage, while the date, the category and the cover image sit in a side column. You see what matters without scrolling through an endless form.

A calendar for the date of an event, a dropdown for a category, a yes or no switch to feature a page, a table filled in row by row for a list of results or opening hours, a link to another page of the site… Each piece of information gets the field that suits it. It is quicker to fill in, and it becomes hard to break the layout by mistake.

For freer content, such as an article, Kirby offers a block editor, a bit like Gutenberg in WordPress. The difference is that the available blocks are the ones I designed for your site: heading, text, image, gallery, quote, video, FAQ. On this site, for instance, I have galleries as a slider, a flipbook or a patchwork. Each block shows in the panel with a preview close to the final result, and blocks can be arranged in columns.

You keep the freedom to compose your pages, without the risk of stepping outside your brand guidelines.

Images, PDFs and videos are dragged straight from your computer, one at a time or several at once. No need to worry about the weight of your photos: Kirby automatically generates resized and compressed versions for the site, which keeps it fast.

Each file has its own record with the useful information: the alternative text (essential for accessibility and SEO), a caption, a photo credit. You can also set the focal point of an image, so it is always cropped around the subject, whatever the display format.

I can also restrict the accepted formats in certain places, for example images only in a gallery. And if you rename or replace a file, the links pointing to it keep working.

Everyone who works on the site has their own account. Kirby works with roles: an administrator who can access everything, and roles I create to fit your needs. An editor can write and publish news without being able to delete a page or change the settings. An intern can prepare drafts that someone else will publish.

Users can log in with a code sent by email, and each user picks the language of their interface. Handy when the team does not all speak the same language.

A multilingual site. A button lets you switch from one language to another and translate each page field by field. Shared information, such as photos or dates, is entered only once.

A global search. A few letters are enough to find a page, a file or a user.

Changes kept safe. Nothing goes online until you click “Save”. And if you close the window by mistake, your pending changes are waiting for you next time.

No plugins to keep an eye on. A Kirby site uses very few of them, and there is no list of updates waiting for you every time you log in.

Don't worry, you are not starting from scratch. The core ideas are the same: pages, media, a button to save. Because the interface only shows your own content, getting started is usually very quick. Half an hour together is often enough.

To compare both tools in more depth, you can read Kirby, Wix or WordPress: how I choose the right tool for a custom website and, on the technical side, What Kirby CMS allows that WordPress never will.

The simplest way is still to see the interface for real. Get in touch and I will show you the panel of a live site.