Many of our clients (prior to coming to us) often complain about their current content management system and how they have little to no control. Whether their current content management system is overkill and complex or they are having to call the "not so available" web guy. You do not ever want to give the client enough control to break the fundamental layout and design elements on the site, but you want them to have just enough control to alter, maintain, and add more content. This is where Wordpress thrives and this is why we use it when a client wants that level of control.
What is Wordpress?
Wordpress is an open source Content Management System built on PHP. According to their site, it has been used on over sixty million websites and is maintained by hundreds of community volunteers. Like most content management systems, it uses a system that allows the developer to decide what can and cannot be changed by the administrator on the backend.
Why Wordpress?
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Support - Wordpress is used by thousands of developers all over the world and has amazing documentation and support. You can literally search for anything on Google and find someone who has tried what you are looking to accomplish.
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Control - Wordpress allows you to do a lot for the end user and makes it very easy to do so. Dynamic user controlled drop-downs are amazingly simple to install, style, and even easier for the admin to control. That is only one example and I have never come across anything that I could not allow the user to control, within reason.
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Developing - Wordpress is extremely simple to learn and use. Pulling in content from different posts and pages are simple two line queries and styling dynamic content is easily done thanks to the many built-in functions.
Aesthetics - Wordpress is hands down the most appealing and user-friendly content management system I have ever seen. Clients love it and it makes the entire experience of editing their content much more efficient and inviting.
When should you avoid Wordpress?
- E-Commerce - Wordpress does not have any built in support or functionality for e-commerce solutions- which means you would have to use a 3rd party plugin. This may be a solution for some, but plugins have a tendency to break when you update wordpress and when you are dealing with something as important as a shop, using something like Shopify is your best bet, or integrating shopify with wordpress is also a good choice.
- If you need a highly customized website - If you are not a developer, or do not have one at your disposal, building a site can end up being very difficult. The fact that it is open source and free means that there is no support line to call if you need help, so if you are a designer or a business owner who is trying to build a highly customized website on your own, Wordpress is probably not for you.