Are There Any Cons To Wordpress?, Is there a reason I should ever build a site using something else? Options

[Robert_Paulson]

I've built a few sites with nothing more than a text editor and html. Then I got tired of all the updating I had to do whenever I created a new page (update the navigation, search and replace that navigation across all pages). Then I learned about using tiny bits of php to make updating much easier. Then I made a few Wordpress sites.

Here I am, several Wordpress sites later, Larry Ullman's PHP and MySQL book in front of me, and I'm trying to figure out why I would ever build a "static" html (non-blog) site using anything but Wordpress. It's a free system that is totally customizable and makes updating navigation and links a non-issue (or at the most, a very very small issue). Not to mention all the built in tools and plugins that can help the site get some SE exposure.

It seems like just getting really good at customizing WordPress (which appears it will require far less php knowledge) would be much faster and pragmatic than actually learning all the PHP and MySQL needed to build a larger scale site myself.

Have others had this same epiphany, making Wordpress your default CMS? Are there cons to this idea that I haven't considered?

Any and all thoughts appreciated.

[Adrian]

Wordpress is good at what it does, but at the end of the day, it's is built as a blogging platform. If you're building sites that fit into that general framework, then yeah, you might find you just keep using Wordpress, but I think you will find it limiting when trying something that works a bit differently.

Even then, if Wordpress isn't so suitable, there may be another CMS that is, and then you get a lot of similar benefits.

Even then, you might find that for quite specific requirements, you can't find a suitbale CMS. It might be issues with rich text editors, or a specific functionality request from a client, or simply that you want more control over the code that's output.

Then you may build from scratch, but even then you might use 3rd party components for things, or perhaps even one of the frameworks that are becoming popular. Perhaps you'd even build you're own CMS that does the things you want, and that you can build future sites in.

Going back to Wordpress specifically, I wouldn't use it as my default CMS, but it would be one of the tools I had in the box for suitable jobs. As a 'default', I'd be likely use a more general CMS, like Drupal for instance, as it offers a lot of the general benefits of a system like Wordpress, with more flexibility for different types of sites.

[webforce]

I've been using Wordpress for quite some time and I can't think of any good reason not to. It is important to keep it updated with the latest version, though.

[Autocrat]

Horses for Courses - it really depends on what you need/want (or your clients and their clients!).

Can your easily turn one of your sites into a commerce system, a brochure site?
What about making a fully fledged Estate Agent/Realtor site that permits custom searches, lookups and sort/ordering?
Can you enable heirarchel categories and cross categorisation if needs be?
Are you able to, without any reall effort or fort, able to add an extra 3 fields to a content type?

The actual varieties are about endless... so long as you can meet them, then it doesn't matter what you are using... so long as you can use it and it does the job.

[Ruud]

While I agree that WordPress is an infinitely useful and customizable web publishing tool, I do put question marks at this statement:

It seems like just getting really good at customizing WordPress (which appears it will require far less php knowledge) would be much faster and pragmatic than actually learning all the PHP and MySQL needed to build a larger scale site myself.

To me it compares with "It seems like just getting good at customizing a Ford is much faster and pragmetic than actually understanding anything about engines and all that stuff"

If the only way you can customize WP would be through other people's plugins, what will you do if two essential plugins your clients rely on become incompatible one day? Or are discontinued? Or...

[Autocrat]

Probably the same as I and everyone else that uses such applications/modules/plugins/scripts and that cannot program for toffee will do... panic/cry/scream/shout/swear/swear very verboselt/beg/plead/offer money/look for a programmer/look for alternatives (not necessarily all, nor in that order)

[yannis]

Have others had this same epiphany, making Wordpress your default CMS? Are there cons to this idea that I haven't considered?

It is a great CMS. It is unbeatable for ease of installation, number of plugins availble, theming and support.

There are disadvantages for larger systems, if you want to have more than just posts and pages for example the additional work you put in could be saved by moving onto Drupal or one of the other CMS.

My suggestion put it into your bag of tricks, but don't limit yourself. Rather use Wordpress as a means to learn PHP and MySQL, the templating code is simple and it can be extended very easily.


Yannis

[AbleReach]

My suggestion put it into your bag of tricks, but don't limit yourself. Rather use Wordpress as a means to learn PHP and MySQL, the templating code is simple and it can be extended very easily.

That's what I'm doing.

A little over a year ago I installed test copies of everything CMS-like that appealed to me. I dropped whatever had an install process that was not intuitive enough, to my skill level at the time. "My skill level at the time" is an important time-saving point. I'm open to stretching and struggling, as long as I get to do stuff. Being stuck out of the gate gives me a strong need for Elvis karaoke.

A little less conversation, a little more action please
All this aggravation ain't satisfactioning me
A little more bite and a little less bark
A little less fight and a little more spark

WordPress was the easiest for me to "get." It's a blogging platform, yes, but I'm still learning, not bored yet, and so far what it doesn't do hasn't outweighed the spark I'm getting for my time. It's been a very painless way to learn about CSS and get my feet wet with very basic PHP. Actually learning PHP will mean breaking loose of WP, but I'm not there yet. I haven't needed to, because I'm getting most of my needs met. The plugins are great, and I am convinced that the templating code is written for people just like me.

[Robert_Paulson]

Thanks for the great comments and input - I'll have to look into Drupal as something to graduate to, once I can manipulate WordPress to my whims. For the next several sites I want to build, WordPress appears to have all the tools I need to have, but Autocrat brings up some valid points about future projects, and when those times come my hope is to be advanced enough in my programming skill to handle them.

To me it compares with "It seems like just getting good at customizing a Ford is much faster and pragmetic than actually understanding anything about engines and all that stuff" smile.gif

Great analogy. Even better might be "It seems like just getting good at customizing cars with a Chevy small block is much faster and pragmetic than actually understanding everything about all makes and models of cars" - a hot rod shop could probably do pretty well for itself just using Chevy small block V8's, but as it grew and client needs changed it would probably need to expand it's offerings to satisfy demand.

I'm not looking for a shortcut. At the same time, I was considering the things I either wanted or needed for the next several sites I was going to build, and it seemed that WordPress was able to fill those needs without my ever having to crack a php book.

That's not to say I won't - I love knowing how stuff works and I'll make my way through that book. But time constraints prevent me from trying to go through the entire book and it's examples before I try to build my next site. This is a side job for me, so the time I can spend at it is not unlimited.

Thanks for all of your comments - it's helped to put my thoughts in perspective.

[yannis]

Actually learning PHP will mean breaking loose of WP, but I'm not there yet.

How to learn PHP with Wordpress in a few steps!

(a) You download a plugin named php-EXE or similar and then you can actually embed PHP in posts.

( Create a new installation (so that you can keep notes as you learn!).

© Create your first Hello program.

(d) Search for conditional statements and for loops. Do as per ©.

(e) Create a new post. Go to custom fields below the post textbox. Create a new field, call it 'byLine'. In value type 'This is my first by line for posts'.

(f) Open index.php, just below the heading add:

CODE

<p class="byLine"><?php  $values = get_post_custom_values("byLine");echo $values[0]; ?></p>

This will pull the field byLine from the Database and echo it i.e print it in the post! Now you know about print. Echo a few lines in a post so that you will not forget semi-colons. Repeat with an imageField. Get the drift?

(g) Repeat (d) for other statements such as arrays do a bit of math etc...

Once you learn PHP, use WP for a starting point of projects. You have a ready made, user management system, security, search and ten basic tables! (Remember your task is to learn PHP not re-invent the wheel). PHP is a templating language. Wipe out the templates (i.e header.php, index.php, footer.php, single.php etc) and put whatever you want there!


Yannis

PS Keep notes! The human mind cannot retain things written with $ in the front joined with dots, ending with semicolons and starting with ? easily!

[Marcia]

Incredibly helpful thread, thank you!

I'm also on the PHP learning road (and also mod_rewrite), and started with includes and now simple automated features, but have a much neglected WP blog to tear apart and re-do. I would also like to try a few new sites of a different type using WP and especially being able to add snippets of PHP code to posts would be very helpful. I've been findiing that learning by a few small bites at a time makes it painless.

[A.N.Onym]

As Adrian said, WP may be a tool for a simple job, but sometimes, you'll just need something more robust. For example, if you want to also have a forum, a directory, a classifieds listing, a shop and such, you'll probably have to find a more suitable CMS, such as Drupal.

While Drupal has a rough learning curve, it offers more flexibility in the long run.

As with anything, if you want something absolutely unique and you can't find it in contributed plugins/modules lists, you'll have to develop it yourself. But a good CMS is a good start.

Btw, you may want to check other CMSs just to see what they can do. For some cases, they may be the perfect fit. Or you'll learn why Drupal is better, anyway

This post has been edited by A.N.Onym: Jan 10 2008, 11:52 PM