WordPress, I was briefly introduced to you in my second semester in the WDOC program, however our only interaction was through blogger postings. This semester, in Web Interactivity, has opened up my eyes to all of the possibilities that WordPress has to offer. It has been interesting to learn that a good number of sites on the web today are WordPress based, and with the ease of use for this CMS I can clearly understand why. In continuing to learn its inner workings I thought it would be interested to take a look at some of the pros and cons of WordPress.org.
Pros:
- Free and paid themes
- Ability to customize and tailor the site to your business through PHP
- You don’t have to be a web designer to use it – ease of use
- Built in SEO capabilities
- Can use plugins and widgets for increased functionality
- Large developer community
- Easy content updates, that almost anyone can do! Do not need to be a coder to update the content!
- Flexible E-commerce options
- Can be responsible depending on the theme! Mobile first!
Cons
- Must have a web domain and hosting
- If you use a pre-designed theme you may have the same website design as someone else
- Typical for smaller individual business sites
Although from this list I compiled at first glance it looks like the pros out way the cons, and for many businesses, organizations, and individuals it will. Again not every organization’s website is meant to be a WordPress site but for many organizations these pro’s list will make that decision a reality and in my opinion the positive feedback for the ease of uses, SEO capabilities and ability for customization is on the strong front. I think the cons are going to come into play with the larger companies, instead of the mom and pop shops, and possible e-commerce websites who many want a CMS that is strictly e-commerce based without a plugin.
Again this is an opinion post, if you have any comments or suggestions on this list feel free to contact me!
Happy Designing!
