Park Lane Services   Serving the seacoast area since 1989

A Brief Look at WordPress
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by Greg Ingalls, Sr.
CEO, Park Lane Services
9 April 2012

A Brief Look at WordPress

I have a feeling that I might step on a few toes with this week's blog.  Nevertheless, "The show must go on!"  Or, in this case, the blog must go on.  I should probably take this opportunity to point out that this is, in no way, an objective blog article!

Last week, I blogged briefly about building your own site with systems like Intuit's Websitebuilder.  While, as I said, this is a system for making your own website, I know of some designers who use this system to build sites for clients, charging them for the work.  Of course, there's no problem with that, if the designer doesn't have a way to build and host websites and the client is aware of the situation.

blog picSome designers build client's entire sites with a Content Management System (CMS).  Using a CMS, the designer builds and/or modifies a "theme" to give the look and feel of the site.  The designer may even set up the initial site.  But the idea is that, once designed, the client can manage his/her own site, making the necessary updates, etc.  A very popular CMS product is WordPress, touted by many as the best invention since sliced bread!  I, however, am not a fan of WordPress.

While WordPress may have its place in the world of blogs and forums I, personally, do not find it attractive for a complete website.  I do know that there are, again, designers who set up websites for clients in WordPress and then leave them alone.  This is fine for those that are either savvy with the workings of WordPress or have the time and aptitude to learn what they need to know to update their site.  It is also fine for those businesses with someone on staff with these attributes who can manage the site.

My experience with WordPress includes current clients of mine who were originally set up with WordPress sites.  I should point out that WordPress itself is a free and open-source program and it is constantly being "improved" and updated.  The unfortunate result of this "improvement" is that people using WordPress need to become familiar with new rules as they continue to work on their own site.  The frustration that resulted from recent upgrades to WordPress pushed my clients to seek alternative ways to maintain their web presence.  In short, they wanted to run their own business, not learn the art of web design.

At first, I thought I must be missing something, since there are so many people using WordPress (over 60 million, according to wordpress.org).  Some users are even large companies who, I am sure, hire a staff of techies to run their sites.  Then, I Googled "hate wordpress" and found that there are, indeed, many people who dislike Wordpress as much as I do.  Some are not particularly articulate about it, but others write quite eloquently about why they have a strong dislike for it.  The bottom line is this:  If you are working with someone who is setting you up in WordPress so that you can run your own website and you have the time and inclination to take care of the site, WordPress may be the way for you to go.  If you are planning to have a professional take care of building and maintaining your site, there are, in my opinion, better ways to go.

Meanwhile, if this brief article raises any questions you'd like to see answered or if you have any comments, please contact Park Lane Services at greg@plsnet.biz and let me know what you'd like to see in future posts.  Thanks for reading!