Recently, I have ended up using WordPress a lot more than other content management systems. I have developed a few projects of late that really show off the flexibility and freedom provided in WordPress. With an incredibly comprehensive library of plugins and documentation, it seems there is a solution to every problem and requirement.
Over the last 5 years I have used a lot of content management systems including: Joomla, Moodle, Drupal, CMSMS (Content Management Made Simple), and many bespoke solutions. Each system has a clear set of advantages, however those advantages are swiftly overshadowed by any shortcomings each of those systems have.
WordPress is a truly fantastic content management system, but what exactly makes it stand out in a crowd of mediocrity?
User friendly
As content management systems go, it is a very comprehensive solution – but it is not at the cost of the user interface. Managing pages, posts, categories, menus, media and links becomes an easy task for even the most simple minded user. User friendly web interfaces are key to any project nowadays, so the fact that WordPress ticks this box from the offset is a huge plus and an upper hand on many other systems.
Interlinking Content
WordPress has many methods of taxonomy with content types, categories and tags. This allows the clever interlinking of wide arrays of content via the content management system, widgets and template files.
Plugins Galore
There is a huge library of plugins available for WordPress. The 17,980 strong library includes plugins facilitating:
- Extra taxonomy methods
- Custom content types
- Basic e-commerce
- Front end user accounts
Most plugins include partnering widgets allowing easy implementation on the front end.
The Documentation
The superb documentation is definitely one of the advantages WordPress has over other systems. There are detailed explanations of functions and plugins with examples to illustrate their use. For most custom bits in templates and plugins there is a documented solution in a function or set of functions that will help to achieve exactly what you need. The documentation is simple and easy to understand for even the earliest developers.
The Community & Support
One of the main strengths of WordPress is it’s popularity in the industry. Due to the amount of people who use it, many clients request their site is built with Wordress at the core. It has a seemingly endless list of people who are willing to help with bugs or plugin struggles, so if you are unable to locate a solution in the documentation – you are likely to stumble upon somebody in the community with a similar problem to you, that was probably solved in a neat and efficient way by some hardcore 5-screen agoraphobic developer only using three characters!
Firstly… a great blog post! Today was my first day using WordPress and I have to say it was a frustrating one (I have a very patient teacher!). At first glance I was a little put off by WordPress. I instantly thought it was over complicated and clunky, but I am sure this is mainly as I have come from much simpler CMS systems (with obvious limitations).
However, I am starting to see the advantages of WordPress as I learn more about the functionality it has to offer. I am sure I will quickly eat my words when I can get my hands on (or build myself) a completely clean install and I have learnt a lot more.
I am sure you can put me right on this point, but I would have like to have seen an install option that strips WordPress of all the unnecessary code – a developer install if you like?
Last of all and I know this sounds a bit contradictory, but I think its worth tipping our hats to WordPress, along with other open source cms systems. It is an absolute techy triumph that we can all benefit from these comprehensive development tools completely free of charge!
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