There was a day when being a "Web Designer" meant that you designed the website from concept and graphics, to code, to upload. Those days are becoming far and few between. Several people these days are calling themselves "Web Designers" and they have little to no coding experience at all, and even if they do, it's only some knowledge of basic HTML.
So, why am I going on this rant you ask? Well, I am here to set the record straight. Wordpress is a great tool, but take it for what it is a "tool". That being said, here is my opinion of the product.
The Good
- Hundreds of templates
Wordpress allows Coders to create their own templates and other give them away, or sell them for a profit. This is a good niche for the Coder to get into if they want to code without having to deal with micro-managing clients. - Frequent Updates
Wordpress is always doing its best to improve its system by constantly providing security updates to its software to prevent unauthorized hacking and security breaches. - User Control
Wordpress gives the account administrator the ability to assign users and allow them to modify portions of the website as needed. This is a great feature for the part-time Do-it-Yourself-er.
The Bad
- Hundreds of templates
With hundreds of templates to choose from, how do you know which ones are secure, which ones are spam, and whether or not the coder is railroading you with higher than normal prices. Unless you are Web savvy, you don't. - Frequent Updates
Frequent updates, yes. Making sure the proper person gets notified to install the update, not so much. Wordpress can do their best to notify the account admins and users of updates to the system, but somebody still has to go in and install the update. - User Control
Giving the user control to modify sections of their website is a great idea, or is it? It depends on the level of control. Entering text, no problem, images, no problem. Anything more than that, and you open your site to problems.
The Ugly
Seeing a pattern yet?
- Hundreds of templates
Did he say Spam templates? Why yes, I did. There are coders out there that will give you a "free" template or even a widget. Nothing is free. That "free" item may just be sending your information to a data-miner that sells your private information to a third party for profit. Not so free is it? - Frequent Updates
What happens if I don't update? I have heard horror stories about Wordpress Accounts and website being hacked into and spam inserted into the content of a webspace. Imaging your friendly Dog Grooming Website populated with pharmaceutical ads. Not cool. - User Control
I am all for letting the client change a few paragraphs, add images, and the like. But be sure that there is something in place to guard against spammers and malicious coders.One wrong symbol entered into the wrong editor can send a site into a programming glitch that will shut down the site.
So, those are my rants, if you have questions, or comments, please feel free to visit us on the web at http://www.dkdesigns.ws
