CMS – which one?

Recently you have had a chance to read our blog about new developments within the world’s most popular CMS – WordPress. As we wrote at the time, the market share of this content management system exceeds 48%, and so far, there is no indication that the upward trend is going to stop anytime soon. Our series will start with WordPress.

WordPress, published by Matt Mullenwegg in 2003, is now by far the most popular CMS in the world. It is estimated that there are more than 70 million sites based on WordPress – every fifth website. It was designed as a blog platform, but for some time, thanks to its modernization and thousands of existing plug-ins, it has been used as a CMS tool to create ”normal” websites.

Its main advantages are simplicity and intuitiveness. There are many products advertised with these slogans, but WordPress really is simple and intuitive, and that’s how it’s gained such widespread popularity. In contrast to for example Joomla or Drupal, the WordPress user doesn’t need to know PHP or HTML, so even as a novice user without much technical knowledge you will be able to master the basic functions that will enable you to create your own website. Because WordPress is so popular, it has the largest worldwide community of users who actively participate in forums, so in case of any problems it’s easy to consult other, more knowledgeable WordPress users. There is technical support available in English (https://wordpress.org/) as well as in Polish (https://pl.wordpress.org/), not to mention the large annual gatherings of WordPress fans – last year’s (12 -13 September) WordCamp was held in Krakow, but local meetings, so-called WordUp’s are also organized throughout the country, providing a platform for the users to exchange their knowledge and experiences. WordPress has several thousands of plug-ins and that’s why it is now considered a CMS and not, as before, a blogging platform. On the homepage you can find thousands of templates, both free and paid, allowing for modifications of the constructed pages tailored to the needs of the user.

Unfortunately, nothing is perfect and even WordPress has some drawbacks. An important aspect is the introduction of non-standard modifications. In this case, they require at least a basic knowledge of PHP. The script has lots of templates, but most are very similar to each other. To give the page a unique look, you need to know CSS and HTML. In the functionality test, WordPress comes out average in comparison to Joomla or Drupal. Installation of multiple plug-ins makes its features comparable but it has a negative effect on the performance of this script. Another problem is the choice of the appropriate plug-in, the reason for this is the duplication of functionality – for example, several add-ons might cover the same improvement, as many authors created a plug-in with the same functionalities, but under a different name. Sometimes choosing the best one takes quite a lot of time. As regards security, compared to other applications, it isn’t particularly impressive. It all depends on how vulnerable to attack the additional page content is. Negative opinions about the frequent attacks on pages created in WordPress are common online.

In summary, despite some flaws, WordPress is certainly suited to blogging or building simple websites. It is the optimal choice for novice users because it is one of the easiest solutions available on the market. WordPress is also constantly working on its development and introduces updates and new plug-ins that eliminate shortcomings and improve the security of created sites. Advanced users who want custom solutions will probably reach for a tool like Joomla! or Drupal instead of adapting WordPress with numerous extensions and plug-ins.

sources: joomplace.com, OpenSourceCMS.com, pl.wordpress.org