In this post I try to explain why Word Press is, at the present, our choice for web design / web development, and the advantage for site holders and designers.
In late 2012 our clients were starting to name as “Must have” positioning, client side content management, and social media integration. We were aware of this, as well as responsiveness, content import/export, easy backups and other minor needs that we considered important as well. For that moment I asked my programmer, and he was very positive about WP, so we decided to insert it for blogging purposes on a classic html / css site. This experiment turned better than expected in terms of positioning and client side content management so we moved forward to do all our websites totally with Word Press. 2012 is pretty far away from now, WP evolved consistently and in accordance to our needs. I can tell we evolved too, and we redefined ourselves as web developers based upon design and ux techniques.
Today we are happy to confirm it was a right move, and earned many years of hands on work experience. Client needs are pretty much the same, plus priorities that depend on each project. Let’s see the reasons for why we can always find in WP a right answer.
1 Documentation. WP provides extensive and clear information for designers and developers.
2 A huge (HUGE) community that is always ready to share. The best example is to search for any error message in the web. Someone had this issue before and posted the solution.
Stackoverflow (Where Developers Learn, Share, & Build Careers).
3 Tons of plugins that enable specific features and functionalities. Whatever you imagine you need to do, a plugin does it. Or you can create your own plugin. Php is a language most programmers know, so you can find a good one that will build your plugin or refine one that already exists.
4 Integration.
When I explain the difference between web design and web development I define the second as a tailored site that provides solution to certain task or automated process. Most companies already use platforms you can bond with, so they love to know that their usual tasks can feed a site effortless. The best example is social media: people use Instagram so galleries can populate by writing a hashtag in their cellphone.
5 Versatility
I love to sit in front of my client and answer “Yes, we can do it, it only depends on how much you want to spend.”
6 Backend – Client side content management.
I meet colleagues that complain about their clients asking to change content, or clients who hate their designers for the long time they take to remove that name in their web. A couple of tutorials and the right user permission can let the site holder to change content.
7 All in a box.
WP has it all, but everything is better combined with Genesis framework. We consider this couple a fundamental part of our projects. All standards are present, to name a few: schema, responsiveness, accessibility, regular update. It is good to know you’re always up to date in security fixes and new features.
Genesis has in Studiopress its own documentation and community.
For the ones that are struggling if WP is the correct choice I will suggest to give it a try. If you are not a designer/programmer the path to a final site may take longer, or may not meet exactly what you want, but the good news is you are organizing the content into a website. In a next stage you can hire someone to make it look and work the way you want.
For designers with html css knowledge, you are at a good start. Take some time to read documentation and understand the basic of functions and plugins so you can understand better and speak the same language if you need help from a programmer.
For people or companies looking for pragmatic solutions, consultancy is available. Leave us a message.