In Defence Of WordPress

People like to talk about WordPress being bad, the wrong choice and it not being a CMS. I’m going to say, in defence,m that for me, it’s the right choice, every time, and why. This is obviously subjective, but it’s relative to me. So here goes.

My career began because of Chris Coyier‘s early WordPress series of three videos. They helped me understand HTML, CSS, PHP and WordPress much more than I realised back then. Because of that, when I felt confident enough to sell my new found skills, I advertised that I could do WordPress stuff, and as such, only got WordPress sites. To this day, it’s still the platform I build on, almost exclusively. I always get asked about it by peers and clients.

I know WP inside out, its pros & cons, how it should be used, modified and in some cases, simplified. I describe myself as having an unhealthily intimate knowledge of the framework. I’m one of those guys who can make WordPress do things it was never designed for, doesn’t mean I do though. No apologies from me for that.

Yeah, I just said framework. Technically speaking, you can build and run a WordPress site without ever seeing the backend, it doesn’t even have to exist. It is a set of files that enable you to publish with API’s. The back end is just a bunch of forms sending stuff to those APIs. If you remove the /wp-admin/ directory from root, it’s anything you want it to be.

For me, the sole reason WordPress is used so much and is so customisable is because of these APIs. While it’s true the DB architecture is based on blogging, it’s by no means bad for other types of sites, especially now with custom post types. Most of the sites I do, are page based, but they have blogs to. Because I know WP, it’s the best option on my tool box.

If I spent my time learning other CMS’s and platforms, I simply wouldn’t have the knowledge that I do for one I did learn. Jack of all trades or master of one. I chose master and that’s worked for me.

I find these days that whenever I build a site, even if it doesn’t have a blog to begin with, it will at some point. So, might as well prepare for that and build it in WP.

People who moan about WordPress not being a CMS are like those who start arguments like Nikon vs Canon and Mac vs PC. They all get the job done, both fit different preferences and patterns. Get over it.

TL;DR ?

I love WordPress, and I’ll defend it to the hills because I have many reasons to.

• If you’re just to moan and not do something about it, go away.
• If you have a reason, prove it.
• If you have a painless way for people to do better, share it.

Don’t be a troll.