Wordpress is the Worst!

Wait. What kind of title is that! Wordpress runs 25% of all websites in the world. You have to be thinking, “Can this guy be serious?”.

I am constantly amazed by the success of Wordpress, but when I look the reasons why it's the #1 CMS platform downloaded, I can start to understand why.  Wordpress is a platform designed for blogging. It was designed for bloggers who need a website presence, but understand little to none about websites and coding. 

With over 440 Million blogs online, and understanding that Wordpress was designed for bloggers, you can start to understand the appeal to Wordpress.  Because it’s simple, cheap, and requires little coding to get started, bloggers are diving into Wordpress, both feet in.

But does that make it the right solution for everyone? I see many designers pushing for Wordpress as a solution, but is it the right one? Why are they pushing for it? Is it because it’s the only platform they know, or is it because it is truly the best solution?

I’m going to make the case that it’s rarely the best solution for most business websites. 

Blog Sites vs Business websites

Business websites are very different from blogging websites. The main difference between a blog and a business is its purpose.  A blog is just to get some information out to the internet. The focus isn’t around a design or a brand like a business website is. A blogger just doesn’t care about design as much as a business would/should. 

Business sites have more content than just the blog. Yes they may have a blog too, but there is is much more content than just blog content. That content needs to be stored and organized.

It’s the wrong tool for the job.

It’s not a real CMS. Using Wordpress as a CMS is akin to using a hammer to pound in a screw. Or eating soup with chopsticks. Wrong tool for the job.

Probably the most significant flaw as a CMS is the lack of navigation management. You can't build and edit your menus by default.

The second biggest flaw, is the lack of content organization. You have posts and pages in Wordpress. This leaves little room for smaller bits of content. With plugins you can start to achieve this, with content types etc, but if you have to start hacking the CMS to get it to work for you, is it the right solution to begin with?

But some REALLLY large sites use Wordpress!

Okay, Okay, you got me here. Yes, some very large companies are using Wordpress for their websites. High-traffic sites like Fast Company, Buzzfeed, The Onion, and USA Today all run on Wordpress. But really when you think about it, they are massive blogs. They also have the benefit of full-time in-house web support staff. These sites are heavily customized to fit their businesses needs. I’d argue they aren’t really running Wordpress anymore when you take into consideration of all the customations their web teams are adding.

That’s like saying Facebook runs on PHP and MySQL when they’ve changed it so much it’s not even close to the original. Sorry, I just went full geek on you for a second.

It's easy for a designer/developer, not the customer!

Again, Wordpress is super simple to setup. A few clicks and you have a website. Install a theme, add some pictures, and you are off to the races. You don’t need to understand code to look like you know what you are doing. 

But is it easy from a content management standpoint? After all, the designer puts it all together, hands it over to you and the brush their hands off on the project. This is why they push Wordpress. It’s easy for them! Wouldn’t you rather have a solution that is easier for you?

For business sites, a lot of modifications are necessary to get everything working in a Wordpress environment. Remember, it was designed for bloggers. You will likely end up with a hacked up monster. That hacked up monster isn’t very user friendly.

Here’s some advice, and this is true regardless of any CMS: Make sure your website professional understands code. Like deeply understands it, has a degree in computer science, the whole bit. Just because you can bolt on some fancy tires on your car, doesn’t mean you are a mechanic. You want someone who understands the engine, how it works, and can solve real issues.  In my experience, most Wordpress developers are bolt on mechanics.

Plugins!

Oh my gosh! Plugins. Plugins can be both a blessing and a curse. All it takes is for one plugin to start causing serious problems with another, and it can cause all sorts of problems with your site. 

Let’s first be real with what plugins are. They are a simple way to add functionality to a site (i.e you don’t need to know code).  In most cases, going back to what I said about understanding the engine, a plugin isn’t necessary. Custom code can easily take the place of a plugin. We believe in minimizing plugins as best as possible.

Most plugins are free. Somebody had to develop that plugin… which takes a lot of time. For a free plugin, most times the developer stops maintaining his/her plugin(s), as there is little motivation to do so.  These plugins tend to get outdated and can and do often break as new Wordpress updates come out, passing up the technology used in the plugin.  This also opens up that plugin to hackers through vulnerabilities in the outdated code.

Security

WordPress sites get hacked. A lot. Not even advocates of WordPress would argue with that. Wordpress is a free blogging system. This means the code is available to anyone, including hackers. This means they have the ability to find and exploit Wordpress sites.

Wordpress does a good job of closing holes in the code by fixing the exploit and pushing out an update. Most Wordpress users that keep their Worpress install up to date don’t experience issues. Other things may come up though.

1. Plugins or other code can sometimes break a site after a Wordpress update. If other code isn’t compatible with the update, the site breaks and you are left in a WTF moment.
2. If Plugins aren’t updated also, they can continue to be a vulnerability. As stated earlier, in many cases, the developer abandons his/her plugin. This adds a deep level of complexity to your site. Now you need to find a similar plugin and install it on your site.

The WYSIWYG editor

A WYSIWYG (pronounced "wiz-ee-wig") editors one that allows a person to see what the end result will look like while the interface or document is being created. WYSIWYG is an acronym for "what you see is what you get".

This actually holds true for any CMS. WYSIWYG editors are cumbersome and not user friendly. I believe this is more of a setup issue rather than a WYSIWYG issue. Many Wordpress developers (and other CMS’s as well) set up their CMS as though the WYSIWYG is the main layout of a page.

In that scenario, the user struggles with layouts and positioning. That's fair, because your average user isn't a website expert. They don't have knowledge in HTML/CSS. As such, it's frustrating for them to deal with content and try and position it for the website. Most times, it’s not mobile friendly when your average user is in charge of the layout. This is a major breaking point.

The solution to a properly built CMS, is one that doesn't rely on the user to layout content. That should be the job of the developer.

This is exactly why Wordpress isn’t the right tool. You only have posts and pages. Without the proper layers of content, the developer doesn’t have much control over the layout. In other words, content can’t be split up into several pieces and then organized on the front end. Layouts are the designer’s job. Content is the user’s job. Simple data entry can happen when this is the expectation. Simple Data Entry = Great Usability.

Absolute paths

Wordpress uses absolute paths. Alternatively referred to as the file path and full path, the absolute path contains the domain when linking to web pages and files.

There are some advantages to an absolute path, but in a CMS environment a relative path makes a multi-environment solutions possible. In an environment where you have a test site and a live site, Wordpress makes this impossible. 

Ultimately, this will add developer costs if you ever change your domain name or you want to redesign your site and need a test domain to test and finalize those changes.

Performance

Performance-wise, Wordpress right out of the box works really well. It’s one of the fastest platforms out there. However, it starts to get really messy when you start adding in plugins. We’ve had many cases where the customer starts adding plugins and the site slows to a crawl. This happens because plugins weren’t designed to work together, only with the Wordpress core.

But I did my Research it’s #1!

Again, we can look into why it’s the #1 CMS downloaded on the internet. These aren’t the reasons why it’s best for you. The Toyota Corolla is the best-selling car in the world, but that doesn’t mean it’s best for you and your pack of mini-me’s.

Here’s a scenario...

Customer wanted a CMS. Customer wanted it to be Wordpress because they researched it and it was the best (by best, I mean most popular, and the reason the customer perceived that as the best) . We suggested that Wordpress is a blog software, not a CMS, and that we should look to a more flexible solution. Customer wanted it to be wordpress. Our management agreed that Wordpress would be too limited. Customer wanted it to be Wordpress.

We used Wordpress. After all, the customer is always right, right?

The end result:  The customer was ultimately disappointed. Within 2 months a Wordpress update took down their website for a few days. The users were complaining about usability. The site is slow, due to additional plugins being installed. The project went way over budget, due to limitations in Wordpress.

Trust the Experts

Wordpress has its place. I won’t deny that. Just because it’s the most popular, doesn’t make it the best.  

Ken Poirot once said, “Wise people understand the need to consult experts; only fools are confident they know everything.”

But Chris Jackson said, “Not everyone who claims to be an expert, is indeed an expert.”

So who should you trust? I would say a Wordpress developer who only understands Wordpress doesn’t have all the tools/expertise to offer you the best solution. A wise developer listens first, then suggests the right tool for the job. You cannot, I say this positively, cannot, suggest the right tool if you only know one tool. 

More on that in an upcoming blog. Happy Coding!