WordPress as a CMS

By
Angie Herrera

Just about any time I've read an article or forum thread on content management systems WordPress is the one that always comes up (followed closely by Drupal and Joomla). My team and I have nothing against WordPress. This blog used to run on WordPress. We have a few clients using it right now. And we even include it for free on all our hosting accounts.

WordPress is a very, very good blogging platform. The appeal is that it's easy to use and more importantly, it's free. A lot of developers will say that WordPress isn't a CMS. That's true – it's really a blogging platform and that's how it's marketed. If we're to get technical, however, WP is a CMS in the sense that it manages content. But that's just semantics. Either way, it's been proven over and over again that WP can act as a CMS in the sense that it manages other content besides blog entries. It's even noted on their website. But that's not the issue here.

The issue, in my view, isn't so much that WP can't be used as a CMS. It's that after a certain point, it isn't ideal for it. Where or what that point is, is 100% dependent on the requirements of the site. In fact, when choosing the right system for a site needing content management, it's always going to boil down to the requirements for the site. I've read several articles on whether or not WP can or should be used as a CMS. The disturbing trend I see is that developers use it for two primary reasons:

1. It's free.
2. And they're extremely comfortable with it.

Free isn't bad. And with WP you're getting a hell of a deal – very good software for zero dollars. But if that's the primary reason it's being chosen, then either the client is being shortchanged (the needs of the site being overlooked by a big FREE tag), or the site is (wrong tool for the job).

Developers get comfortable with tools. It's a fact that's not limited to just WordPress. And there's nothing wrong with that in and of itself. The problem that lies beneath, is that the needs of the client and the requirements of the site are trumped by the developer. In other words, the platform is being chosen by the developer because he's comfortable with it, rather than choosing it because it's the right solution for the project. This is a major disservice to the client and they end up paying for it one way or another.