Why WordPress?

Of the three most popular free Content Management Systems (CMS) out there, I have chosen to use and teach WordPress.

The main reason I chose WordPress is that it is reported to be the easiest to implement without having to learn coding.

The second reason I chose WordPress is because there are a number of templates and plugins available for free. These templates, and especially the plugins, make creating and updating a website much easier.

The third reason I chose WordPress is that there is an abundance of help through forums and free tutorials to help the new user get going quickly.

WordPress started out as a blogging system but is now considered to be a Content Management Systems (CMS). WordPress is now being used to power numerous non-blog websites. See this article for the 40 most notable name brands using WordPress.

There are thousands of themes available for WordPress, as well as thousands of plugins and widgets to extend its functionality. WordPress has an incredibly active community surrounding it. This makes it easy to find tutorials or information about nearly every aspect of developing a website using WordPress.

Through plugins and custom themes, you can turn WordPress into a social network, forum, e-commerce site, and much, much more. There is also built-in functionality for creating blog networks or other multi-blog installations from a single core installation.

WordPress.com offers a hosted, less-versatile version of WordPress. The WordPress.com option is free, however there are some caveats. With this free option the basic functionality is there. Visit my other page that discusses Free Vs. Paid for more information.

Strengths

  • ✔ Huge developer community with plenty of documentation and tutorials available
  • ✔ Free and paid plugins and specialized themes make it possible to create virtually any kind of site with WordPress
  • ✔ User-friendly dashboard for managing content

Weaknesses

  • ✘ Can be overkill for basic sites
  • ✘ A standard installation can have a lot of security issues, and is very vulnerable to attack without additional security measures
  • ✘ No official support outside of user forums, where you may or may not get an official response