and (kinda) liked it!
Some Background
I’m a full stack developer that’s had my hand in anything from React/Redux applications to Golang services and more. So there’s a subset of you out there that know why it’s hard for me to admit that I like Wordpress.
I should give a disclaimer that I’ve spent all of 3–5 hours working on my first Wordpress blog. So naturally, I’m an expert and you should take everything I say very seriously.
I know I’ll get blasted with comments from 1000+ PHP/Wordpress developers hating me for even blaspheming the name (seriously though please feel free to comment!). But come on, don’t forget the title says “I kinda like Wordpress”, so hear me out.
You have to keep in mind I got a Master degree in formal Computer Science. Not that that makes me bigger or better but I have perspective based on that and it’s different than…well any other perspective. Funny how that works.
I came out of school thinking the only best languages out there were C++ and Java. I thought if said you wanted to be a front-end developer you might as well join the dark side. And it wasn’t even until a friend encouraged me to look at React that I even thought of Javascript as a real language. I say that a little tongue-in-cheek. Now, no one actually said those things but I did feel that formal computer science education focused more on back-end, highly technical subjects. Thus, my mentality towards Wordpress has been that it was for non-programmers and were going to build a website, I should build it all from scratch, especially the backend.
My point is that you can’t blame me (well ok maybe a little) for looking down on Wordpress…but hey I’ve come around (a bit) so that’s something right? How about we stop all the shaming of people using languages/tools that are…well not the ones we’re using?
For those of you out there that still hate Wordpress and think I’m a sellout, keep in mind that I’m coming to it after trying Wix so it’s all relative my friends. Even muddy water is refreshing after a week in the desert without a drink (well perhaps not since you’d be dead but you get the point).
Why I Like It
In my long career of playing with Wordpress this weekend there are a few things that have blown my mind that I think anyone looking to start a blog should consider.
Fast Setup
I tried setting it up before when I first started programming and struggled with it. I could not wrap my head around the themes and child themes and how to change things and what not to change. I remember coming away thinking “Ok why do all these tutorials say Wordpress is the easiest to setup!?”. Well, turns out it was just me and my lack of understanding of a lot of things.
When I tried again the other night I couldn’t believe that within a few minutes I was working on a blog site that didn’t actually look like a cheesy template from Myspace. Plus I was even able to start making significant edits to customize it the way I wanted! Score!
Tons of Functionality
Everything you hear in development is that a solution that’s pre-built isn’t customizable or extensible. Which is why there’s always someone building a new HTTP client library for Javascript (seriously though, stop that).
As it turns out if I google Wordpress <insert literally anything>, there’s a pretty good chance I’m going to find a plugin for it. Just to prove it to you I googled “Weirdest Wordpress plugins” and was not disappointed. There’s literally a site called weirdpress devoted to finding strange and unusual uses and plugins for Wordpress.
Note: I’m not saying you should use any plugin without discretion…just that they exist.
Focus On What Matters
Bottom line, the reason I even started trying different blog sites was, even though I knew I could spend the time putting together my own from scratch, that wasn’t my point. My wife and I wanted to actually work on the blog (a personal finance blog called Faith Family Funds) not the blog app. I’m suddenly hearing a little project manager voice saying something about focusing on business requirements and stuff.
What’s been nice about Wordpress is that I’m able to have as much customization as I need and I can still focusing on the main goal. To have a functioning blog site in as little time as possible. Don’t forget, my profile contains the phrase “Programming Nerd”. If I’ve decided to build a blog app from scratch I’d probably use an Elm front-end with an Elixir backend just to say I did (Hmmm…that sounds fun…be right back).
It also lets me not think about the things I don’t want to, like complex CSS (which is really any CSS to me), backend security (apart from updates and plugin security), and HTML semantics/accessibility (divs for everything right?). I can focus my time on the parts that are interesting to me and find themes and plugins that take care of the rest for me.
Why the Haters
So if everything seems so happy, I have to wonder naively why people like to hate on Wordpress. Surely there must be something I’m missing. Again, in my long career of 5 days I have a a few ideas as to why this might be the case.
The Magic Pill
I think one thing that leads to trouble with really any technology is the propensity for people to use it for everything…like everything. We’ve all seen this with frameworks or languages that turn into the only framework or language. A perfect example is illustrated by Atwood’s law, “If it can be built in Javascript then it will be built in Javascript”. I think this quote could almost be applied as much to Wordpress. But has anyone ever stopped to ask if it should be built as a Wordpress site.
Wordpress solved a real problem and did it quite well but it didn’t solve all the problems and it probably created some too. So if your answer for every type of application, website, or software problem is to fire up a Wordpress site, you’re probably contributing to the stigma against Wordpress.
Usage Error
This kind of goes hand in hand with my previous point. The about page for Wordpress says that it started in 2003 “as just a blogging system”. Obviously, we know it’s evolved into much more than that, which is super cool. But with any framework or platform, people start using it in ways that it just wasn’t designed to do. Sometimes they do something super awesome and we all say “Oh wow what a genius!”. Sometimes, though, it doesn’t work out so well and we say “Oh man what an idiot!” or in some cases “That tool they used is dumb because they did a dumb thing with it”.
I think this has happened a bit with Wordpress. People have tested the limits of it’s original design and in some cases ended up with something no one else thought was possible. But in other cases ended up making something that was a pain to work with, maintain and update.
It’s hard to draw the line here because you can’t stop innovation on a thing just because “that’s not what it was meant for”. If that were the case then we never would have had browser applications that felt just like native apps (remember the internet was just designed to transfer data across a network).
User Error
A subtly different issue is when someone uses a tool flat out incorrectly. How about when a huge chunk of Wordpress sites end up getting hacked because the hacker targeted a flaw that was in old versions. The users that weren’t keeping up with the security updates are more to blame than the platform itself. Or when people just download plugins all willy nilly without giving thought to who wrote it or whether it’s safe. For some reason this kind of scenario leads people to look at Wordpress and think, “well I guess it’s not a good platform”.
Keep in mind Wordpress is used by almost every kind of person out there. Which means it’s going to be used by someone that doesn’t think about security or best practices. Unfortunately, there’s not a great way around this other than to keep putting out educational information. Also, if you’re building a plugin do the work for them and make sure they’re protected. Some might argue that’s your responsibility.
Big Takeaways
Ok so what’s the point in writing a post about a 15 year old technology that everyone already has opinions on? Well a month ago I didn’t consider Wordpress for anything based on my pre-conceived biases. Then I tried it…and was pleasantly surprised!
Am I going to become a Wordpress expert and only build stuff using Wordpress? No. But I’ll definitely be more willing to use and recommend it when the situation calls for it. Heck, I might even learn a little bit of PHP (Calm down, I said a LITTLE bit).
Finally, if you’re starting a blog, definitely try out Wordpress (unless you’re a nerd that really has to build your own everything from scratch).
Simply put don’t hate something that you haven’t looked into and don’t hesitate to try something just because some people don’t like it.
Let the comment wars begin!