A CMS platform

Previously on the CogitActive saga:
All it takes to create a self-hosted website are a domain name, a hosting provider and a platform.

Just to remind you, a platform . . . is the software you install in your hosting account to build your website¹.

Given that some platforms . . . only work on certain types of hosting¹, it is important to decide which one you are going to use before you can pick a hosting plan. Hence, I am starting with the platform; the web host and the domain name will come next.

Choosing the right platform to build a website is an important consideration. As explained in the previous post (A self-hosted website), I have opted for a content management system (CMS) platform. Of course, CMSs come in all shapes and sizes, each with its own set of features and benefits. Some are ideally suited for blogging. Other might be better for eCommerce stores. Using a CMS for a situation, for which it is not suited, is not the proper way to go and might lead to issues down the road. On the other hand, getting the right one also means getting one that fit to your constraints. So, which CMS is best for my podcasting needs?

That is it! Hearing the same brand name over and over has definitively influenced my decision. Even though I did some quick research to know which one would be better suited to my needs, to be honest, it was not up to CogitActive standards (see my mea culpa below). Allow me to make amends – amende honorable.

Are there any other CMSs?

Keep in mind, that any hosted platform is out of the question²

Yes, there are. Actually, there are a sheer number of options available from popular to less known CMSs; the choice is not limited to WordPress. Nevertheless, I will just talk about two of them: Joomla and Drupal. Why these two? Because they are the most widely used CMSs with 5.7 % and 3.7 % of CMSs’ market share³, respectively – after WordPress, which has a 59.4 % market share!

Apparently, Joomla is the middle-ground CMS⁴: technically more advanced than WordPress, but not as advanced as Drupal. Websites created with Joomla generally perform better⁴ than those created with WordPress. In addition, Joomla has enterprise-level security. It offers a great deal of options when it comes to user managements; probably the reason why Joomla is mainly used for Social Networking sites.

Drupal is renowned for its scalability and security and, actually, experienced web developers attest that Drupal is the most powerful CMS⁴. It is built for performance and it offers a lot out of the box. It can even handle multilingual sites (out of the box) – something of potential interest. Another of Drupal’s selling points is its powerful taxonomy and ability to organize complex content; this makes it more appropriate for sites that require a highly customized and flexible data organization.

 

WordPress pros (and cons)

Before to go through the strengths and limitations of WordPress, let me start with WordPress own saying:

Beautiful designs, powerful features, and the freedom to build anything you want. WordPress is both free and priceless at the same time.

Just a reminder, WordPress is the dominating force⁵ with an impressive CMS market share of 59.4 %³; this includes websites hosted on the free WordPress.com (see box below), though.

Surprisingly, ease of use – the feature that is ubiquitously advocated on the web – is not even mentioned. Nevertheless, being beginner-friendly, WordPress allows you to get started quickly. Simplicity (for users) is actually one of the biggest strengths of WordPress and perhaps the main reason for its success. Creating a website with WordPress is indeed straightforward; technical or coding knowledge is not necessary. Yet, it doesn’t mean that there isn’t a learning curve involved.

 

You can start using WordPress right out-the-box with customizable designs and responsive mobile sites. WordPress comes bundled with a default theme, but you can choose among thousands of themes ready for specific type of features. They also come with built-in customization modules allowing you to make (limited) design changes. WordPress comes with such a level of customization that there are limitless possibilities, keeping with WordPress’ saying.

WordPress already comes packed full of features, but you can also add new ones. When it comes to adding functionality, WordPress relies on plugins (add-ons). Whichever change you have in mind, there is a plugin for that⁹. They are easy to implement, and contribute greatly to WordPress’ extensibility. However, each plugin comes at a performance price. In addition, quality varies and it can be time-consuming to choose the right one.

For most, the flexibility provided by themes and plugins is more than enough to make their website do exactly what they want. However, if you don’t want to rely on themes or plugins to tailor your website to your own tastes and needs, WordPress is a good solution as well. You can adjust just about anything; in-depth customization requires coding knowledge, though. Indeed, advanced level users can tweak things even more by making changes to the code. As your skills improve, WordPress will not become a hindrance; it is a real, professional-grade software.

In fact, WordPress has a very high ceiling when it comes to what you can do. Flexibility is probably one of its most attractive feature: you can create any type of website you want, even a network of websites! Its roots are in blogging⁵, granted – and it does this part extremely well⁵ – but it has grown far beyond that point. WordPress is not limited to blogging anymore: it has evolved into a full-featured [CMS] that includes all the tools and features you need to publish a complete website⁹.

Now, performance is often cited as one of the weak spots of WordPress as a CMS. WordPress might not be built for high-performance (as compared to Drupal), yet, it can still power large-scale websites with sub-second page loading time⁵. WordPress being a self-hosted platform, you need to know what you are doing. Opting for a cheap hosting provider, for instance, just invites poor performance. Slow site speed can also be associated with poorly coded plugins, among other things. As with everything, it all comes down to making informed choices.

Luckily, you don’t have to be a web developer; you can benefit from WordPress huge community. It is truly incredible how many resources there are for learning about WordPress or having quick development questions answered. From the official documentation (WordPress Codex) to the plethora of articles or books published on any WordPress-related topic, support is all around!

Unfortunately, due to its popularity, WordPress offers a bigger target for hackers. It attracts more attacks just because of sheer volume, not because it is prone to security breaches. WordPress as a software is extremely secure; yet, plugins are a security risk that can’t be ignored. Indeed, security problems are most often related to third-party plugins⁵. Not tested by WordPress developers, they can compromise the integrity of your website. Moreover, they may contain security vulnerabilities, or even malware, viruses, and other unwanted executables⁹. Just be aware, though, security issues are also the price of not implementing basic security practices. As a matter of fact, one of the biggest spots for WordPress security is the user⁵. Insecure login information, outdated WordPress installation, as well as themes or plugins, are the usual culprits.

Last, but not least, WordPress is free¹⁰ and open source – something in common with Joomla and Drupal! There are numerous advantages of using Free and Open Source Software (FOSS) – beyond the cost – and this has become my way to go.

Self-hosted WordPress (WordPress.org)

To recap, WordPress was first and foremost a blogging platform. However, it is now a fully featured CMS capable of powering any kind of website. Likely due to its powerful features, scalability and ease of use, WordPress is the most popular CMS platform. Keeping in mind that my website is primarily intended for my podcast, the strongest argument in favor of WordPress may be this one from Blubrry¹¹:

Because podcasting is nothing more than an extension to blogging, using WordPress also comes natural for the podcast publishing process.

In fact, WordPress is by far one of the cleanest, fastest ways to write and publish blog posts, and that’s all included right from the start¹². In addition, from the same author: nothing currently compares to the power, elegance, and advanced tools you find in the WordPress blogging engine.

As spoiled at the beginning of this post, I have decided to use WordPress as my CMS platform. Again, I want to emphasize that this was not a choice over other CMSs. In keeping with this semantic issue, as well as my mea culpa, here is an archetypal advice (on that matter) from a podcasting guiding tutorial¹¹:

There are many website platforms to pick from, including WordPress, Joomla, Drupal . . . Luckily, the decision is easy, use WordPress.

 

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¹ Peter Pollock (2013) Web Hosting For Dummies. Hoboken, New Jersey: John Wiley & Sons. ^
² See A self-hosted website ^
³ W3Techs (2018) Usage of content management systems for websites. (last checked: 10/04/18) ^
⁴ Jerry Low (2018) Three Easy Ways to Create a Website: Step-by-step Beginner Guide. Web Hosting Secret Revealed. ^
⁵ Robert Mening (2018) WordPress vs Joomla vs Drupal (Comparison). WebsiteSetup. ^
⁶ See The CogitActive Saga ^
⁷ According to Oxford Dictionary of English, a choice is an act of choosing between two or more possibilities. ^
⁸ Brian Jackson (2018) WordPress.com vs WordPress.org – What’s The Difference? Kinsta. ^
⁹ Lisa Sabin-Wilson (2017) WordPress All-in-One For Dummies – Third Edition. Hoboken, New Jersey: John Wiley & Sons. ^
¹⁰ Yet, several premium plugins, themes, and extensions are not! ^
¹¹ Blubrry (2018) Your Podcast Website. ^
¹² Brian Jackson (2018) Why Use WordPress? A Deep Dive Into 10 Good Reasons. Kinsta. ^