Those of you who read BloggingTips regularly will know that I a huge fan of WordPress. I’m a bit of a WordPress fanatic. In fact, I’d go as far as saying I’m a bit of a snob about it because I no longer even consider any other script when starting a new blog. And 99% of the time WordPress is the script I use for content management for static sites too.
I am obviously aware of other blogging platforms such as Expression Engine, TextPattern and Serendipity. However, I no longer consider them for a new project because:
- WordPress is updated more regularly than other scripts
- WordPress has thousands of quaity free and premium templates available
- WordPress has thousands of great plugins available which allow you to customise your site the way you want it
- WordPress is documented more on the web and is easier to get support for a problem because so many people use the script
I believe many people feel the same way as me. Which is probably why one of the many reasons WordPress continues to grow and other blogging scripts are being left behind.
Though in any industry, competition is healthy for everyone. Which is why I think it would be great if a realistic alternative to WordPress came to the forefront for bloggers. I doubt that any script is going to give bloggers as many features that WP offers due to the number of plugins available, though I think that something different would be welcomed. Something which works in a different way, something which presents information differently or something which integrates with social media sites more naturally.
A popular alternative to WordPress would also push WP to up it’s game to stay ahead of the pack. This is why competition is good for everyone.
I still love WordPress and don’t see me using anything else until something does come up, though a few better alternatives to WP would be great for everyone. Variety is the spice of life!
What do you think: Do you think we need an alternative to WordPress?
Kevin
Why would you use WordPress for static websites? There's gotta be better content management systems for that. If you're using something that's made for blogging for something that has nothing to do with blogging you might be doing something wrong.
The huge amount of plugins available for WordPress bring problems with them as well. First there's the time it takes to determine what plugin is best for you. Second, because the plugins are made by independent developers, you might be bringing in stuff that you don't want on your page.
I have used dozens of php content management scripts over the years. For a basic static website with 10+ pages, I really can't see past WordPress.
For starters, you have thousands of templates to choose from. You also have thousands of plugins at your disposal too.
With regards to time, I have a folder with the main plugins I use for static websites (Google sitemaps, link cloaker etc), so I don't spend much time checking for them. Plus, I save every plugin I ever download into a folder on my pc so I can quickly check if I already have something to do what I need.
A template for WordPress is typically a template made to fit a blog, not a static webpage. You probably could do it, but it won't be the best option.
So what is wrong with using something like Drupal? Drupal has similar support as it's probably the worlds leading cms. Can't you find something more fitting for static pages there?
Thomas: why would you use a hammer to destroy a piece of wood when it's made to nail items? If it gets the job done and it does it right., use it
Thing is with WP is that it's installs great and fast and if your client come's back and ask: I would need a blog? to add a manageable gallery? to update the content myself? ect? Then you already have the necessary tools on your site.
+ Wp is not only for blogging… if you code you can do anything with it. + The plugins are the same: if you code you can modify any output from a plugin.
Plus plugins are becoming more and more compatible with each other (since 2.7….) – The API is standardized and if you have a conflict with a plug-in it's basically one that was poorly coded and can definitely find a better one.
PS: All my sites are done with WP.
Because if you use a hammer, your piece of wood will shatter and splinters will fly around and possibly hurt people. Use a saw, it's much safer. Also gives cleaner edges.
WordPress really is good for blogging, but there are other cms's you can consider for static websites. Drupal comes to mind. Even the American goverment uses it now.
Thomas – you may find Barebones CMS to be what you want. It was specifically designed for those who make small, static websites for site owners who don't have a prayer of understanding WordPress or any other CMS. I love how people constantly say WordPress is easy to use yet, at the same time, every web developer I know says none of their clients know how to use it – even after training them – so they end up doing all the work anyway. Then they wonder why they developed the site in WordPress in the first place and hate themselves for it.
I can not agree more.
I have tried other scripts and I like Joomla too but WordPress is simply the best.
@Thomas,
As a blogger you ought to know what you need / want and what you don't. Plugins are great, you just need to choose the right one.
Plugins are great until they start to slow your site down. I got three plugins calling three Jquery files on my WordPress blog. If I did it myself I would have one.
Seeing the time it takes to load a blog like this one, I'm beginning to think that somewhere something went wrong with all the plugins.
Heck no. WordPress is definitely the best in my opinion.
I use it for blogging and also build websites on it. My friends have several online stores running on WordPress and never had any problems.
When it comes to using plugins you have to know what you need out of it – what is it's purpose. It also doesn't hurt to take a look at the code to see if it contains any vulnerabilities. Yes, it might take some time picking the right plugin for the job, but it's nothing compared to the time you'd have to spend writing it yourself.
So in conclusion WordPress rocks and I yet haven't felt the need to use anything else!
WordPress is a good tool. A handy, reliable, popular tool that has huge support should you have a problem or need.
However, WordPress it not the solution, it's simply a tool. Like a knife and fork are good tools, you would not use a fork to slice a loaf of bread, nor would you use a knife to eat spaghetti.
My point being, in context WordPress is a powerful and great tool. Similarly though, when used out of context it can be an ugly, clunky, messy monster.
Carsonified have recently written an article on the importance of context that is worth a read:
http://carsonified.com/blog/design/the-c-word-how…
Totally agree with you. WP is the best, but the competition is welcome.
I was on the fence between wordpress and textpattern when figuring out how to get off my homebrew setup. I ended up going with textpattern. Once I figured out how to cram any website template at all into it, things were a breeze.
I do wish it did a few things out of the box rather than me having to go find plugins, but I guess that's one way to avoid bloat.
I do plan on firing up a wordpress site though, and am hoping the learning curve isn't quite so steep as txp.
WordPress is very easy to setup and use.
The one thing I would say is that it's maybe too powerful for some basic sites. The original commentator, Thomas, mentioned that plugins can bring a lot of problems. I don't think this is the case.
Though I think the default version of WordPress has more features than some sites need. Would be good if there was a lite version made available. For example, WordPress can be a bit much if you are just building a 5 page website, particularly if you are hosting dozens of small 5 page websites on your server. The database load could be quite large, therefore it is sometimes better to just use a simple template for such a small site.
This is where WP-Super_cache comes in play by generating a static html file thus unloading your server (and probably 5$/month one
) + it speeds up your site if you have multiple queries going on.
kevin, I agree that competition would push Wp to be even bigger and better then it is now.
But the reality is with the grab WP all ready has on bloggers, and with it's billion plugins,,lol
It would be hard to find a true competitor.
Hi Kevin,
I started out on a platform called SquareSpace. I have to admit, it was awesome. I really liked it but it had its drawbacks, like commenting. This was my biggest complaint. It didn't have a great option for commenting by readers. This was HUGE to me so I worked with a consultant and moved my whole blog over to WordPress. As a result, I am still learning it myself. But, I know I did the right thing.
So, do I think we need another blogging platform? Probably, but it would have to have the same capabilities as WordPress. At least, the ones that are important. I love WordPress and finding answers is fairly easy. I actually still have another site on SquareSpace but I don't update it a lot. I just don't want to move another blog, and its content, over again.
Best,
Bob
I don't think we "need" anything better than WordPress, and to be honest my mind cannot visualize anything better, BUT if that something materialized up it would be awesome!
But what is missing? Surely it would make more sense for programmers to develop the WP platform than try to statt afresh.
It is very difficult to imagine something better until it came along.
With social networking most people were happy with myspace and bebo until Facebook became popular. Going further back, many people were happy using Altavista and Yahoo until Google arrived.
I hate to sound like an insurance company, but it's so easy that a caveman can do it. Joomla is the next best thing for me, but so far WordPress is the world for blogging.
So easy a caveman could do it? Could you expand on this
Competition is welcome. As far as blogging is concerned, WordPress is the best blogging platform.
I am exploring Joomla and it is a good alternative. I am looking more from Content Management point of view rather than just blogging. CMS will be the next level, I suppose.
I don’t think we need an alternative, but I do think that WP needs to be smaller. Kinda like Habari. Same stuff, but more lite-weight.
I agree, as a bloggin platform, WordPress is best option. I don't think its the best CMS however. I don't think it scales very well, and its a little messy when used as a content management system. Our general dissatisfaction with the market options drove us to create our own CMS, Eden Platform.
Recently, I tried to move into wordpress from a paid CMS because of licensing issue. Another reason is also because of the variety of plugins and templates available. However, I met one major obstacle, which is the speed problem. After much researching, I managed to get the super cache and db cache but its still slow. So I decided to change back to my old CMS.
I am not sure what is the problem. There could be some problem with the hosting etc. When I was editing a new site (no traffic), the CPU exceeded and went into throttling mode.
I mean, WordPress is a free stuff, so there is no reason for my to thumbs down here. And I am not telling which paid CMS I am using. Trying to fiddle with the plugins for a day with a simple free template and in the end I quit using because of speed problem.
It is only after I experienced the speed problem that I googled and found out so many complaints of wordpress since 2006. The weirdest thing is that these complaints or support articles were never shown when simply googling wordpress.
wordpress is definitely good, but now when most blogs are written in wordpress, i don't want to add to the list.
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I used to love WordPress, I mean I really did. I saw WordPress as mana from the Heavens. However, as my blog started to grow and I gained a good following, I realized that WordPress was probably the crappiest blog platform out there.
It's got tons of breath taking themes, it's updated frequently and it's easy to use. But what's the use of that if it screws up your text formatting? What's the use of all that if your posts just don't get posted the way you want them to?
For example, the other day I was writing a long blog post, once done I pressed post and I went to view it.
Myentire post ended uplooking like whatI'm writingnow. Itwas all blotchedtogether makingitreallyunreadable. Nolinebreaks, spaces or otherthings.
See how annoying that would be? Reflects both poorly on myself and WordPress.
I'm now looking for a WordPress alternative and your blog showed up in Google. (Nice.)
WordPress sucks!
WordPress is OK for a regular blog for you and your nerdy friends, but pretty much useless if you want to use it to manage a community of members or in a business setting.
Registration and the "users' database is still based on anonymous usernames. If you want to consistently store firstname + lastname and other info, you'll have to hack it yourself somehow.
There is also still no way to really edit the welcome email message after registration, add the new member's name etc. You have to hack core files to achieve that.
Custom post types has recently made WP a lot more flexible, but like everything from Automattic it is bolted on half-heartedly. WP's entire structure is ad hoc. It is a spaghetti code mess.
WP is also super-inefficient with queries and database use – my hosting company was complaining about overuse, so I was forced to look into it. WP's attitude seems to be that being inefficient doesn't matter, because disc space etc. is cheap.
Sure, it may be the best available, but it still sucks. We definitely need some serious alternatives. Habiri (http://habariproject.org) looks promising.
WordPress sucks!
WordPress is OK for a regular blog for you and your nerdy friends, but pretty much useless if you want to use it to manage a community of members or in a business setting.
Registration and the "users' database is still based on anonymous usernames. If you want to consistently store firstname + lastname and other info, you'll have to hack it yourself somehow.
There is also still no way to really edit the welcome email message after registration, add the new member's name etc. You have to hack core files to achieve that.
Custom post types has recently made WP a lot more flexible, but like everything from Automattic it is bolted on half-heartedly. WP's entire structure is ad hoc. It is a spaghetti code mess.
WP is also super-inefficient with queries and database use – my hosting company was complaining about overuse, so I was forced to look into it. WP's attitude seems to be that being inefficient doesn't matter, because disc space etc. is cheap.
Sure, it may be the best available, but it still sucks. We definitely need some serious alternatives. Habiri (http://habariproject.org) looks promising.
WordPress sucks!
WordPress is OK for a regular blog for you and your nerdy friends, but pretty much useless if you want to use it to manage a community of members or in a business setting.
Registration and the "users' database is still based on anonymous usernames. If you want to consistently store firstname + lastname and other info, you'll have to hack it yourself somehow.
There is also still no way to really edit the welcome email message after registration, add the new member's name etc. You have to hack core files to achieve that.
Custom post types has recently made WP a lot more flexible, but like everything from Automattic it is bolted on half-heartedly. WP's entire structure is ad hoc. It is a spaghetti code mess.
WP is also super-inefficient with queries and database use – my hosting company was complaining about overuse, so I was forced to look into it. WP's attitude seems to be that being inefficient doesn't matter, because disc space etc. is cheap.
Sure, it may be the best available, but it still sucks. We definitely need some serious alternatives. Habiri (http://habariproject.org) looks promising.
WordPress sucks!
WordPress is OK for a regular blog for you and your nerdy friends, but pretty much useless if you want to use it to manage a community of members or in a business setting.
Registration and the "users' database is still based on anonymous usernames. If you want to consistently store firstname + lastname and other info, you'll have to hack it yourself somehow.
There is also still no way to really edit the welcome email message after registration, add the new member's name etc. You have to hack core files to achieve that.
Custom post types has recently made WP a lot more flexible, but like everything from Automattic it is bolted on half-heartedly. WP's entire structure is ad hoc. It is a spaghetti code mess.
WP is also super-inefficient with queries and database use – my hosting company was complaining about overuse, so I was forced to look into it. WP's attitude seems to be that being inefficient doesn't matter, because disc space etc. is cheap.
Sure, it may be the best available, but it still sucks. We definitely need some serious alternatives. Habiri (http://habariproject.org) looks promising.
WordPress sucks!
WordPress is OK for a regular blog for you and your nerdy friends, but pretty much useless if you want to use it to manage a community of members or in a business setting.
Registration and the "users' database is still based on anonymous usernames. If you want to consistently store firstname + lastname and other info, you'll have to hack it yourself somehow.
There is also still no way to really edit the welcome email message after registration, add the new member's name etc. You have to hack core files to achieve that.
Custom post types has recently made WP a lot more flexible, but like everything from Automattic it is bolted on half-heartedly. WP's entire structure is ad hoc. It is a spaghetti code mess.
WP is also super-inefficient with queries and database use – my hosting company was complaining about overuse, so I was forced to look into it. WP's attitude seems to be that being inefficient doesn't matter, because disc space etc. is cheap.
Sure, it may be the best available, but it still sucks. We definitely need some serious alternatives. Habiri (http://habariproject.org) looks promising.
WordPress sucks!
WordPress is OK for a regular blog for you and your nerdy friends, but pretty much useless if you want to use it to manage a community of members or in a business setting.
Registration and the "users' database is still based on anonymous usernames. If you want to consistently store firstname + lastname and other info, you'll have to hack it yourself somehow.
There is also still no way to really edit the welcome email message after registration, add the new member's name etc. You have to hack core files to achieve that.
Custom post types has recently made WP a lot more flexible, but like everything from Automattic it is bolted on half-heartedly. WP's entire structure is ad hoc. It is a spaghetti code mess.
WP is also super-inefficient with queries and database use – my hosting company was complaining about overuse, so I was forced to look into it. WP's attitude seems to be that being inefficient doesn't matter, because disc space etc. is cheap.
Sure, it may be the best available, but it still sucks. We definitely need some serious alternatives. Habiri (http://habariproject.org) looks promising.