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General Discussion

Posted by Mark Shaw
Mark Shaw
10,449 Points

Trying to understand how WordPress (or similar) === development.

From what I understand of a system like WordPress, there isn't much to do with actual development involved. The development aspect would come in the form of writing plugins or building themes.

So how could someone offer a client services as a developer and build them a WordPress site? How is that developing? I'm not saying that it isn't or that people who use WP aren't developers, I'm asking out of genuine curiosity.

The thought of using something like WP instead of actually coding things myself makes me feel uneasy.

I do understand that it has value as way to let a client update content on their own but isn't there a better way to do that which doesn't involve selling them what is essentially someone else's work?

Why would someone bother learning to code if they can make a living building WP sites? Do people not build and publish hand coded sites anymore?

I know all of this sounds like a rant against WP and similar systems. I don't mean it to be. I'm just trying to understand it.

2 Answers

Ken Alger
STAFF
Ken Alger
Treehouse Teacher
Ken Alger
Ken Alger
Treehouse Teacher

Mark;

I think the main reasoning behind learning WP, or similar, and offering that as a service is mainly for convenience for both the developer and customer, and net cost savings for the customer. If you are building a site for someone that they are going to predominantly maintain, one can certainly hand code the site to their specific requirements. I know I don't like to work for free so building something from scratch that is comparable to WP would be an expensive proposition for the customer. However, being able to essentially do a one-click install of WP into their domain and then simply "tweak" the look and feel would save time an money. Further, long-term support becomes easier as well.

Think of this in terms of an automobile. I'm sure there is someone in your area that would love to hand make a car for you. You would get to pick every detail and it would be custom made to your liking. You would have a one of a kind car and it wouldn't have to have a Chevy, Ford, Mercedes, etc. logo on it. I would venture to guess that it would cost quite a bit more than running to the local car dealer and picking out a car. Maintenance would probably be more as well as replacement parts would have to be custom made.

Does that help at all?

Ken

Mark Shaw
Mark Shaw
10,449 Points
Mark Shaw
Mark Shaw
10,449 Points

Thanks for the response Ken!

Yes that does help explain things. I certainly understand the need for content management and I can see why, for many, WP is a popular choice. To me it just feels like giving up too much of what makes us developers for the sake of ease of use. This could be my own naivete, and probably is.

I've been looking at alternative CMS and came across one called Perch. While not open source or free the price seems reasonable enough and I think it would allow me to maintain a level of control over the way a site is built and styled that seems, to me at least, to be lacking from something like WP. The concept of themes just really puts me off for some reason. I can't quite pin down why!

Anyway, that's enough of my rambling!

Thanks again for your help!