Tools for Developing New Web Sites

A great question was recently asked on an online forum my company implemented, which I often participate and help moderate:

“Lately I have been hearing people talk about having their websites done on a WordPress platform so they can make quick changes on their own. Is anyone doing this? If so, is it as easy as others are making it sound? Are there any other benefits to switching over? ”

WordPress (WP), which is the tool or technical engine we use for this blog and many others we develop, is a great option to consider not just for the development of blogs but also for the creation of robust web sites as well. We have developed quite a few sites already using this tool and including the amazing and upcoming site of: Alan & The Gang.
Here are some of the pros and cons whether to use WordPress to create robust web sites:

Pros:

1. Allow the site owner to publish their own content updates and create new pages. Most such content changes may then be accomplished by a non-technical person.
2. Easier ways of integrating video and audio podcasting.
3. Give complete flexibility to your technical team to design the site to have a unique and outstanding look and feel that does not resemble a blog structure at all.
4. Enable easier interface with RSS so visitors may subscribe to automatically receive your site updates.
5. Take advantage of WordPress improvements to advance your site functionality.
6. Gain access to a WP community to learn new ideas and implement new software functionality via plugins.
7. Empower yourself with the ability at your leisure to quickly publish revised and new content on your site.

Cons:

1. Security is the biggest issue from my perspective. WP sites are possibly easier to hack into than other sites. I therefore recommend you do update your site and install security patches often.
2. When you update to the latest version of WP, some of your installed software functionality programs (plugins) may not work anymore.
3. The need to update the software and plugins often.
4. You must become familiar with the plugins concept to avoid the possibility of installing harmful code on your site. If you are not sure, read this horror story.
5. May become time consuming to stay on top of the necessary knowledge.
6. Updating the content does require some technical knowledge which not all people are apt to do.
7. Although it may seem that a non-technical user may be able to use this tool, don’t fool yourself. There are many issues that require the knowledge of an expert and when one is used this point should be place in the pros section above.
8. Backing up a worpress site is a bit more complicated than a static site since it contains databases. As basic as this sounds, do not underestimate the importance of backing up your site on a daily basis.