1. Home
  2. Content Management Systems (CMS)
  3. WordPress Reviews
  4. User Review of WordPress
The Ever-Evolving, Always Flexible WordPress
May 14, 2014

The Ever-Evolving, Always Flexible WordPress

Eric Karkovack | TrustRadius Reviewer
Score 10 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User

Software Version

3.9.1

Overall Satisfaction with WordPress

I use WordPress to power my company's website and it has become an essential tool in serving my clients. It allows me to easily publish articles and manage content. All the while, it also is completely flexible when it comes to design and functionality. Years ago, I never thought I would be able to build dynamic, data driven websites. WordPress has brought me the ability to do just that.
  • The theme structure makes sense. So many times, I've tried to use other content management systems that have extremely difficult theming setups. WordPress has a fairly easy to follow, well documented system.
  • WordPress is very flexible. Virtually any look or functionality you want to achieve is either available through preexisting themes and plugins, or created through custom development.
  • The vast array of both free and commercial plugins can make even large, complex projects a lot easier.
  • The core developers are always improving WordPress. New releases come out quite often and the fact that you can update right through your browser makes it very convenient.
  • Speaking of developers, since WordPress is very popular and open source, there is a large community out there developing for the platform and providing support.
  • Using WordPress saves money and development time versus the custom-built platforms of the past.
  • The one thing I've wanted to see for a long time is a more efficient layout for the listing of posts and pages in the admin. It gets very hard to navigate on larger sites.
  • By default, the search functionality is just so-so on the front end and back end. This can be fixed with a plugin, though.
  • Part of the problem of having an open plugin architecture is that sometimes developers write plugins that have bloated code that will slow your website down. It can also lead to conflicts with other plugins. Perhaps this is just something we have to live with for the time being. There's a fine line between promoting development and tightening standards to the point where they discourage innovation.
  • WordPress has made it so much easier to develop custom, powerful sites for my clients. That speeds up development time and saves money.
  • The vast library of free plugins has been a big time and money saver.
  • I provide WordPress training to my clients, which has opened up a new revenue stream.
  • Having clients who can update their own website through the use of WordPress has allowed me to focus on growing my business.
  • Drupal,Joomla!
While Drupal and Joomla! are good platforms with dedicated followings, I've found them not quite as intuitive and easy to customize as WordPress. The designer, developer and user community of WordPress has grown quite a bit and that has led to better plugins, themes and even technical support. WordPress is continually being improved and, at this point, is clearly the best option for most use cases.
WordPress has evolved from simple blogging software into an application that can run virtually any type of website. It has spawned its own ecosystem of themes and plugins. From my point of view as a web professional, the fact that there are so many great (and free) resources to learn about customizing WordPress means that, unlike some other systems, I can find the answers I need to make something work. Beyond that, the software just plain works and has become a part of my everyday life. My business has grown and evolved because of WordPress. And, unlike other software I have used, there have been no negatives. What else can I say?
The beauty of WordPress is in its flexibility. A skilled person can make it into pretty much any type of website they want to build. Even non-professionals can take advantage of this, to a degree.

The one area where I tend to use other products is for large e-commerce sites, though that is starting to change. Plugins like WooCommerce are getting better all the time and I'm using it for several sites. But I've found that for some sites, a dedicated e-commerce application like MIVA Merchant, etc. is a little bit better fit.

Overall, it would be hard for me to not recommend using WordPress. Everyone from small mom & pop shops to Fortune 500 companies are using it. Again, it comes back to flexibility. Whether it's a small blog or an enterprise level corporate site, WordPress can help you get there.