Item: WordPress
Rating: 10
Author: Dustin Day

Overall Satisfaction with WordPress

Use Cases and Deployment Scope

I use WordPress for business and personal websites. Have been using it since 2008, and for many applications. It can be adapted for many needs online, and can be a great tool for a business. However, if managing it yourself it can be a headache when plug-ins and themes conflict with each other.

Pros and Cons

Pros

Self hosted “cms”
Blogging
Quick store with plugins and themes
Easily adapts to simple or complex projects

Cons

Having a better common source for plugins and themes to reduce conflicts would be nice
Built in SEO without a deducted plugin would be nice
Built in cache without a plug-in would be nice
Having better file organization would be great

Return on Investment

WordPress has allowed me to quickly design and deploy websites for clients and self
WordPress has made making a SEO friendly (with plugins) and well designed site easier than hand coding
WordPress makes managing websites like blogs and stores easier than hand coding
Much easier to learn than Joomla and Drupal
Not easy for a laymen to manage if there are plug-in/theme conflicts

Usability

I find it easy to use, but for a laymen the learning curve can be high. But compared to a hand coded site, it’s so much easier to design and launch fast. The site can get bulky and need outside plugins to optimize speed (cache, images, optimized code output, etc)

Alternatives Considered

Joomla!, Drupal and Concrete CMS

WordPress is easier to learn and implement. It isn’t as robust as Drupal and Joomla out of the box, but with plugins and themes you can accomplish most things that these other CMS can do. Although WordPress can get bulky as you add more functionality, in comparison it’s easier to manage and deploy.

Key Insights

Do you think WordPress delivers good value for the price?

Yes

Are you happy with WordPress's feature set?

Yes

Did WordPress live up to sales and marketing promises?

Yes

Did implementation of WordPress go as expected?

Yes

Would you buy WordPress again?

Yes

Other Software Used

Drupal, Adobe After Effects, Adobe Firefly, SEO PowerSuite

Likelihood to Recommend

I would highly recommend this to someone wanting a robust site if they are familiar with how to debug, or have access to a dedicated programmer or WordPress professional. I would not recommend this for a laymen of self-hosting and if you don’t have access to dedicated support, as plug-in and theme conflict can break a site and make it unusable.

WordPress Feature Ratings

Comments

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WordPress can be a time saver and company asset