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Using Wordpress as a CMS

Posted on Friday 5th Feb 2010

When I first started using Wordpress as a Content Management system I often asked myself the question, why use a blog tool as a form of CMS?

The company I worked for at the time (Lairdesign) created all their websites using it, so basically I had no other choice. But believe you me I am extremely glad this was the case and in this article I will tell you why I think it makes a great Content Management platform.

Wordpress was originally introduced as a Blog tool but if you spend some time learning the platform you will begin to understand the power that it possesses. The limitations of Wordpress are very slight as it can be used to control pretty much every aspect of a website and the best part is that it can be downloaded for free from here.

The main reason that I now use Wordpress for all my websites is the ease that themes can be customised to suit the needs of the client. If you familiarise yourself with the Wordpress tags that are used to send and grab information stored in a database you will be able to create some really nifty features. One example of this can be seen on www.ceramexcel.com. The banner rotation on the homepage grabs all posts of a particular category within Wordpress and then displays them to the user. This is just one example of the power of Wordpress.

There is an extensive range of plugins available for Wordpress. These range from Breadcrumbs to a contact from and they can all be easily installed through the back-end control panel. These are an invaluable part of Wordpress for all users but in particular beginners as it will allow them to add normal website features like the ones mentioned above without having to edit any code. However if you want to delve into the coding area of Wordpress, this is where it really starts to come to life.

If you are a Facebook, Bebo or Myspace user using the Wordpress Control panel will be a familiar concept as it is just matter of creating posts and publishing these onto your Website. Within these posts anything that you have came across on any web page such as videos, google maps and images can all be inserted. The back-end Control Panel itself is extremely user friendly with everything being presented in an efficient way. If you want to create a post click ‘add new post’. If you want to add a page, click ‘add new page’. If you want to install a plugin….. yes you guessed it, click ‘add new plugin’.

I have came across a few articles on the web stating that Wordpress is ultimately a blog tool and that for a more complete CMS have a look at an actual Content Management Systems such as Drupal. Well my answer to these views are that it might have originally been developed for the purpose of blogging but that does not mean it cannot be adapted for other uses. Don’t get me wrong, like with everything its not perfect but if you have a look at my portfolio almost all the websites I have worked on use Wordpress and so far I have been able to do everything that a fully blown CMS can do…. so why not use Wordpress?

My future plans for my blog include posting some articles on what nifty features can be achieved with Wordpress so stay tuned for further updates.

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4 Responses to “Using Wordpress as a CMS”


  1. UGG Boots

    Posted on February 8th, 2010 at 10:04 pm

    I enjoyed reading your blog and of a mediocre completely it both scholastic and interesting. I purposefulness be satisfied to bookmark it and indulge in it as many instances as I can.

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    Bernice Franklin (UGG Boots)

  2. Robert

    Posted on February 8th, 2010 at 10:22 pm

    Hi Bernice,

    Thanks for taking the time to have a read through my Blog. Check back soon for further posts.

  3. UGG Boots

    Posted on February 10th, 2010 at 6:18 pm

    I found this article useful in a paper I am writing at university. Hopefully, I get an A+ now!

    Thanks

    Bernice Franklin

    UGG Boots

  4. Robert

    Posted on February 10th, 2010 at 6:27 pm

    No Problem it wasn’t too detailed but in the future I plan to post more articles on Wordpress.

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