WordPress started out as a blogging platform. I remember back in the day when Moveable Type was also all the hype and blogging was new and fresh, great days. I even started my own blogging platform (which I never released). WordPress distanced itself as the winner of all the blogging platforms and evolved over time to be what it is today. Some categorise it as a CMS (Content Management System) which I guess it is to some extent.
The latest estimate indicates that it's used by over 25% of all websites — I say again; 25%. That's right, from ALL websites on the Internet, 1 in 4 is powered by this one platform. This statistic alone makes me NOT want to use it, hence my footer motto is "not another WordPress site" and I sure make that be known.
I don't hate WordPress, it has its place, but in my view, it has fallen victim of its own success. With it, anyone can now point, shoot and voila'. You get the point. Not my cup-a-tea.
Not everybody is like me of course, and most WordPress users lack web development skills and naturally go the easy and free route, however, this sends a terrible signal.
I often check what system is powering a particular website and get discouraged to engage further if it's WordPress, often leaving to check some other site. The psychology behind it (at least for me), is that, if the site owner went along with the masses and chose the cheap and quick way, why should I now devote my time to that site?
Another problem when too many people use WordPress to power their website is that a lot of these sites have similar-looking designs. This was more evident a few years ago, but it's still very noticeable as I browse around.
The other scary issue (this one is massive), is, if a security flaw is found on one site, chances are the same flaw exists on thousands of other sites, making them all vulnerable to attack. This alone should make you run and run fast to you near web development training centre. To me, even a hand crafted, pure HTML website is better and worthier of my time.
The absolute worse is when I find agencies or companies claiming to do web development and/or web design and then those same companies use WordPress to power their company website. If you run such a company and showcase your work though a WordPress website, what message are you sending? Surely, you could put together something unique, custom code, the very best you can do to showcase your craft, but opted for the point and shoot system. Maybe this is not the kind of company one should partner and work with for web development projects? Think about it. The exception to this are those companies that specialise and only do WordPress development and deployments.
I currently have clients that run WordPress websites which I have to maintain and add custom functionality but I don't lose a single opportunity to let my clients know the security risks and the low credibility effect it has. The non tech savvy management often don't see it. To them, it was cheap and fast to setup, runs alright and that's all that matters.
These days I only run with custom ad-hoc code or my own CMS software (aspBlast CMS), which I developed from the ground up to meet my very specific needs. I might open up it's availability to others in the future, however, I hope, it will not get the level of popularity of WordPress for the reasons described above.
Do you run a WordPress website? What's your take on the matter?