Huh? Why would I ever write an article about why wordpress sucks? Isn’t this a website that promotes the use of Wordpress? Well, to tell you the truth, nothing is perfect and if you come walking into a situation with full knowledge of what works and what doesn’t work, you can be better prepared when things go sideways.
Wordpress is great for many reasons but there are some things about wordpress, in my opinion, are kinda sucky. To be fair, some of the things that I’ll be mentioning are simply the way wordpress works and is the idea behind the original concept.
So, let’s start. Wordpress is back end heavy. Not too heavy, but it can become burdensome. I was will a hosting agent, which be left nameless, and I was noticing that my wordpress sites were not working very fast.
After several back and forth emails with their support people, the answer finally slipped out. Because I was running wordpress on over 200 websites, my account was metered to so much computer usage time and wordpress was slowing me down. Their recommendations were to either dump wordpress (and any other dynamic content engine), reduce the number of sites per account or open up multiple accounts and spread my sites between them.
With some research, I found out that wordpress is a bit back end heavy. This is many because of all the requested features and functionality. It’s not a biggie, and easily overcome, but you need to know this fact, if you intend to grow beyond a couple of sites.
Wordpress can be complicated to backup and restore. Unless you are running a hosting agent interface like cpanel, then backups and restores of wordpress databases can be hairy. Again, if you run only one, not a big problem. But if you are interested in adding to your site count, this can become a big problem.
Fortunately, you can overcome this problem by simply choosing a good hosting agent that supports cpanel. I highly recommend this regardless of your future plans. Cpanel is an industry standard and there is a number of reasons to go with this type of hosting agent.
Also, plugins have emerged into this void for backups, but I believe that the only successful backup is a successful and easy recovery. Time will tell!
Next, if you want to learn how to use wordpress beyond the basics, it can be quite the learning curve. I did go through a point in my use of wordpress where the learning curve got pretty steep. And I did bump my head on several occasions. I’m actually putting together a comprehensive wordpress course geared for beginner to the intermediate level, just because of this reason.
My pet peeve about wordpress – the menu structure! Wordpress was made from the ground up to be a blog or web log. Hence, it’s a place for you to log your thoughts and interests. From this, it didn’t take long for like minded people to start blogging about the same topic within a blog.
Over time, Google and other search engines, started to find wordpress sites to be quite authoritative for niche information and started to really like it when it found a wordpress site. Much of that still holds true today but one thing from wordpress’ past that still holds true is the lack of clear menus within wordpress.
Attempts have been made to help this situation, but I can tell you from experience creating a membership site with wordpress, that the ability to create clear cut menus is a serious drawback when using wordpress. So, if you have an answer to this issue, I’d love to hear it!
To recap, the backend structure can become cumbersome if you intend to develop several wordpress sites. Backing up wordpress can also cause you some grief. Moving beyond the basics of wordpress can present a steep learning curve. And finally, wordpress’ menu structure leaves a lot to be lacking. I’ll still hold to the fact that I think that wordpress is a great content system for websites, but that is still my list of things that suck about wordpress!
Please, I’d love to hear your comments! Tell me why you agree or disagree with what you’ve read here.
{ 9 comments… read them below or add one }
I think you make some valid points in why wordpress sucks. For many small sites I think a better alternative to WordPress is to create some PHP scripts that read relatively simple text files with page content in them and which use that content to generate the pages of a site.
Changes to web site pages can then be made by using a simple text editor without having to work through the WordPress framework to make those changes.
Just my two cents worth.
Carlos
Totally agreed Carlos. Sometimes it’s like taking a sledge hammer to kill a fly.
All said though, I do use wordpress even for small sites. With automation, it just is too easy to use.
Frank
Hi Frank,
Well it makes it easier to some degree if you don’t know what you are doing or do not have the time to create your own PHP controlled and generated web site.
But if you know how to work with HTML, CSS, and PHP it is far, far easier, more efficient, less bloated with features you will never need, more secure, and much better to create your own site.
On my site all I have to do is edit a simple text file to make changes on any page I wish. Adding a new page is likewise almost as easy as creating a new text file. That’s it! I don’t have to sign in to WordPress and go through their menus to find the page I want to edit and change. I don’t have to wait for a feature to be implemented in WordPress. I don’t have to upgrade to the newest version to fill a security hole. Or anything of the sort.
I just open up a text editor, traverse to the directory where I keep my site pages, open the one I want to change, make my changes, test them locally, and then upload them to the host server where the changes become instant.
Admittedly a number of steps but overall far less steps than using WordPress as a CMS for a small web site.
Carlos
Wordpress is no good.
Carlos,
Thank you for ‘confirming’ my thoughts about Wordpress v. good ole PHP… I am back in amateur dev mode after some time away and I was taking another look at WordPress… I don’t want to get left in the dust if WP is the new Facebook of development – at the same time I do not want to become a ward of the WP state… My personal belief is that WP should be left to do what it does best, be a platform for amateur writers … WP templates are NOT professional looking and I hate the idea of my site being seen as less than… I have ’smart’ grad student friends who swear by WP and it drives me crazy, but also made me question myself a bit… the PHP script community has been awesome to me… I hope it lives forever… thanks for reassurance… and by the way FB is built on PHP!! Ha … Back to my PHP development and script downloads – and warm fussy secure feeling PHP provides… where’s my dream weaver icon, -click!! PHP, PHP, PHP!!!
Howard
My main complaint is that help is so hard to find on the site. The forums are mostly dead or unresolved subjects. When I finally found a page that allowed me to email someone, it did not recognise my email address. There is no phone support and it is clear to me that they do not want to address problems personally. Although I am a beginner, and don’t know much about setting up a blog, I am seriously considering moving on to a company that cares.
Personally i think you have to have some sort of mastery of HTML coding to make any personal changes on wordpress blogs. For a beginner like me who wants to add creativity
i have to learn CSS! Um…okay…? i thought wordpress was a blog site not a computer course! Seriously,
Problem #1 – YOU DON”T GET WHAT YOU PAID FOR. At first i thought okay maybe if i tried out the premium themes so i can have some flexibility for my blog entry. so i paid over $75 dollars to wordpress and got the theme! Sadly, i STILL can’t change jack shit (excuse my french)!!!! Apparently, there are “rules” where you can’t change the HTML coding becuase of the theme. WTF?! I paid a jack load load money to have limitations on my blog?
Problem #2- SOME OPTIONS DONT WORK! Some of the options don’t work due to…”THEME RULES”. LIke i wanted to expand display of posts so i went on theme options and changed 5 to 15. Alas it did jack shit! If Wordpress staff is puting options to modify posts numbers at least make it actually work! *shakes fist at wordpress*
There are however i must admit good support group! People kind enough to answer your questions. But alas. I think problems seem arise more and more as wordpress become more expanded. -___- And yes i still refuse to learn CSS becuase at the end of the day, its about blogging not taking a computer course. *Sigh*
Sorry if my respond sounds negative, but I JUST REALLY MISS WINDOWS LIVE SPACES, since they changed to WP in March. EVERYTHING changed.
just A WARNING FOR PEOPLE WHO WISH TO START BLOGGIN ON WORDPRESS…
1. You HAVE to learn CSS and HTML coding or else your’re (its like taking a Computer programming course) pretty much run out of option on the creative side of WORDPRESS.
2. Some times you have to ask youself “is this what i paid for”? because honestly, i paid $75 dollars on a premium theme and $30 dollars on CUSTOM HTML thinking it will make things alot easier….no it didn’t you STILL HAVE TO RELY ON CSS or HTML CODING…
i’m sorry but i refuse to learn a computer course when all i wanted was to change some optons on my blogs.
Well, I hear the complaints about fussing with themes. I do feel your pain, but there is a lot of great options out there. Do you need to learn CSS or HTML? Possibly. You can drive a car without knowing how to change a flat, but it will cost you if you have to call a tow truck.
I do recommend learning a bit about html and css and avoid the heavily customized themes. A great theme to play with is flexsqueeze. Yes, it’s a $150 theme, but I’ve made $1,000’s from the theme in my customization business. Well worth the investment!
Frank