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WordPress is an open source project, immensely supported, fully customizable to it's core and that let's you port your website to virtually any hosting service

by ghego1 5y ago

WordPress is an open source project, immensely supported, fully customizable to it's core and that let's you port your website to virtually any hosting service out there, that let's you export all your data however and wherever you want. Wix and alikes are proprietary software, that lock in users on their services, have limited customization options, don't allow you to edit code and have little to no export options. Whoever pays someone else to have it's website built on wix or alikes is getting a very bad deal, due to the above mentioned restrictions (compared to WP) they'll end up very dissatisfied in few years if things go well (meaning more traffic and more needs). Source: experience. As a developer I feel the frustration coding for WP, but at the same time it's the best compromise to provide a CMS that the average user can manage

lmm 5y ago
Scaling is famously a good problem to have. Unmaintained wordpress instances are the internet equivalent of toxic waste dumped in the river. I agree that open standards are important, but IMO it's irresponsible to leave someone with a website hosting setup that doesn't have a qualified person responsible for ongoing maintenance. (Fully managed wordpress hosting from a reputable, established company is one possible answer, of course).
- mavhc 5y ago
  Is it impossible to make a secure CMS? I'd think step 1 would be to not have the admin stuff with the same access as the public website, and step 2 would be to have a way to sandbox plugins, but are those things possible?
  - lmm 5y ago
    Step 1 is possible nowadays (with SNI) but was hard until recently, and I don't think practices have really caught up with that yet. Step 2 is difficult to even define properly. What is a plugin supposed to be able to do, and what is a plugin supposed to not be able to do? If you can answer that question precisely, then you can solve the problem, but if you can answer that question precisely then you probably don't need plugins in the first place.
musicnotwords 5y ago
I understand wp is more flexible and from a development perspective is superior. However it's inferior if you are just hooking up some small business with a website they can maintain and they don't want to pay you for ongoing maintenance.
wintermutestwin 5y ago
>Wix and alikes are proprietary software, that lock in users on their services, have limited customization options, don't allow you to edit code and have little to no export options. If you are building a simple brochure website, none of this matters.

by ghego1 5y ago

lmm 5y ago

Scaling is famously a good problem to have. Unmaintained wordpress instances are the internet equivalent of toxic waste dumped in the river. I agree that open standards are important, but IMO it's irresponsible to leave someone with a website hosting setup that doesn't have a qualified person responsible for ongoing maintenance. (Fully managed wordpress hosting from a reputable, established company is one possible answer, of course).

mavhc 5y ago
Is it impossible to make a secure CMS? I'd think step 1 would be to not have the admin stuff with the same access as the public website, and step 2 would be to have a way to sandbox plugins, but are those things possible?
- lmm 5y ago
  Step 1 is possible nowadays (with SNI) but was hard until recently, and I don't think practices have really caught up with that yet. Step 2 is difficult to even define properly. What is a plugin supposed to be able to do, and what is a plugin supposed to not be able to do? If you can answer that question precisely, then you can solve the problem, but if you can answer that question precisely then you probably don't need plugins in the first place.

musicnotwords 5y ago

I understand wp is more flexible and from a development perspective is superior. However it's inferior if you are just hooking up some small business with a website they can maintain and they don't want to pay you for ongoing maintenance.

wintermutestwin 5y ago

>Wix and alikes are proprietary software, that lock in users on their services, have limited customization options, don't allow you to edit code and have little to no export options. If you are building a simple brochure website, none of this matters.