3 ms·

Can you give some examples of great web apps built on Wordpress? It’s a full-featured CMS as another commenter details, but to me a content website is not reall

Can you give some examples of great web apps built on Wordpress? It’s a full-featured CMS as another commenter details, but to me a content website is not really what I think of when I hear “web app.”

codyogden 5y ago
Depends on what you’re doing with it. WordPress core is built to be highly customizable. I’ve built multiple projects that staple JS/React apps on top of the core WordPress Dashboard experience. It typically meant disabling the default post/page content editing and using WordPress in a headless fashion. The biggest business chore is usually around user management, roles, permissions—all easily expanded/modified through WP’s extremely well-documented core framework APIs. Custom REST API endpoints are a breeze to implement with or without authentication requirements. If you need external deps, you can manage them like any other modern php project with composer. Deploying is easy with docker and uploads sent off to some S3-like bucket. One recent project I built had WordPress driving fully custom content for a set of giant LED screens in a corporate HQ lobby that allowed users to build presentations, manage a recurring and one-off scheduling, build, edit, and manage reusable content, view live video feeds of what’s currently on the screens, and request static image and video preview renders from an on-prem media server. Users authenticate via the typical WP dashboard experience, but have rich web app features presented to them for their tasks using the WordPress custom REST API endpoints and the existing WP data model behind the scenes (for the most part). Any business needs they presented were easily absorbed by WordPress through straightforward customizations. IMO, WP is an underrated contender in building CRUD-ware.
- dmje 5y ago
  Yeh, my method is a bit different but only because I’m less knowledgeable about js / headless approaches. I tend to make the front end (what in a traditional site would be just “the website”) into the admin dashboard. So - a normal user never gets to see wp-admin at all. By using custom post types, ACF forms and user permissions you can get most stuff done pretty easily. One of the things I’ve done quite a lot is to use Wordpress multi site for building apps. Then each new client has their own site. If you use mu plugins you can trigger a new site creation to make all the pages you need, and configure / populate them. It’s a really compelling way of making apps, IMO
dmje 5y ago
I agree, and I think that other commenter misunderstood the context of the OP’s question. I mean, they were right, Wordpress is a great cms for all those reasons, but I’ve become convinced that it is a viable option for app development, too. I’m certainly biased, and definitely see nails because I’ve got a hammer but even with this in mind I’ve been excited by the potential.
hdjjhhvvhga 5y ago
Woocommerce. The most popular e-commerce platform on Earth. Seriously, whenever a customer asks for something relatively simple that I know can be implemented using WP, I usually do it. You already have user management and many other functions built in, and extending it is very easy. It comes very handy when all the customer wants is basically a CRUD connecting to some internal system.

codyogden 5y ago

Depends on what you’re doing with it. WordPress core is built to be highly customizable. I’ve built multiple projects that staple JS/React apps on top of the core WordPress Dashboard experience. It typically meant disabling the default post/page content editing and using WordPress in a headless fashion. The biggest business chore is usually around user management, roles, permissions—all easily expanded/modified through WP’s extremely well-documented core framework APIs. Custom REST API endpoints are a breeze to implement with or without authentication requirements. If you need external deps, you can manage them like any other modern php project with composer. Deploying is easy with docker and uploads sent off to some S3-like bucket. One recent project I built had WordPress driving fully custom content for a set of giant LED screens in a corporate HQ lobby that allowed users to build presentations, manage a recurring and one-off scheduling, build, edit, and manage reusable content, view live video feeds of what’s currently on the screens, and request static image and video preview renders from an on-prem media server. Users authenticate via the typical WP dashboard experience, but have rich web app features presented to them for their tasks using the WordPress custom REST API endpoints and the existing WP data model behind the scenes (for the most part). Any business needs they presented were easily absorbed by WordPress through straightforward customizations. IMO, WP is an underrated contender in building CRUD-ware.

dmje 5y ago
Yeh, my method is a bit different but only because I’m less knowledgeable about js / headless approaches. I tend to make the front end (what in a traditional site would be just “the website”) into the admin dashboard. So - a normal user never gets to see wp-admin at all. By using custom post types, ACF forms and user permissions you can get most stuff done pretty easily. One of the things I’ve done quite a lot is to use Wordpress multi site for building apps. Then each new client has their own site. If you use mu plugins you can trigger a new site creation to make all the pages you need, and configure / populate them. It’s a really compelling way of making apps, IMO

dmje 5y ago

I agree, and I think that other commenter misunderstood the context of the OP’s question. I mean, they were right, Wordpress is a great cms for all those reasons, but I’ve become convinced that it is a viable option for app development, too. I’m certainly biased, and definitely see nails because I’ve got a hammer but even with this in mind I’ve been excited by the potential.

hdjjhhvvhga 5y ago

Woocommerce. The most popular e-commerce platform on Earth. Seriously, whenever a customer asks for something relatively simple that I know can be implemented using WP, I usually do it. You already have user management and many other functions built in, and extending it is very easy. It comes very handy when all the customer wants is basically a CRUD connecting to some internal system.