WordPress has been attracting some good press and some big brands. Yahoo, The New York Times and Ford to name a few! So what is WordPress and why is it great for Guernsey businesses? WordPress is an open source platform that found its roots in blogging and has quickly transcended into the realm of website content management. So why should your Guernsey business consider a WordPress Blog or Content Management System?
- 1. WordPress is an open source platform.
The WordPress system is open source, in that it is available to all designers and developers to freely integrate into web design and development projects. It can be used, re-used and adapted to provide a multitude of practical solutions for Guernsey businesses. This open source status renders WordPress an extremely versatile and cost effective solution to content management and blogging needs. In terms of business advantage, this means WordPress costs nothing other than the time it takes to integrate within your website design template.
- 2. Community driven design and functionality.
Web designers and developers from across the world, not just Guernsey, are able to contribute to the improvement of the WordPress platform by developing new plug-ins and applications that work within the WordPress Environment. This allows your website to continually evolve and benefit from this evolution. Need an E-mailer, Photo Gallery or Downloads Application? The WordPress infrastructure allows your website to rapidly and cost effectively benefit from community driven solutions and design refinements.
- 3. Why Re-Invent the wheel? If it works, roll with it!
Crowd design and develop online media for a variety of businesses, each with a broad degree of practical needs and wants from their website. While we are adept at creating fully bespoke content management systems for specific client requirements, often WordPress offers clients with a powerful and evolving content management or blogging solution, without the need for the investment in a more expensive bespoke system that takes longer to develop. While some clients require functionality out of the WordPress remit, often we find that WordPress can be effectively adapted to provide clients with the functionality they need.
- 4. WordPress is an extremely usable web platform.
WordPress’s collaborative evolution means that it has been through rigorous change and improvement from version to version. The input of designers and developers from across the world has contributed to the success and refinement of WordPress. For Guernsey businesses, this means the user interface is extremely well tested, proven to be reliable and usable. With little knowledge or training, clients are able to quickly get to grips with updating their own websites; cutting down on ongoing costs often associated with statically built websites.
- 5. Accessibility matters; with WordPress it comes as standard.
Accessibility refers to a websites compliance with web standards recommended to web designers by organisations such as the W3C. In terms of physical accessibility people often think of access to goods or services for members of the disabled community. Wheelchair access for example. Well the same principals apply to the web. Everyday web users with impaired vision use the web successfully to access information or purchase products. Many websites online suffer from poor levels of code standards compliance, rendering supportive software such as screen readers useless or ineffectual for their users. The WordPress system is AA accessible in terms of its base source code. This ensures websites utilising the WordPress platform encourage and make able equal access to information or services for all users.
This is definitely not an exhaustive list! If you can think of any other reasons why WordPress or open source is the way to go then please share them!