WordPress: The Easiest Website Framework

Long ago, I created web sites the traditional way--I typed each page by hand using plain HTML. Each website page was basically a text file filled with HTML code pointing to various web resources. Today there is WordPress. I've seen other frameworks; WordPress is the best! I'll explain why.

The top 3 website frameworks today are as follows:

• Joomla
• WordPress
• Drupal

All three are very mature in the field of open source website platform. You can learn more about each, respectively, at http://joomla.org, http://wordpress.org, and http://drupal.org.

Both Joomla and Drupal are touted as CMS (content management system), while WordPress is known for being a blogger's platform. However, over the years, they all seem to be converging as what I call websiteplatform--a platform for building a website for any purpose.

Although both Joomla and Drupal are well known for their flexibility and vast array of options, a beginner can quickly get overwhelmed by them.

I learned about Drupal first when I happen to look around Borders for a book on web design. After learning how to set it up, I built a Drupal website on my computer. It was easy enough to put text content there, but it wasn't very straight forward when it came to doing anything else. I didn't have time to waste so I gave up.

I later learned of Joomla. I found it easier than Drupal, and soon I setup one of my websites live on the Internet. To my dismay later, I found my web site hacked! Someone defaced it, and I had to recover quickly in getting my site back. I thought that the complexity of the Joomla architecture, and its code base made it target rich for bugs which hackers can exploit. Joomla seemed to be a favorite amongst hackers. OK, I thought, forget Joomla; it seems to be under constant update with patches to fix security holes. Joomla just has way too many bugs and seems to be very hacker-exploitable.

WordPress crossed my path at the time I learned of Joomla; but when I initially read about it, most people were simply using it for a blogging platform. However, as I investigated, due to its wide base of available themes and extensions I realized it can be used for general website purposes.

WordPress has a simpler setup, and is very easy to install and get up running quickly; and if you didn't want to do any installation yourself, you can be up quickly by creating an account at wordpress.com. There you can get a wordpress site up and running in minutes.

I've setup multiple WordPress-based websites now, with my oldest WordPress-based website being at least 4 years old; I have yet to see it defaced by hackers. I can only account for this in WordPress' very mature code base and simpler architecture.

So if you ask me which website platform to use for aspiring webmasters or people who just want to get a website up and running in short order, you'll see me recommend WordPress all the time.

You probably figured this out by now. I am biased to using WordPress. I love its stability and simplicity. As they say, keep it simple, and it will be easier to maintain. This seems to be true to WordPress, and because of this, I consider it the most stable open source website platform out there. I also consider it the easiest to use and maintain.

Please feel free to give me feedback on your experience. I'm always open to comments. Thanks and have fun with WordPress!