Why Doesn’t Elegant Themes Use WordPress?

When you are designing a new site you have a variety of platforms, frameworks, and technologies to choose from. Should you go with WordPress or Magento? Should you use Ajax or should you build a static HTML page?

Now imagine that you are tasked with picking a CMS (Content Management System) to power your website. You have a shortlist of popular platforms: WordPress, Joomla!, Drupal, and Shopify. Do you choose the free version of WordPress because it’s the most popular or do you go with the premium version of Shopify because it has the features that you need?

Choosing a CMS (Content Management System) can be tricky. This brief guide will help you understand why WordPress isn’t always the best solution.

Security: Keeping Your Website Safe

One of the primary considerations when choosing a CMS is security. After all, you’re putting your website’s content in the hands of someone else. While there are tools out there to help you secure your website against major hacks, none of them are a total guarantee. Keeping your website safe is mainly down to you. One of the best things that WordPress has going for it is that it is extremely secure by default. The reason being is that WordPress was designed to be a blogging platform – something that traditionally doesn’t require any login details to use.

This means that your WordPress install is already set up to be as safe as possible. You don’t have to do any extra work to make it more secure. For example, you don’t need to worry about installing a security plugin because WordPress will handle that for you.

Another great thing about WordPress is that if you do get hacked, the damage is usually confined to your website. Because WordPress is so popular and is such an open-source project, many developers and hackers are constantly looking for ways to break into websites using WordPress. Therefore, if your website gets hacked, they’ll usually only be interested in stealing your content – not your entire website. This makes fixing the issue more convenient for you.

Features: What Extra Benefits Does WordPress Offer?

When you are looking for a CMS to power your website, you’ll come across many features that it offers. The issue is that not all these features are created equal. Some are very useful while others are more of a bonus. It’s important to understand the difference before you make a decision. Here are some of the more prominent features that WordPress offers:

• The Visual Editor: This is the default WordPress visual editor. It’s powerful and versatile, but also easy to use. For example, if you are a beginner web designer, creating your own blog articles is going to be much easier using the visual editor than it would using regular HTML.
• CMS: Content Management System. This feature allows you to create and edit content easily. It handles all the backend stuff for you so that all you need to do is pop in new content and hit publish.
• WYSIWYG (What You See Is What You Get): When you are editing a post or page in WordPress, what you see is exactly what you get (WYSIWYG). This means that the content is formatted in a way that is exactly the same as the one you see on screen. It also means that if you have a graphic designer or web developer helping you out with the site, you don’t have to worry about them messing up the design because they’re seeing it in a different way than you are. (For more information on WYSIWYG, check out this informative post by Squarespace.)
• Search Engine Optimization (SEO): SEO (Search Engine Optimization) is all about making your website easy to find when someone is searching for relevant content. One of the best things that WordPress has going for it is that it is extremely easy to tweak the code in order to get the most out of it. With some basic understanding of SEO and a little bit of trial and error, you’ll be able to get your website to show up in the top 10 results for your chosen keywords.
• Multisite: The multisite feature in WordPress makes it easy for anyone with a basic understanding of backend coding to set up and run multiple websites from a single install. This can be a great way to allow a few trusted individuals to share access to a single account so that they can each run their own section of the site. For example, let’s say that you have a fashion blog where you have three distinct sections, each with a unique design approach and content (blog posts, product reviews, etc). You can use the multisite feature to set up three sites from a single install: one for fashion, one for food and lifestyle, and one for travel. Within the travel site you could have one section for luxury hotels, one for mid-range hotels, and one for budget-friendly hotels.
• Live Chat: Live Chat features let you have live conversations with your visitors via chat windows or buttons on your website. Therefore, you can have real-time conversations with your customers without needing to pick up the phone or interact with them via email. Many businesses use live chat to gain extra credibility by providing instant, two-way communication with their customers.
• A/B Testing: With A/B testing, you can compare different versions of the same content (e.g., different blog posts) in order to determine which one is most effective. For example, you might want to test different headlines, styles, lengths, or images for the same blog post in order to determine which version performs best (e.g., which one turns into the most clicks or leads). You can use A/B testing to determine the optimum format for your content so that it can be the most effective when presented to your audience.

The Pros And Cons Of Each Platform

Now that you have an idea of what WordPress offers, it’s time to consider the pros and cons of this platform versus the other CMSs that you are comparing it to. Keep in mind that there are advantages and disadvantages to everything so it’s important to view this as a whole. Here are the pros and cons of using WordPress versus other platforms:

• Security: While WordPress is extremely secure by default, it doesn’t mean that it is bulletproof. It is always important to keep your software up-to-date, use strong passwords, and make sure that you have all the latest security plugins enabled. (More information on WordPress’ security can be found here.) Also, keep in mind that if you are using WordPress, it’s probably because you already have a web server running, so updating your plugins and taking care of security issues is simply a matter of time.
• Features: As mentioned above, not all the features that WordPress has are created equal. Some are extremely useful while others are more of a bonus. It’s important to keep in mind the purpose of your website when choosing which features to include. If you have an informational or brochure type of site with limited content, you may not need several of the features that WordPress has to offer. (More information on the features that WordPress has can be found here.)
• UI/UX (User Interface/User Experience): The look and feel of your website is important, but so is how your website functions. Does it work smoothly across all platforms and browsers? Does it provide the optimal user experience? These are some of the important questions that you need to ask yourself before making a decision. (More information on the User Interface/User Experience of your website can be found here.)
• Cost: If price is a concern, don’t just look at the cost of the CMS itself, but also the amount of storage and bandwidth that you will need in order to run and maintain the site. (More information on website costs can be found here.)
• Support: One of the things that you will need to do if you decide to use WordPress is to find a good support team. If you need help figuring out how to use WordPress or want help with a specific issue, you can always check the forums or contact the support team directly via email.
• Scalability: Scalability is all about your site’s ability to grow with time and usage. While having a stable, high-performing website is always a good thing, the ability to grow alongside with usage is what makes a truly great website. (More information on scalability can be found here.)

WordPress was not designed to be an eCommerce platform, so if that is what you are looking for, then you may want to consider another solution. However, if your main focus is to create a simple informational website, then WordPress is one of the best choices available.