PHP from scratch or WordPress

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larryholmes
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PHP from scratch or WordPress

Post by larryholmes »

I truly do covet any advice that can be given on this topic. I initially wanted to start a site on the WordPress platform, but I've been hearing a lot of negative about WordPress. http://wpvsblogger.com/php-vs-wordpress/ However, I read various articles and some people recommend starting with WordPress (mostly WP users.) I understand it is hard to ask this type of question without biases getting in the way, but what are the benefits of a custom PHP site. I don't need much, but I love trial and error and I believe I can benefit from building a site on my own. Is WordPress crap or not? Once again thanks for any info you can provide me with.

- Larry
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requinix
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Re: PHP from scratch or WordPress

Post by requinix »

WP code sucks. It was written by non-programmers, for non-programmers. But as long as you don't look under the hood the car runs well enough.

It depends on you and on the site. If you don't want to do a lot of coding and if your site seems like it would fit well into the WordPress style (you're basically just uploading content) then WP could be fine. If you want to work with PHP or if you think you'll have to write a substantial plugin in order to get things working the way you want then WP might not be the best idea.
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Celauran
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Re: PHP from scratch or WordPress

Post by Celauran »

tl;dr: If it's a blog, WP is probably fine. Otherwise, not so much.
larryholmes
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Re: PHP from scratch or WordPress

Post by larryholmes »

I desire more than a blog and I'm not sure if I can trust WordPress to be more than what it was intended for. I think I'm going to go ahead and start from scratch. Thanks for your advice guys. Feel free to send more wisdom my way!
itdevxpert
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Re: PHP from scratch or WordPress

Post by itdevxpert »

Coming from a similar experience, I would recommend you go ahead and use WP as a tool to setup a site up and running quickly with little effort. It should be good for a large part of your needs as a good looking and easy to manage websites. However, I agree with others under the hood WP is a mess. The reality is that rarely you will need to build custom websites unless you have a large corporation to support. So learn how to create websites quickly with WordPress and learn PHP with some real world applications such as eCommerce. Preferably you also want to learn at least a good PHP framework to start with. I recommend Laravel.

Just my two cents.
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greyhoundcode
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Re: PHP from scratch or WordPress

Post by greyhoundcode »

To balance this discussion a little, here are some pros in WordPress's favour:
  • * It has a commitment to backwards compatibility that surpasses that of many other platforms
    * The ecosystem and community is huge (the number of plugins and other resources - including learning materials - at your disposal is vast)
    * It has a comprehensive API that will help you to write safe, secure code
When it comes to WordPress there are many naysayers but - believe it or not! - it can be an enjoyable platform to work with and one that truly does facilitate rapid development (beyond mere blogging needs). It's massive popularity is not some cosmic mistake; nor is the fact that a leading ecommerce solution such as WooCommerce runs on top of it.
Crippen
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Re: PHP from scratch or WordPress

Post by Crippen »

Even I wouldn't think about it, WordPress all the way, buy a premium theme and customize it the way you want.
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