CMS vs custom platform?

[CyberAlchemist]

Hi folks,
What do you prefer to work on when creating a new website? I use Wordpress for blogs, but for other websites I prefer to start from scratch. I never got to like Joomla and Drupal. How about you?

 

[Mike001]

I have built many CMS sytems over the last few years.

What I have done is take Bootstrap to design the framework of the actual site then designed the site framework for the customer based on their drawing requirements, and then sat down with them looked through there data requirements and analyzed the data that they wanted to include in the site, determined the type of database they had and then ported that data into the site.

Normally using PHP, Rails or whatever language worked best with their data. Most times, since most everyone is using some type of SQL you can port the data with PHP and the correct interface.

Mike

 

[Tshepo]

Tshepo

If you could built your own framework, you are sure you have great skills on programming. Just curious what are your skills?

Why don't you take an exited cms and start developing it for your customers instead of building from scratch which can more holes about security or spending too much time for coding..

Unless 'YOU' are a web design company which should have your own web system and you can support clients as well because you understand it most.

 

[Mike001]

Tshepo,

Building my own framework would not be a good choice, as a web developer we tend not to want to reinvent the wheel, there are many really good frameworks that are out there in the marketplace. Most are open source, easy to adapt to the needs of the client and very well tested. With all the work that was done on those frameworks I would not want to start from scratch, in my view that would not make good sense.

I have been doing web sites for well over 16 years now, both independently as a freelancer and also for large Fortune 100 companies. I have also taught at a University level for a major corporation in the United States in web development technologies and wireless data communications. I have worked on wired and wireless networks most of my adult life. But my passion has been teaching. I actually teach web technologies on-line and run my own training site in my part time. The web is a passion for me and has been for many years. I am probably the oldest geek you will ever meet.

The reason I stay away from out of the box CMS system, like Joomla, Wordpress, Drupal just to name a few is they are way to heavy handed in the way that they are deployed. That is not to say that they are not good, on the contrary they are very good at what they designed for. But most of my clients want something specific for their systems, and the out of the box systems have just way too much overhead and they can be difficult to work with if you want a very specific design.

No I am not a company, in fact I recently have decided to focus most of my time on teaching web technologies online. I have been told I have a way of explaining things that make it easier for people to understand difficult concepts and it is something I enjoy. Web Engineering has been good to me over my life financially so it is time to give a little back.

Does that explain what you asked? If not reach again, I will be glad to add more info if needed.

Mike

 

[Web Marketing Tool]

A say my own CMS but to be honest, I much prefer a custom website from scratch if not using my own CMS. I would say for sure if you are comfortable doing things without a CMS you will prefer not using a CMS. Plus you get much better optimization (better quality code, faster page speed, etc) when doing it yourself as long as you know what you are doing.

 

[WebmasterPhil]

I use WordPress for autoblogging or sites where I need to update content every day. For everything else, I use static HTML pages.

I don't recommend CMS or WordPress for people who are not advance in HTML, CSS, and PHP. The theme's source codes in WordPress can be very complex - and could take a long time to decipher. I tried to tweak some themes and it can be difficult because obviously, someone else created the theme.

 

[PatrickT]

Depends on your needs for sure, wordpress is a very good option, but if you have time it is always better to start from scratch, this way has a lot of benefits, one of them is that your site will load much faster!

 

[Ron Killian]

I don't mean to be negative here, but I see far too many people fall into the trap, that they "think" they need to learn to code. That they need to build their own sites, plugin's theme's, CMS, ect. Or they see people saying that is what they "should" do.

Part of this I repeated in another post.

Problem is they waste all this time trying to learn code and never get it, or never finish projects. And for many people, coding just doesn't click with them. Not saying they are less intelligent, just that it's not for every one.

I was one of those people who wasted far too many months learning PHP and for nothing really. I did not totally get it. Beyond the basics that is.

The last friend I tried helping to get started online did the same thing. I gave him everything I did to make money online. He got a bug thinking he needed to learn php for wordpress. He spent over a year learning to code, didn't really get much accomplished and make NO money.

For those that want to code, more power to you. Seriously.

But for those who are just trying to build an online business, probably 95% of the time, learning to code or build some thing like a CMS is a huge waste of their time.

Things like Wordpress might not be perfect and they might not be the perfect solution every time. But for those looking to earn online, it can be close enough to perfect.

From some one who's been there and has wasted precious time over many years.

Just my two cents. I am sure some one will disagree.