I’ve been building websites since the mid-90’s – back when deploying a website meant learning HTML – writing the page in a TEXT EDITOR (WYSIWYG editors for websites didn’t exist really) – and then linking the pages manually, then using an FTP program to upload the pages manually. My first website was actually traded for my scuba instructor course – funny, but true.
Well, things got easier, we ended up with a web management tool with WYSIWYG editor built-in – and things were really good for a while.
Now things are getting even BETTER!!
While not quite drag and drop design – we’ve reached a point where anyone can put together a website with a few clicks of the mouse. At the Parallel’s Summit earlier in the year, we were shown the next generation web website builder – SiteBuilder from Parallels – it was VERY impressive – and when it hits the servers of your local web hosts, you will be suitably impressed.
Until then – you have two real options for rapidly putting together a website of your own – the current version of SiteBuilder – it’s ok.
Or a content management system (CMS) which allows plug-ins – such as WordPress, or Joomla, or some other system you can find.
Now I went into CMS systems kicking and screaming… and I’ll explain why…
We’ve always had our own CMS – we built it in-house – and called it “WYBPost” (current version if 5.31) – it allows our customers to edit their pages, while not breaking their design… to an extent. We would still get a client who would take a very high-resolution image, right from their brand new digital camera – upload it to their website and “explode” their design – that would happen at least monthly… sometimes with clients who had been trained a number of times.
Well that brings me to the current raft of CMS – the versions of WordPress, Joomla, Drupal and more… these CMS engines have really started to come into their own. WordPress 3.0 Beta is looking more like Drupal in it’s feature-set daily – but there are some REALLY nice features…. not least of which are the many, many, MANY thousands of designs you can find for cheap, or free!
So what do I like about these systems now?
First – it can be pretty – very quickly! These themes are amazing in many cases – and did I mention that you can find them free?
Yes, in the WordPress gallery, there are literally thousands of these designs – a customer can find one it is very close – and as long as it’s coded for the latest version of the CMS, it can often times be altered to the client’s specifications – sometimes a color change, add a logo or two, change the font – and the client has a “custom” looking website – most times in only a few hours of adjustment… best of all – even a graphically challenged programmer like me can do it!
Next – plug-ins… chances are that someone has already solved most challenges – and in doing so, made their code available as a plug-in – especially for WordPress.. drop-in the plug-in, change a few variables, bingo-bango – instant buttons to share you ramblings with the social-media world (some of which might even care… 😉
Finally – I like that customers can do a lot of this their selves – gone are the days of having to train someone on how to edit pages – these CMS are so simple, they really are easy enough that you can almost dispense with your pocket 10-year-old – you know, the one you called over to fix the programming of your VCR… I mean, cmon – we’re in the DVR age now – point-click – bingo-bango, bob’s your uncle, doner-than-a-dingo!
So what are the “downsides”?
Well… they’re still there… the opportunities someone to blow away the site… still there.
The opportunity to click “remove” when they really didn’t mean to…
The opportunity to NOT upgrade a plugin which needs to have a security-flaw plugged… oh yes, still there… and getting more and more likely…
Can this all go horribly wrong? Why yes it can… How so I hear you asking…
Let me tell you a tale of a hapless self-building webmaster – who discovered WordPress and had a ball… a wonderfully keen entrepreneur who built no less than 8 wordpress websites in holiday weekend… one for each of his businesses, one for his hobby, one for his family, and one just to ramble on.. just like this one here…. 😉
Well – said entrepreneur discovered themes – and he loved them… each site was wonder to behold, and one of two were quite good looking. Next, he discovered plug-ins – and he found plug-ins for everything – almost… apart from making the tea, he had plug-ins for pinging sites, letting him know when people browsed his pages, for displaying maps, for allowing the viewer of the site to change the colors of the site (why-oh-why??!?) – and for countless other tasks as well.
So plug-ins were loaded, activated, deactivated – replaced and improved upon by a second plug-in which did the same as the one before, only with rounded corners and a subtle shade of pink, perhaps mauve if you look at it on an LED screen… and all was good…
Now said self-building webmaster is a constantly busy fellow… so it should come as no surprise that next he was onto another project – be it building a deck, or tuning his new engine for his project car – but it certainly was NOT keeping an eye on all this code he had loaded onto a computer server halfway across the country… oh no… that was a done deal – the websites were built – done – finito.
Or were they?
Well the trouble with code – is that it can be exploited… and it often is… that is to say, that some little oik in China, Russia or some other far-flung part of the world is trying to break it… and break it they often can… in such a way that they are able to EDIT your website files… to put their code in place of yours – to lay traps and injectors of malware onto your website, so that you become an unwitting partner in their identity theft ring.. oh noes!!
Oh yes… and this can happen… and did happen… and happened 8 times over.. using a plug-in that was not even active on the website built by our wonderful self-builder… until it came to the notice of his web host, who turned off all his websites.. at which point.. it all became MY problem…
oh noes… oh yes… oh-my….