WordPress has been operating since 2003. Since then, it has been greatly upgraded. The current version of WordPress is 5.1.1, and the newest addition to WordPress is the new editor called Gutenberg. Most wordpress and web hostings offer a one-click installer for WordPress.
In my opinion, WordPress is one of the best things that happened to the internet. But is it good enough for ANY kind of website?
The short answer is - no. Just like any other platform, WordPress isn't a good fit for all kinds of websites. Even though it's possible to build anything on WordPress, it's not gonna be the best for everyone.
It's like bringing your carpet to a car wash. They are in the washing business, but they specialize in cars. Sure, they can wash it, but can the do as good of a job as a carpet wash?
WordPress is suitable for most websites, but it's not the best for every purpose. WordPress was originally created for blogs and up to this point, that's what it does best, but it can do a lot more than just that.
According to WordPress.com, over 30% of the internet runs on WordPress. The main reason for this is that it's easy to use. It's a one-click install with most web hostings.
Also, there are a lot of guides on the internet. Because it's so widespread, if you run into a problem, 99% of the time, it's an easy fix. It's very likely that somebody has already had your problem and wrote about it.
The design of your WordPress website isn't gonna be a problem for you. There are plenty of free themes, but also plenty of premium themes mainly on Themeforest.
Premium themes offer a lot more flexibility and features. While free themes are usually only compatible with blogs, premium themes are sometimes even purpose-built. If you're looking for a theme for a restaurant, you can find one with already set demo content. The only thing for you to do is change the content and you won't even have to touch the design.
Plugins are another beginner-friendly addition to WordPress. They're little modules that you add to your website for some added functionality.
For example, if you wanted a coming soon page for your WordPress website, there's a plugin for that. There would be no need to develop a new page. Just pressing one button will close your page down for maintenance or issue a coming soon page to anyone that enters.
WordPress is built on PHP and MySQL. These are common technologies and most web developers will be able to add their own functionality to the website.
That means that, to the developer, WordPress is fully customizable.
This is where the "anything can run on WordPress" phrase holds true. It's not for beginners or non-developers though, so if you need customizations, you'd need to pay a developer or go to a different platform.
WordPress is very easy to manage. It comes with a built-in updater that will keep your WordPress website and it's plugins updated. Themes can also be updated with one click, but you might not want that.
If a theme is customized, updating it automatically will revert it to default and you'd have to redo all the customizations again. There is a way to update these kinds of themes, but it's not automatic.
With WordPress being such a popular platform, you'd think that it's constantly targeted by hackers, and you'd be right. However, WordPress regularly updates the software to fix any vulnerabilities.
You might have a problem with plugins causing vulnerabilities though. The most recent plugin hack made some WordPress websites using it redirect to a sales funnel.
To prevent this, you could disable the plugin until it was fixed. But the fix came very fast, so there was no need to do that. When I noticed it on my sites, I just clicked "update" and the bug was fixed.
WordPress is still the best option for beginners and people who don't have a very specific purpose. The themes available on ThemeForest or some other site will definitely solve the design problem for most people.
For things that can't be mended solely by a theme, there is a huge repository of plugins. Find a plugin you like and try it. The most likely scenario is that you find what you need.
And remember, if you see an "update" button, always click it. You don't want your page to redirect to a sales funnel.
Our web hosting comes with a one-click installer for WordPress. Happy building!
