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When it comes to designing/coding presentational websites, with static content and few pages.. let's say, between 5 and 20. Would you go with wp, design a custom theme and update with content, or would you code from scratch a clean html/css eventually + some js ?

For now, since I'm just stepping into web development, I see wordpress as a complex cms that loads slow in my browser..

EDIT: I suppose a page generated with wordpress would load slower than a page that looks the same coded from scratch.

Please help me find the pros/cons of both. How about seo/indexing? Is it worth learning wp for designing presentational websites ?

P.S. I'm asking this because a lot of my friends, who are a bit more experienced than me, tend to recommend using wp because clients like it and it's easy, but I'm not sure yet.

When It comes to you, what would you prefer and why ?

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  • How does Wordpress load slow in your browser?
    – Lèse majesté
    Nov 28, 2010 at 1:11
  • I mean it does load slower than a clean html page. And I suppose it would load slower than a page that looks the same coded from scratch.
    – sdadffdfd
    Nov 28, 2010 at 1:17
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    A properly setup Wordpress install with caching enabled should not be any slower than a static html file. And even without caching, Wordpress is relatively light, so its processing time would still be negligible compared to the amount of time it actually takes to send images and other data over the network. If you're experiencing any kind of slowdown just by running Wordpress, you should seriously consider switching to a web host with better servers.
    – Lèse majesté
    Nov 28, 2010 at 2:23
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    If Wordpress was really that slow it wouldn't be by far the most popular blogging software. Even out of the box its performance is acceptable for 99.9% of users. Being it is quick and easy to set up, easy to use, and free you'd be hard pressed to find something that's more cost effective then Wordpress.
    – John Conde ♦
    Nov 28, 2010 at 5:03

2 Answers 2

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I guess it depends on who the client is. If it's for yourself, and you feel comfortable using straight HTML/CSS, by all means hand code it yourself. But if it's for a client, I'd go Wordpress, personally.

If I had a penny for every time a client asked me to update the content on their site, I'd have several thousand pennies at this point. Wordpress allows them to easily go in and update content without having to know a lick of HTML. Furthermore, Wordpress gives the ability to easily add a blog to their site with minimal effort (huge selling point these days).

Speed wise, a properly configured Wordpress install should run about as fast as a hand coded website. Also, some plugins give you a huge leg up when it comes to SEO/extensibility. Check out these plugins:

  • Hyper Cache - It's got a lot more cool features for caching that Super Cache doesn't offer.
  • Google Sitemaps - Sitemaps are very helpful for SEO. They can be a pain sometimes to code. This plugin makes them automatically, so that's nice.
  • Look into mod_pagespeed and gzip for increased speed.

When doing a new Wordpress install, I'm always sure to follow this Nettuts+ guide for a safe and secure install of Wordpress. Since you aren't checking up on this site every day, it always helps to have an extremely secure install of Wordpress.

Hope this helps and please let us know what you decide on soon.

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  • Thank you, excellent answer. I think I'll go with WP.. have to take a big load of time and start learning it :)
    – sdadffdfd
    Nov 29, 2010 at 0:39
  • The easiest way to learn Wordpress theme development is to take a look at the default Wordpress theme's code. It does so many things right, you'll take a lot away from how it works. And if you like my answer a lot, please be sure to accept my answer (I love my karma).
    – Eli Gundry
    Nov 29, 2010 at 0:55
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Generally, if a group of people with IQ >> age (which is a must for any webmaster) recommends a certain solution, there is a reason behing that.

Yes, WP makes things a lot easier. Just install wp-super-cache or a similar plugin and your speed problem is solved.

Also, you can use .htaccess browser caching to further improve speed.

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