The WordPress Choice
A well-crafted corporate website should undergo comprehensive development (coding) from A to Z. Choosing WordPress (WP) is an appealing option for smaller companies (SMEs) or individuals unwilling to allocate substantial budgets, seeking independence in content management through an intuitive and user-friendly back-office.
The process of creating a website is more intricate than it may appear, even when using the WordPress CMS. WordPress has undergone significant evolution since its inception in 2003, now offering “framework builders” for crafting and customizing modern and elegant visual content. The most renowned and widely used include:
- Classical Editor (for straightforward user-end rich content management);
- Gutenberg Editor (Installed by default, providing a rich content publishing experience);
- WPBakery (Excellent, Advanced for Professionals);
- Divi (excellent, intuitive, and advanced visual builder technology);
- Elementor (medium complexity);
- And others….
WordPress is free and available also for mobiles as an app on the Apple (iOS) and Google Play (Android) Store.
To achieve optimal results with many frameworks, familiarity with HTML, CSS, JavaScript, and possibly PHP is necessary.
For those not well-versed in web technologies (programming or web development), comprehending the intricacies behind what is visible poses a challenge. Without the ability to harness all features, achieving a well-indexed SEO site without errors in the source code becomes arduous.
A proficient designer-developer will steer clear of excessive use of unnecessary transitions (gadgets), mitigating the risk of a page experiencing prolonged loading times (JS) or potential non-display issues, contingent on the browser and its integrated AdBlocks.
Despite this, WordPress (WP) provides an avenue to achieve a high-quality, cost-effective final result. This choice can prove sufficient for SMEs, particularly due to the CMS offering a ready-to-use, well-designed, and expandable back office.
Both good and subpar websites can be created using either Open-Source CMS or coding from scratch.
It is crucial to acknowledge that any dynamic website (linked to a database) requires regular maintenance and updates for functional, evolutionary, and security reasons. While some may find a static website (showcase or business card) adequate, making this decision at the outset is paramount.
WordPress has undergone substantial evolution, particularly in its “Back-Office” CMS functionalities, which boast elegance, well-structured design, high customisability, and user-friendliness. It serves adeptly for Blogs, Business Websites, and E-commerce.
Initiated in 2003, the WordPress project has burgeoned into one of the largest hosted web tools globally. It stands as a mature and stable product, thriving on the support of a substantial developer community. This Open Software, delivered under GPLv2+, excels as a semantic publishing platform, seamlessly blending aesthetics, web standards, and usability.
For users lacking web coding knowledge yet desiring autonomy in managing dynamic content, WordPress offers a solution for achieving commendable results at a reasonable cost compared to custom web development. However, effective Front-End development may necessitate intensive work and proficient knowledge in Back-End & Front-End programming languages, such as PHP, MySQL, HTML, CSS, and JS.
The WordPress community diligently updates the core software, and a plethora of themes and plugins are readily downloadable from the CMS itself. Like any other CMS, routine maintenance and monitoring are imperative to ensure regular updates, including security patches.
The WordPress community hosts regular WordCamps featuring esteemed guests. Explore WordPress TV for more insights.
Security in WordPress
Due to its widespread popularity, millions of websites are now online using WordPress. As an open tool gains popularity, hackers and botnets remain vigilant for potential attacks. Despite the WP Community’s earnest dedication to security, numerous XSS attacks (injections) have recently compromised thousands of websites. Given the continuous growth of the WP CMS, hackers persist in attempting to insert malicious code to corrupt core files or databases through injections.
Regrettably, merely relying on regular updates of the core system and associated plugins is insufficient today. Depending on the type of hosting service utilized, various measures must be implemented to thwart such attacks.
Failure to adopt basic security precautions by the webmaster may lead to potential security issues. Therefore, regular maintenance and monitoring of any online website are imperative.
In addition to best practices, the following articles may help you for valuable advice on fortifying the security of your WordPress website:
- Hardening WordPress (Server and Files)
- WPScan Vulnerability Changelog
- Top 15 Ways To Secure A WordPress Site (2024)
- OWASP WordPress Security Guideline
Common Attacks and Security Measures:
The most prevalent attacks include:
- Cross-site Scripting (XSS) attacks.
- SQL Injections.
- PHP malicious code injection.
- Filesman backdoor.
- .htaccess Hacking.
- Login attempts by botnets.
- And many more.
A WP developer should consider all these factors to secure any website optimally. Additionally, regular application of patches and updates (both server-side and front-side) is crucial. Old PHP versions can swiftly become obsolete, leading to potential functionality issues. Plugin selection should be approached with caution, as sustainability is not guaranteed.
DIGITALABS offers adapted hosting, consulting, maintenance, and monitoring services for all the sites it develops, ensuring robust security measures.
The all-inclusive WordPress Hosting solution
If you host your WordPress CMS at Infomaniak, you have many advantages:
- BackEnd (Server) patches & security notifications
- DIVI premium framework included free of charge
- Ready for email marketing and social media
- Backup & recovery
- Unlimited databases
- Unlimited traffic
- EV or free SSL certificate
- BackEnd management of SSH, Cron, PHP, Apache, IP, ports…
Wordpress Feeds for Mobile Apps
WordPress CMS offers numerous integrated solutions and quality plugins to create an exceptionally elegant Mobile App, particularly suitable for small projects. Whether you’re a small business, a magazine, or have a WordPress Blog, venturing into a PWA (Progressive Web Apps) or RWA Web App (Responsive Web Apps) alongside your responsive site is a viable option.
For those hesitant about committing to a substantial budget or unsure about the project’s growth trajectory, optimizing the responsive version is a prudent alternative to investing in a mobile PWA/RWA WordPress application.
With this approach, coding knowledge is unnecessary, though it’s important to note that only a PWA (with Rest architecture facilitating real-time synchronization of posts and front page images) can be achieved, not a native APP.
Developing a native iOS and Android application is an entirely different undertaking, demanding extensive knowledge, substantial effort, regular and swift updates, and paid developer subscriptions on Apple and Google platforms.
Ordinary Web Development Process
