Choosing your web design platform...

personally im a hands on kinda guy...so most of my sites are based on wordpress...purely for all the great plugins available..

I don't really have a web development team per se...the only real work I outsource is the content writing, and sometimes the graphics. But its dead simple, i tell them what i want and when they done with it I personally put it up to my site...

When creating mini-sites though...obviously they are not on wordpress...just simple html..In this case i would hire a designer to create me a template based on my description of what i want...then id hire a copywriter to write the sales letter (sometimes i do this myself) - but either way i still personally put up the content to the template, and modify it the way i see fit...and i personally register the domain name and upload to my web servers...

Choose Wordpress, is the best and easy way

i choose the platform after you understand the client's needs... i can see no other way unless they specifically ask for one platform over another.

Always consider Wordpress first because it's quick to deploy and takes the hassle out of creating navigation/menus, adding content and sidebars. Review the client requirements and make a list of WP plugins and themes that can be used for the project.

If you think Wordpress won't cut it to deliver the requirements of your client, then look to other CMS such as Drupal or Joomla. If the client requirements can only be fulfilled by a custom PHP solution, use PHP frameworks such as CodeIgniter or CakePHP to cut the development time.

For managing a team, I use Basecamp (their free account allows 1 project) and most of the time designers and programmers have a Basecamp account specially if they are freelancers. I would also recommend Zoho Projects as a cost effective PM tool and it integrates with Google documents.

Be sure that when working on a team environment that you have a central location for sharing files, documents and tracking tasks.

Ok, after doing this for many years, I can say the answer all depends on your target audience.

Large Company Client: Build on a CMS like WordPress or build your own CMS. Sometimes, it's best to just build in PHP on Zend and make sure your site is fully customizable for future requests.

Small - Medium Size Client: A client that has just a few employees and a lower budget would probably be fine with you building on WordPress or from scratch in HTML and PHP. You can then control pretty much everything and the client doesn't really have time to work on the site anyway.

Yourself: Well, if you're building your own website and you know HTML, you can pick any one of the above options. It's really just about your personal preference. I would build from scratch for myself and work in Dreamweaver to make changes and add site pages etc:

I agree with brainman, it depends on the target audience, and the nature of your product. If you're OK with getting one or two buyers a month, then you might be OK with a simple free WordPress site. However with medium to "somehow kind of big" you can also get away with a WordPress site. I would say it works for 80% of the applications.

Although I love Wordpress, it isn't suited for everything.

Ecommerce in particular can be problematic. I prefer zen cart with a customised template, unless the client is big enough to want a proprietary solution.

Choosing your website design doesn't always depend on wordpress - as it isn't always appropriate for all designs, you should choose your website design on what kind of what site you're doing and how it feels to you - the purpose is possibly the most important.

Thou I am a very passionate Wordpress user and developer, but the choice of platform should ideally depend on your needs. There is no one size fits all.

When a couple of hours of coding would give you the exact solution you need, there is no point in going with wordpress and fitting 10 different plugins and making it 10 times bullkier and slow to load.

So if you are building a primarily content based site with few transactional features here are there, Wordpress would be a great choice with few odd features coded or added as plugins.

While if you are going for a primarily transactional system with few content pages, a custom php code/framework will handle your needs better.