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Seeking opinion: Which is preferred - Static HTML pages or Wordpress

by PalmBayChuck
17 replies
I'm curious what content site or mini site publishers prefer to use when rolling out sites. Creating a raw HTML site using Dreamweaver or something similar results in very clean and uncluttered code that the spiders should devour easily, but it more time consuming and doesn't allow for the easy addition of content. Wordpress sites are easy to roll out, but create a bit more 'garbage' in the HTML code that might confuse spiders.

What do you guys prefer? Take the extra time up front to create static HTML pages, or use Wordpress so that you can do more, more quickly?
#html #opinion #pages #preferred #seeking #static #wordpress
  • Profile picture of the author mikeroosa
    I actually like working with html and css much better than wordpress, but I think most people find it easier to get a site up and running more quickly using wordpress.

    Another advantage of wordpress is how easy it is to change themes, add new pages, posts, and install plugins.

    I think you'll find most people these days moving to wordpress. I use wordpress on most of my sites but there are still things about it I don't like.
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  • Profile picture of the author gyar29
    Static HTML or an out of the box CMS are not the only choices available.

    With that said, the answer to your query is that it depends on the site and the owner.

    If I'm creating a site for myself I usually go with my own hand code. It gives me the flexibility to do exactly what I want with the site. Although, I will use an out of the box CMS if the site I'm building is something I just want to get up quickly. Unless it is nothing more than a sales page. Then I go with a pre-built XHTML-PHP template and just put in the graphics and text specific to that site.

    However, if I am building a site for someone that doesn't know anything about code I use a CMS. Usually Wordpress.

    With an out of the box CMS the owner can quickly and easily learn how to add content that will satisfy their needs. They don't have to spend more than a couple of hours learning how to format their content, add various types of media, and get the satisfaction of being a "Webmaster". Plus I can get their site up and running relatively quickly without the site owner knowing I've not really put in too much work or time. A Win - Win situation.

    FYI, hand coding and easy content addition are not mutually exclusive. It all depends on how you code the site. Creating your own bespoke CMS is fairly easy and gives the benefit of functioning exactly how you want it to.
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  • Profile picture of the author colie3188
    Well... Every person to their own, HTML can be time consuming and if you're looking to just get the JOB done and onto the next one then WORDPRESS is the way forward.

    I'm over joyed by not having to create all my pages through HTML coding anymore, Wordpress has truly revolutionized the industry making it possible for anyone and everyone to own, have and run a website.

    So you will always find it easier to outsource your work / project with Wordpress, because it is such an easy to navigate platform.

    Hope this helps, all the best matey
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    • Profile picture of the author JohnMcCabe
      For me, it's 'horses for courses'...

      > For simple sites, sales letters, squeeze pages, etc. I like to use static HTML augmented with php/css/javascript as required.

      I make this more effecient by building up a library of standard templates, where all I have to do is edit the file names, links and text.

      > For content sites, I'm using Wordpress. As for the 'garbage' you get in the code, most of that can be blamed on the theme designer, not the CMS. WP may not spit out the most elegant code, but it's obviously readable by the spiders.

      > Another option for very simple pages is Open Office Writer. (Thanks, Paul)

      Make your document look the way you want it to, then save as a web page. The code is surprisingly clean. Add graphics (headers, background, etc.) by wrapping the code in a table or div, and you're good to go.
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      • Profile picture of the author BenoitT
        When I started IM, I knew exactly how to create a page from scratch in HTML and PHP. However, after some time I had to admit I was tired of fighting with CSS and all that **** to make it pretty so I started to use Wordpress.

        Now I mainly use Wordpress and the Profits Theme and I am happy I can spend more time on the real marketer job: TESTING.
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        Benoit Tremblay

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        • Profile picture of the author Dan C. Rinnert
          I jumped on the WordPress bandwagon a few years ago, but I am currently down to just a handful of sites still on WordPress.

          For a basic mini-site, WordPress is overkill. It takes up way too much hard drive space for a simple site. For someone with one or two sites, that might not be a big deal, but if you have dozens or hundreds of sites, you're wasting a lot of space with WordPress.

          For a mini-site, I typically use HTML and PHP. That way, content isn't difficult to add at all. Just pop up a new page, update the navigation page and--voila!--done.
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          • Profile picture of the author retsek
            Originally Posted by Dan C. Rinnert View Post

            I jumped on the WordPress bandwagon a few years ago, but I am currently down to just a handful of sites still on WordPress.

            For a basic mini-site, WordPress is overkill. It takes up way too much hard drive space for a simple site. For someone with one or two sites, that might not be a big deal, but if you have dozens or hundreds of sites, you're wasting a lot of space with WordPress.

            For a mini-site, I typically use HTML and PHP. That way, content isn't difficult to add at all. Just pop up a new page, update the navigation page and--voila!--done.
            Not true. If you have hundreds of sites, you can save space and hosting if you enable Wordpress Network or Multisite. You can run unlimited top level domains that way, from a SINGLE copy of wordpress and a single database.
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  • Profile picture of the author Dr Blue
    For beginers is more easier to work with Wp because ther are many premium templates wich you can buy and install them on ur host...

    But for me a lot better results in my marketing campaigns give : HTML5 + Css3 + Jquery and java ...
    Because you can create animated webpages that get way more results then a simple Wp page...

    just my 2 cents...
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  • Profile picture of the author Anonymous Affiliate
    For small one-page sites (squeeze page, or sales page, etc) I prefer standard HTML. For content sites I prefer Wordpress.
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  • Profile picture of the author JamesGw
    It depends on the website. I like the url structure of html pages better, although it's horribly annoying to maintain a large site that's only html. For 1-5 page sites, I'd probably stick to html/css. For the rest, I'd use a CMS like Joomla or Wordpress.
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  • Profile picture of the author PalmBayChuck
    Thank you everyone for your comments. They are helpful.
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  • Profile picture of the author playtone
    I like CSS/HTML i find it much easier to make changes and you have much more freedom with design, wordpress is ok for my blogs and have tried to put a site on there just found it really hard to make changes to it, that's is just me though
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  • Profile picture of the author dtaylor
    It depends on the application.

    For some sites, such as a large listing directory or automobile sales site, it is a huge hassle working around Wordpress.

    For a quickie review site, it is hard to best a blog.

    DTaylor
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  • Profile picture of the author JimJames
    For simple "brochure" sites I prefer to code in HTML and then use MagicEdit so that the clients can add the content and keep it up to date themselves. I can get the job turned around and get paid a lot faster because I'm not waiting on content from them because they can update it themselves. So far I haven't even had to do any training they pick it up so easily. All I say is "click the edit button" and "push submit to make it stick" and they are off and running.

    For stuff more complicated consider Wordpress. Like if you need to do things like comments and user accounts. It's modular and you can add all kinds of stuff and users can go into a special backend and make their own changes.
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  • Profile picture of the author mrmatiesto
    Simply put I use both depending on what I want to do.
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    • Profile picture of the author magentawave
      Most of my sites now are Wordpress but I still love using XsitePro for my HTML sites. The one problem I had with Wordpress was that I had to use someone else's theme and often times those themes aren't easy to modify unless you know a lot of stuff that I don't know. A few months ago I bought the WP Spire theme creator and it is awesome because now I easily and quickly create my own themes with Wordpress. Also, it does all the stuff OptimizePress does but makes global changes to your sites and the developer gives awesome customer support. (I have no affiliation with WP Spire except that I use it)

      Steve
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      • Profile picture of the author ramon25
        Is webstarts.com good for these purposes?
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