Although Wordpress is a CMS, it primarilly operates as a Blog; so it will look like a blog by default. However, you can configure it in the Dashboard to operate as a static website if you want to.

You can use Wordpress without learning PHP or JavaScript. Just keep in mind that your ability to tweak and customize without some development knowledge will be severely limited.

I see, so even if I purchase a theme it will be rather hard to make it look like a website without some kind of programming knowledge.

thanks for the input iknielsen, looks like I'm back to w3schools

The beauty of CMS is you don't have to know any coding. Just plug in a template and play. If you buy a template, there is always support to help you out

I'd say that it is a good start - if you do not know anything about coding etc.

You can gradually learn a bit of php, css, js, html by modifying bits of pieces of themes etc.

When I have friends that want to get into web development, I always let them play around with Wordpress first, then gradually show them more and more advanced stuff (real programming, object-oriented design etc).

I came to WP and Joomla ans I have nill programming knowledge.I got no clue of what php and java scripts. All I know is plugins and some simple HTML's. Thats it. Its all about what you need and who provides plugin for it, or you hire some one to develope the plugin which you need!!

It's probably the easiest but there are no programming require.

There are so many templates and modifications out for Wordpress it's incredible. Wordpress can be manipulated into anything you want it to be. Just search for what functionality you want starting on the Wordpress homepage.

Thanks for the input guys!

So in a nutshell Wordpress is a great learning tool for beginners to start messing around with web development but if they're serious hit the books at w3schools and start learnig html, css, java, and php.

I wonder if Wordpress and CMS sites will soon be able to do anything programmers can do.

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i think you should create your own template which looks good than others that is difficult to make
so get a designer and get yourself coded a separate website

Just practice to edit themes and plugins ..
I start to learn a lot php, jquery , css and html from modifcation themes and plugins ...
The simple way is just to try copy the website which you like (only for practice) so you always get motivated ...

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WordPress is one damn good CMS. You can use it as you wish. You can make your web site look like a static html page or like a blog where in all posts can be displayed date wise chronologically.

You can install WordPress on your local system using XAMPP server(Google it) and can play around the code so that you can understand what happens when you edit this and that file.

Let us know if you need any help.

In my opinion no it's not. You should start learning webspell. Probably that's the easiest one.

I think so..
Wordpress all the way..
Your customer will be independent..
Because, WP 100% customizable..

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If you are serious about WordPress and wanted to program it, learn at Codex in WordPress found Main Page « WordPress Codex. On the other hand, I can be of service to you, if you need a special plugin, theme or anything you wish to do on WordPress!

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You can always start blogging on wordpress.com, and once you get the flow of things, get your own hosting for under 10 a month, and then migrate your posts from wordpress.com and go from there.

If you want to learn about "programming", I would not suggest starting off with Wordpress. Wordpress, while it is a CMS system, is not a very good platform for learning development, due to all the various coding practices. The community is great, but it doesn't have the backend that Drupal does. While Drupal is a bit more robust, it'll teach you better coding practices, and provide you much more flexibility.

If you only want to learn how to operate a CMS system, and do something like blogging without ever really writing a single line of code, then Wordpress is the right CMS system for the job.

Otherwise, pick up a Drupal 6 book (7 is still pretty new) and get your feet wet. Good money in jobs out there as well for being a Drupal developer.

Wordpress is good I have a couple sites built using WP CMS, but I prefer Joomla personally.