Do You Find Wordpress Limiting?

I'd try to see if I can't or maybe it was just a way around to do. I haven't yet use WP for extreme designing. Only for article and simple designs. But now that you brought up that topic, I'll try myself if there's really limiting of the contents. Thanks!

All content management system have limitations. You need to follow some rules that are created to make routine jobs easy. WP is almost limitless. You just need too know it well.

No, you are not (alone).

The thing is that WP with its easiness to install (it really is a 5 minutes process when a manual install is done properly) creates some false expectations in users, including yourself...

The easiness to use a CMS and the possibility to mess/modify the XHTML/CSS design have nothing to do with each other!

Publishing with ease - what WP promises to deliver - works perfectly.

Knowing CSS design - what WP never promises - is a trade to be learned. Or not... in which case you outsource it

Regardless, as nothing made by man is perfect... WP also has its own intrinsic limitations.

Well, I'm a bit fortunate in that I know a little html and have made some things look the way I want by modifying the html....but it's very much a trial and error thing.
...and Istvan, you're right, I'm going to outsource this kind of effort soon.
_____
Bruce

xtrapunch: Thanks, I just downloaded the SpeekyGeek theme!

THere's plugins and addons that help make WordPress more flexible and sophisticated.

I've written 3 blog posts on advanced wordpress editoring tools for wordpress. Did you know you can use Microsoft Word as your wordpress editor?

Design limitations? Yes there are limitations with the free wordpress framework however there are also premium wordpress frameworks and premium themes that add a huge list of hundreds of different design options.

You get what you pay for

If you know good HTML and CSS, you can position things wherever you want them, regardless of the theme.

That said, it IS limited in many ways, specially with basic themes.

Rockettheme does some amazing work, with a SLEW of widget places in their templates:

WordPress Themes Club

It's a good place to start for the non-techy.

WordPress is no more limited design-wise than any other plain HTML page. You can design a WP site to look like anything you want.

You can design the site. If you're into designing every single page in your site differently, then ANY CMS is going to limit you, some more than others.

Within the limitations of your templates, you can make your content area look any way you want to. You just have to know HTML and CSS to do it - just like building a raw HTML site.

I totally agree.

I always prefer to create my own scripts, because I could never get turnkey scripts like Wordpress the way I want. Popular scripts are created for the masses, so often require a lot of customization for my specific needs. Unfortunately, figuring out where exactly to tweek to get things looking and acting properly usually destroys the economies of the easy install.

Wordpress got a lot of limits, such as it's too big and make all the content so small that is hard for it to include

personally not at all...at least the premuim websites

As others have said, it's a CMS so there are some "rules" inherent in that in that it requires consistency throughout the site (not a bad thing), and it's not going to be exactly a blank page like a Flash site that's basically just a pretty thing to look at. Wordpress can be pretty, too, but it also has something to say (to search engines). That being said, the times I've been most frustrated with Wordpress are the times when I've realized my own limitations with CSS and PHP; if you find a rock-solid programmer, anything is possible. What can't be done with CSS can be done with PHP or plugins. It's really an amazing architecture that's extremely flexible in terms of functionality, and with the design acting as an expression of that architecture as opposed to something that's embedded in it... the sky's the limit. The "bloggy" days ended 3-4 years ago.

Count me in as a certified Wordpress junkie too. While I agree, there's definitely more freedom in designing a static site, I don't want to give up the dynamic functionalities that WP has.

And it's come such a long way, I can't imagine designing/developing with anything else anymore.

You are right there is a limitations of wrodpress:-
1)No advertising
2)Limited Theme
3)No plugins Upload

Hi Bruce

I found the same frustrating thing until I discovered iThemes Builder.

Here's just what I said in another post:

I'm in no way a techie and now produce websites for big companies just use

• You can easily have multiple different layouts (including landing pages & squeeze pages)
• The Style Manager lets you change all the colors - fonts, backgrounds & spacing you want.
• It comes with some great plugins such as rotating images & billboard.
• It's a multi site developer license - no extra cost.
• There are loads of different Child themes - so you're really getting loads of themes for 1
• Finally the support is amazing - they are very patient answering all my basic questions - even just Wordpress related.

In summary Builder turns non-techies into fully fledged web designers at lighting speed - very dangerous

Another option to consider just for basic sales sites and squeeze pages is Optimize Press.

Good Luck

Hugh

My opinion about WORDPRESS: compared with some other software is like Windows 95 compared with Windows 7. Always the need to look for adds-on, always some surprise bugs and other headaches, which is normal because there is not a centralized and coordinated developing team, but a lot of individul developers with their own vision. The same old story as many other free products.
Of course, there will be as many opinion about a product as many users. Some are not using other products because are not interesting to learn something different which may be better and will tell this is the best, others are interested only in free products, etc. And it depends for what is used.
Wordpress is OK for blogs and other simple web pages. For other tasks is time consuming, a lot of work involved.

A WordPress site (self hosted or hosted by WordPress) essentially comprises 2 parts:

1. The backend - which is the wordPress core code and delivers the CMS functionality
2. The front end - which is delivered by whatever theme you're using and delivers the look and layout.

Getting WordPress to look the way you want is most easily achieved with self hosted WordPress, and should be done via the theme (front end), not by tweaking WordPress itself.

The reason is because if you tweak WordPress itself your tweaks will be over-written each time you upgrade WordPress, and you'll have to do them all over again (each time).

Using a premium theme, or a framework, is the best way to achieve the look and feel you want, including (with some limitations) having individual pages looking different - e.g. a squeeze page which, for example, might have no sidebars and have the navigation at the bottom rather than the top, and so on.

A good framework will enable you to create pretty much any design you like (for which you need to know CSS). It will also enable you to add conditional statements to (for example) display different ads or messages based on the category or tag associated with an article (for which you'll need to know PHP).

Yes - WordPress does have some limitations but, as everyone else has said, so does any platform. But you have to be pushing quite hard to find them on WordPress.

Cheers,

Martin.

Being good at wordpress won't make you a cutting edge web designer it will help you become a webmaster. Only once you have a goog understanding of HTML and CSS along with some php will you be able to create WP sites those design isn't dictated by the original theme you're working with.

I felt limited in wordpress until I started improving my coding knowledge, I also have been using ithemes' builder since it's release and this has help me no end, my code skills have improved and I don't feel limited in the slightest.

i'm very fluent at wordpress and i think it's the most flexible cms platform. don't know if i can call it cms just yet lol.

Out of the box, wordpress is the most limited CMS out there. No arguments, just because some of you know nothing else, doesn't mean it is almighty. LOL.

There are many core limitations with wordpress, that you don't have with Joomla... and there are many core limitations you have with joomla, that you don't have with drupal, and it continues.

A web designer, isn't someone who installs a template and customizes it, anyone can do that. Any true developer, can do anything, with ANY CMS. If you know your code, it doesn't matter. Although, many developers will never start with wordpress, because it doesn't make sense to stat on shaky foundation, just to go back and make it sturdy, when you could have started on a stable foundation to begin with.

as said earlier, wordpress is limited by the web development experience of the user, joomla 1.6 is more complete and flexible

A web designer, isn't someone who installs a template and customizes it, anyone can do that. Any true developer, can do anything, with ANY CMS. If you know your code, it doesn't matter. Although, many developers will never start with wordpress, because it doesn't make sense to stat on shaky foundation, just to go back and make it sturdy, when you could have started on a stable foundation to begin with.
-------------------------------------------

Do you find Justin Bieber's music good?

Wordpress is the most flexible complete CMS that i ever seen and used. I use for almost all of my websites and i created from it Social Networks, eShop's, portals and many more and there isn't any problem and it's not limited at all. If you learned the Wordpress from a online course or something than i understand why looks like a limited CMS.

And what i wanted to say with my question is that can be look limited if you don't have the necessary programing knowledge. I Hate JB's "music" and many more people do so, but many more love it. So this can't be determinable this way.

If ii hate JB's music, i listen to another one from another singer, and if i don't like WP i move and use another CMS.

Regards,
daSSad

if you asking wordpress limit of design (in the context of web design / theme),
yes ofcourse it have limit,

but until now, i always success in create whatever design i want,
the key is knowing CSS,

wordpress theme already have a really simple hierarchy and easy to custom,
follow the structure & hierrarchy + good CSS + javascript / ajax (if you need),
you can create any design you want ..

CSS always make me crazy

I've heard that one can Photoshop your pages, menu bar etc and put it out for tender on v worker or elance... And have them integrate it with WP within your specs. Is this really possible . I like WP and as a relative noob its CMS helps with my understanding of some things. I'm sure a strong HTML site (if that's what it's called) is preferable, but then again won't it depend on what ones goals are.
Live it and live it

James

This post is dedicated to all those who say that WP is limited. LOL, you people crack me up. Wordpress is pretty much limitless despite what these guys say. It depends on what you know and how you deal with it and your code and database abilities. Can you design a schema and implement or build it in mysql? can you code in PHP? Do you have 3 nuts and bolts rattling around in your head to provide the needed brain power? Wordpress can do anything that any other systems can do, Why you ask?? Because it is built with HTML, Css and PHP on a MySql Base!!! I mean comon people, what are you thinking? If you have a bit of skill, you can just about make wordpress come out and make your coffee at 7 am, walk the dog and warm up your car for you. Do not listen to the guys who say, "Oh it has limits" thats junk and not correct and is coming from guys who have a couple years with it who think they know everything! I have been working with wordpress since 8 months before it was released to the public and I can tell you that these guys dont know jack. Sure they know some calls, echoes and functions to add in places in thier themes and they have read thru the codex a few times....But Geesus people! Learn php and html and you can do anything with anything. For that matter I can even make Wp look and act like flash. I have even embedded Wp into flash containers and ran WP from inside flash using xml to relay data between the container and the DB. Where is the limitations in this? Learn to code and you will see the errors of your ways.

WORDPRESS IS ONLY LIMITED BY WHAT YOU CAN DO WITH PHP AND MYSQL!!!

There are numerous limitations to using self-hosted wordpress files on your own server space, not the least of which is an antiquated wysiwyg/html editor that is quirky, cumbersome and time-consuming. Depending on the theme you use, it can seem "not worth the effort." I tolerate the antiquated wysiwyg editor, using numerous tricks to make it do what I want, sometime with very complex html. However, since I've purchased and started using FlexSqueeze Premium Theme, the limitations of WordPress as a CMS-content management system has virtually disappeared.