WordPress

Why WordPress?

You may be wondering what WordPress is and why we build all of our websites with it. WordPress is a Content Management System (CMS) designed to make websites easy to manage by the average person. Of all the CMS, WordPress is by far the most popular and as of February 2024, it is powering over 43% of all websites, according to a survey conducted by W3Techs. Once built, WordPress websites do not require coding knowledge to perform regular content updates. Let’s dive a little deeper into what makes WordPress so special.

Updating Content

After your website is built, you will likely need to occasionally update the content (including text, images, and videos), and you may even need to create new pages from time to time. WordPress has a block editor that makes it easy for the average person to do so without specialized knowledge. That’s not to say there isn’t a learning curve, but most people tend to pick it up quickly.

Customized Blocks

As previously mentioned, pages are built using blocks. There are all sorts of block types that are built into the editor. The commonly used blocks include heading, paragraph, image, list, video, spacer, and quote blocks. We also have the ability to create custom blocks for you. Below you’ll see an example of a customized block we made for a client. It can be reused throughout the website. The photo, text, and button can be changed, but the layout will remain the same. We have the ability to create all sorts of stylized custom blocks to give your website a unique, yet unified feel.

Plugins

Plugins are without a doubt one of the biggest advantages to using WordPress. They are essentially extensions for your website that can add complex features at no cost. For example, if you want an event calendar, slideshow banner, or boosted security, there are plenty of free plugins out there for you to use. Not all plugins are free, but most are affordable, especially considering the time and cost it would take to have a feature custom built for your site. All plugins have reviews attached to them, so you can see if a plugin is considered to be high quality before installing it. However, performance issues can occur if using too many plugins, so we tend to select our plugins carefully and may even opt to develop a feature ourselves if it can be done in a reasonable amount of time. But plugins are definitely handy options to have for any website.

Training and Guidance

While WordPress makes it relatively easy to maintain your website, it can still be a little overwhelming at first. This is because there is so much that’s possible with WordPress. We at Making Spider Sense are happy to provide guidance and teach you the essentials of building and managing your website. If needed, we will gladly create a thorough yet easy-to-follow PDF guidebook on how to modify your website using WordPress. This guidebook can be updated as we add new features to your site.