WordPress The Pros & Cons of CMS
Content Management Systems (CMS) are a software-based application that allows a variety of people and organisations to easily create and manage content on their websites. Using CMS in a workplace environment can be beneficial for managing communication and enable brand consistency through the implementation and use of templates. It can also speed up content production and distribution, as pages are easily created and published without the need for code-based development. As the name implies, CMS also allows organisations to manage the content that exists with ease, making amendments to existing content, and updating this across multiple channels ensuring minimal inconsistencies.
For the assignment, I used WordPress (CMS provider) to build a blog-style website. WordPress has global prowess and is an industry standard and it is shown by its usage figures. 43.7% of all global websites run on the platform and it has a strong 62.2% share of the CMS market (Ciorici, 2024). It’s wide usage and popularity made it an easy choice for the assignment, as there are also plenty of resources to assist a beginner in learning how to use it effectively.
However, there are still complications, especially when it comes to integrating Application Programming Interfaces (APIs). Without a WordPress business plan, integrating custom PHP and JavaScript code, to ensure the functionality of the API, is restricted. As the WordPress theme editor is inaccessible, a plugin must be installed to alleviate this issue. Plugins can be used to enhance the features and functionality of the site. However, they can become an issue, especially if they become outdated. Outdated or badly coded plugins can become security risks and slow down performance of the site, leading to a negative impact on the user experience (AppMySite, 2021).
Integrating APIs is a great way to enhance functionality of a website. On the website I created, adding APIs such as embedded Google Maps allowed the website to pinpoint locations for establishments that were reviewed, allowing users to find the restaurant or bar with ease. The Google Places API allows the user to see various information about the business. In this instance, I opted to filter this information to business opening hours so users can easily plan when they might want to visit. APIs are a great way to pull extra data from external, well-maintained sources for the user and allows them to stay on the website to find additional and contextual information that is useful and meaningful, improving the user experience. However, using APIs create dependencies for the website on third-party. If the API provider were to have downtime, this would directly affect the website and the features that have been integrated via the API. It’s important to have researched the API provide to ensure reliability and uptime to avoid any potential negative user experiences to a lack of functionality.
CMS mismanagement can lead to maintenance issues, increased security risk and performance which can all have a negative impact on the user experience. However, the use of a CMS has many benefits and, if managed well, can be very beneficial to small and big businesses alike for its ease of use for content creation and management in cross-channel settings.
