Comments on: WordPress as a Web Application Framework

By: Chris Jean

Chris Jean — Wed, 04 Apr 2012 13:20:39 +0000

I think that you greatly misunderstand what WordPress is and how I use it.

First, I never modify the core WordPress files. There is no need to. There are very few things that I cannot modify through filters, modification of specific variables, or use of built-in APIs.

Want to remove menu entries on the admin screen? No problem.

Want to add new post types and taxonomies? No problem.

Want to create new rewrite rules to build a URL structure that can assemble database queries? No problem.

Want to do anything you want when the site is being rendered? No problem. Themes have full control over this.

Could I use a traditional PHP framework to build a custom site? Absolutely, but I will need to build my own security system and do my own security audits. Build my own user system. Build my own APIs. Do my own UI and UX design work. And anyone that wanted to add additional features would need to learn how I built the site. If I use WordPress and do my work properly, WordPress provides the user management system, WordPress provides security updates, plugins can quickly and easily extend the functionality of the site without requiring me to write every single possible feature from scratch. The benefits aren’t only good for me (faster production, fewer management worries, easier future expansion), they are good for the end user as well (able to trust the system more, access to existing help documents, not having to rely on the original developer for everything).

I think a lot of devs are scared of that last end user benefit. They want to force customers to be tied to them for all time, requiring them to decide between paying more money to get anything done or ditch the developer and start a completely new project from scratch with someone else. This is an old way of thinking, and it is not a good way to keep a business running long-term. Customers will quickly wonder why they should pay you $X,000 for a site that is completely custom, requires you to make any modifications, and requires them to have full faith and confidence in the developers abilities based on just their word when they can spend a similar amount of money (or often times less) to get a custom site built atop an established CMS with a huge variety of options on how they can move forward if their chosen developer doesn’t work out.

The key is to charge the proper amount for building the site on the first contract. Don’t lowball the bid in order to get them as a client and then nickel and dime them later since they are stuck with you. This is a great recipe for having a large portfolio of clients that would not recommend you.

By: Mat

Mat — Wed, 04 Apr 2012 11:16:17 +0000

Chris, I’m in doubts.. (and that’s why I’m here, reading your post) I think using something in the wrong way is generally wrong, it’s like using teaspoon to eat soup.. it works but it as the teaspoon is not suited to that, it’s just awkward. On the other hand, I beleave it may be doable – I just don’t know, how nice and tidy the hack you are talking about would be. How easy can I get rid of the blogging features that I dont need at all, and how easy can I inject my stuff – and benefit from user management and security, which are my most important reasons why to hesitate. And I cannot imagine how hard would be to maintain the app, as the updates will from time to time overwrite my code and so on.. as i say, i’m not sure this is the right way. Probably there are many other php frameworks for building up webapps, that wordpress.. In your case, I fully agree – if you and your team know WP, and you could benefit from some of provided plugins, the development will be easier, but I see THIS 2 reasons as the main adventage. In my case, .. I donno much about plugin development for wp.. so any other, light webapp framework would be maybe better – what do you think?

By: Chris Jean

Chris Jean — Mon, 12 Mar 2012 06:37:25 +0000

Your argument is that it is not an application development platform because you don’t like it? Good argument.

If you don’t like it, that’s fine. Use what works for you.

My only point is that it works well for me, and if other people want to use it for such solutions, then they shouldn’t feel limited by people like you who want to assert that it is nothing more than a blogging platform.

By: Nonsense

Nonsense — Sun, 11 Mar 2012 18:15:04 +0000

WordPress is a blogging platform not an application development platform…The code is poorly documented…Wordpress also requires that you install it before writing the plugins or adjusting the actual source code itself…If you make one mistake with worpress you have to reinstall it which is a nightmare…For commercial development of blogs it is great but not for applications…It is better to use codeignighter or zend for application development in php 5…Most of the wordpress plugins are very difficult to adjust as both the wordpress code and the plugin code has very very very poor code quotation (Documentation)…Me personaly…I believe each software application has it’s own natural structure and developers should not be forced into development paterns, rather find the natural fit for each application..I like zend because it allows you to develop freely even though it is structured using pure php…not poorly documented invisible objects like Cake or other…Wordpress is nothing more then useful as a cheap solution…Development of advanced application for worpdress is very costly often causing people to return to classical development

By: Do You Use WordPress as a PHP Development Framework? : WP Mayor

Do You Use WordPress as a PHP Development Framework? : WP Mayor — Thu, 01 Mar 2012 16:49:00 +0000

[...] framework like CodeIgniter, Yii or CakePHP?Some of the few resources on this subject are this post by Chris Jean as well as a video presentation by Jeff Pearce, reproduced below: We also do have some [...]

By: Techie

Techie — Wed, 26 Oct 2011 05:32:47 +0000

Fully agree with the author. What we require is Fabrik like plugin (available on joomla ) on wordpress to start with. If any one come out with like this, it will be very interesting indeed.

By: Pet Care

Pet Care — Tue, 24 May 2011 19:28:02 +0000

WordPress is a fantastic platform and I have been using it for years. I am currently about to start a big membership website and though about coding it from scratch but am thinking now I will stick with wordpress and see if I can get it to do what I need

By: M Yakub Mizan

M Yakub Mizan — Tue, 24 Aug 2010 00:42:32 +0000

Obviously WordPress is. it’s a convenient web framework with low footprint. flexible enough . you can customize it to feet any web site.
i have a web site developed in WordPress . it’s absolutely stunning .

By: golfTRC

golfTRC — Sat, 08 May 2010 03:07:53 +0000

We have built a golf resource center website with WordPress on the net. To my knowledge there is not a website with the same breath & depth as our site. We have over 36+ plugins and 225 pages with only 40 post / videos. So YES WordPress is much more than a blog development tool! AGREE

By: gaarai

gaarai — Mon, 12 Oct 2009 15:45:05 +0000

As with everything open source, you need to pay attention to what you run. While there are some plugins that are poorly coded or executed, there are a huge variety of plugins that are professional-level in quality.

Most people I know that have had horrible plugin issues are ones that simply slap a plugin onto their site without reading any docs and don’t pay attention to how it affected the site.

As for ones that run queries when deactivated, I’ve never seen that. I’m also not sure how it would be possible.