Using Wordpress as a CMS
I've now got some tutorials prepped and ready to be published and initially I had intended on putting them as part of www.ninedays.org which will soon be my portfolio, but blog.ninedays.org has really turned into a good home for my more personal than professional content.
I really think my tutorials fall under that category.
So if they are going to be part of blog.ninedays.org I figured I'd give WordPress a change to step up to the plate as a simple CMS.
Simple hierarchy
- about/
- blog/
- portfolio/
- photography/
- photoblog/
- archive/
- contact/
- projects/
- tutorials/
- css/
- html/
- javascript/
- prototype/
- php-mysql/
Such a hierarchy is very achievable using the correct pages as parents for the sub pages.
Categories for the Pages
These categories would only be used in the tutorials section
- article
- snippit/plug-n-play
- tutorial
But unfortunately WordPress does not natively support categories for pages.
Yet it does natively support categories for Blogroll, go figure.
I also reviewed reviews of using WordPress as a CMS such as:
- WordPress as a CMS
- 5 Reasons to Use WordPress as a CMS
- 5 Reasons to Not Use WordPress as a CMS
- How to Use WordPress for a Portfolio Site: Part 1
My 5 Pros and Cons
Cons
- Pages do not natively support categories or tagging
- Not as many custom fields that are as easy to use as other content management systems
- I've always found WordPress' custom fields a bit vague and scary
- Lots more database queries with each additional plugin/module/article
- Little documentation on the pages for WordPress, as it is assumed it will typically only be used as "About", "Contact" and "Archive" pages
- Can't think of a 5th right now
Pro
- I'd have the opportunity to develop plugins to make it support categories and tagging which shouldn't be hard to create
- Easy to keep the "static" content consistent with the blog by using the exact same templates the same way
- Using WP-Cache should greatly help with load time and lessen the database queries, especially since articles will for the most part be static
- Only one login to edit pages/articles/tutorials and blog entries
- There is native support for commenting and trackbacks on these static pages.
For my needs I can begin to publish my tutorials without all of the support plugins I would need to find or develop, and heck if it doesn't work out at least I will have a better idea of what I am really in need of.
Popularity: 29% [?]
the newest discoveries, stories and shared tips!Come on, all the cool kids are doing it ;)
