WordPress is well known as a blogging platform. It is very popular for its ease of use, variety of themes and loads of functionalities. I have been told several times that it could also be used as a Content Management System (CMS). Working on a client project, I found out it was true: WordPress has all it takes to set-up a simple but professional website. But what are these basic ingredients?
Website structure
Content can be organised using the hierarchical categories feature, this gives your website a good primary structure. Tags can be used as a secondary indexation list or as a free tagging system, depending on your needs.
Layout
As you may know, WordPress themes can be endlessly customised to fit your particular needs and preferences. There is no need for a WordPress website to look like “just an other WordPress website”. Check out these cool examples.
Index page
Of course, you don’t want your index (homepage) to be just a list of pages or to have the same layout as the rest of the site pages. There are ways to create your own static index page, including this one.
Pages
Just create your content using the page rather than the post format. It doesn’t show the comments form, but still can be categorised and tagged. It is also possible to build a hierarchy of pages, one being parents of others and so on, with no limit on the number of levels.
Navigation
Built-in facility allows to show list of pages, including their hierarchy: here is your navigation! There is also a useful plugin to display the mandatory breadcrumb on top of pages: Breadcrumb NavXT.
SEO
WordPress settings can be changed to generate search engine optimised web pages: title, description, readable URLs, etc.
Search
Search (and lot of other facilities) are part of basic widgets on most themes. They are often included in the side bars, but themes can be amended to show it anywhere (though this is a move for advanced users).
RSS Feed
Inherited from WordPress blog roots, the RSS feed can easily be linked from anywhere on your pages, giving your users an easy way to follow the publication of new content.
Content edition
The traditional wysiwyg (what you see is what you get) text editor is quite easy to use to create and amend content. However plugins such as WP-CMS Post Control allow to edit user interface to fit your specific needs.
What it can’t (easily) do?
I’m sure WordPress can be customised beyond imagination. But because of the nature of the platform, I wouldn’t recommand to use it for too complex websites. For instance, it can’t accomodate content requiring multiple categorisations. And as far as I know there is no advanced function to craft navigations with multiple levels or contextual variations.
You can find out more about using WordPress as a CMS on the WordPress Codex.
Sometimes we are fed up with the CMS in our life. It is not as flexible or powerful as we wish it was. We may even wish it didn’t exist and we would be free to manage our website the way we want. Beware: life without a CMS is a terrible thing to live. This post travels back in 2001, when website and their content were exclusively managed by hand. Meet Ben, Webmaster for a cosmetic firm who has to mind a very large website.