Wordpress or Code Ignitor?

Question

As a quick background. I am a web developer. I tried to develop 10-15 of my domains. Due to lack of time/focus, none got anywhere - as such I decided to focus on two, and do them properly.

In the past, I have used wordpress for a CMS of sorts. One of the sites is essentially a blog with additional PHP based dynamic features. Using the PHP-EXEC plugin with wordpress was extremely complex. I do not have a decent understanding of the workings of wordpress, and as such trying to integrate these dynamic features as wordpress 'pages' was more effort than it was worth.

Part of my new approach to these developments is to improve my code. As such I intend to utilize the Code Ignitor framework to develop these two sites well.

In principle I sit here and think I will simply develop a simple blogging solution for myself - one which displays posts, has a single page view, and allows comments. I am however fully aware of the benefits of wordpress - SEO, pingbacks, tags etc..

So.. hopefully someone can help me here as to what to do, how to approach this

Site 1 has no blog, it is totally independent and runs off php/mysql utilizing CI. Site 2 has a blog aspect to it (the main aspect) - do I use wordpress or create a simple blogging platform of my own.

I appreciate wordpress is awesome for JUST a blog but trying to integrate my dynamic aspects has been a headache to say the least.

Thanks

Answer 1

WordPress IS a CMS.

It is nothing more than a bunch of PHP functions. Once you get familiar with a few important aspects of how WP works, you can easily tailor it to your needs. I recommend thinking of posts and pages as the same thing. WordPress treats them exactly the same, except that one is save to the database with a post_type of 'post', and the other of 'page'. I've developed several sites that display pages of content that are nothing more than 'posts' assigned to a category. Using get_posts(), query_posts, and WP_Query() to retrieve those posts based on specific categories is easy and well documented.

You have worked with PHP-EXEC which allows you to add php code in a post. IMO, that is the poorest way to make your site dynamic. Don't be afraid to open up the template files and add your custom code there. You can also define your own functions in the theme's functions.php file or in your own plugin file, then call them from the template code. Adding php code inside 'posts' is like walking around the block to get your car out of your garage.

I think taking advantage of all the work that has already been put into wordpress is a good idea, especially for your blog-type site. If you use WordPress, you won't have to design nor code the entire backend-admin section. That will save you a week in itself. Plus, it comes with a plugin architecture already set-up. I'd spend time getting familiar with WP's inner-workings instead of spending twice the amount of time coding my own blog.

Spend time with stackoverflow in the wordpress tag, in wordpress.stackexchange.com, and in the function reference.