By Quick Colorado Internet Design & Marketing

02/02/2010 WordPress, a content management system (CMS), has undergone consistent and steady development through the years. The WordPress development staff have been consistent in their delivery of updated software. Updates generally take the form of usability improvements, security hardening, and of course, eye candy.

WordPress first targeted bloggers, those passionate people who have the wherewithal to legibly post missives related to their particular passion. Matt Drudge of the Drudge Report is a classic example of a passionate blogger. As more and more people gained access to the software WordPress began to be the tool of choice for personal website creation. Today this CMS has evolved to be the best of both worlds and has covered the business sector as well. Think goods, products and services presentation.

What has impressed me most is the back end of WordPress, that part of the software that enables its users to update their website and or blog. While there are hundreds of CMS applications freely available on the internet today, WordPress has risen to the top of the heap when it comes to being 'user friendly'.

As a developer I'm often in the position of providing on the job training for new website owners. When CMS applications came down the pike, my job did not get easier as one would think, but more difficult! Every CMS I had occasion to train end users on was a confusing and convoluted array of buttons, pages and forms that left the average website owner hopelessly confused. I attribute this to the nature of coders. The brainy folks who program this stuff simply think differently than the rest of us. How and where they choose to implement user controls simply baffles me, and end users alike.





WordPress To The Rescue
Finally there is a CMS that takes the pain out of self managing ones website. Just look at this list:

1. Great End user experience
2. Ease of upgrades – WordPress, like any online software, will continually need to be upgraded. This process is a one button click, making this CMS a top performer.
3. Ease of editing content by end users. Add/edit pages and posts. Upload photos and documents; easily agreed upon my developers such as my associates and myself.
4. Backend navigation – Simply the most sensible, well laid out and easy to use.
5. Ease of installation – Free with must web hosts. Quick Colorado provides free WordPress installation.
6. Size of community – WordPress has a huge user base ready, willing and able to help the adventurous.
7. Popularity – WordPress is the most popular CMS today.
8. Active development – WordPress has a huge base of developers, constantly improving the capability of this CMS.
9. Modules, Plugins, Extensions, Components – WordPress has thousands of plugins and extensions to take users dreams and turn them into realty. Calendars, image galleries, audio players, video players. This list goes on.
10. Multiple Authors – WordPress allow more than one person to log in and manage content.
11. Search functions – WordPress has the best search function, allowing end users to find the content they are looking for.
12. Search Engine Optimization (SEO) – WordPress really shines here. If you need your site to be found by search engines like Google, Yahoo and Bing, then choose WordPress and install the Ultimate SEO WordPress plugin.
13. Themes – Control the look and feel of your website. WordPress has thousands of free themes, allowing end users to find the perfect graphic look and feel to their website. Additionally, developers such as myself can create custom themes to brand a users goods, products and or services.
14. Documentation – The WordPress support website is alive with thousands of active users who are willing to help newbies resolve any questions they might have.

WordPress Specifications

• Application type: blog publishing tool
• Cost: free
• License: OSS (GNU - GPL)
• Installation type: remote installation via the web, or on your local machine
• Codebase: PHP, MySQL - The industries standard.
• Database type: MySQL
• Server type needed: LAMP, IIS - Think Quick Colorado
• Installation zip file size: 3MB
• Number of plugins available: ~5,000
• Shopping cart option: yes, as plugins

Sign up a WordPress CMS Website Go>>
Includes:

• Free Domain name or use one you own
• Installation
• Setup&basic configuration
• Hosting for one year included
• Theme installation