Why on earth would you want a website?
Back in that blogs are more than blogs frame of mind (and kicking off another couple of interesting projects) I was scribbling out some site design stuff today, going to set it up and realised ‘Wow, a year ago this would have been index.htm’.
This time round that hadn’t even popped into my mind… of course I was going to use WordPress to put it together, why would I waste my time and expend my energy on doing it any other way?
And I reckon you’d be a fool to do otherwise. Talking to Seb the other day about the virtues and streets-aheadness of Manila I was trying to explain how if Manila was the concept, WP and co. are starting to actually implement it effectively now. With these tools I can:
-Bang up a prototype in 60 seconds (using Fantastico), and make it look pretty much any way I want within 6 minutes.
-Set templates for pretty much every piece of content I want, no worries.
-Whack in any sort of data I like wherever I want without going anywhere near a database of how-to-php book (happy birthday BTW).
-Incorporate communication tools ranging from comments to email subscription to podcasts and more… with RSS /Atom all done automatically for me.
And once I’m done I can hand it over and absolutely anyone can:
-Control user permissions with ease and edit / moderate material
-Post that material with, um, about a 30 second ‘playabout’ time
-Whack in one-click plugins that do pretty much anything they could ask them to do
and much much more…
It’s Kodak for the internet… so why on earth would you want a website when you can have a blogsite?
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June 10th, 2005 at 12:25 am
Bloggish Transcendence
Stop talking more about the definition and start talking more about the practice-Marnie Webb Never one to let go something of very easily, I’m still chewing on the Blog v. Web conversations of several weeks back. James Farmer at Blogsavvy is fueling m…
June 10th, 2005 at 10:01 am
So why on earth would you want a website when you can have a blogsite?
Well I can’t think of a reason either - static pages, outdated content, over-reliance on the technically gifted - who needs that!? :)
Viva la blogs!!
June 10th, 2005 at 10:42 am
I’m wondering if the old skool have just chosen to disregard this or agree with me wholeheartedly…
Thanks for the comments / tracks guys!
June 11th, 2005 at 7:34 am
Blogs, or any other form of official updates with content, help increasing the traffic of the site. The site itself might serve the purpose of being a people magnet or a form of online reputation. And putting it all together is dependent on the purpose.
June 11th, 2005 at 7:47 am
What blogging really does for us
I agree with the sentiments expressed here. I remember the “olden days” when there was no real blog software of any kind and you had to manually hack out your own HTML. Hell, I remember when Dreamweaver debuted with version 1.0 and sometim…
June 11th, 2005 at 7:55 am
Well, you might not have access to your own webspace with PHP and a MySQL database, which is essential for running a Wordpress site. When my website consisted of a few megabytes of GeoCities space, Wordpress just wasn’t an option.
Since moving to my own space, I’ve transferred all the articles and links to my blog (made possible, of course, by WP1.5’s pages feature).
June 11th, 2005 at 9:47 am
You would need it for highlight the contents you want others to read. Blogs are typically logs of happenings, so were do articles, if one writes them go.
You can also tag these and add as a column to the left. Moreso, articles tend to be long, while long blog entries can be boring.
So, it depends on what you create\provide.
Amit
June 11th, 2005 at 9:59 am
As long as you don’t forget to study the underlying information architecture of the site you’re making and don’t just WYSIWYG it up in ad-hoc abandon, of course.
And then there’s the issue of not every solution is right for every situation. Then you could argue that coders should be able to understand the code if they want a future in this business.
That said I’m also a great WordPress supporter and love working with it. But with ease of setting up and so forth it’s too easy to overlook design etc.
Coding up, after all, should only be about 10% or so of a commercial web design project and it’s the easy bit.
June 11th, 2005 at 11:03 am
I really dig yer site.
Another great point to make about using blog technology for your new website besides ease of use, is search engine spiders really love well-formatted code. And blog makers (especially WordPress) know how to architect good code. A fantastic side affect and selling point.
I really like the followup comments e-mail widget. Great Experience!
Thanks for the space.
June 11th, 2005 at 12:06 pm
[…] Filed under: Design Business — 1:08 pm Why On Earth Would You Want A Website over at Blogsavvy brings up some good points abo […]
June 11th, 2005 at 7:22 pm
Thanks for the comments guys, and welcome to any new photomatt visitors :o)
I guess one of the things I was trying to say (going back to Oliver) is that a couple of years ago, without a keen interest in Manila, it would have been a selection based on purpose… now it just covers every base, esp. with tools like FeedWordPress in the works.
One of the things I’ve been mulling over since putting this up is the question of whether WP could do with another layer of organisation in the pages area and/or some sort of file structuring (breadcrumb-esque) tags for the template. Having put up a fair whack of content on some sites (100 plus pages on the conference site http://incsub.org/blogtalk) the more help in this area the better I reckon!
subscribe to comments 2.0 for the comment options here if anyone’s interested: http://txfx.net/2005/03/28/wp-subscribe-to-comments-20-alpha-2/
June 11th, 2005 at 7:24 pm
I’m some kind of Luddite, I know, but WordPress can’t actually do everything for me. I love it a lot, but not all of my content is capable of being ‘in blog format’ and working as a site. It’s a good point, and I’d like to say “for the masses, sure”, but it isn’t going ot make *everybody* happy.
June 11th, 2005 at 7:53 pm
Hear hear! WordPress’s Pages feature, in particular, allows sites of any type to be handled by WordPress.
By the way, updated link for Subscribe to Comments 2, which I’ve moved into beta: http://txfx.net/code/wordpress/subscribe-to-comments/
June 11th, 2005 at 8:36 pm
Excellent, thanks for that Mark… best - plugin - eva !
June 12th, 2005 at 11:14 am
Excelent
January 7th, 2006 at 4:34 pm
I still don’t understand the technical differences between a blog and website? I’m thinking of setting up a site that will be about 6 pages or so, with mostly just text, a basic black background, and a cheap logo. Sounds perfect for a simple blog, but my concern is that I’m also going to have 4 short films that I want people to be able to watch, ranging from a half-hour to 10 minutes. Can that kind of stuff fit on a blog? Or should I make a blog for that text, and have a seperate hosting space (or whatever you call it) for the films? If anyone can answer me, my address is jpkirby3@msn.com. Thanks.
Pat
January 15th, 2006 at 7:32 am
I’m a blind user and have several sites running on WP 1.5, which I love. I’m impressed with the changes in 2.0, but it is not accessible with a screen reader, because of the “drag” boxes instead of check boxes. I was very surprised and disappointed to see that was overlooked with this new release. However, with WP 1.5, even I can fully set up a website in quick order. I just need help if I want to change the templates (someone to tell me what they look like).
January 16th, 2006 at 3:49 pm
I agree, it is a shame that 2.0 is less accessible.
March 7th, 2006 at 8:59 am
Most of the webmasters, create their sites just for money.