We are going to talk through some of the most popular platforms available, there are many more alternatives but these are some of the most commonly used platforms for web development.
The bespoke website option
Studio44 CMS
We had to start with what (in our opinion) is the best option for the majority of circumstances, which is the completely bespoke website design option using the Studio44 CMS which we have developed ourselves over the years.
Pros
- Scalability – A significant advantage to using our CMS is that it can scale and extend however you need it to. Whereas lots of other platforms have a range of pre-built extensions and plugins that limit you to working in exactly the way they have been developed, with our CMS we build CMS features to match the exact requirements of the website.
- Creative control – We build all websites bespoke. That means that creatively we are not tied to any pre-existing template and can therefore design a website to best build and enhance the brand of the client and their requirements as opposed to fitting in with a pre-existing template. This level of creative control is one of the key reasons we design and build bespoke websites.
- Ease of use – As our CMS has been developed by us over the years, we have kept a close eye on the user experience of actually managing and updating website content. This has allowed us to build a platform which is extremely intuitive. You also only have access to the features you need whereas many other platforms include redundant features in a CMS dashboard which only complicates things in the minds of a user. We get great feedback on our CMS and it is used to power extremely high content websites.
Cons
- Speed of development – As we are building many of the website features bespoke, development can sometimes take a little longer than if we were using a number of off-the shelf plugins. We have however a great deal of experience with our CMS and can build bespoke functionality fast, rolling out key features quickly when required.
- Cost – It is true that a fully bespoke website design may be more expensive than an off the shelf option which is why a bespoke website is not always the best option if requirements aren’t overly complex or the design is not as important for example. When compared to other platforms, however offering like for like customised options, we have always had feedback that websites built using the Studio44 CMS are extremely cost-effective.
- Tied to an agency (actually this one is a myth – we will explain why) One of the most common objections we have to our CMS is that the client would then be tied to us compared to an open source platform. Nothing could be further from the truth. Our CMS is built using PHP, a widely used programming language and a competent PHP developer would be able to pick up and work with the CMS without a problem. We have seen enough versions of open source platforms like WordPress to know that the standard of these developers varies enormously and there is no guarantee that a WordPress developer would just be able to pick up and run with a WordPress site they have not built.
Conclusion
We may be a little biased but we strongly believe that for any website that has anything beyond standard features, our CMS is a great choice. It’s probably not the best option for a DIYer or non funded start-up who just needs an online presence, but from larger brochure websites that need a high-end bespoke design to large, feature rich web applications, our CMS is a great choice.
The open source PHP options
WordPress
WordPress is the most widely used platform and there are a number of advantages to it, but also a number of drawbacks.
Pros
- Availability - WordPress is very widely used and has a wide range of themes and templates available. This means someone looking to get a professional website set-up quickly can choose a good theme and do so pretty quickly.
- Developers – There is no shortage of WordPress developers available so you are going to be spoilt for choice when trying to find a WordPress developer to work on your website.
- Plugins – WordPress comes with probably the largest range of plugins of any CMS system which means that you can scale your website quickly using WordPress as if you want to add features to your website, there is likely to be a plugin that will help!
Cons
- Quality of developers – Whilst there is no shortage of WordPress developers, it’s often difficult to gauge the quality of a WordPress developer. There are some great developers who have a lot of experience developing WordPress websites, but there are equally some who know how to load a theme to WordPress, install a plugin and that’s about it. For the lay person it can be difficult to distinguish whether they are dealing with the former or the latter!
- Speed – WordPress websites tend to be very feature rich ‘out of the box’. While this can give a lot of flexibility, it can also lead to a great deal of heavy, redundant features that will only serve to slow the website down. It’s therefore not uncommon for WordPress websites to be slower than many others.
- Security – This is the big one and is something that can be mitigated with proactive management but WordPress websites can be extremely vulnerable to security threats especially if a large number of plugins are used. In a world where GDPR has made security a hot topic, this is a particularly important drawback of WordPress.
- Plugin quality – Although there are a wide range of plugins available which is great, these plugins can be extremely variable in quality. Not only that but you may then end up with a plugin that is incompatible with a previous plugin and could find yourself chasing your tail tweaking plugin after plugin after plugin! (Too many mentions of plugins I know!)
Conclusion
WordPress is an incredibly powerful CMS system and there are times when it is absolutely the right choice. If you need a professional website up and running quickly and on a budget for example there are some great WordPress developers out there who will be able to do an excellent job. WordPress really does have its limitations however and for larger, more feature rich websites and web applications, we just don’t believe this works as a platform when compared to a bespoke website.
Drupal
Pros
- Permission system – A robust permission system within Drupal is an advantage especially if there is a large team of editors who need control over different areas of content.
- Security – Compared to other Open Source platforms, Drupal has a reputation for being much hotter on security so you are unlikely to suffer from the same security threats if using in particular WordPress or Joomla.
- Wide ranging content types – There are a wide range of content types which can be out of the box supported by Drupal, and as a result many websites that publish high volumes of variable types of content may choose to look at Drupal.
Cons
- Complexity - The complexity of the system means you tend to need a higher skilled developer than WordPress for example. This makes Drupal a no go for anyone looking at a ‘DIY’ website, but also means you are likely to be paying more to develop a Drupal site than alternatives.
- Ease of use – Drupal is a much clunkier platform than others from a user perspective which means for the average user managing and updating website content is not as straightforward as with other platforms. Although manageable when you have your team trained, this does have the drawback of new team members not always being able to just come in and pick up on updating the website as needed.
- Continuous upgrades – The Drupal platform is being continuously upgraded. Although this can be good from a feature perspective, it does also mean that you need to keep on top of upgrades and legacy installations are not supported so there is a continued cost attached to keeping the Drupal platform updated.
Conclusion
We have quite a bit of experience with Drupal and there are times where it has shown itself to be a very powerful CMS system, however unless there was a very specific requirement we would not recommend it. We found it relatively inflexible, difficult for clients to use and expensive to support so unless you have a site that almost out of the box Drupal can support we would recommend looking at alternatives.
Joomla
Joomla is another widely used open source CMS system used to power a number of websites.
Pros
- Community – Joomla has an extensive community of developers. Not only does this mean you are likely to find a Joomla developer, but it also means if you get stuck in the middle of your project on a particular feature then you can ask the community and you are likely to get help and support.
- Flexibility/Versatility – There is a reasonable amount of flexibility within Joomla and you have the ability to develop a number of features and use the range of plugins available to extend your website as needed.
Cons
- Compatibility – Although there is a lot of flexibility that come with the range of extensions you are able to add to your website, this can also lead to a number of compatibility issues if plugins do not work with one another. Incompatible plugins can lead to broken websites that have security flaws so are far from ideal!
- Declining usage – The overall usage of Joomla is currently in decline (with Squarespace, Wix and WordPress stealing all their users!) whilst this is not necessarily a problem as you are downloading the platform and using it yourself with no restrictions, it does mean that if numbers continue to drop, there may be less plugins/features developed which could lead to the platform falling behind, and if there are less Joomla developers, the community may suffer which is not ideal for a platform that relies so heavily on this.
- Clunky interface – This does to an extent come down to personal preference, but whenever using Joomla we have found the interface extremely clunky and difficult to use – not ideal when updating a website without technical knowledge only continues to get more important!
Conclusion
It has long been suggested that Joomla is the middle ground between WordPress and Drupal – it offers some advantages over WordPress when it comes to out of the box functionality and extendibility is more user friendly certainly for developers than Drupal. I would, however add that all experiences we have had with Joomla have been very poor and we have had a number of clients move to us because of difficulties they have had with Joomla so we would struggle to recommend it under almost any circumstance.
The .NET option
.NET platforms are different the PHP platforms discussed to date. Generally .NET developers are harder to come by and more expensive than PHP developers.
Umbraco
Umbraco is an open source .NET platform used for larger websites.
Pros
- Free – There is an option to download a free version of the Umbraco CMS whereas many other .NET options come with licensing fees so if you need to build your website in .NET then this is a benefit.
- Security – Open source platforms are generally battling to remain secure. Umbraco has a reputation for keeping on top of this and twice a year employs the help of an external security company to undertake penetration tests twice a year checking for vulnerabilities.
- Design autonomy – One of the big advantages of Umbraco is you are not tied to any pre-made designs or templates so your design team have free reign to design a website in whatever way they want!
Cons
- Hosting cost – Umbraco requires a Windows hosting platform. This is more difficult to find cheaply than PHP alternatives which you can find hosting packages for much more easily.
- Complexity – The Umbraco interface in our experience is clunky and difficult for an administrator to use. If you are therefore looking to have a number of different administrators, you may need to factor in time and cost to get them trained up and able to use the system.
- Developer cost - .NET developers are not as easy to come by as PHP developers, and generally good Umbraco developers will be more expensive. If you are on a budget and start needing more features added, this means you either will go over budget or will have to risk it with a lower cost, likely more unproven .NET developer.
- Plugins – Umbraco do not have as wide a range of plugins as many other open source platforms. It could be argued this is a strength as generally plugins are not always reliable, but one of the advantages of an open source platform is that plugins can allow you to scale your website quickly.
Conclusion
We have never attempted the build of an Umbraco CMS however we have tried to support them and based on our experience would never recommend the Umbraco CMS. Anyone who has come to us has been because they are struggling with the platform and have subsequently found our bespoke CMS much easier to use!
The website builders
There are a number of website builders out there which enable you to get a website online choosing from a range of templates with little or no technical knowledge. Squarespace and Wix are the most popular of these, and we’re going to study them in more depth.
Squarespace
Pros
- Intuitiveness – Squarespace has a reputation for being an extremely intuitive platform and with drag and drop functionality you can customise a great deal of the site layout to your preference.
- Visual templates – There are a number of stunning visual templates available on the Squarespace platform, many of which are very image led and fully responsive for mobile. This means with some great images you can very quickly set-up a website that has the visual ‘wow’ factor both on desktop and mobile using templates that already exist.
- All inclusive package – For those looking at a cost effective, hassle free way of setting up a website, Squarespace is a good option as it gives you a great deal of what you need in terms of templates, features, hosting and even Analytics out of the box.
Cons
- Flexibility/scalability – This is the big one with Squarespace, it has a number of features but it is difficult to scale and evolve because you can’t develop custom features in the same way as other platforms. Any additional features you include within your Squarespace website may well have been designed for a purpose different to yours, making them at worst incompatible and at best a workaround.
- Lack of creative control – There are some fantastic templates available on Squarespace but that is very much what they are, templates! This means you will not be able to necessarily get the desired look and feel from a Squarespace website as if you were to have a bespoke website professionally designed.
Conclusion
Squarespace is a great platform if used for what it is best at – getting a smart, visual website live quickly and cheaply by someone who has limited technical ability. The problems with Squarespace in our experience come when too much is attempted with the platform and it is attempted to scale a Squarespace website. If you have a simple presence with straightforward requirements then Squarespace is a great option, otherwise look at something that allows you to build bespoke website features.
Wix
Many of the pros and cons for Wix are similar to that of Squarespace.
Pros
- Cost-effective, low entry point – Wix is much like Squarespace a cost-effective option when it comes to building a website as you can choose a relatively cheap package and have a website up and running pretty quickly.
- Free plan – Wix offers a free website builder option, making the cost of entry even lower. Although this is only suitable for specific sites and you have the drawback of a Wix URL, it is still a free option and ideal for a DIYer!
Cons
- Scalability – Similar to Squarespace you are much more limited with the Wix platform than with a bespoke or open source platform.
- Creativity – Again a bit like Squarespace Wix can impact your creativity and generally gives a lack of creative control.
- Mobile performance – Wix templates generally don’t come with the same level of responsiveness as those on Squarespace. In a world where more and more time is being spent browsing websites on mobile devices, this is a significant drawback of the Wix platform.
Conclusion
Much like Squarespace, Wix can be a great option for a DIYer or micro business starting out that doesn’t require many complex features but as soon as you get to the point you want any sort of additional functionality, it pretty quickly becomes no longer fit for purpose.
Studio44 have been developing bespoke websites for many years and have worked on many successful projects in that time. If you are looking at a new bespoke website or web application and don’t quite know where to start then get in touch, we would love to talk through options with you and see if we can help!
