All websites files on the internet live on a web server and web site content is mostly made up of HTML and graphic files. When customer’s access your website the web server sends raw HTML to the customer’s web browser. The web browser then reads the HTML, downloads additional assets and regenerates the webpage on the screen/device.

This guide compares using WordPress and building your own HTM website and editing the site with a HTML editor like Dreamweaver.

There are a number of standards for HTML syntax and rules for making accessible webpages.  If you do not meet the latest standards your website will be ranked a lot lower in Search engines or even be blocked.

If you are technically minded you can have fun learning HTML, Cascading Style Sheets (CSS) for nice layouts, JavaScript and JQuery for interactive widgets along with SQL and PHP for building pages that load and save data to databases.  If you are building a static HTML website, you should use the mobile responsive Bootstrap HTML framework. You can buy in a bootstrap theme or design your own site using sites like layout-it.

Google tips for web developers: search-engine-optimization-starter-guide.pdf (cached here).

• Create unique, accurate page titles
• Make use of the “description” meta tag
• Improving Site Structure
• Improve the structure of your URLs
• Make your site easier to navigate
• Optimizing Content
• Offer quality content and services
• Write better anchor text
• Optimize your use of images
• Use heading tags appropriately
• Dealing with Crawlers
• Make effective use of robots.txt
• Be aware of rel=”nofollow” for links
• SEO for Mobile Phones
• Notify Google of mobile sites
• Guide mobile users accurately
• Promotions and Analysis
• Promote your website in the right ways
• Make use of free webmaster tools

Dreamweaver CC and Expression Web are the go to HTML web editing tools along with my favourite code editor Sublime Text 3.

HTML editors:

 

Ok so what about the non technical people, how can they setup and edit a website easily.

This is where WordPress CMS saves the day 🙂

WordPress is a free CMS that you can download from http://www.wordpress.org or host on WordPress Servers at http://www.wordpress.com.  WordPress saves you from having to learn HTML and all the other technical bits.  You can access your site using WordPress from a desktop computer, tablet or mobile device (no need to install HTML editing software).

WordPress powers over 25% of all websites on the internet and is the most popular content management system. Shopify and SquareSpace have less than 1% market share.

Check out some sites running WordPress: https://wordpress.org/showcase/

 

WordPress Extensions

You can choose from thousands of free and commercial themes and thousands of free and commercial plugins. I have guides on Building a WordPress website from scratch and choosing a theme and essential plugins.

WordPress Support

WordPress has great support, forums and documentation, there are loads of free lessons for the beginner through to writing posts and beyond.

 

WordPress Mobile

WordPress apps are available on iOS and Android mobile devices so you can add and edit on the road.  There is nothing stopping you adding and editing ALL content on a WordPress website from a mobile device. You could be at an event and create a post, take photos and submit a new page to your site all from your phone.

You can download the WordPress apps from https://wordpress.org/mobile/

 

Using WordPress.

WordPress offers a “WYSIWYG” editor for pages and posts. I use WordPress and this is what I see when I am editing this article.  

Media Manager

WordPress comes with a simple media manager (for uploading graphics and attachments) and it is quite simple use.

Pro’s and Con’s

WordPress needs some pre requisite software and has some limitations so here is a breakdown of the pro’s and con’s.

	Pro’s	Con’s
WordPress	Needs a compatible server and hosting plan (PHP and MySQL database). Quick to setup and install a theme Easy to add functionality (anything from calendars, lists, galleries etc) Easy to edit and update Thousands of free themes Thousands of commercial themes. Integrates with other services like Mail Chimp for sending newsletters. Can easily be edited from mobile or tablet devices. Great support and help guides. You can still use HTML Ticks a lot of the Google website developer suggestions. Easy to add/delegate new users. 1,000’s of plugins. Secure your site and automate backups (paid plugin)	Needs securing from the start. Needs occasional updating. Limited flexibility to modify a theme. Best to choose a mobile/compliant theme at the start. Security concerns with out dated plugins or versions of WordPress.
Static HTML	Does not need prerequisite software (if the content is basic). Best for simple non interactive sites. Cheaper. Can be faster.	You need to design and develop a lot o the site by hand. A lot of web servers don’t allow unencrypted FTP connections ( encryption support lacking in some versions of Dreamweaver and other FTP apps). Hard to add database support. You need to be on the ball with coding standards. harder to hand over support to a different person. Security concerns if you roll your own database support. Dreamweaver CC costs $19 a month

 

Where to next

The real trick is setting up and clean WordPress installation with a nice theme (preferably commercial) and building in your sites pages/content and securing the site.

You can use my guide here to build a local WordPress installation or you can deploy straight onto a compliant web host.

Good luck.

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