Have any of you received requests for custom WordPress themes or websites powered by specifically by Wordpress in recent months? I’ve found that there has been an increase in work based around creating WordPress-driven websites or themes hitting my inbox in the past six months. I also noticed when looking through the jobs on sites such as freelanceswitch.com that there are more agencies and companies looking specifically for WordPress theme designers.
This question is born out of curiosity more than anything and wondered what my fellow in the industry thought about it.
Wordpress is really good because it’s so versitile. When I’m building a website, I don’t see a reason not to build all websites in wordpress (although I’m sure there are reasons)
I like WordPress because it’s easy to set up and, once you get the hang of it, you can create a dynamic website without having to worry too much about the technical stuff. I’ve tried to build a CMS from scratch using PHP and MySQL in the past to no avail, which had me quite downhearted as I was wanting to expand my services as a freelancer. I then discovered WordPress and immediately switched to using that instead.
The reason behind the question stems from an article I read on Smashing Magazine (http://wp.smashingmagazine.com/2011/11/29/wordpress-cms-crown-drupal-joomla/) which states that WordPress has the largest market share of when it comes to CMS-driven websites. It got me thinking about some of my recent job offers - I have several requests for personalised WordPress themes sitting in my inbox. Six months ago, I received such requests once a while. I usually get requests for interface design, a static site and the occasional CMS-driven website (and I use WordPress for those anyway). I was just wondering if anyone else had something similar happen to them.
Maybe it’s happening because clients are reading up about WordPress or being recommended it and see it as a solution to updating issues (e.g. they can do it themselves and not have to rely on a web admin) and because it’s cheaper in the long run (gotta watch those pennies - its recession after all and paying for updates is can be expensive).
Yes I agree with you about the money, the clients are able to update the sites themselves , although I do think the bigger reason for the sudden Wordpress demand has more to do with the popularity.
I’m going to check out that article
Do you make Wordpress themes? Do you not like doing it?
Just read the article and i agree that Wordpress as a business was better at marketing itself. It had a clear goal, a recognizable logo that “just stuck” and it was clearly fit blogging. I can’t even remember what joomla or Drupal look like right now. The "brand recognition and interface were easier for “newbies” …
I don’t mind making themes. It has a lot of “wow, I just did that without having to delve into the darkest depths of programming” factor to it.
When I started working with database-driven websites at university, I struggled to get my head around the whole thing. At that time WordPress has just bene launched and being used as a blogging template. Alas, I wouldn’t have been allowed to use that or an equivalent anyway because my lecturers insisted we code everything! from scratch Admittedly, putting code into practice is the best way to learn it. It’s how I teach my students and it works … most of the the time!
I’m more confident with PHP/MySQL these days, but I wouldn’t dream of trying to build and utilise a CMS I’d built myself. I understand how it works (with the help of one of Kevin Yank’s books) and could probably do it if I put my mind to it, but time is my biggest constraint at the moment. I work full time as a lecturer and do the freelance stuff, so I have to fit having a life in their somewhere. WordPress makes it so much easier for me to create dynamic websites, which is why I use it. I recommend it to a lot of people I speak to - students and clients alike, so I guess word of mouth has a lot of sway in making WordPress so popular.
I understand. I just made my first Wordpress theme. I’d been “customizing” other themes… For the first time, I’m doing things the “right” way. I even validated my whole site! haha, but in all seriousness, I’m interested in taking my learning to the next level. I am learning PHP , I started by implementing “includes” into my site. I absolutely adore how organized it is. Next, I think I need to learn how to do a database. I just have to figure out the starting point.
People think WP is the greatest thing since sliced bread kind of have gotten the wool pulled over their eyes a bit. It is a series of database calls, and outputting it. Oppponents of WP usually point to the fact you have to include something like 5 or 10 files to do the most basic things. My personal dislike about it is that they have split things apart in version 3.0+. I forget what I was wanting to do, but in the 20ten theme I had to modify 3 files to get it done. Whereas in other5 versions I had to only touch one, unless I had to modify CSS.
I’ve been very surprised at how many laymen know what WordPress is. Well, not so much know what it is, but have heard of it. I had an email enquiry from a potential client who made a point of mentioning that they “Don’t care for WordPress”, haha.
In the last six months I have been engaged by a private training organisation to deliver short courses in WordPress - the first one being basic site management (installing a theme, some plugins, adding content, etc) and then the second one on child theming. Most of the students at these classes are not web designers or developers looking to learn this tool, they are regular people wanting to make a site for their business or hobby, or have been sent by their workplace to learn. If there’s one thing this has taught me, it’s that there are a huge misconceptions amongst laypeople about WordPress. They hear about it as this great tool that allows you to easily make a website. The problem is, once they want to do something that they expected to - graphic designers expecting to be able to completely create websites from their own designs without touching a line of code being the prime example - they really struggle, their jaws dropping when I show them a template file.
Hi all…new member here. I had to comment on this as it is a topic close to my heart. I’ve been doing a ton of research over the last year and have decided to focus on Wordpress for just this reason. I think it has gained so much traction that Wordpress has become the de-facto choice for many niches just as Windows was for so many years. Now how long this will last no one knows, but we may as well ride the wave while we can. And I actually enjoy the platform even with its quirks and limitations.
