Wordpress Vs Standalone, Custom Website

[Clubstep]

I've heard a lot about Wordpress being good and all, but how does it compare to running a website using just standard HTML? Does it really make it that much easier?

 

My website is www.clubstep.co.uk and it's for my YouTube channel, www.youtube.com/ClubstepUK which is an electro house and dubstep promotional channel. What I'm wondering is whether I should design my site with Wordpress or not.

[Ice IT Support]

Wordpress provides a graphical user interface to design your site. I think it is similar to blogger, only with much less branding. I don't use Wordpress, these are things I have seen and heard.

[anush]

Always hand coding is the best , you cannot compare hand coded websites to any cms or any site builders.

[2bigpigs]

What if you don't know html and CSS? Is hand-coding still the best?

I know a couple of people who have pretty good looking sites through wordpress. I doubt they can do much in terms of coding but the sites work.

And for the OP's needs, Wordpress seems ok.

[EnlightenedShadow]

I'm experienced in both hand-coding and Wordpress. While hand-coding is the most versatile way to make a website, it can also be very complex and complicated. For example, if you want a image gallery or simple image slider etc... you get to search the web for a decent Javascript code to do just that. Then implementing that code can be a pain as well if you're not experienced in Javascript.

 

With Wordpress however, 9 times out of 10 there is a easy to use plugin already created. There are literally thousands of themes for the site and you can customize any of them from right within the admin panel. Not only is Wordpress great for blogs, it is really good for static pages too. Just check out the small biz theme sometime (http://www.expand2we...smallbiz-theme/). I found that to be a real eye opener to just how much Wordpress could be used to make full websites.

 

In the end, it comes down to preference. If you are really skilled at hand-coding, then that may be best for you but if your not and you think you should take the time to check out Wordpress, I'd recommend you spend a great deal of time looking at it. I started using it about 2 months ago after trying to hand-code everything I ever created and I'm hooked. Having the knowledge of how to hand-code mixed with the Wordpress engine has done wonders for me. I hope this helps.