A suitable and flexible web development platform decides your website’s success. Getting your web project’s design and functionality output will be hard without correctly understanding your site requirements and the platform’s capabilities.
So, how do you select a suitable web development platform? As I have been in this digital field since 2008 and created my client websites using several platforms, I can guide you in picking an ideal one to build your web asset.
How do you pick your web development platform? Let me guide you!
Things To Consider While Selecting The Web Development Platform
1. Understand Your Site Needs
First, you should be clear about the nature of the site you will build. Examples – Blog, Web Application, Landing Product Page, and E-commerce website. Then, decide on the functionality requirements, such as user login, content management system, and payment gateway.
Evaluating your site traffic to plan for the scalable features would be better. Assessing the technical tasks is a must-do activity, and planning to hire developers is also essential.
With the help of the latest technology developments, it is more likely to build a custom website for your business brand with the help of modern web builders. Finally, determine the development and maintenance costs of your website.
2. Evaluate Crucial Factors
You must research which platform is best suitable for your site requirements. Look at my Checklist!
Customization – Check how easy it is to customize the platform for your needs.
Ease of Use – Is the web development resource user-friendly and comfortable during the process?
Security – How secure the platform is? Don’t prefer the one with loopholes as it may allow the intruders.
SEO-Friendliness – How well does the platform support SEO best practices for higher search engine rankings?
Speed and Performance – How easily can the platform be flexible for performance and speed optimization?
Maintenance and Updates – Does it receive regular security updates and take backups to protect your priceless data?
Responsive – How responsive the web development tool is so your site will look great on small-screen gadgets.
Community Support – Is there an active community to help you fix the issues you seek?
Web Hosting Requirements: Does the platform require a hosting service to launch your project on the web?
Third-Party Integrations: Does it support add-ons to extend your site functionalities?
Ensure that you have answers to all the above questions!
3 Popular Web Development Platforms To Build Your Web Project
At present, the trending web development platforms are
1. WordPress
WordPress is the world-famous open-source content management system. More than 40% of websites use this CMS since it includes an easy-to-use interface and allows us to create everything from scratch without any coding knowledge. Built with PHP and MySQL, WordPress has an extensive library of themes and plugins for endless customization.
I have used this exceptional resource for over 14 years and would say it is highly scalable and SEO-friendly. I admire its built-in editor, media management, and publishing tools, making my content creation straightforward. And you don’t need to possess advanced design skills to build engaging websites.
WordPress also supports a multisite feature, allowing multiple websites to be managed from a single dashboard. Additionally, it has a vast community of developers and contributors ready to help us through forums and tutorials. Out-of-all, it receives regular updates to keep the platform secure.
2. Joomla
Joomla is an excellent open-source content management system (CMS) designed to create websites and web applications. Like WordPress, it incorporates a flexible and user-friendly interface suitable for beginners and experienced developers.
Built on PHP and using a MySQL or PostgreSQL database, Joomla provides a range of features like user management, content publishing, and media management. It contains a robust framework that allows developers to create custom extensions and modules to enhance your website functionality.
The platform supports multilingual websites and is highly customizable, with thousands of free and paid templates. Its dominant user management system allows different user roles and permissions, making it ideal for sites that need different access levels. Joomla also includes built-in SEO tools to help your content rank higher on Google searches.
3. Webflow
Webflow is a cloud-based platform that allows you to design, build, and launch responsive websites without writing code. It combines the flexibility of custom web design with the ease of a visual editor, making it ultimate for designers, freelancers, and small businesses looking to create high-quality websites.
This web development platform uses a drag-and-drop interface, enabling us to create visually complex layouts. You will get access to HTML, CSS, and JavaScript for advanced customizations. It also provides hosting services, making it a complete solution to build and manage your website.
This fantastic resource contains a responsive design system, built-in SEO tools, and eCommerce support. Its interface is precise and engaging; whether you are a designer or developer, you may play well with the settings. You should check this comparison, Webflow Vs WordPress, to select the right platform for your needs.
Note – You should avoid using custom-built frameworks because they use complex web applications that may need an expert to complete the project. Moreover, it may be expensive and require more time to develop.
When Should You Go With WordPress CMS?
WordPress is a fantastic platform that is flexible, easy to use, and widely supported for making various types of websites. However, when should you use this fantastic CMS? Follow my quick guide!
1. Massive Content site
WordPress is excellent at managing and organizing content for a high user experience. It is well-suitable if your site publishes articles, blog posts, images, and videos, which are the core of your site’s function. You don’t need technical expertise to handle a high content volume here.
2. For Non-Developers
As I said earlier, it is not essential to have coding or web designing skills. Through its intuitive interface, you can manage the routine tasks. Likewise, the page builders like Elementor allow you to create custom page layouts without writing any codes. If you are a non-developer, pick this platform.
3. Cost-Effective
WordPress is the right choice if you have a limited budget for web development. It is free and will let you build a fully functional website. Thousands of free and inexpensive themes and plugins are available here, and they will cut down your development costs. Since it contains built-in functionalities, the maintenance cost is very low.
4. E-commerce Sites
When you combine WordPress and WooCommerce (e-commerce plugin), it is easier to build your online store as this plugin is highly customizable, with a vast range of sources to support payments, inventory management, and shipping.
5. SEO-Friendly
Want to rank top for the targeted keywords? WordPress is an SEO-friendly CMS that can be well-optimized for higher search engine rankings without needing advanced technical knowledge. Your site visibility can be tweaked through Keyword Research, Meta descriptions, Heading Tags, and Internal & External link building.
6. Extensive Resources
Looking for the helpful resources to take your site to the next level? The Plugin Repository in WordPress has countless free and premium plugins to extend your site functionality without needing custom development. Likewise, WordPress themes allow you to create custom designs for a professional look, even if you don’t have a developer. You may modify existing themes to suit your business brand.
7. Multi-language Support
If you need to support multiple languages on your site for your global visitors, plugins like WPML or Polylang make it easy to make and manage translations. Yes! Language translation is a simple process here!
8. Vast Community
Want to select a platform that has global support? WordPress has an extensive community of developers and users who are contributing various resources and support for the users. If you face any issues, you can find solutions through community support and freelancers. With a massive global community, you will get abundant support through forums, tutorials, and documentation.
Wrapping Up
Picking an ideal custom web development platform depends on factors like Site needs, Budget, Security, Extendibility, and Community support. The popular tool is chosen because they are flexible, secure, and easy to work with.
Even though website builders are available, I suggest you use the WordPress platform for personal/business blogs, portfolios, non-profit websites, online stores, and small to medium-business websites.
However, if you want to build complex web apps or enterprise-level websites, you may go with the other options discussed in this article. You must analyze the long-term requirements of your web project before making a final decision.
