First time making a website, I wrote my own code. To help me design the website, I also used some web builder applications like FrontPage and Dreamweaver. Indeed I needed more effort to deal with the codes. However, there was a kind of satisfaction after finishing that quite difficult job.
To this extent, everything was okay. But I was not an advanced and experienced code writer. Hence, the problem began appearing when I wanted something that needed more sophisticated coding skill.
Some years later, a friend of mine told me that making a website is not that difficult. "To make a professional-look website easily, we can use a CMS," he said.
"What is CMS?" I asked him curiously.
"It is Content Management System. It's like a magic machine, or an empty house in which you can put all of your furniture. You don't need to build the house from scratch. The Aladin's magic lamp will give you the house, but it's still empty. What you have to do is only putting everything you want inside the house," he said.
After the discussion, he gave me the magic machine. It's a zipped file, named Mambo. After extracting the file, I run the file. It's an installation, just like "installing your own house". Mambo was really like a magic machine. It gave me a website in no more than fifteen minutes.
After approximately one year using Mambo, I found that there was a new release of Mambo named Joomla. I was not waiting. I downloaded the installer file on the internet, and then I installed it. I found that Joomla was not much different from Mambo. Probably the difference was only in their names.
I really enjoyed Joomla. I made a number of websites using it. After installation finished, I just needed to customize the look of the websites. It's also not a work from scratch. Joomla lovers already made a huge number of web-design template. Some of them are free.
After several years using Joomla to make websites, someone told me that there was another magic machine. It is called Wordpress. I was so curious. Not waiting longer time, I downloaded Wordpress installer. Then I installed it. And yes, it's really amazing. I found that Wordpress was quite different from Mambo and Joomla. It's smaller in size. It's lighter because it's only designed for blogging. Using Mambo and Joomla, you can make a portal, ie a website that contains many things. Whereas using Wordpress, you can make a blogging website, ie a website that mostly contains only stories and pictures.
My new experience was making a number of websites using Wordpress. It's really easy to use as well as simple. Just like using Mambo and Joomla, I only needed to customize the template.
Now a question emerges: "Do you still need to write your own code in order to make a website?" Is this question confusing?
A friend of mine said that the answer can be yes or no. Both are possible. Some people said that a website built using CMS does not have high level security. Some cases show that a CMS-website is easier to hack. But it's actually not that weak (unsecured). As long as the website owner regularly upgrades the CMS, the website is already quite secured. The CMS company certainly releases the upgrades to make sure that the system is secured enough to use.
Writing your own code certainly results in higher security. The website made by your own code is usually also lighter, smaller in size. This can significantly save your hosting space. But writing your own code undoubtedly needs more effort and skill. Only some experts on PHP and SQL can do that job. Even if someone is an expert, he still needs more effort compared to making a website using CMS.
Now, the choice is in your hand: either to make your own code or to use CMS. Both are possible. I personally prefer using CMS because I am not an expert on PHP and SQL. I know the codes, but I am not an expert on it. By using CMS, I am able to make websites on my own without paying much money (to pay a web programmer). How about you?
No comments:
Post a Comment