When talking about websites, you’ve probably heard the terms HTML and WordPress (as well as many others). What do they mean, and what are the advantages of one over the other?
HTML vs WordPress
Put simply, Hypertext Markup Language (HTML) is the underlying standard language of all websites. It’s a language used to create structured documents with text coding that describes elements such as headings, text, paragraphs, lists, links, graphics and other items. Web browsers read and interpret the code to render web pages. To a casual computer user, HTML code can look like a mishmash of unintelligible text. It’s a powerful tool which isn’t easy to use for everyone.
WordPress is a free, open-source Content Management System (CMS) that makes it easy for the masses to interact with HTML without having to learn how to write code. Initially released in 2003 as a system for creating and publishing blogs, it’s evolved into one of the most popular methods to publish sites. Of the 172 million estimated websites on the web today, around 75 million use WordPress.
With its popularity, flexibility and relative ease of use, it’s a no-brainer that we use and promote WordPress for many of the sites we create and manage.
Advantages of using WordPress
Ease of Use: The big selling feature of WordPress is ease of use. With just a small amount of training, even a novice computer user can make website edits. Using preset modules and a dashboard of all the pages on a site, it’s generally easy to find the page, make the changes, then preview and update the page on the web.
Capability: WordPress sites initially were simple things, due to the underlying blog platform. But the software today is capable of handling just about any type of website. Some big-name companies that run WordPress sites include Disney, Sony Music, Mercedes-Benz and Variety.
Themes: There are thousands of themes available (some free, some paid) that allow users to easily change the look and feel of a site without having to change the site’s code or content. The developers at adWhite have developed our own theme which we use as a basis to create customized sites for our clients.
Plugins: The WordPress architecture is based on customizability, and plugins are specialized pieces of code that extend the basic software’s capabilities, allowing users to quickly add new features without having to develop custom code. Plugins can provide enhanced features such as security, forms, image galleries and eCommerce functionality, just to name a few. Read more about some Awesome WordPress plugins that our developers love.
But wait, there’s more
Beyond WordPress, there’s an even better Content Management System: HubSpot. For many clients, we recommend migrating their website into HubSpot, which provides easy-to-use content-management tools, responsive design for seamless browsing on all platforms, full site security for safe browsing experiences, quick creation for email and blog posts, complete traffic and site analytics, and much more.
We use HubSpot for Inbound Marketing, a strategy that draws the right visitors IN to your company by providing consistent, helpful and relevant content — focusing on information that users want, whether in the form of blogs, podcasts, emails, videos, case studies, social media posts or other strategic activities.
To find out more about which type of website-creation tools will help grow your business, contact adWhite today.
