Sounds simple, and obvious, given that WordPress has been my go-to platform of choice for website creation over the last 4 years; but as I upgrade the last of my client websites to the brand new WordPress3.0RC3 it occurred to me that this is what I do.
I build, from end to end, websites in WordPress.
I take requirements, I plan the sitemap, I define the flow of information, I design to standards, I create the additional server-side functionality, I tweak the CSS and finally add some fun interactive JavaScript (if needed).
With the new menu functionality and custom post types, WordPress has moved a step closer to being a fully featured CMS. Regardless to what the “blogosphere” says, it’s not there yet. It’s functions are still too narrow, aimed at easily getting you the output it thinks you want as easily as possible. It still feels like some of the more “CMS” features, and the new menu especially, aren’t quite rounded yet – but that is to be expected.
As someone who takes great pride in hand-coding my routines entirely, I am finally enjoying a framework that works with me, from end to end. Now if we could just get bbPress to fix it’s bugs before focussing on new features we’d be laughing!!!