reflections on the wordpress-as-cms presentation

This past Monday (10/26/2009) I was invited to speak at the Chicagoland Library Drupal Group, hosted by the very friendly Mick Jacobsen of Skokie Public Library (@mickjacobsen).  Before I say anything else – thanks Mick, I had a blast and truly appreciated the opportunity.

But onto the subject at hand: Me talking WordPress at a Drupal group.  Odd pairing, eh?  Mick didn’t think so and either did I.  There are a lot of skilled Drupal users at this group but there’s been (at least the two times I’ve gone) some folks simply exploring its opportunities.  So to have a speaker like myself talk WordPress, an alternate CMS, alongside Drupal is a good thing.

We had a good turn out (25 folks or more) from around the area and an inquisitive audience.  I was one of three folks scheduled for the day and stood up first at the podium.  You can whip through the Slideshare version of the presentation below to get the gist of what I talked about, but I want to comment on a few specific reflections I had post-presentation.

1: I sold WordPress short

And I did it on purpose.  It’s no use going to a Drupal group extolling the wonders of WordPress when the next two presenters are going to blow you out of the water with great features that WordPress simply does not have in core or in plugins: Drupal’s Views, CCK, and Blocks.

As a CMS, WordPress doesn’t have the extensibility with its data.  For the most part, it’s stuck in individual pages or posts.  Want to make a list of databases?  Well, you’ve gotta rip into templates and WordPress template tags.  Want to make a WYSIWYG two column layout? See the last point or show your CSS chops (be sure to remind WordPress that it’s ok to accept Div tags and such – it likes to erase them for you).  And this brings me to my next point…

2: I was honest

WordPress works wonderfully as a CMS on small scale sites.  On sites that don’t require a lot of mixing and matching of content types.  I would bet you money that this changes in the future, but the future isn’t now and it would be a lie to say that it can do this.

What I did was emphasize its standout qualities: Usability, simplicity, and community.  Because WordPress can’t be beat in these categories (in the present).  It has a user interface that can be learned in minutes, administration that can be taught in a day, and a  responsive and caring user base.

3: What I could have/should have done

Highlight more completely what we do do to make WordPress a more robust CMS.  I listed the plugins we use and breezed through the important ones, but illustrating the why behind them could have been a bit more powerful.  If you follow my #wordpressCMS hashtag on Twitter you’ll see that there’s a bunch of really good plugins that can enhance WordPress more fully into the CMS realm and I truly believe it can be a great CMS for the right user.

All in all it was a good presentation and a heck of a lot of fun to talk about.  And if you think that my days are done at the Drupal group gatherings, you’d be wrong.  I loved learning about CCK and Views and hearing from the “other” CMS pros