WordPress and the death of web design
Is WordPress killing web design?
As highlighted at the 2010 SXSW Interactive Festival, this debate is centred around the idea that content management systems (CMS) such as WordPress are stifling the creativity of web designers, leading to sapless design solutions.
It’s fair to say many WordPress-powered websites look, well, WordPressy for use of a better word. This trend isn’t limited to WordPress, the same could be said of many popular CMSes: Drupal; Joomla; Expression Engine; MODx; the list goes on.
For those who don’t have the ability to design and code a tailored WordPress website, it’s far too easy to take the standard theme or template, add a header graphic, change a few colours, bish bash bosh, etc… in this instance, WordPress is indeed killing web design (or at least, sloppy webmasters are).
Of course, there’s nothing wrong with the ‘quick and dirty’ route, however this shouldn’t be of detriment to the capabilities and potential of WordPress as a CMS.
Speaking as a designer and developer, many of my client’s websites are powered by WordPress – in fact, this very site is – and I’m proud of the fact they don’t look WordPressy. Everything is bespoke and built from the ground-up to suit the individual requirements of that client. That’s what they’re paying us for, after all!
Lazy web design is killing web design, not WordPress!
Ultimately, a website is only ever going to be as good as the designer/developer creating it, regardless of CMS and it’s a poor craftsman who blames his tools.