[wp-hackers] WordPress as CMS (was: wordpress security)

[Scott Kingsley Clark]

Yes, it's time I chime in on this one ;)

As I've been silently and reluctantly holding back from jumping in on 
the conversation, many of you have plenty of points but they all say 
"WordPress is great, and it can be better".

With that said, I believe WordPress can do *anything*, especially with 
all the plugins out there. About the bloat that there is - WordPress has 
only recently (in the past few years) become more able to handle being a 
non-blog. It is *only* logical that as WordPress evolves, it should 
become more versatile for user needs.

Having some internal filters that run before certain things are turned 
"on" or "included" would be great - making it possible to pass a "false" 
through the filter which says "No, don't use that, don't even start". 
This is a look into the future, it's not an idea, it may not be the 
exact way I'm describing, but it will happen.

Some of you may be aware of the Pods CMS plugin 
(http://pods.uproot.us/), and if you are you probably know that I'm one 
of the developers on the project. It's plugins like these, that truly 
make it possible for users to use WordPress in more and more complex ways.

"There's a tool for every job" may be right, but if you're talking about 
something that runs on a LAMP/WAMP server, and you're extremely 
comfortable with the WordPress code - that phrase doesn't necessarily apply.

I've used WordPress for many things: Websites, Blogs, Websites with 
Blogs, Web Apps, Automation Systems, and just about anything that 
requires a login. Combined with the Adminimize plugin, I can easily hide 
everything not necessary. Why use WordPress? Because it's so freaking 
customizable and I *know* the code. In fact, I and plenty of other 
developers / dev shops / web firms specialize in it.

The community has been pushing towards content equality for a while, and 
other content types don't get as much love as the blog part of WordPress 
does. That's fine for now, but the community as a whole will undoubtedly 
change that in the near future. We're witnessing an exciting time for 
WordPress - it's growing and so are it's needs.

We lower the bar so everyone can blog AND have a site.

BTW, I absolutely hate Static HTML sites, I refuse to build one in this 
day and age. As a developer, it's more work and trouble long term. As a 
visitor, if the site is static vs has WP and WP Caching - there's 
virtually no difference anyway. The scope of a static site is usually 
pretty small, and most sites have a long term growth plan that aren't 
necessarily known by the people who the site is for. Yes, I'm saying 
people who want sites don't yet know what the future holds for their 
site, and don't want to have to invest in a completely new site to add a 
little here and there.

I know the WordPress framework will only get better and I stand by it. I 
donate a ton of my free time towards the WordPress, Pods, and other 
plugin communities where I can help. If you have any questions, just 
e-mail me and ask.


Best Regards,

Scott Kingsley Clark // Developer + Consultant

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sc0ttkclark at gmail.com
http://www.scottkclark.com/
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