Let’s get ready to rumble!!! In this corner, we have CMS! Coming in at bloated and often criticized, this web design heavyweight has been taking the web design world by storm since its inception. At the other corner, we have Hand Coded Websites! Lean mean and ready to clean your bank out! Ready for the battle of the web design champions?
CMS Vs. Hand Coded Websites
Ok, I’ll drop the corniness a bit now. Let’s get into the discussion by defining each side.
CMS
HTML, CSS, JS, PHP oh my! There’s a lot that could go into a website. Back in the inception of the web, knowledge of these languages was the only way to build a website. Until Good old CMS came along. CMS is software that lets you get online without the need to master HTML, CSS, and Javascript. It handles all the heavy lifting in the back so that you can focus on making things look pretty.
The most popular CMS is WordPress. This bad boy powers over 42% of all websites. There are of course others, like Squarespace, Shopify, Webflow, Wix. But by far WordPress has the largest hold on the web design world.
Hand Coded Websites
I want you to do something for me. Right-click and click on the “inspect” tool. You feel 100x cooler now right? What you are seeing is the actual code that makes up a website. These are languages like HTML, CSS, and JS. Of course, there are others, but these three are the most popular. To give a quick understanding of what each one does, HTML is the skeleton, CSS is the skin, and JS is the muscle, nervous system, lymphatic system…you get the point.
When a website is developed using these languages and built from the ground up, we call it “hand-coded”.
Now let’s take a deeper look at the use cases for each of these and see which one is best for your use case.
CMS in Depth
Since WordPress is the most popular option out there, we will mainly focus on it from the WordPress side of things. There may be other options that have found solutions for the issues discussed or different functionality depending on the task.
Pros
- Quicker build time
- A simple framework for non-coders
- A large pool of functionality
- Many plugins to choose from
- Easier to maintain
Cons
- Higher security risk (if you don’t update plugins/themes)
- Some limitations if you don’t know code
- Too many plugins cause massive bloat (slows down the website)
- Because of ease of use, there are a lot more poorly designed websites
CMS’s biggest pro is also a big con. The large supply of plugins (bits of code designed in an easy-to-use format) can help add almost any functionality to your CMS. The drawback is that you have a website that may load very slowly, creating a poor user experience. Of course, if you hire the right designer, they will use page builders or just themes and focus on optimizing your website.
One more point to keep track of is, because of the large repository of plugins, WordPress and other CMS’ become the target of hackers. That’s why it’s important that whoever builds your website is aware of the quality of the plugins they use and is on top of making sure things are up to date.
Hand Coding in Depth
Pros
- Cleaner code resulting in a faster website
- Easier to secure
- Unlimited potential in functionality
- Developer has more customization control
Cons
- Must be maintained by a developer
- Much more costly than a site build with a CMS
- If the developer is not knowledgeable of best practices, you can be left with a website that is difficult to maintain after they finish
- Any updates/changes need to be made by a developer
Hand-coded websites offer a larger functionality and customization but at a larger price. You also run the risk of having a developer who doesn’t follow structure rules which may leave you with a website that can’t be maintained once the relationship ends. If you know anyone who knows coding, have them check the code to see if it is easy to read on other sites the developer has built, this way you won’t have to worry about the stress of being abandoned.
How to choose the right one
There we go, we have the stats, we know, now it’s time to put these two in the ring and see who comes out on top!
Ok, it’s not that dramatic. Both are useful and both have their place. It comes down to what you need and what’s best for your business.
If you have the time and money to hire a developer to create, maintain and update your website, it is worth it to be hardcoded. However, it comes with the caveat that ANY changes, meaning, you want to change even a miss-spelled word, your web developer will have to come in and save the day. Which works fine for businesses that have teams and rely fully on their website (think Amazon).
CMS on the other hand is great for small to medium businesses and has a plethora of options to promote their business. WordPress for example has many tools that can be used for things like Search Engine Optimization and can be easily updated, maintained, and sometimes even changed. It also works well for those who just want a blog or a personal website. However, choosing the right web designer will go a long way in making sure you have a properly built and optimized site, otherwise, you may end up with a mess on your hands.
Well, that’s it, folks! There we have it. It’s a draw, it all depends on what your business needs. Just make sure that whoever you choose to build your website can add the functionalities you need and is aware of the potential issues that can come up.
