Why Some PHP Folks Hate WordPress
February 24, 2010
I love WordPress. I said it, that wasn’t too hard, was it? Well, it wasn’t hard because I’m sitting all by myself, but the times I uttered those words in the company of PHP developers I ended up with a long drawn out discussion full of sentiment and little substance.
I heard many arguments why some PHP folks don’t like WordPress and I’ve heard counter-arguments to those reasons; but I never quite got the essence of why WordPress doesn’t get the respect it deserves from a large part of the PHP community.
Let’s go down the checklist to clarify things a bit
Hater: WordPress security sucks!
Lover: The community does an awesome job at plugging holes quickly.
Hater: It’s PHP 4!
Lover: Yes, I concede on that one, but the more WP users and developers continue pushing for a full PHP 5 core the sooner we’ll get it (maybe. some day.)
Hater: It’s just for blogs!
Lover: That’s just dumb. How long has it been since you visited the intarwebs?
Hater: It’s a little toy for people that don’t know how to code.
Lover: It can be, but it can also help you create very powerful stuff. The tools are there for you to use, and they won’t get in the way if you don’t.
So you get the picture. There are valid arguments, but the truth is some PHP developers hate WordPress because it isn’t coded like the applications they are used to working on. As easy as it is to get started coding for WordPress, for someone that is used to building sites from scratch, or even using a framework, being subjected to ‘actions’, ‘filters’, ‘The Loop‘ and other WordPress idiosyncrasies causes some discomfort.
If you are the PHP developer I describe here, don’t get offended. Give WordPress a try. Don’t just install it, but actually get your hands dirty with a theme or plugin. It’s weird at first, but once you get past the initial annoyance you’ll find an extremely powerful platform that just might be the wrench you’re missing in your toolbox.
A great place to answer your questions is the Codex, but there are a million and one resources out there. If you are in the mood for reading a book I recommend the WordPress Bible by Aaron Brazell, truly an awesome resource (which you might just end up buying.)
Tags: community, Wordpress, wp
One Response to “Why Some PHP Folks Hate WordPress”
Speak up
Very cool point, I love WordPress too, True confession time, i’v no idea about PHP.