What do I lose if I use Wordpress instead of a php framework for a complex but "standard" webapp? Is the tradeoff worth it? [closed]

Question

I know this has been asked a lot and I've explored the other answers, but I still have questions, so hopefully this sheds fresh insight on the debate.

A year ago I built a service scheduling web app from scratch in CodeIngniter with the following functionalities:

• user management with different roles and functionalities
• different backends for each user
• interactive and manageable calendar for scheduling services
• territory management and assignment
• management for service status
• reports and records
• billing with authorize.net
• front-end informational pages

All pretty standard stuff and codeIgniter worked great. Now, a year later, I'm revising the code. The client wants some different management features, like a CMS for the pages and to add new services and change the calculation price points, etc. I need to add new classes and code to make this work.

Over the last year I have dove very deep into Wordpress and realize that I could have built this whole app in wordpress using custom post types, taxonomies, custom fields, and expanded custom functionality though a custom plugin. In many ways, this seems like it would be better.

Pros of using Wordpress instead of php framework:

• existing base with CMS, user management, familiar backend, database structure to start from, saving lots of development time
• constantly updated security
• stability
• robustness (I know wordpress can handle this even though its intended use is for blogs)

Reasons to use a framework:

• flexibility
• ORM
• MVC
• other?

So... which is better? Do I really need ORM or MVC for this project? I feel my development efforts and client ux would be easier if I use Wordpress.

What else do I lose if I switch to wordpress?

What about combining Wordpress in a framework, or vice versa? Recommendations?

When does it make sense to use a framework instead of wordpress?

Answer 1

It's a fairly broad question, so here's a fairly broad answer...

Wordpress is a CMS. It's a good, flexible CMS with lots of built-in goodness, but its sweet spot is managing a site that's primarily about content, where content is very broadly defined as "words, pictures and other assets". The plug-in model lets you build/use additional functionality, and the wide user community provides lots of stability/security/scalability help.

Code Igniter is a framework that's designed for functional web apps (in practice, this usually means database-driven apps). Its sweet spot is managing complex interactions with a business domain. It is a framework for building any kind of app (including, if you were glutton for punishment, a CMS).

If your business domain is about content (and I don't think it is, based on your description), Wordpress is an obvious winner. In your case, I think you could probably build the solution using Wordpress, but it would be a real edge case - and the benefits you mention of "security, stability, robustness" would likely not apply, because you would need to build a lot of custom code. I think you'd very quickly get to the "well, it's not the way Wordpress wants me to work, but to deliver this feature, I just have to do it this way" point.

When business users say they want a CMS, they usually don't mean they want Wordpress (or Drupal, or Sitecore, or Magnolia); they want to be able to manage their site without having to go to the techies. If your site is primarily database-driven, that means screens to manage database records.

Answer 2

It's about structure and function in my view. Both CMS(Wordpress) and PHP Framework provide structure/functions to build your own functions. You can do the same things on CMS and Framework. They shouldn't have much difference on performance and security amongst well known Frameworks and CMSs.

However, CMS focus on Front-end (contents?), provides with ready to use CSS, Javascript (Front-end) in order to build / manage websites and web based applications easy and quick. Though, it's not very clear in structure comparing to MVC model.

Both would do the same job if you develop yourself, but in a team, framework could provide benefit.

It's only my view, I am using Wordpress a lot and a little knowledge on framework.