Fear of Wordpress

A couple of years ago, I thought that Wordpress would usher in the demise of the freelance and small Web designer and dumb down the design of the Web. While that may have happened to some small extent, the enterprising designer seems to be jumping on the Wordpress bandwagon, recognizing that it is a great solution for small business Web sites, and adopting it as a tool rather than simply being replaced by it.

A Wordpress site can now be made to look more like a grown up Web site rather than just a linear blog, and can be styled to look just fine, thank you very much. Where designers would spend hours and days designing and implementing a small Website, then perhaps have a small income through maintenance, now design and implementation can be done in a matter of hours. And maintenance? Putting maintenance squarely in the hands of the small business owner may take a few maintenance dollars out of the designer's pocket, but is that really what you wanted to be doing anyway? Wouldn't you rather be free to make design dollars (as opposed to the lesser maintenance dollars) on new sites and new clients?

What was a threat to Web design, now seems like a boon by creating a low-cost, simple alternative that can be part of your suite of offerings. Its an easy way to put the least interesting, least paying work in the hands of the business owner themselves so you can focus on what you do best.

Suffice it to say, I plan to take advantage of Wordpress to support a basic offering for my new business. Technology and application thereof will continue to change exponentially, and business people will always need specialists to demystify the tech world for them, so bring on the time-saving technological advancements in design!