WordPress is one of the most popular website builders. It is user-friendly, even for relative tech novices, and affordable to manage. About 40% of websites are built on WordPress technology, which is open source and free.
Because WordPress is open source, developers from around the world can create “plugins” which are designed to augment and enhance the website builder. Examples range from straight-foward, such as form builders, to the completely obscure. For example, the plugin, Cornify, fills a webpage with an entire screen full of dancing unicorns when a page has been inactive for more than five seconds.
However, the thing that makes WordPress easy to use is also the thing that makes WordPress risky to use.
Because the average WordPress site uses 20-30 plugins (and more “advanced” websites might use 50+ plugins), there is a huge risk of unintended downstream impacts if there is an issue with a plugin.
Unintended downstream impacts were one result of a recent feud between WordPress and WP Engine, an unrelated company that hosts websites built on WordPress.
The founder of WordPress recently criticized WP Engine for disabling a feature that allowed users to see and track revision history of posts. This criticism was rooted in the belief that this was a money-saving tactic by WP Engine that did not benefit users in any way.
This spiraled into accusations that WP Engine’s use of the “WP” brand is confusing to customers, who then believe it to be part of WordPress. Both sides of the argument ramped up their words and actions, leading to a ban on WP Engine accessing the resources of WordPress.org.
Even though plugins and themes are under the open source license, WP Engine runs a service to fetch them, which is not covered under the open source license.
The upshot? Lots of broken websites. And unhappy customers. And developers seeking guidance about how to use WordPress and WP Engine without risk.
Compare that to a platform like Xtern Software’s HarmonyB2B, which is built without the need for additional plugins and themes. This mitigates the risk like the one recently encountered by WordPress users.
This means that your website will work reliably, and operates independently, free from reliance on any third-party service that could be unpredictable or unreliable. This stability supports your goal of driving revenue without the risk of unexpected disruptions caused by outside providers.