It’s arrived. Part 3 of emagine’s WordPress for the Enterprise blog series is here and where we’re debunking common WordPress myths. So far, we’ve covered WordPress as a secure CMS solution for the enterprise and WordPress as a scalable solution for the enterprise.

This week, let’s get to the flexibility of WordPress.

Flexibility, Extendibility, and Customizability

It’s all possible with WordPress. Before you start shaking your head at your screen, read on…

The ability to customize WordPress according to your needs instead of a one-size-fits-all solution makes it a contender in the enterprise-grade Content Management System arena.

“WordPress combines simplicity for users and publishers with under-the-hood complexity for developers. This makes it flexible while still being easy-to-use.” (Source: WordPress.org)

As an open source platform, the code is open to everyone to use and customize. (Note: Any updates core code of WordPress is vetted by the core development team before seeing the light of day).

Did You Know: There have been 27 major versions of WordPress released since the platform’s inception? (Source: WordPress.org)

If you’re working with an agency to update or completely redesign your website – as long as the web developers have the know-how – there are technically no limits to the functionality you can build into your website. With commercial content management systems – like Sitecore CMS and Kentico, for example – you are confined to the functionality built in to the platform. Nothing more, nothing less.

Side-note: With the influx of unskilled webmasters, it’s important to evaluate the partner you’re working with and their expertise and capability in evaluating the use of any plugin (extended, custom or not) on your website.

A Website That Perfectly Meets Your Needs

This extensive level of flexibility is especially appealing for complex, enterprise companies who don’t want to be (and shouldn’t be) pigeon holed into an out-of-the-box solution that doesn’t perfectly meet their preferences and needs.

And when it doesn’t perfectly fit the business’s needs, you can bet it won’t meet the users’ needs. But what exactly do you mean by flexibility, you ask?

Options, options. Come and get ‘em.

You don’t have to settle for a website that wasn’t built precisely for your audience, your business and your process. Here are just a few examples:

Products
Organize products, solutions or services as a direct reflection of your business’s organizational structure.

Content Tagging
Use specific tags and categories for your content, not ambiguous options that might fit for a variety of businesses.

Functionality
Build a website with the exact functionality you need, not catch-all functionality that might fall short.

Content Types
With several content types available you don’t have to shove your content into a template that just doesn’t make sense.

•  Pages For a hierarchical structure, parent/child relationship, static pages. Use for precisely placed elements of your website like Services or About Us sections.

•  Posts To allow for content segmentation. Use tags, categories, and any custom taxonomies created in WordPress to say where the post should appear on your website. An example of this in action is pulling a relevant case study from the resource library that is tagged “SEO” on the SEO Services page.

•  Custom post types Use for content that doesn’t fit the normal post or page attributes. Custom posts are completely different than any other page layout on your website and can be used to project portfolios, products, events, careers and leadership sections of your website.

You have options

But the best part is that an experienced WordPress developer can customize and extend WordPress code to match the needs and preferences of your company and your audience. That’s a win in our book!