Weighing Up The Pro’s and Con’s of a Bespoke CMS

Cost

One of the main advantages of using open source platforms like Wordpress is they can save on development and maintenance costs. For example if we’re building a blog site for someone we’d always recommend something like Wordpress because writing custom code for blog functionality is a redundant task which adds an unnecessary cost to a project.

However, and this is where things get more complicated, we often find that as soon as you venture away from core functionality in an open source platform costs quickly spiral and serious consideration has to be given to a bespoke solution. For example in the early days of Wordpress I was building a site which seemed to be straightforward on the surface and we got 95% of the way through development before realizing the menu structure the site required wasn’t going to be supported by the Wordpress codex (these days Wordpress handles menu’s pretty well natively). We tried several plugins, tried adapting a few only to break them before finally coming up with a hand-coded workaround which took longer than the rest of the design and build time combined.

Solid forward planning and wireframing helps to prevent problems like this but in most cases I still recommend thinking very carefully before assuming you’ll be able to modify core functionality on an open source CMS easily, and remember to factor in additional costs for maintaining custom plugins and hard coded solutions through new releases of the CMS.

Functionality

Above I touched upon functionality and how I always aim to stick as close to the core functionality of an open source CMS as possible. Before committing to a platform make sure you have a full specification and roadmap for the website over the next 2-3 years. For most brochure sites this is going to be really straightforward but for larger projects (especially ecommerce) you’ll often find when quizzed a client will have grand ambitions for a site further down the road.

For example a start up ecommerce business selling T-shirts might initially be happy with a basic online store so something like Magento or OScommerce will look like an attractive option to get off the ground quickly and cheaply. But if in 6 months they want to be offering a ‘design your own t-shirt’ online tool trying to customize the open-source platform to do this is going to be a nightmare and most likely you’ll end up going back to the drawing board and coding a bespoke solution from scratch.

Performance

I’ve written before about how open source platforms are sub-optimal for website speed optimisation. If you want to keep your website light-weight and speedy you’ll probably be better off building a bespoke solution from the ground up in most cases (that’s if budget is no obstacle).

Also under performance you need to be thinking about the user experience for website managers who will be using the CMS on a daily basis. Wordpress has a pretty user friendly interface but trying to train CMS newbies on Joomla or OS commerce is a painful process. Look at the skill level of the users who will ultimately be responsible for maintaining the site and choose a system which they’re able to use. If they can’t use Wordpress and need something even simpler – build it from scratch!

Security

Open source CMS are a double-edged sword when it comes to security. In one respect, regular releases of new security patches and upgrades should mean the sites you build are more secure. However because the code is open and the value for hackers in finding exploits in systems like Wordpress is so high you are also making yourself a bit of a target. That’s why most large financial organisations or enterprise level ecommerce businesses will either have a custom built platform or a costly closed source off the shelf solution.

I hope this run down of points we look at when deciding on a technical direction for a web design project gives you some food for thought. If there are any questions I’d be happy to answer them in the comments.

This was a guest post by John from web designers Brighton Bright Site. See our portfolio and contact us if you need a speedy bespoke website or an open source solution!

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