This is the 2024 review of WordPress CMS, the open-source content management system (CMS), that you can install on a server. We will approach the review from the perspective of a small business owner or a website manager. And without adding any plugins.
video version: https://youtu.be/JEXZPe87EfIhttps://en-ca.wordpress.org/, url to try out the latest version of Wordpress - https://playground.wordpress.net/
This will focus on core capabilities of the latest version of Wordpress out-of-the-box.
Latest version and End of life (EOL)
- Wordpress 6.6.1 is the latest version as of August 2024
- https://en-ca.wordpress.org/about/requirements/
- https://wordpress.org/documentation/article/supported-versions/
- Versions older than 5.7 are not supported
- If you need tips for migration or want help to do it on a schedule check out https://mangoblogger.com/feature/website-migration/
Support for markdown, rst format
- Wordpress supports markdown format out of the box
- RST format is not supported out of the box, but you can install plugins to support RST format
Tables, code blocks, images, links, accordion, tabs, and other components
- Tables are supported
- Accordions and tabs are not supported out of the box
- Code blocks do not have syntax highlighting
- You can have multiple column layout
Images
- You can add image and edit the aspect ration
- Image optimization is not supported out of the box
Editing CSS, JS, and HTML
- You can edit the the theme file by creating a child theme
Install marketing scripts
- You can add script by editing the theme file
Default SEO and Analytics
- Does not output meta description out of the box, it is dependent on the theme
- You can install plugins for adding meta desctiption
Usability for non-technical users
- Beacuse a server and database are required, it is not as easy as other website builders
- Core functionaly is good for blogging