The need for a faster website creation turnaround is increasing, and more non-technical customers are taking advantage of no-code and low-code development platforms.
WordPress is a CMS for building various website types, such as blogs, shops, and simple web presentations. By itself, it is a platform, which allows you to create, edit and publish content without the need for coding knowledge.
WordPress is also widely used as a low-code development platform and allows developers to use their knowledge to their advantage and create a custom user experience.
The base of over 59,000 plugins is enough for anyone to add functionality to WordPress. There is an array of free and premium themes and plugins that offer a unique look and functionalities for anyone who uses them.
The pros and cons of low-code development on WordPress
The rise of website builder solutions allow users to interact with the platform intuitively. Many hosting companies propose website design tools that non-professionals can use.
Web professionals meticulously created these tools for non-technical users to set up their websites fast and seize an online presence.
However, as businesses grow, the limited nature of no-code environments may become insufficient, and the user seeks more advanced ways to achieve desired appearance and/or functionality, which is exactly what WordPress offers compared to no-code platforms.
The advantage of using WordPress is that you can use native WordPress options, such as Widgets and Customizer, in order to utilize many of its great functionalities, which can be further upgraded with the usage of the appropriate plugins.
A potential downside is that the developer usually does the initial website development, and the maintenance workflow falls to the user’s hands.
WordPress has the best of both worlds
With its online presence and constant improvements, WordPress has become the go-to place for businesses that need a good-looking, functional, and scalable website. WordPress offers a variety of possibilities.
You can easily install WordPress and use it to create, customize and publish content and alter its look and feel. There is a plugin for everything you can think of. Visual builders come in handy for low-code development.
Many themes include a visual builder, such as Elementor, WP Bakery, Beaver Builder, Divi, etc. With the usage of visual builders, you can easily create and modify headers, footers, or some other parts of your website.
The visual builders allow you to see the changes instantly, as you make them.
Using visual builders is intuitive and straightforward which allows users to see the changes in real-time and that makes the website development process more efficient.
Most of the plugins and themes are well-documented, and many useful tutorials can be found on YouTube or similar streaming services, so almost anyone can create a website.
Even if you are a developer with extensive knowledge, you can use it to your advantage to create stunning websites with added functionality from the plugins.
The benefits of low-code development are numerous
The following is a list of the low-code development major benefits:
Speed: Since low-code development rarely requires human programming, websites are created faster. Instead of wasting time on discovering coding flaws, website builders can focus on other aspects of their websites, such as appearance, content, and SEO.
Simplicity: WordPress makes it possible for those with minimal expertise or technical training to get started immediately. Additionally, it is simple to create and maintain the website.
Cost-efficiency: As WordPress is open-source software, it is free to use, alongside proprietary software such as free plugins and themes, which means that the user can create the website free of any cost (excluding hosting and domain).
Flexibility: User has the freedom to choose a suitable theme and plugins that will be a great fit for their needs. For example, there are themes that already have certain functionalities bundled, such as e-commerce, booking, and many more.
Quality: WordPress Community consists of many great contributors, which are constantly working on improving the platform and making it even better.
Built-in safety: Your websites always run in a secure environment since low-code platform such as WordPress provides ongoing updates and patches.
Ongoing improvements: As WordPress grows, more features that are improving user experience and functionalities are constantly being implemented.
Closing thoughts on low-code development
No matter if you are a senior developer or just a WordPress newbie, no- and low-code development solutions (templates and plugins) can be valuable ways for building a nice-looking website with added functionality that will consume less time and effort than you would usually spend on building the website from scratch (coding).
Feel free to experiment with different themes, plugins and visual builders, that will improve your website-building skills.
