As a web designer using Muse, am I disadvantaged for not being able to create dynamic content?

[visualWebber]

Hello all,

thank you for taking the time to read this and possible reply.

A Wordpress web designer told me that I will be disadvantaged over not being able to create dynamic content. I am targeting small businesses. He kind of made the point that I should consider Wordpress. Is there such a big need of dynamic content? He said that static content is a thing of the past.

Also, he said that by using custom themes (most likely paid), a Wordpress website can be just as nice as one done with Muse.

My reason for going with Muse was because it was meant for designers (it feels like using Illustrator or Indesign). Should I re-evaluate the reasons I'm using Muse in the first place?

Thank you

Cristian

[pziecina · Accepted solution]

Depends on what you are creating.

If your client wants to update the sites content themselves then Muse is not the program to use. If the wordpress site is just being used as an 'easy option' and the client will never update the site, (most never do) then there is no point in using wordpress.

As a developer, (who codes) I would never recommend wordpress to anyone. It is too bloated, (code wise) difficult to update, uses 3rd party plug-ins, and themes that have, (mostly) no support.

Look at most web sites and you will find very few are actually dynamic, and even fewer that need to be. Unless someone is selling and requires a fully functional e-commerce site, or is creating a blog, (should use facebook anyway) then dynamic sites are very, very rarely required.

[Mylenium]

should use facebook anyway

What a nightmare that would be, considering how FB takes ownership of your content and all the legal issues regarding privacy, content ratings and whatnot...

Mylenium

[visualWebber]

Thank you, Pziecina. It makes a lot of sense. I'm happy to hear that dynamic sites are not required so often. I guess my friend got a lot of contracts in the dynamic content world.

[Mylenium]

Is there such a big need of dynamic content?

On the surface yes, but if you look deeper then no, at least not in the way that is relevant here. Online shop systems and similar are of course a different matter. pziecina​ has laid out some good reasons, but I wouldn't see it that dramatically. Most web sites simply suffer from neglect and that is true for dynamic ones as it is for static ones. They start to break, security issues creep in, content gets dated. People all too often think of this as a one-time thing without having a long-term plan and whether they rely on a Muse-created HTML page or the pre-configured Wordpress, Joomla, Typo 3 or whatever install their hosting provider may offer is ultimately not much of a difference. A well cared for site will always be more relevant and you can do that both ways. Of course dynamic systems usually add the complication of having to at least understand a tiny bit of all the technobabble about SQL, PHP and so on which is simply too much for many people on top of HTML, CSS and jQuery/ JavaScript...

Mylenium

[visualWebber]

Ok, thank you for your reply, Mylenium. So you're saying that I shouldn't worry about "static content being a thing of the past", like my friend is saying? Because that's what worries me (taking the time to learn Muse, only to find out that there's something much better out there, in this case, dynamic content)

[Mylenium]

In abstract terms static content is a thing of the past, but think about it: Even a "static" page these days has widgets and other external content already plus you can do fancy stuff with CSS, interactive SVGs, scripts and so on that you couldn't do some years ago. It's all about keeping things lively and interesting. Your friend has a point insofar that a separation between data and formatting like it happens in dynamic systems has advantages, but all the same, the best data is of no use when it's not presented nicely in a human-readable form. You still need to come up with CSS rules and design page templates even in Wordpress, you just do it in a different manner - a lot of times rather unintuitively by hacking code, saving it to the server and previewing it in a browser. In that regard one might even argue that Muse doesn't do things all that badly, it just gets a few of the finer points wrong when you think about bloated code or convoluted procedures. Still, you could say the same for WP. Some things are easier there while others make you pull your hair out.

Mylenium