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Hello Everyone! Welcome to today’s blog on “What are the advantages and disadvantages of WordPress Frameworks?
So without wasting time, let’s start!!!!
As you all know that one most important concept which is common within the present day web and within the software development atmosphere is the concept of “Framework”. If we consider front end development then we can use frameworks like Bootstrap, Foundation, etc. And for various web applications, we can use frameworks like Rails, Yii, etc. And for some desktop web applications, we can use frameworks like .NET and so on, now these are only a few names, but if you see mostly the frameworks are very useful.
Because they offer a certain level of perception using which the developers can easily create various functionalities like user login and authentication as well as some particular code which can be used to solve any problem which the software is looking to solve.
WordPress frameworks are considered as the platform for a WordPress theme. Commonly, WordPress frameworks include the main code, support programs, compilers, APIs, etc. which includes all the basic features as well as design elements.
Also for various recent platforms, WordPress is common and we know that WordPress is not a framework in itself but it is an application which can be expanded using its APIs. There are some other frameworks which can be used for decreasing the load of writing a large number of monotonous codes.
You may be wondering is it a good thing? In other words, is it a good thing to have so many options for these frameworks to select from, for creating WordPress themes or Plugins or various web applications established on these platforms?
Mostly this choice depends upon what do you really want to do with it? Now one more thing I want to make clear is that we are not going to look at a particular framework rather than we are going to look at the advantages and disadvantages of choosing a framework at the time of working with WordPress so that these frameworks will help in making more better decisions because these frameworks are used for creating websites, web applications and other plans or design ideas based on WordPress platform.
In order to get your end results using WordPress, it is possible to mix various frameworks therefore in today’s blog we are going to discuss whether it is good to use a single framework or not for helping you in your work.
There are mostly two types of frameworks found in WordPress:
- Drag and Drop Frameworks
- Options Frameworks
Let’s discuss each of them in brief:
Drag and Drop Frameworks:
These frameworks are mostly used for designing a user interface of any website. Generally, it is in the form of various pages in the WordPress Dashboard which helps you in arranging the elements which are predefined on a web page and then make them available in a required order for the user to see.
Options Frameworks:
Options frameworks, on the contrary, are more code specific functions and provide some type of perception towards one or more than one APIs in WordPress. This may include API settings, Metadata API for comments, posts and even for some APIs that are connected to templates.
It can be any situation, there are still some advantages and disadvantages which comes while selecting a framework and all of these are very important while deciding: are you going to work with the framework or not?
Advantages of Frameworks:
The most important advantage of using any framework is the rate at which you can construct a function.
The WordPress frameworks are developed in such a way that you end up with creating a full interface or website or web application while working with API.
Even though developing a website which is based on content in WordPress is easy. There are frameworks like drag and drop which makes this process faster and makes page layouts look more elegant.
As mentioned earlier, the frameworks which mostly work with APIs of WordPress provides a good level of perception so that the monotonous code with which we are working is crammed down within the framework.
While setting APIs is one of the best examples offered by WordPress frameworks i.e. setting API is powerful and also unmanageable, redundant when we are trying to use various elements on the screen. Frameworks look for solving such problems by offering a very easy way for creating settings, options and some settings which come with hardly any function calls and more clear codes.
Now the perception can come not only with API settings but also from other APIs as well. So if you choose any one of these frameworks then they will save a lot of time and also help in turning difficult tasks into easy tasks that require some monotonous codes.
The framework will show you exactly the same content which you wanted to be displayed on the front end and the way in which you have arranged them on the back end. In other words, the advantage of using a framework is that it tries to assist between what we are expecting to be appearing on the screen and what exactly is displayed on the screen.
Suppose there are some reserved areas like headers, sidebars, content areas, and footer areas and now you are placing these areas where you would like them to be placed in a container. Once you do this those redefined areas appear on the front end exactly as you have placed them on the backend.
This can be similarly associated with API specific frameworks also. Even though the visual perception towards writing code is not as clear as while working with page template editor, best frameworks can offer classes, function names and also other services, all of which will help you to understand how all of the moving parts of the software co-ordinate together.
There is one example that can be visualized by creating a setting in the WordPress dashboard. For example, assume that you want to showcase a text area that will support only plain text i.e. there will be no markup or scripts present. And then when you are trying to label the data, clan the data, authenticate the data and display the data, which may require few different function calls or some callbacks to do this. But using a framework you can do this in a single function and maybe with few callbacks and also the function names and the various types of elements will be more expressive.
Disadvantages of using frameworks
Having said that, if you are going to use a framework, then you might be creating automatic dependencies between WordPress, third-party code and yourself i.e. if the code you are using is based on the framework and if that framework is based on WordPress, then the capacities of the frameworks are limited only to the current version of WordPress which supports it.
Now if the framework with WordPress is up to date then it goes through development and the framework which is released in addition to those updates of WordPress keeps the code in synchronization with the most current developments is easy.
Now if suppose the framework is not up to date, then your code can only be as secure and as updated as the most current version of WordPress which your framework supports.
Another responsibility that comes when using frameworks is that most of the times the frameworks are envelopes for current functionalities that exists within WordPress. For ending this, in some cases frameworks allows access to functions that may not be available because WordPress is up to date.
For example, assume that there is a framework that allows access to a particular API which is outdated in the recent version of the main application. Also, the framework will not properly outdated its code until the next release cycle. This can be explained as the code that you have written based on that framework is now using outdated function calls and this may not be a big difference but when that function call is moved out from the main application, and if the framework has not identified it then you may not be able to use the current version of WordPress or maybe some of its new characteristics because as mentioned earlier, the framework has not properly outdated its code with that main application.
Limitations of using features:
The frameworks can be useful but only when you are using them as ‘all-inclusive’. That means while using a framework it is good to write your entire code using framework instead of writing some of the code using the framework and some of the code using APIs of WordPress.
In other words, don’t mix the code which you are writing in such a way that you get a bit of blend of code which is somewhat based on a framework and also somewhat not based on the framework. In all the aim of a framework as mentioned earlier is to allow a perception for complete functionality.
If the framework is not complete or lagging functionality particularly for something that is offered with WordPress then you have one of these following two options:
- Skip the feature which you want to use and then stay for the framework to be available.
- Workaround the framework and use the main WordPress code along with your framework based code in such a way that you will achieve the desired end result.
If the framework is not able to offer you something which you require then simply takes help of what WordPress offers. But while doing this, you may be adding a certain level of complexity at the time of managing the software.
Now if the framework, later on, adds a set of various features that includes what you have once written as vanilla WordPress code, then you will be required to update that code to adjust to that framework. Now if the framework is not up to date then be with current WordPress and you will be back on the dependency and outdate problems.
Summary:
It is hard to round up all of the advantages and disadvantages which come at the time of using a framework. Let be alone make a decision depending on whether you should use the framework or not, but whatever points mentioned above are few of the most common factors when someone is working with WordPress and you should consider it first before choosing a framework and then going all inclusive with it.
As mentioned earlier. This blog is not targeted at argument or up against using frameworks, rather than it is used to provide advantages and disadvantages for using a framework in such a way that it will help you in taking a better decision because it refers to your work.
Also at the time of development, you will face compromises. It sometimes it important to know what you are trying to compromise in case of functionality or dependency or stability when managing the main software which is always under development and may have releases sometimes every six months.
It depends upon the type of your work, whether a framework is required or not and so on. Now, in any case, make sure that you perform your work depending upon whether you require a framework or not in your recent project or in your forthcoming project.
That’s all for today! I hope you find this blog helpful. Please comment with your opinion regarding this blog in the comment section below.
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