Designing a quality website is really a lot like assembling various bits and pieces until the final results are just the way you’d like them to be. And when it comes to the various bits and pieces—they can either be created and assembled from scratch or some existing components can be put together effectively to achieve the desired finished results.
So, which is better?
It depends on your individual case and budget, really. For example, if money were no object at all, then building a website and custom-developing every component and form used within might really make sense. It is a lot of work, though, to build something from a string of 1’s and 0’s though.
Custom coded solutions like CMS (content management systems), blogs, and other important website features can be pricey indeed. But in the end, if they help you accomplish your online goals, then are they worth it?
On the flip side, many would argue that there are already great existing components available to accomplish many website functionalities. Readily available open-source CMS and blogging platforms already power millions of existing websites out there. Using them on your own site is kind of like starting with a pre-formed foundation and then building your house (your design and navigation) on top of that foundation.
Using existing components where possible is a popular strategy, but does have some pitfalls too. Security can oftentimes be a problem because as millions of sites might be using the framework, that many more hackers are out there trying to reverse engineer and exploit that framework at the same time.
And in situations where the existing platforms don’t accomplish exactly what you’re trying to accomplish, it can be quite a daunting task trying to de-construct and modify them to suit your needs—in a case like this, it’s quite likely that building from scratch, from the ground up, is likely to be the most efficient and cost-effective solution available.
In the end, it really all comes down to what you want to accomplish with your website and how you plan to achieve these ambitions (including the budget factor). It’s always a good idea to discuss the options available to you with a web-professional—for example, here in San Jose at WSpider, we always do our best to put together the best possible solution using a broad spectrum of tools and techniques. Custom-coded components are always a possibility, but sometimes there is simply no good reason to try and reinvent the wheel.
