WordPress vs Concrete5 Functionality
Both WordPress and Concrete5 administrations are fairly easy to use. Once you login, you have a dashboard with various menu items with options for you to add media, plugins or functionality, and add pages, blog, etc… One of the real differences for users is the pages area of Concrete5. When adding content to a page you are working directly on the page design, so you can see what you are doing while doing it. In WordPress, you are behind the scenes, so to see the changes in WordPress, you must launch a preview page.
Both programs have incredible SEO data entry areas making each a powerfully rich SEO website. Making sure to add keywords to images and textual content as well as a proper title and description will help the search engines place your content correctly and then others will find you.
Both can be custom designed so your site is an original, looking just how you want it and you still have that all important CMS to update and add content yourself.
So, why choose one over the other?
I would say that if you are planning to have extensive galleries (photographers, artists, designers, etc…) or a product website with nested, nested products, Concrete5 is the greatest application for this. It’s so WYSIWYG (what you see is what you get). WordPress can create galleries, but not as complex as categories to sub categories, to sub sub and so on…
Concrete5 also has tons of add-ons just like WordPress, so you can add a blog also.
WordPress has a ton of themes available, Concrete5 not as many, but if you’re going to hire a designer for a custom theme anyway, this is not an issue.
Concrete5 has a CMS that is very clear and there is nothing confusing about it. WordPress baffles and intimidates some people, I know because people are always asking me questions about the settings, plugins, functionality and more.
Below are a few screenshots of a WordPress site/blog and a Concrete5 website and note the differences.
New Class Series – WordPress Beginners Video Series on Udemy!
New Class Series – CMS Concrete5 – Powerful and Easy series on Udemy!
Above is the dashboard and open is the file manager where you add pages.
Above is the product management area, where you add products, categories, sub categories, and items to categories.
Above is a particular product management window where you add images, not just the actual image but other images also, content details about the image, such as size, color, etc…
Above is a particular page shown in edit mode. Note how you are looking at the actual page design so you’re working as you see results!
Above is the dashboard for WordPress, navigation items are on the left.
Above is a typical blog content entry window. Note how you are not seeing how it will look, unless you save the draft and click preview.
Above is the preview launched so you can see how it looks, if unhappy, back to previous mode of editing window.