When people talk about web development – perhaps especially in Hallingdal – it is easy to assume that WordPress is the obvious choice. After all, it is the world’s most used publishing platform. But what works for the masses is not necessarily the best choice for growth-focused businesses. We have chosen Craft CMS as our publishing tool – and here is why:
When people talk about web development – perhaps especially in Hallingdal – it is easy to assume that WordPress is the obvious choice. After all, it is the world’s most used publishing platform, and there are countless ready-made solutions and plugins that make it quick to get started. But what works for the masses is not necessarily the best choice for growth-focused businesses.
We have chosen Craft CMS as our publishing tool – and here is why:
WordPress: a good start, but limited
WordPress was originally created as a blogging tool, and much of its architecture still bears the marks of that. To build complex websites, it often requires a jungle of plugins to deliver custom functionality.
This dependency makes the system heavy to run, less scalable, and often slower as the website grows.
The upside is that you can get going quickly and build something in a short time – if you know the system well. WordPress also comes with ready-made themes that let designers start from a finished framework and adjust as needed. It is a bit like buying a prefab house when you know you want that particular dining room – and preferably a basement lounge, even though the plot is flat.
Craft CMS: more flexibility and control
Craft CMS, on the other hand, puts the user in the driver’s seat. With Craft we can build websites without having to fight our way through pre-made themes or plugins.
To continue the «prefab house» comparison: we prefer to start with a dialogue and a plan for what the house should become – and who is going to live there – before we lay the foundation and raise the frame.
We have the freedom to design our own HTML and build tailor-made templates with Twig, a powerful and simple templating language that gives us clean code, and a structure that makes development and maintenance easier.
Craft’s modular structure is actually reminiscent of Wide CMS, a system we used for over 15 years. Wide CMS was known for its «wide», template-based structure, and much of its logic is recognisable in Craft. Especially with Twig and Matrix fields for flexible content setups.
Morten, the developer of WideCMS, recommended we take a closer look at the new content management system «Craft». The transition was therefore a natural one for us.
Read also: “Would you have bought a brand new car for NOK 12,000?” – here on the Spenst blog.
Some of the advantages of Craft CMS
Built for growth and flexibility; here are a few advantages that make Craft CMS a superior choice (for us, anyways):
- Customisation and flexibility
- Twig templating: separate front-end and back-end logic for cleaner code and easier maintenance.
- Reusable components: uniform styling and less code redundancy.
- Tailored fields: with Craft’s Field Layout Designer we can build unique solutions with intuitive interfaces for editors and content producers.
- Plugins such as SEOmatic for advanced search engine optimisation.
- Editor experience
- Live Preview: real-time preview of changes for a seamless editing experience.
- Custom dashboard: a minimalist, intuitive control panel that adapts to the editor’s needs.
- Performance and scalability
- MVC framework: optimal performance and scalability, with clean code built for reuse and growth.
- Blitz caching plugin: an extra performance boost for fast websites.
- Security and reliability
- Regular updates and security patches.
- Two-factor authentication and data encryption.
- Protection against common threats such as SQL injection and XSS.
- Integration and future-proofing
- GraphQL support: efficient data handling and seamless distribution of content across platforms.
- API access: easy integration with third-party services such as HubSpot and Google Analytics.
- Adaptable to specific business needs, including headless architecture.
For businesses that want to grow and scale
Several well-known brands – Interflora, Norsk Toppfotball, Nortura and Det Norske Teatret – all use Craft CMS. Kantefølflak too. That is no coincidence.
Craft gives us the flexibility we need to deliver websites that convert visitors into customers and support growing businesses.
For us it is not just about making “home pages”, but about creating experiences that represent the company at its very best on a professional website.
With Craft CMS we have found the tool that lets us do exactly that.
It is worth mentioning that the web consists of more than just Craft CMS and WordPress, even though good old WideCMS is now retired. There are hundreds: Joomla, Enonic, Statamic, Drupal, WordPress and Craft are just a few of many.
Maybe we can help you with the right tool – a great website and an intuitive customer journey that leads to growing revenue and a better bottom line.
Contact us about your next project.
