Thanks for the Ride, WordPress!

WordPress has been our dedicated web development platform for about 15 years. So why, after all this time, do we want to say farewell? After all, wasn't it the walled-off nature of other platforms that led us to choose WordPress in the first place? And as the world's largest web publishing platform, isn't staying put the safest bet?

Let us explain briefly. We would never have built so many cool websites without WordPress, and thanks to this very platform, we've since seen newer, more modern systems emerge that have clearly learned from WordPress and improved on areas where, let's just say, too many cooks may have spoiled the broth? 😶

We've seen it coming for a while now, and it's in the most recent releases that this platform has really started to lose its original charm. Gutenberg was supposed to be the one to seriously take on the commercial "drag and drop" editors we see on other platforms, such as: Webflow, Norway's own Vev, Wix Editor X, Squarespace to name a few. But we also have partners who build websites on Craft. which is also a great, secure, and well-regarded CMS. And in many cases, it's worth considering which platform suits you best — whether that's Webflow or Craft, for example. This is something we're happy to advise on.

Back to the reasons we're leaving WordPress (in short):

• Security (even though every site we've built comes equipped with security shields and anti-hacker functionality, new "holes" pop up weekly in plugins and code that developers have to patch quickly before they can be exploited).
• Too many plugins to keep track of (and most WordPress sites have a lot... a lot), which both slows the site down and, as mentioned above... affects security.
• Different hosting environments. There are plenty of poor hosting providers out there that unfortunately result in slow sites. Some offer faster hosting, but then you might have to pay with a kidney or two.
• Complicated control panels depending on your server choice (cPanel, CentOS, etc.)
• The power of code, without having to write it (no-code). A modern website today should look exactly like what you prototype and design — you shouldn't be limited, either aesthetically or functionally. That's why so much can get lost in the hand-off from designer to traditional web developer.
• After all these years, Gutenberg and full-site editing still haven't delivered anything comparable to what other commercial platforms offer.
• Too much time goes into service and maintenance (something a small agency that wants to be creative doesn't want to fill its workday with... at least not to that extent).
• Privacy is becoming increasingly important (there are plenty of plugins that send and share data all over the place, which doesn't sit too well with GDPR, PECR, CCPA, and the like).
• Too dependent on developers to make even basic changes (as a designer).

These are just some of the reasons why, after so many years, WordPress isn't seeing the growth it once had. Newer and smarter ways of building websites keep emerging — whether in the form of no-code / low-code or "headless CMS". But these are simply our own reasons for choosing to leave the platform. WordPress will remain the dominant CMS solution for many years to come, but there are alternatives that are faster, safer, and more user-friendly. And once you add up all the costs of "premium" plugins, themes, backups, and security tools, you quickly realize it becomes far more expensive to run a WordPress site that can compete with, say, Webflow — which runs on some of the fastest, most secure servers in the world: Amazon Web Services & Fastly. And the code is super clean, so there's no problem pushing it to, say, GitHub and hooking up a different CMS on top if you'd rather not use Webflow's own CMS (though why wouldn't you? Ed.)

It's no longer a secret that Webflow is our weapon of choice when it comes to building websites. We've gotten certified and, not least, become one of the few agencies in Norway who can boast the "Webflow Partner" title. For a visual summary of why we've fallen for this platform, check out the videos below:

We still have many sites on the WordPress platform. We decided to stop building new WordPress sites back in 2020, and once we reach 01.01.2023 (giving ourselves some breathing room), we'll be winding down all the service and maintenance agreements we have on the platform. Several of our clients want to stay on the platform, so we're looking for development companies who can step in as a partner and take over the services we've been providing:

• Backup and security
• Updating plugins and core code
• Helping with new features and bug fixes on client sites

As the small agency we are, we want our main focus to be on design and visual development. A large chunk of our time has gone into delivering these "technical services," and we've had to lean on third-party developers — with a lot of what we've "fixed" largely done on "good-will" (because we love our clients and can be a little too nice sometimes).

We'll now be able to focus more on design, visual identities, and no-code development — becoming a full-fledged, full-stack design agency that delivers on what we do best: design and modern technology.