Over the years I’ve used a gajillion different Content Management Systems. For websites that need custom features and extensions, I go with Drupal 98% of the time. But for a basic blog or mostly standard website, great selection of themes, plug-ins, and drop dead simple site maintenance, Wordpress can’t be beat.

The main reason? Updates. If you maintain an interactive website, you should know that it can be dangerous. If you don’t install the latest patches, you’re leaving your site vulnerable. If you’re lucky the bad guys will just post porn spam, like they did for these elementary students in the UK when their Moodle site wasn’t properly patched. If you’re unlucky, your user database or content can be compromised or destroyed.

Traditionally (and with many current CMS) the process to update the core software or modules goes like this: download the new software, upload it to your webhost, login to your webhost, unpack the software, backup your database, backup your existing software, carefully install the new software (taking care not to overwrite anything custom), upgrade your database, cross your fingers, test. This process usually involves using a terminal (command line) program, file transfer program, database program, and the admin section of your website. Maintaining one, much less dozens of CMS driven sites, easily becomes a chore for system admins.

With Wordpress, the upgrade process is mostly automagic. First, when an update is available, it lets you know after you login:

You then push the “Upgrade Automatically” button, and Wordpress does the rest for you:

The process is the same for third party modules you may have installed:

As a lazy website admin who likes to keep sites up to date, this version of Wordpress is a joy to use.