Simple websites are better than beautiful ones. I'll repeat that for the folks in the back. Simple websites are better than beautiful ones. Let me be clear what I mean by a simple website. I don't mean a Wordpress site with a minimalist theme. I also don't mean a Substack …
I love simple sites, but I feel that there’s something to be said for design philosophy vs tooling.
Take vanilla WordPress for example. I find it relatively easy to manage static content, especially when running it in a container to categorically prevent dependency concerns. Is it overkill for a simple site? Perhaps, but does it work and is it easy to use? It’s possible to use these tools to manage a mostly static, text based, minimal to no script website. The key is recognizing the value of that simplicity and providing that simple to read, simple to use experience without distractions.
WordPress will never be as simple and performant as a truly static site, but we can do a lot to cut down the cognitive load, and we should.
If you want the ease and functionality of WordPress, but you plan to have a relatively simple site, there are other CMS options that are lighter weight and easier to work with. I’ve used GetSimple for years with some of my sites, it’s much more performant and easier to maintain. And the non-technical folks that manage content actually found it easier to use than WordPress.