Tag: Choice

Why Use WordPress

Why use WordPress in a classroom and for production websites?  Well, one reason is that one in four websites is now powered by WordPress.

The milestone figure doesn’t represent a fraction of all websites that have a CMS: WordPress now powers 25 percent of the Web.

The latest data comes from W3Techs, which measures both usage and market share: “WordPress is used by 58.7% of all the websites whose content management system we know. This is 25.0% of all websites.” While these numbers naturally fluctuate over the course of the month, the general trend for WordPress has been slow but steady growth.

cms_w3techs_november_2015

“We should be comfortably past 25% by the end of the year,” Automattic founder Matt Mullenweg declared. “The big opportunity is still the 57% of websites that don’t use any identifiable CMS yet, and that’s where I think there is still a ton of growth for us (and I’m also rooting for all the other open source CMSes).”

Which Linux is Right For You?

I have been asked the question frequently recently with the changes in Ubuntu.

I am reminded of what I teach my classes, each and every one of them, consult your decision matrix: the answer is easy.

I remember one young man who went on to meet with the president of the statewide software association and upon being questioned about his classes expressed his dissatisfaction with being forced to complete a decision matrix.  His decision matrix, simple, elegant, one page (all the rules) resulted in my choosing Moodle.  The unforeseen serendipity was that a major University in Oregon caught a lot of heat for making a decision without one.  Theirs was not only an expensive mistake but also one they could never explain later, having no decision matrix.

The point is that it really doesn’t matter what you put down for the 10 categories or reasons in the first column, or what 3-5 choices you put along the top, it simply organizes your decision.  Now, down the road, you simply review it and move categories up and down in priority and weight and review the columns and review the answers and it all becomes dead simple again.  It is a simple revisit of the decision.

This is critical thinking.  If you don’t do this, well, what are you asking someone else to do?

Now if you ask me what category do I think should be on each person’s decision matrix, I suggest that one considers the actual community where one finds support, encouragement, tips and tricks, and friends.  It can sometimes split into two: virtual and physical.  It should never be left out.