@Philip Bonifonte -

What an honest appraisal of Wordpress. I have 8 Wordpress "primers." Some visual, some not. Some with linked video tutorials. Not one gets the job done. And I'm an engineer who handcodes HTML5, CSS3 and a little javascript. My neighbor is a PHP instructor at Drexel University who gets his door knocked on daily. And after noodling around for over two years, I am little more than a tinkerer. Themes do not honor standard policies for dashboard customization leaving each theme unique. Where do you add custom css tweaks? No common place. The editor doesn't even offer syntax highlighting. And how long has this been around? My PHP guru neighbor showed me CMS-Made-Simple and honestly I am stunned that platform doesn't have more of a community. It is logical, makes sense to novices, is stripped down and delivers a clean no-frills environment to get a site built for publishing.

Just the management of CSS in Wordpress is a disaster. Some here, some there. Some editable from the dashboard, others not. Tracing a cascade is tough enough in a large stylesheet. Add Wordpress' cul-de-sacs, deadends, hidden directory trees and troubleshooting becomes maddening. In short, Wordpress should come with an Rx for Zoloft or Prozac or at minimum a free bottle of whiskey. You're gonna need it.

The worst thing about Wordpress is it's brand recognition. Every no-nothing novice (and that includes me) says, "I want it in Wordpress" -- because they think that will make things easy for them to work on it themselves later. Oh, and it needs to be responsive too. What was that? Oh, my budget... I have like $1200. I glance out the window to the new Mercedes they just pulled up in.

Thanks for the honest chatter about Wordpress guys. Really great!!!