So, in my recent post I introduced myself. Told the world a little about who I am and what I do here at Nicasio Design. Today, I want to follow that post up with how we have become such big time advocates of WordPress. In part, I hope to be able to shed some light on what it is about this Content Management System that just rocks.
In a Jan ’09 article by Matt at WordPress.com concludes this way and I think it is right on target with how Nicasio Design team feels about WordPress: “By itself WordPress.com is just a blank canvas, it’s what you bring to it that draws the world to our doorsteps.” It is basically what we have found to be the driving force behind WordPress being our default Open Source CMS of choice. We start out with a blank template as our canvas. We take our client’s vision, and help them draw an awesome solution which brings them one solid step closer to their business goals and objectives.
Our First WordPress project:
I must admit when Chris Underwood, Nicasio Lead Developer, first presented the idea of building a client’s new website on a blog engine, I was fully apposed. “It is a hard sell Chris! I can’t tell a client we will build you a site on a blog engine.” I snapped. Boy was I wrong. The idea of using a blogging tool to manage a site completely was not something I could see happening. Two years later – boy was I oh so wrong. In reality, I turned the job away and Chris had to step in and teach me a real world lesson with the next project. July of 2007 Nicasio Design was called upon to develop the newly designed Creative Cost Alliance Blog.To say the least it was a real wake up call for me. They say that if we are not willing to learn something new everyday, we will not learn much throughout your lifetime. Needless to say, WordPress worked beautifully for The Creative Coast project and the rest is history.
Today we have well over 24 WordPress websites under our belts and we continue to push the envelop with new plugins, custom navs, and much much more. From early on I could tell WordPress was going to be a big deal in CMS circles, but it took a little reality check from someone who was willing to take a chance and make it happen. Many Clients come to us now already with WordPress in mind. And an equal amount of clients come to us with no idea of what WordPress is and why it would benefit them.
Enter The [Dan] Cannon:
Dan Cannon joined the Nicasio Design team last year and has helped make a great transition for us from simply using WordPress as a CMS to making WordPress a powerful custom platform for some of our latest sites. He is not afraid to got to work and make plugins sing a beautiful WordPress song. From WordPress Multi User [MU] to custom functionality that would make your grandmother’s WordPress site feel jealous, Dan has been an awesome addition to the Nicasio Design team. Today, he helps Nicasio clients understand the untapped resources of their WordPress sites. There is something about a Ninja Developer that makes WordPress a true canvas in which our clients see their full business potentials come to life.
Custom WordPress development is without a doubt one of the strong service offerings here at Nicasio Design, and it is with much heavy lifting from Dan that this is possible. The contributions he has made to the WordPress community are pretty substantial. When it comes to fully optimizing the SEO power of WordPress Dan is the man. Our clients enjoy the benefits of years of development know how, and it is due in a large part to his contribution.
Enough of my bragging about Dan Cannon. If you have not read his article on WordPress 2.7, please do. I think his post speaks much loader than I can about the man.