WordPress vs other "poor step-child" themes

[Larry Cole]

WordPress is touted as being the main, big player in website design. Supposedly more powerful than others, like Xara which uses one large file.

But... I wonder if this is true!! When I test a wordpress site I am working on using Pro-Styler theme for loading speed , Xara's load time is much faster. Approx. 1 3/4/ seoncds compared to 5-6 seconds and sometimes more for the WordPress site. AND so far... the WordPress site has only a header and a foot whereas my Xara site has 7 pages and 2 of the pages contain many photos ... BIG photos.

Additionally, as far as search engine rankings, the Xara-built site ranks as number 1 and number 2 depending on the search criterion. [And so easy to insert the Keywords into Xara]. The site is tropicoletrading.com to promote palm trees sales in Canada.

Now I want to build another site. This one will involve blogging. Xara doesn't do blogging internally. Would have to use a third-party like tumblr. I could use embed a website using a widget or link to it. WHICH IS BEST - embedding or linking? And is using a third-party blogging site such a bad thing?

OTHER POINTS .. I may want to offer an on-line store and Xara can use Ecwid and Wazala. Are there others?
WordPress offers many more possibilities/tools in the form of plug-ins to do many things.

So this is the crux of my conundrum. Terrific design abilities with Xara and ease of use ....fast load speed ... terrible SEO rankings.

WordPress offers more tools and does Blogging internally.

Any words of wisdom to help me make my decision on which website building tool to use? Xara or Wordpress?

Larry Cole

[Acorn]

Larry can you clarify: "the Xara-built site ranks as number 1 and number 2 depending on the search criterion" versus "Xara and ease of use ....fast load speed ... terrible SEO rankings"?

Acorn

[Larry Cole]

Larry can you clarify: "the Xara-built site ranks as number 1 and number 2 depending on the search criterion" versus "Xara and ease of use ....fast load speed ... terrible SEO rankings"?

Acorn

Sorry Acorn, that should read terrific SEO rankings.

Larry Cole

[Acorn]

Larry, I would go for linking.
Use the power of Xara to create a theme common across the Xara site and the WordPress (or other) dynamic site.

I add my WP site as a sub-folder to my main site, so for all intents, I am using the same TLD. this keeps SEO pundits happy.

If you have a lot of static content that is structured use Xara.
WP is good for dynamic information and searching.

I sometimes integrate WP into my Xara site by displaying RSS feeds; this makes my static Xara site feel more dynamic.

Equally, you could integrate a Shopping Cart through WP and display aspects of this from Xara.

Acorn

[Larry Cole]

Larry, I would go for linking.
Use the power of Xara to create a theme common across the Xara site and the WordPress (or other) dynamic site.

I add my WP site as a sub-folder to my main site, so for all intents, I am using the same TLD. this keeps SEO pundits happy.

If you have a lot of static content that is structured use Xara.
WP is good for dynamic information and searching.

I sometimes integrate WP into my Xara site by displaying RSS feeds; this makes my static Xara site feel more dynamic.

Equally, you could integrate a Shopping Cart through WP and display aspects of this from Xara.

Acorn

Thank you Acorn. I'll chew on that. Can you enlarge on your first sentence: "use the power of Xara to create a" ...etc.

And what does TLD stand for?

Is there a particular reason that you wouldn't embed a Blog in Xara, using the widget?

Larry Cole

[Cloud]

The most common reason for the slow loading speed on wordpress sites is when people forget that a wordpress install will have lots of plugins (bloatware) which are usually never needed, delete all of them and have a fresh start.

[Larry Cole]

The most common reason for the slow loading speed on wordpress sites is when people forget that a wordpress install will have lots of plugins (bloatware) which are usually never needed, delete all of them and have a fresh start.

Cloud, I have only a few plug-ins installed and almost all of them are suggested by the Pro-Styler WordPress Theme.

And I "swept" Wordpress which was in fact a recent install.

Larry

[Acorn]

TLD - top level domain. Probably the wrong acronym but your main site might be http://mysite.com; the WordPress would sit at http://mysite.com/WP/.

All I was suggesting is use the same colours, button shapes and assets in both your main site and WP.

Acorn

[Larry Cole]

The most common reason for the slow loading speed on wordpress sites is when people forget that a wordpress install will have lots of plugins (bloatware) which are usually never needed, delete all of them and have a fresh start.

Cloud, I want to correct the record and not give the WP theme ProStyler a bad name. It now loads quite quickly - 3 1/2 to 4 seconds on par with other heavy-hitting WordPress sites. And I used 2 of the ProStyler demo theme pages which are quite substantial and would tax load time. WHAT I DID WAS:

>>>Reset WordPress's data base back to original state using WordPress Database Reset
>>>Deleted ProfStyler theme
>>>Reinstalled the theme new

A site I built using Xara loads in 2 seconds and this would be better, but 4 seconds seems to be on a par with many other major sites that I have tested for download speed. Please let me know if you disagree.

Thank you for your taking the time to make your original comment.

Larry Cole

[Acorn]

Larry, are you hosting your WP site?

For faster response, I use CloudFlare, free through my provider.

Acorn