One of the main reasons I setup WordPress sites for clients is exactly the reasons you mentioned, usability for the end-user. Just like “probablepossible” said I have done many freebie sites for friends also and the degree of frustration after spending hours or even days setting up a fully functional site for them and then they not be able to use it…arg!

I could charge someone regular rates (I’m not cheap at all) which most small business owners can not afford, or I could use somethign out of the box ready and easy to use.
(i.e. WordPress)

I figure why reinvent the wheel when I have a perfectly easy to use web engine right here. I have to say Darren you are right on track with professional development now days. Today more and more people are trying their own home business and that includes a web site for most that needs to be so easy a child could use it. Not talking bad about any of your or my clients by saying that, it’s just that we computer minded people have to realize something. We have to realize that there are still tons of people out there that have trouble just sending an email, you can forget working on a web site for their business.

With WordPress I can even do a quick redesign of their selected theme. For example I will make a special version of their chosen theme for Christmas, Halloween, Easter, St. Patrick’s Day, etc. Then at the simple click of a button, the client can change their theme to reflect something fitting the holiday. Clients love this ability, it empowers them with a technology that before was very frustrating to them.

Keep up the great work Darren, we should network sometime you have a good eye for design I can see after looking at the sites you posted here.

Best Regards,
RJ Levesque, Jr.
Dream Weaver Creations
http://www.dreamwc.com

VigliottiWoodworking.com is a good example of how WordPress can be streamlined to make a fast loading site. The biggest thing I did was do a custom theme that got “rid of” the loop and stuck to pages for the static content. I also used a plugin for the “showroom” picture gallery. maybe in the future I’ll look at detailing what I did (when I get the time that is :))

I am particularly interested in the example you’ve shown,
VigliottiWoodworking.com. I have attempted small sites for small businesses, and have had my clients (friends, of course, without a bean to their name) give up when I tried to teach them FTP etc. I have never found Drupal, or any of the others, easy to *simplify.* And my PHP skills are… eentsy.

One thing that is very obvious, is the way VigliottiWoodworking loads– instanter. You must have gotten rid of a lot of queries!

Would you be willing to talk about what you stripped out, at all?