Most websites today are created by individuals who have zero coding knowledge and are doing it for the first time. As such, the entire industry has shifted away from coding and into more accessible structures that allow users to build websites with drag & drop tools.
WordPress is an open-source Content Management System (CMS), notable for its use of themes (templates) and plugins, which help users unlock new functionalities. WordPress is hugely popular, with over 40% of online websites using it.
It is free, easy to use, and has a huge community that is ready to help. Unlike most CMS, WordPress does not require any knowledge about coding to use, but that doesn’t mean it doesn’t help.
Laravel is an open-source PHP web framework. Based on the Model View Controller (MVC) architecture, Laravel was designed to handle tackling tougher web projects.
Laravel is a php framework that you would use to create entire applications, APIs, servers, and requires you to know some php coding. WordPress is a CMS which has a low barrier to entry and does not require you to code, but is very scalable and allows you to connect to and utilize custom plugins such as leveraging a Laravel backend.
It is a code-heavy platform where the developer must understand and know how to use HTML, PHP, and CSS to create a working website.
As such, it is not a platform for beginners looking to build their first website. That said, if you have the necessary experience, it is a platform that can easily scale to a project of any size.
WordPress vs. Laravel PHP Framework: Themes and Templates
Many platforms provide themes and templates to customize your website’s style. Themes enable you to quickly try new designs and overhaul your website’s appearance without coding. Here are the differences in how WordPress and Laravel handle theming. WordPress
WordPress offers a massive collection of themes, both free and premium. You can look for and install themes without leaving the dashboard and change options almost instantly. Besides, if you look beyond free options, many premium themes add new functionality to WordPress. You can fully customize any aspect of the themes that you use.
Laravel on its own, uses the Blade templating engine by default. It enables you to produce layouts manually, which is more efficient than creating pages from scratch. However, you’ll still need to code every section and element of your Blade templates.
Alternatively, you could use CCS pre-processors and frontend toolkits. One of the most popular options among Laravel users is Bootstrap. Toolkits such as Bootstrap do support and offer themes. However, these are not specific to Laravel itself but to the pre-processor you’re using.