I want to build a simple portfolio website to showcase my work as a freelancer. The site will have basic pages like homepage, bio section, work samples, and contact details. I’m not planning to add a blog or update content frequently.
I’m wondering if WordPress would be overkill for this type of project. Would it be better to just code it with regular HTML and CSS instead? I mainly want potential clients to see my skills and previous work.
What are the pros and cons of each approach for a basic portfolio site?
WordPress makes sense for portfolios even if you’re not updating constantly. The biggest win is client access - if someone else needs to make quick changes or you want to add testimonials later, WordPress handles it without touching code. I built my first portfolio in plain HTML and kicked myself when I had to update project descriptions across multiple pages. What a pain. Modern WordPress themes run pretty light now, and you can still customize CSS to show off your design chops. But if you’re going after front-end dev jobs specifically, hand-coded HTML shows your technical skills more directly to employers who might peek at your source code.
agreed! just go with HTML/CSS for ur portfolio. wordpress might be too much n could slow down a simple site. clients prefer seeing ur coding skills over just using a template.
I’ve built several portfolio sites, and here’s what I’ve learned: figure out your audience first. If you’re showing off web dev work, plain HTML/CSS proves you know your stuff and lets you optimize performance however you want. Plus search engines love clean, lightweight code. But there’s a sweet spot - static site generators like Jekyll or Hugo. You get templates and easy content management without WordPress’s database bloat. I ditched WordPress for static after realizing clients cared way more about fast loading and clean design than CMS features I never touched anyway. And the maintenance? Basically zero compared to constantly updating and securing WordPress.