Getting started with ProcessWire

Rediscovering Simplicity in Web Development

Sometimes enough is enough

For years, I’ve been stuck in the ever-expanding maze of web development. The CMS ecosystem evolved at full speed, but not always in the right direction. Every new release promised revolutionary features, plug‑and‑play site builders, and visual wizardry - yet the end result for visitors rarely improved. Pages got heavier, scripts multiplied, and meaningful content was buried under layers of design trends.

At some point, it felt like the only metric that mattered was how “polished” the site looked, while performance and craftsmanship faded into the background.

The Elementor Illusion

Like many others, I eventually turned to WordPress with the Elementor theming engine. On paper, it promised everything you could want: visual editing, instant drag‑and‑drop layouts, and simplicity that didn’t require deep coding knowledge. For a while, it seemed ideal: quick to deploy, easy to tweak, and highly marketable.
But the further I went, the more the cracks showed. Behind the “ease of use” lurked bloated code, redundant queries, and a sameness that stripped away any soul or originality. Every site built this way began to look eerily similar: glossy, sluggish, and ultimately uninspired. It wasn’t creative freedom; it was mass production.

A Return to the Early Web

I’ve found myself missing the early CSS days - when building a website meant working with raw markup, experimenting with layout ideas, and learning by hand. It was slower, perhaps, but deeply personal. Your site reflected both your technical curiosity and your artistic touch. You weren’t just pushing blocks around; you were crafting something that felt alive. So, I reset everything.

In Comes ProcessWire

When I asked my beloved Perplexity for a CMS that still felt pure, lightweight, and developer-friendly, one name surfaced: ProcessWire. What caught my attention wasn’t flashy marketing, it was the philosophy. ProcessWire doesn’t try to out‑WordPress WordPress. It’s elegant, fast, and built around clean code and flexibility. You build your own structure; the system stays out of your way. Before I commit to converting my entire site portfolio, I’m starting small, with this very blog. Over the next few weeks, I’ll explore how ProcessWire behaves in the real world: speed, maintainability, creative flow ... the things that matter most to me as a developer who’s rediscovering his roots.

Sometimes, progress means going back — not to nostalgia, but to clarity.