Building The Animation Horizon provided a better understanding of what it is actually like to develop a complete website with WordPress. Some parts of the process made creating and managing the website much easier, while other parts required more troubleshooting and patience than expected. Working with themes, plugins, content, and responsive layouts revealed both the advantages and disadvantages of using WordPress as a content management system.
Pros of Using WordPress
1. Adding Features Was Easier
One of the biggest advantages experienced while building The Animation Horizon was being able to add many different features without creating them from scratch. Plugins made it possible to add security, accessibility, analytics, social sharing, podcasting, a slider, an online store, and other functions. This was especially helpful because each feature could be added as the website developed instead of having to create everything at once. Plugins are designed to extend the functionality available in WordPress (WordPress.org, 2025).
2. Managing Content in One Place
Another advantage was being able to manage most of the website from the WordPress dashboard. The Animation Horizon contains pages, blog posts, images, videos, products, categories, and other content, so having these elements within the same system made the website easier to organize. The Block Editor was also useful for building posts and pages because headings, paragraphs, images, galleries, and other elements could be arranged as separate blocks (WordPress.org, 2026).
3. Having Control Over the Website Design
WordPress provided many opportunities to experiment with the appearance of The Animation Horizon. Different themes, fonts, colors, layouts, menus, and other design options could be tested throughout the development process. Some ideas worked better than others, but having these choices made it possible to gradually create a design that better matched the animation topic and overall direction of the website.
Cons of Using WordPress
- Unexpected Errors Slowed Down the Process
One of the biggest disadvantages experienced while developing the website was dealing with errors that were not always easy to understand. For example, the Widgets editor displayed a “The response is not a valid JSON response” error when trying to make changes. A task that should have been fairly simple became more difficult because time had to be spent troubleshooting the problem and looking for another way to complete it.
- Managing Content in One Place
Another advantage was being able to manage most of the website from the WordPress dashboard. The Animation Horizon contains pages, blog posts, images, videos, products, categories, and other content, so having these elements within the same system made the website easier to organize. The Block Editor was also useful for building posts and pages because headings, paragraphs, images, galleries, and other elements could be arranged as separate blocks (WordPress.org, 2026).
3. Design Changes Required More Trial and Error Than Expected
Another disadvantage was that design changes did not always produce the expected result. A section could look organized while editing the desktop version but appear differently when viewed on a phone. Images, spacing, text, and the order of content sometimes needed to be adjusted several times. This made some design tasks take much longer than expected, even when the change initially seemed simple.
The Most Difficult Part
The single most difficult part of developing The Animation Horizon was getting the layout to work well across different screen sizes. The desktop version provided enough space to arrange text and images comfortably, but the same sections did not always translate well to a smaller mobile screen. Some images appeared in unexpected positions, gaps became too large, and content did not always stack in the intended order.
Several approaches had to be tested while trying to solve these problems. Different block arrangements and layout settings sometimes fixed one issue but created another. Eventually, keeping the content structure simpler became a better approach than making each section overly complicated.
This was the most difficult part because responsive design affected more than one individual page or feature. It influenced how visitors could view the overall website on different devices. The experience showed that creating a responsive website involves more than selecting a responsive theme; the actual content and layouts still need to be tested and adjusted.
Overall Experience
The experience of building The Animation Horizon showed why WordPress can be both useful and challenging. Being able to add features, manage content, and customize the design made it possible to develop a website with many different functions. However, errors, plugin management, and responsive-layout problems also required additional troubleshooting. Working through those challenges provided practical experience with the amount of testing and maintenance that can be involved in developing a complete WordPress website.
References
WordPress.org. (2026). WordPress Block Editor.
https://wordpress.org/documentation/article/wordpress-block-editor/
WordPress.org. (2023). Plugin and themes auto-updates.
https://wordpress.org/documentation/article/plugins-themes-auto-updates/
WordPress.org. (2025). First steps with WordPress (Block Editor).
https://wordpress.org/documentation/article/first-steps-with-wordpress-block-editor/