How hard for end user?

florida_guy · 2006-05-24 01:14:03

I’m still going back and forth on the pros and cons of Textpattern vs Wordpress and another issue has come up that concerns me. Textpattern seems really great for the clean code, tag language, and organization. But I’m a developer. How difficult will it be for an average user to learn how to use Textpattern to manage their site after I have built it for them?

colak · 2006-05-24 06:51:13

I would think that it will depend how you will design it. If you do separate the content from the presentation properly all the end user will have to do is learn the program (in the same way they have to learn word or whatever other text editing app).

florida_guy · 2006-05-24 09:38:20

colak wrote:

I would think that it will depend how you will design it. If you do separate the content from the presentation properly all the end user will have to do is learn the program (in the same way they have to learn word or whatever other text editing app).

Yeah, but unless I missed something Textpattern doesn’t have a WYSIWYG editor. They would need to learn the Texttile tags or else html right? I’m wondering what level of resistant non technical people tend to give to that?

florida_guy · 2006-05-24 18:01:13

Let me ask this a different way. Is there anyone who has built a site using Textpattern that has passed on the content maintenace of the site to a non-technical person?

hcgtv · 2006-05-24 18:22:36

One option is to use a desktop publishing app to feed articles to Textpattern.

w.bloggar is freeware, I’ve used it with Nucleus in the past and it worked rather well.

I don’t know if it will work with Textpattern but it’s worth a shot.

lee · 2006-05-24 19:04:36

From my experience non technical end users (clients) find the textpattern interface a little confusing. There in no way to remove the bits of the interface they don’t need. This is especially true on the Write tab which is very busy. There was once a plugin that removed parts of the write tab that were not needed, but it don’t work any more.

There has been a lot of backend development work going on in TxP, but pretty much no changes to the user interface for a long time.

Last edited by lee (2006-05-24 19:08:31)

squaredeye · 2006-05-24 19:25:49

lee,
There was a plugin at one point to adjust this stuff. I think it would be worth a plugin:request which I would contribute some funds to as well.

As you mentioned there is work underway to adjust some of these things, but it is on hold at the moment and takes a ton of work.

If you want a really customizable system, we need plugins, or you can go toward modx or expression engine?

soulship · 2006-05-24 21:00:30

As a personal experience (for what it’s worth)… I got more after job questions with wordpress installations than textpattern installations. I have also had to go back and fix more after job problems with wordpress. I don’t use it anymore. I really think this goes down to what type of site you will be building as well. Both are freeware and open source. If a client needs a cleaner back end and is less technically oriented then there are probably better commercial products available. But if a client is simply going to be updating existing content then txp is a breeze. If client is going to be adding new content the you will need to take in to account several hours of hands on training when you estimate your job out. (The same as any new software)

Mary · 2006-05-24 23:47:17

Yeah, but unless I missed something Textpattern doesn’t have a WYSIWYG editor.

There are a couple plugins that add that feature.

jstubbs · 2006-05-25 02:40:58

I have a couple of clients who use TXP for their content and I have had no problems or issues at all. One client is quite proficient, another one is not. Remember that they can also be registered as a “staff writer”, which dramatically simplifies what the client can do, and what they can see in the admin.

colak · 2006-05-25 06:09:53

lee wrote:

From my experience non technical end users (clients) find the textpattern interface a little confusing. There in no way to remove the bits of the interface they don’t need. This is especially true on the Write tab which is very busy.

the write tab might be confusing for some but most of the fields within it can be very useful to the authors of the articles.
If you think that the end user might only get access to the ‘content tab”, it is bot much to learn. Thinking about it there are more things to learn if one wants to use word properly.

Algaris · 2006-05-25 14:39:13

If you’re after a WYSIWYG editor there is a decent plug-in called hak_tinymce WYSIWYG article editor. It allows you to place a toolbar(s) similar to Microsoft word on the write tab. Anyone typing or editing an article can then just use this for formatting and it converts the contents to html behind the scenes.

There are options to fully customise and add up to three toolbars, which I have done for my sites, so that you can add extra functionality from the original installation.

Support thread
http://forum.textpattern.com/viewtopic.php?id=13089

Authors page
http://www.hakjoon.com/words/61/haktinymce-update

Hope this helps.

Textpattern CMS

Textpattern CMS support forum

#1 2006-05-24 01:14:03

How hard for end user?

#2 2006-05-24 06:51:13

Re: How hard for end user?

#3 2006-05-24 09:38:20

Re: How hard for end user?

#4 2006-05-24 18:01:13

Re: How hard for end user?

#5 2006-05-24 18:22:36

Re: How hard for end user?

#6 2006-05-24 19:04:36

Re: How hard for end user?

#7 2006-05-24 19:25:49

Re: How hard for end user?

#8 2006-05-24 21:00:30

Re: How hard for end user?

#9 2006-05-24 23:47:17

Re: How hard for end user?

#10 2006-05-25 02:40:58

Re: How hard for end user?

#11 2006-05-25 06:09:53

Re: How hard for end user?

#12 2006-05-25 14:39:13

Re: How hard for end user?

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