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#1 2013-01-29 15:56:53
- dla
- Member
- Registered: 2007-04-26
- Posts: 11
Textpattern would be more popular if??
Do you think that textpattern would be used by more people if it had better documentation? I’m more developer oriented than designer. I’ve used MovableType, Wordpress, PmachinePro, and ExpressionEngine, and I must say as a newcomer that TextPattern seems to have the highest learning curve. I do not think this is because it’s more complex than the software but rather because of a lack of complete logically structured documentation…
Last edited by Bloke (2013-01-30 09:10:56)
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#2 2013-01-29 19:50:46
- uli
- Moderator
- From: Cologne
- Registered: 2006-08-15
- Posts: 4,316
Re: Textpattern would be more popular if??
The good old “voluntary apples vs. employed oranges” comparison? You know it is flawed ;)
Anyway, where in the documentation did you spot weaknesses and/or incompletenesses?
In bad weather I never leave home without wet_plugout, smd_where_used and adi_form_links
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Re: Textpattern would be more popular if??
DLA has a point. Or least a somewhat point ;-) . While the TxP documentation is complete – I have none the less found hundreds of programming solutions for doing various things on these forums posted by folks who really understand TxP and was not something that the documentation covered.
for example look a this thread
I find that there are not enough examples associated with various TXP Tags. Some of us need examples in order to better understand the power of TXP tags.
I know that this deficiency is due my inabilities but to this day i still cannot fathom some of the txp tags and how to properly use them.
But I have managed to muddle through and was able with the help of these forums to have now developed 5 TXP sites for friends and NGO. So i am learning!
Cheers and many thanks to the devs and the other volunteers. I am indebted to you all.
…. texted postive
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Re: Textpattern would be more popular if??
PS I have used WP ONCE…never again! I also use EE but it’s a different beast – as it is not open source nor free.
…. texted postive
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Re: Textpattern would be more popular if??
Would it be used by more people with better docs? Maybe.
Do we have a person whose job it is to maintain the docs? Yes: everyone.
If the docs are deficient then it’s up to us — you, me, the community — to make them better. As bici indicated, if there’s a great example provided in the depths of the forum, as soon as it’s found, grab it and add it to the wiki for the most appropriate tag so others can benefit from it. Or at very least, submit it to TxpTips.
If you don’t have a wiki account, request one. We can always use more people improving the documentation so if you have ideas on how to lessen the learning curve for future users, please dive in.
The smd plugin menagerie — for when you need one more gribble of power from Textpattern. Bleeding-edge code available on GitHub.
Hire Txp Builders – finely-crafted code, design and Txp
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Re: Textpattern would be more popular if??
I think some valid points are raised here. When people know how to use Textpattern they (generally) really like Textpattern – but getting to know it can be overwhelming. This is not a problem unique to Textpattern though, no CMS I’ve ever used (and I’ve used lots) is without its learning curve.
I feel the online documentation is ok, of course improvements are always welcome. That’s somewhat down to you, our users, to help out where you think something is unclear (its a wiki after all).
What really would help Textpattern is another book or two, especially a printed one. I’ve heard that new books are being written so I look forward to seeing their progress.
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Re: Textpattern would be more popular if??
I think textpattern will bee more popular if more people knew about it .
But 51,348 Alexa rank is good I think , but I think it will be more popular in future .
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Re: Textpattern would be more popular if??
…there were a pony delivery system.
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Re: Textpattern would be more popular if??
I have maintained for 9 years that the key to success for WordPress was timing.
Beyond that, I’ve tried Joomla and Drupal and many of the others and never found anything I really liked.
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Re: Textpattern would be more popular if??
OK, so the general feeling is that Textpattern would be more popular if more people knew about it and the documentation (online and books) made it easier to learn for newbies.
I think we also need some product evangelists to help raise awareness of us. Basically, people to blog about Textpattern. I only came here because Jon Hicks blogged about it back in the day.
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Re: Textpattern would be more popular if??
…the yellow was blue.
txtstrap (Textpattern + Twitter Bootstrap + etc…)
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Re: Textpattern would be more popular if??
whaleen wrote:
…the yellow was blue.
??
…. texted postive
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Re: Textpattern would be more popular if??
philwareham wrote:
agreed. … “documentation made it easier to learn for newbies”. It needs a breakout article in the right venue. Not sure which magazine or blog. perhaps the .Net Magazine from England? .net is the world’s best-selling magazine for web designers and developersOK, so the general feeling is that Textpattern would be more popular if more people knew about it and the documentation (online and books) made it easier to learn for newbies. I think we also need some product evangelists to help raise awareness of us. Basically, people to blog about Textpattern. I only came here because Jon Hicks blogged about it back in the day.
…. texted postive
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Re: Textpattern would be more popular if??
whaleen might have been joking, but I’ll make a blasphemous comment here in Textpattern land:
I loath Textpattern mustard yellow.
For years I’ve quickly changed the admin theme after every Textpattern install, making mustard yellow into blues or greys.
But I love Textpattern. It has always been the CMS that makes the most sense to me. It is relatively easy to design for, and no matter what the challenge there always seems to be a way to make it happen with Textpattern.
We all have theories on what keeps Textpattern “hidden”. From a cruel marketing perspective, Textpattern doesn’t even show up. For many, the list of available CMS is Wordpress, Joomla, Drupal. And all the others.
A new book(s) on Textpattern really will help with perceived legitimacy.
The availability of templates is a huge issue. While many of us don’t use templates often, choosing to design an original appearance, the fact remains that a lot of sites get deployed with an off the shelf template. Even those of us that design unique sites, often may lean on a template as the basis of that design. The end product may look entirely different, but the core template made development that much easier. Current templates (not years old design concepts) are few for Textpattern. It hurts. And it is a challenge to cure. Template creators want to sell them. And thus, Wordpress seems to draw more attention for template development than perhaps all other CMS combined.
Meanwhile, the very useful new default theme for Textpattern by Phil is a great addition. It alone is a great building block for site development.
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