Why haven't I heard of TextPattern?

florida_guy · 2006-05-21 23:55:25

I spent weeks researching a CMS for my new site. I was all ready to install WordPress until I read about TextPattern on their site. It is more what I’m looking for, a web standards based CMS. I did a lot of Googling for standards compliant tableless layout CMS’s and TextPattern never came up. A guy who did reviews on a whole bunch of CMS’s even admitted he hadn’t heard of it and he was obvously way more involved in this than I have been. This concerns me because I don’t want to commit to a here today gone tomorrow CMS. Any idea why more people aren’t talking about it? How long has it been around.

net-carver · 2006-05-22 00:56:01

Perhaps this article by Destry can shed some light on the matter (just search for CMS in the page). I think it is also a great overview of Textpattern.

Sencer · 2006-05-22 09:22:32

Textpattern has ben around for years, it has a relatively large and friendly community. There are currently translations for 30 languages. There are several sites run by volunteers that offer Documentation, Plugins, Themes, the magazine etc. etc.

If you look at the origins: There is a metafilter-thread (does somebody have the link? I couldn’t find it) on the release of a very early version of movabletype where people in the comments are suggesting b2 (out of which wordpress was born) and textpattern as alternatives.

The current major release (4.0.x) is seeing regular maintenance releases, and we are already working on the next major release that will bring new, often requested features. Textpattern will be around and moving forward for a long time to come.

florida_guy · 2006-05-22 09:44:56

Thanks that is a great article. I haven’t finished it yet but I will.

net-carver wrote:

Perhaps this article by Destry can shed some light on the matter (just search for CMS in the page). I think it is also a great overview of Textpattern.

florida_guy · 2006-05-22 09:55:43

Thanks for the thoughtful response Mr. Core Developer Sir. :-) From what I’ve learned about TextPattern over the last couple of days there is only one thing that is keeping WordPress in the picture for me. A forum will be a focal point of my site and all indications (including a thread in the Plugins Forum here) are that it is easier to get WordPress to work with vBulletin than it is TextPattern. Although, I am passionate about web standards I can’t overlook the superior feature vBulletiin has over any of the available standards compliant forum software I have found.

What is the likelihood that it will become easier to use vBulletin with TextPatttern in the future. I don’t mean integration just shall we say cooperation.

——————————

Sencer wrote:

The current major release (4.0.x) is seeing regular maintenance releases, and we are already working on the next major release that will bring new, often requested features. Textpattern will be around and moving forward for a long time to come.

Last edited by florida_guy (2006-05-22 09:59:08)

Sencer · 2006-05-22 14:30:58

What is the likelihood that it will become easier to use vBulletin with TextPatttern in the future. I don’t mean integration just shall we say cooperation.

Depends on what you expect from a “cooperation”. You can install both software packages on the same server (one in a subdirectory of the other, if you like). So from a visitors POV you can make both seperate parts blend in visually, so that a non-technical person will not know that you use different software for different parts of your site.

If you wish to make use of data entered into application A in the application B, than this is usually the job of a plugin. You can request a plugin with a specific functionality and hope that somebody will take it up, or you could probably contract one of the several plugin developers to custom develop such a plugin for you.

florida_guy · 2006-05-22 15:12:52

Well for starters, TextPattern and vBulletin both use MySQL and my host provider includes one fairly large MySQL database in my monthly fee. Will I be able to use the same one for both programs?

What I really want is when I create a new article it creates a thread in vBulletin so that all comments etc are managed by vBulletin. An add on for this already exists for WordPress that does this. If it existed for TextPattern this would be a no brainer decision.

Sencer wrote:

Depends on what you expect from a “cooperation”.

Last edited by florida_guy (2006-05-22 22:38:06)

florida_guy · 2006-05-22 15:21:43

Well, I read the whole article now and it just makes me all the more curious about the question I asked. Why haven’t I heard of this. I just searched “A list apart” and there are only three vague references to it. As a developer who is passionate about web standards and reads quite a bit about it I would think this CMS would get mentioned frequently in my reading.

net-carver wrote:

Perhaps this article by Destry can shed some light on the matter (just search for CMS in the page). I think it is also a great overview of Textpattern.

Last edited by florida_guy (2006-05-22 16:55:01)

net-carver · 2006-05-22 15:42:07

Well, one of the points Destry was making in the article is that TXP isn’t a full blown CMS, despite what some people here say. I have no clue on the fine points of differentiation over the matter, but you said you were searching for CMSs—and since TXP appears not to be a true CMS (according to the author) then it makes sense that your search didn’t turn up many hits to TXP!

BTW, I have only been using TXP for a few months now and I find it very easy to use and flexible. It also seems fairly easy to integrate other products with it and it is also ok for plugin development.

florida_guy wrote:

snip I would think this CMS would get mentioned frequently in my reading.

els · 2006-05-22 16:06:29

Have a look at the TXP sites by category on TXP Magazine. It will give you an impression of what can be done.

florida_guy · 2006-05-22 16:42:29

Good point. It is closer to a CMS than Blog Software though I would would classify it as that between the two.

Thanks for the info your implementation experience.

net-carver wrote:

Well, one of the points Destry was making in the article is that TXP isn’t a full blown CMS, despite what some people here say. ..

BTW, I have only been using TXP for a few months now and I find it very easy to use and flexible. It also seems fairly easy to integrate other products with it and it is also ok for plugin development.

Last edited by florida_guy (2006-05-22 16:43:04)

jstubbs · 2006-05-22 18:31:21

TXP is a CMS. Unless you think a CMS is something else. Content management system. TXP is that, and much more. Its not a blogging engine at all, I have no idea why people think it is. For a blog, use WordPress.

I use TXP and PunBB on a few sites, and they work great together. Whats the big deal about vBulletin anyway. if you want a forum punBB does all that, and there is only two templates to edit to make your TXP site match with your overall design. Is that not easy enough? I think so.

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#1 2006-05-21 23:55:25

Why haven't I heard of TextPattern?

#2 2006-05-22 00:56:01

Re: Why haven't I heard of TextPattern?

#3 2006-05-22 09:22:32

Re: Why haven't I heard of TextPattern?

#4 2006-05-22 09:44:56

Re: Why haven't I heard of TextPattern?

#5 2006-05-22 09:55:43

Re: Why haven't I heard of TextPattern?

#6 2006-05-22 14:30:58

Re: Why haven't I heard of TextPattern?

#7 2006-05-22 15:12:52

Re: Why haven't I heard of TextPattern?

#8 2006-05-22 15:21:43

Re: Why haven't I heard of TextPattern?

#9 2006-05-22 15:42:07

Re: Why haven't I heard of TextPattern?

#10 2006-05-22 16:06:29

Re: Why haven't I heard of TextPattern?

#11 2006-05-22 16:42:29

Re: Why haven't I heard of TextPattern?

#12 2006-05-22 18:31:21

Re: Why haven't I heard of TextPattern?

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