TXP vs EE

Ace of Dubs · 2006-07-16 13:37:44

After reaching the limits of TXP in some areas, I decided to give EE a spin.

Some first impressions:

<code>+ More configuration options…though this could be a minus for some
+ Custom fields are groupable/assignable, you can even set them tobe “required”
+ Conditional statements have much more power with elseif statements
+ Article Relationships (more efficient system for establishing them)
+ Trackbacks

- 6MB vs TXP’s 1MB footprint
- Site seems a tad slower
- Too many config options
- unweildy syntax</code>

I am sure I’ll have more to add.. curious to hear from you guys though

Edit: woops, textile didnt show the minuses

Last edited by Ace of Dubs (2006-07-16 14:25:35)

guiguibonbon · 2006-07-16 14:28:47

I didn’t know that one. It shure looks powerful. I find it a bit counter-intuitive though. And, hehe, it uses a ugly language in its templates, instead of tags. But those custom fields… waw. All I would ever have dreamt of.

running with scissors · 2006-07-17 12:33:49

guiguibonbon,

i’m not sure i get where you are coming from regarding “ugly language”. it does in fact use a tag syntax that i found to be very similar to txp. as far as ee vs. txp goes, i have come to prefer ee over the last year or so. i just seem to get from point “a” to point “b” much quicker than if i was developing in txp. and though there seems to be better developer community surrounding txp at the moment, i just have more confidence in the direction that ee is going.

hcgtv · 2006-07-17 15:50:10

running with scissors,

i’ve seen you around before, i think you work for ee ;)

as for ee vs txp, if rick should ever open source ee, then we can compare projects. till then, no matter how good ee is, it’s not worth my time.

running with scissors · 2006-07-17 16:34:23

hey hcgtv,

nah, they don’t pay near enough. besides i haven’t posted here in a while, but maybe you caught one of my post on stylegala? don’t get me wrong, i like txp a lot, i just think ee is a stronger more flexible package for the kinds of stuff i’ve been doing of late.

as far as your point regarding open source goes, the way i see it, i try to use the best tool for the job, if that happens to be an open source solution, so be it. if not, i’m more than willing to throw some dollars to companies or individuals that can provide sound and reliable products. the cost of ee is easily recouped in the time that i save in development.

hcgtv · 2006-07-17 17:16:05

hey running with scissors,

the cost of ee has nothing to do with my decision, heck i donate more monies to the projects i’m involved with than what an ee license would cost me. my decision is based on the time one takes to learn a product, i’d rather spend my time on an open source project, help it along and i’m assured that my efforts would not go for naught because i also own the end product.

on a closed source product like ee, since it’s closed to developers, so very few take the time to learn it’s intricacies. should rick decide to go back to playing in a band one day, where would that leave everyone?

running with scissors · 2006-07-17 17:37:21

hcgtv,

i see your point but pmachine is hardly just rick any more and hasn’t been for a couple of years now. i don’t think that really is much of a concern. besides, just because txp is open source doesn’t mean that any addition that you submit to the team are necessarily going to make it in to a future build. the main thing is to find a environment that works for you and your needs.

Mary · 2006-07-17 17:51:44

Very true. It’s also very true that because it is closed source, they could stop working on it and you’re screwed (i.e: no new features and no one else can continue development). Doesn’t mean that will absolutely happen, but it is a distinct possibility. After all, they stopped developing pMachine, did they not?

running with scissors · 2006-07-17 18:32:15

true mary, but they also gave quite a bit of heads up regarding pmachines demise and provided a transition path for those interested in moving to ee. not quite the same as leaving you high and dry considering the advantages of moving to ee vs pmachine pro. could what you both are saying happen? sure. is it likely to happen? i’d say no. and lest we forget that there are a slew of open source carcasses scattered across the net. anything can run it’s course.

NyteOwl · 2006-07-17 18:42:02

No criticism of EE as a product at all, but I think the point, and it’s one of the biggest advantages to open source, is that open source abandonware can be resurrected at any time by someone else with the interest and desire to do so. All they need is a copy of the source.

Unfortuantely few companies that either die, or drop proprietary product development are willing (if indeed able) to hand off their closed code to an interested developer – or at least not for anything short of a prohibitive cost to the developer.

I must say one exception to this I do know of is Counterpane Labs’ Password Safe which they released to open source rather than continue internal developement. But this is rare.

Mary · 2006-07-17 18:47:19

No criticism of EE as a product at all, but I think the point, and it’s one of the biggest advantages to open source, is that open source abandonware can be resurrected at any time by someone else with the interest and desire to do so. All they need is a copy of the source.

Exactly my point.

running with scissors · 2006-07-17 19:05:41

i’m not discounting your contention that this is a strength, i just don’t place as much weight towards it as some of you might. there is also the distinct possibility that someone could take said source and go off in a different direction by forking the code, possibly weakening the community. as i recall, this could have easily happened here after dean left. the ship may have been righted, but the danger always exists.

hcgtv · 2006-07-17 19:19:56

Rick alluded to Open Sourcing pMachine but it never materialized. His point was that the code was not all that good and wouldn’t be worth releasing it to developers.

Should Textpattern be dropped tomorrow by Dean and friends, it will get picked up, I have no doubts about it. It’s such a small code base that it doesn’t take that long to wrap your head around it, I can probably list at least 15 to 20 people on this forum who are familiar with the inner workings of Textpattern.

As far as a fork goes, that’s the nature of Open Source and no it doesn’t weaken a project at all. As a matter of fact if you follow the evolution of PHP-Nuke to PostNuke, Xaraya and all the other derivatives, it’s only had the effect of strengthening the Nuke community.

running with scissors · 2006-07-17 20:01:34

it’s all matter of perspective, hcgtv.

hcgtv · 2006-07-17 20:32:40

Textpattern has a much more lively community that shares:

327 plugins at Textpattern.org

87 plugins at plugins.pmachine.com

EE is for web developers, like yourself, buy a copy of EE for your client, tweak it and hand it over to them. Any templates, plugins, additions to the code base you create never see the light of day, it’s your advantage over other design houses, gotta keep ahead of Moxie ;)

Textpattern is community based, we share cause we feel like it’s the right thing to do. The software is free, why not give back something to the community?

That’s my perspective.

Textpattern CMS

Textpattern CMS support forum

#1 2006-07-16 13:37:44

TXP vs EE

#2 2006-07-16 14:28:47

Re: TXP vs EE

#3 2006-07-17 12:33:49

Re: TXP vs EE

#4 2006-07-17 15:50:10

Re: TXP vs EE

#5 2006-07-17 16:34:23

Re: TXP vs EE

#6 2006-07-17 17:16:05

Re: TXP vs EE

#7 2006-07-17 17:37:21

Re: TXP vs EE

#8 2006-07-17 17:51:44

Re: TXP vs EE

#9 2006-07-17 18:32:15

Re: TXP vs EE

#10 2006-07-17 18:42:02

Re: TXP vs EE

#11 2006-07-17 18:47:19

Re: TXP vs EE

#12 2006-07-17 19:05:41

Re: TXP vs EE

#13 2006-07-17 19:19:56

Re: TXP vs EE

#14 2006-07-17 20:01:34

Re: TXP vs EE

#15 2006-07-17 20:32:40

Re: TXP vs EE

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