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#1 2007-03-20 21:09:37

kvnmcwebn
Member
From: Ireland
Registered: 2007-01-27
Posts: 724
Website

[feedback] texpattern gets questionable review

Hi,
There was a link to an article posted on the webstandards group list called Choosing an Accessible CMS:

It goes like this.

Textpattern is primarily a blogging tool rather than a CMS, and a big downside to this application is the inability to have more than one level in the navigational hierarchy. Our testing with a screen reader revealed similar results to Expression. However, it has a very simple interface and textile text formatting system…

heres the whole thing

http://juicystudio.com/article/choosing-an-accessible-cms.php

What does everyone think about this?

Last edited by kvnmcwebn (2007-03-20 21:10:59)


its a bad hen that wont scratch itself.
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#2 2007-03-20 23:38:00

Mary
Sock Enthusiast
Registered: 2004-06-27
Posts: 6,236

Re: [feedback] texpattern gets questionable review

…is primarily a blogging tool rather than a CMS

No, it isn’t. What’s funny is that other people say Txp is too CMS-like and not really blog-like enough for them (no built-in fancy archiving, no trackback, no…).

…is the inability to have more than one level in the navigational hierarchy.

True. Known problem. Long time. Will be fixed (not in 4.0.x).

Our testing with a screen reader revealed similar results to Expression.

That certainly isn’t a helpful description, so let’s look at what they said about Expression Engine:

There were no structural headings…

Correct. Txp hasn’t changed its markup in “eons”, and I’m fairly certain screenreaders were not in mind when it was created. Also going to be fixed (not in 4.0.x).

Title and edit boxes were not marked up well…

That can’t be one concerning Textpattern, unless they were using an old version. Still, this is also due for improvement.

I would say that their conclusion appears to be that, at present, Textpattern is fairly usable, just not terribly accessible to screenreaders. I would agree. That doesn’t mean that won’t be changing.

I don’t see the review as questionable, but it would have been helpful to hear what problems Txp has specifically, rather than “like Expression”. Not just to the devs but to individual developers using Txp for their clients (are the problems severe? could they be easily fixed? etc). I am guessing, though, that the article is directed specifically to screenreader users, and they rightly shouldn’t care about technical details, just what works and what doesn’t.

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#3 2007-03-21 00:54:36

Jeremie
Member
From: Provence, France
Registered: 2004-08-11
Posts: 1,578
Website

Re: [feedback] texpattern gets questionable review

Mary wrote:

No, it isn’t.

True, to a point (inability to do txp:older txp:newer with anything other that postdate is very much blog-only to take one example).

But again, this is perception vs fact. One of the reasons a textpattern.com rework, a default template rework, and a backend slight (before the big one) rework might be necessary for example, among other things.

There are countless pseudo-CMS out there, and “things” like PhpNuke are still getting people because of their past notoriety. To give them something better, they have to know why TXP is better, and see it right away and hear right away from us.

What’s funny is that other people say Txp is too CMS-like and not really blog-like enough for them (no built-in fancy archiving, no trackback, no…).

For the most part, any blog tool can be used in a CMS. A blog software is just a narrowed CMS, a Content Management System that only manage blog post.

Last edited by Jeremie (2007-03-21 00:56:12)

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#4 2007-03-21 10:28:40

kvnmcwebn
Member
From: Ireland
Registered: 2007-01-27
Posts: 724
Website

Re: [feedback] texpattern gets questionable review

>> …is the inability to have more than one level in the navigational hierarchy.

Are there any workarounds for this currently?


its a bad hen that wont scratch itself.
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#5 2007-03-21 12:10:31

Zanza
Plugin Author
Registered: 2005-08-18
Posts: 699
Website

Re: [feedback] texpattern gets questionable review

kvnmcwebn wrote:

>> …is the inability to have more than one level in the navigational hierarchy.
Are there any workarounds for this currently?

There is this. I’m not actually using it, but hear some else do, even with 4.0.4.

Z-

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#6 2007-03-21 14:05:31

Jeremie
Member
From: Provence, France
Registered: 2004-08-11
Posts: 1,578
Website

Re: [feedback] texpattern gets questionable review

Some, as hack or plugin§. Also using layered sub-websites (but with flat URI), or using categories instead and plugin to handle the child dependence.

Nothing really simple and usable.

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#7 2007-03-21 14:58:04

mrdale
Member
From: Walla Walla
Registered: 2004-11-19
Posts: 2,215
Website

Re: [feedback] texpattern gets questionable review

Yep, I use categories as 2nd and 3rd level navigation, but it’s kinda klunky. Wasn’t there going to be subsections in core at some point?

I guess that’s the problem with a supply-driven (rather than demmand driven) project like this. It don’t matter how many people want/need a certain feature, it isn’t just going to magically appear in a release.

Team-TXP gladly accepts hacks though. Wish I could do it…

Last edited by mrdale (2007-03-21 14:58:48)

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#8 2007-03-21 15:55:30

Jeremie
Member
From: Provence, France
Registered: 2004-08-11
Posts: 1,578
Website

Re: [feedback] texpattern gets questionable review

Subsections are in crockery.

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#9 2007-03-21 15:59:14

mrdale
Member
From: Walla Walla
Registered: 2004-11-19
Posts: 2,215
Website

Re: [feedback] texpattern gets questionable review

crockery is, well… an unsupported frontier, no?

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#10 2007-03-21 16:15:21

Jeremie
Member
From: Provence, France
Registered: 2004-08-11
Posts: 1,578
Website

Re: [feedback] texpattern gets questionable review

Yes.

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#11 2007-03-21 17:29:03

hcgtv
Plugin Author
From: Key Largo, Florida
Registered: 2005-11-29
Posts: 2,722
Website

Re: [feedback] texpattern gets questionable review

Are we going to take someone named Gez Lemon seriously?

Obviously from the blog post you get the feeling this guy didn’t spend too much time in either system.

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#12 2007-03-21 20:24:21

mrdale
Member
From: Walla Walla
Registered: 2004-11-19
Posts: 2,215
Website

Re: [feedback] texpattern gets questionable review

I agree… But he did have a blindingly obvious and valid point.

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