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#1 2008-04-19 18:17:12
- kevinpotts
- Member
- From: Ghost Coast
- Registered: 2004-12-07
- Posts: 370
Comparing Textpattern to WCM Solutions
I’ve had an interesting experience over the past few weeks in evaluating WCM software from some very big vendors like Percussion, Fatwire, Ektron, Tridion and others. All of these solutions are designed for the “enterprise”. They cost big bucks to license and install; we’ve seen estimates between $40k to $200k. Now, as a longtime Textpattern user (since 2003), and a longtime Movable Type user before that, it was interesting comparing the big industry players (the ones that Forrester and Gartner pay attention to) with Textpattern.
Bottom line: they’re not that far off in terms of basic functionality.
The reason the WCM solutions cost so much money is that they are built on .NET or Java and stuff a bazillion bells and whistles into their package. LDAP / Active Directory integration, Salesforce.com integration, complex analytics and complicated workflow are all standard. Many smaller companies, of course, don’t need this — they need basic web content management such as the kind Textpattern provides. However, there are some areas where TXP falls short, which is why I could not honestly recommend it to my company as a long-term solution. Here’s a quick breakdown:
| Feature | WCM Vendors | Textpattern |
|---|---|---|
| Basic content writing | Generally fairly convoluted to edit and manage content. Taxonomy is icky, and inline editing is sloppy. | Excellent, IMO, and with plugins like glz_custom_fields and sed_section_fields, extensibility comes a lot easier. |
| Editorial workflow | Robust, completely customizable, complex almost beyond the point of reason. | Non-existent. A painful hole, IMO. upm_pending_notify is a half-step in the right direction, but I find it a constant source of frustration that there is no solid tie between the article status levels and user permission levels. |
| Localization | Almost all of these solutions handle it effortlessly. The actual implementation varies, but the functionality — especially in Tridion — is deeply integrated into the architecture. | The Multi-Lingual Publishing Pack is a huge step in the right direction, but this functionality should be built-in, as deeply as the localization for the interface itself. |
| User customization | This varies deeply between WCM vendors, but on the whole user customization is pretty good. | I actually think this is an area where TXP could exceed the competition if someone just took asy_dashboard and made it awesome, and if article listings could be parsed on a user permission level in order to better present relevant content. (For instance, an HR manager should log in and see only articles in the “job listings” section.) |
| Web 2.0 functionality | Really primitive, actually. Difficult to customize RSS feeds, add commenting, or add any advanced JavaScript framework stuff. | Simple, elegant, speedy. |
I’ll add more as I think of it.
Last edited by kevinpotts (2008-04-19 18:20:25)
Kevin
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Re: Comparing Textpattern to WCM Solutions
I want to add advanced search with TXP core tags for database fields (Search address database? Which address database?).
Address (and organization) related in an enterprise environment is LDAP read/write functionality.
Enterprise wide media repository integration is another point (LDAP again?)
The evergreen: Does your CMS offer document versions?
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