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#1 2008-11-06 14:50:46
- jim
- Member
- Registered: 2008-11-06
- Posts: 29
Textpattern Future, Development, Roadmap, etc.?
Hi folks,
I’ve been looking at moving from my home-grown CMS to a better solution, and TXP is a compelling option. Really, the only thing keeping me from pulling the trigger—and I hate to say it—is that it looks pretty moribund, from an outsider perspective. I see that these forums are active, but the last post on the development blog was 77 days ago, the last post to the “Official Announcements” forum was from 2/13/08, 4.0.6 was launched 278 days ago, etc. I see that 4.0.7 has been in the works for awhile, and that there’s a 4.1 branch, but I don’t know what’s planned for it.
I read the FAQ—“we don’t discuss release dates or speculate about upcoming features in advance, because such predictions are invariably incorrect”—and I can respect that, but it makes it hard to jump on the bandwagon when I can’t get a sense of whether the project is growing or shrinking, or how actively it’s being developed.
In Googling this I found another post talking about TXP’s lack of momentum, and this does worry me as well. It may be that the TXP developers are working like mad, but there’s no outside indication of that, so it’s hard to feel like there’s a future. All that work is valuable from a technical perspective, of course, but it becomes more valuable when people know about it.
Again, total outsider perspective, but as a new (potential) user I thought it would be valuable to share.
So, um, is TXP being actively developed? :-)
Thanks!
Jim
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#2 2008-11-06 15:22:13
- redbot
- Plugin Author
- Registered: 2006-02-14
- Posts: 1,410
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#3 2008-11-06 15:27:35
- jim
- Member
- Registered: 2008-11-06
- Posts: 29
Re: Textpattern Future, Development, Roadmap, etc.?
Nice, thanks! Commit logs are perhaps not the ideal PR tool for reaching out to a wider audience (not that that’s necessarily a goal), but that works for me.
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Re: Textpattern Future, Development, Roadmap, etc.?
jim wrote:
So, um, is TXP being actively developed? :-)
Very much so (as redbot pointed out).
Sure, compared with other CMS’ with vast resources and teams of people working on them, it looks like not much is happening here, but with just two core developers (with day jobs), one can’t expect too much too quickly! They work on updates, respond to stuff every day on the forums and administer a tonne of other things at the same time. It’s pretty amazing and is probably why they don’t blog about it every day :-)
I can assure you, TXP is great. At the end of the day, if you try it and love it (like I did a few years ago), the fact that you don’t have to update every one of your installations every week or two for bug fixes is a major blessing. If I was on WP I’d be tearing my hair out at the frequency of updates and security holes.
TXP is stable, dependable and flexible: those are its key strong points. And if you think things aren’t moving quick enough, just look at the number of plugins being developed to enhance it. In my experience, if you can’t find something the core product offers you can either a) look a bit harder (seriously, the number of times I’ve thought something was impossible then stumbled upon a tag or combination that did just what I wanted in a more elegant fashion is unreal!) or b) ask about a plugin or solution here on the forum. We’ll sort you out in record time. You can’t get that anywhere else.
With regards 4.1, don’t worry about it. 4.0.7 is a major enhancement in terms of flexibility, which is why it’s been in testing so long. The 4.0 branch continues to deliver and surprise us every week.
I suggest you try TXP out. Spend a few days with it, play with it, check out the tag reference and tutorials and if you don’t like it after that, walk away and find a solution that changes every few weeks.
But I’ll stick my neck out and say in advance, welcome aboard! I think you’ll like it here.
Last edited by Bloke (2008-11-06 15:31:42)
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#5 2008-11-06 15:40:48
- jim
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- Registered: 2008-11-06
- Posts: 29
Re: Textpattern Future, Development, Roadmap, etc.?
That’s a helpful perspective, thanks Bloke!
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Re: Textpattern Future, Development, Roadmap, etc.?
Hey Jim. I’ve been using txp for personal projects for a couple years now and it is extremely flexible. The community is always helpful.
I too was worried about the future of txp. I use wordpress for client work because it is industry standard and for our purposes we need to launch sites fast with little fuss. Wordpress is great because you can change the look almost immediately. However, It is nowhere near as flexible as Textpattern as a cms in my opinion. It’s just more hands on. When you start learning the tag and logic a light will go on.
I’m excited about 4.0.7 and the future of the platform. I will continue to use txp along with other platforms.
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Re: Textpattern Future, Development, Roadmap, etc.?
mattmikulla wrote:
I use wordpress for client work because it is industry standard.
How is WordPress industry standard? It might be more popular, but that doesn’t make it the standard, is Windows the computer standard? Not in my world it isn’t.
~ Cameron
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Re: Textpattern Future, Development, Roadmap, etc.?
An even more indication of how TXP is active is the community and plugin developers.
Piwik Dashboard, Google Analytics Dashboard, Minibar, Article Image Colorpicker, Admin Datepicker, Admin Google Map, Admin Colorpicker
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Re: Textpattern Future, Development, Roadmap, etc.?
Hey Jim – Welcome aboard!
I think you’ll find a very active community here.
Yes, the pace of core development can seem a bit glacial at times,
but there is always amazing work being done by the community (in the form of plugins).
Spend some time working with TXP – I feel pretty confident you’ll be hooked. :)
—
Tom
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#10 2008-11-06 19:19:58
- jim
- Member
- Registered: 2008-11-06
- Posts: 29
Re: Textpattern Future, Development, Roadmap, etc.?
Thanks everyone, I suspect I’ll be hooked too, and if nothing else I do love an underdog. :-) I’ll give it a shot, thanks again!
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#11 2008-11-06 19:44:29
- masa
- Member
- From: Asturias, Spain
- Registered: 2005-11-25
- Posts: 1,091
Re: Textpattern Future, Development, Roadmap, etc.?
Bloke wrote:
4.0.7 is a major enhancement in terms of flexibility, which is why it’s been in testing so long. The 4.0 branch continues to deliver and surprise us every week.
I totally agree.
The new tag parser – allowing for tags as attributes etc. – and the introduction of the txp:variable tag are fantastic enhancements and well worth the wait.
And this is just the humble opinion of someone that uses Textpattern to build sites and doesn’t understand much of its underpinnings.
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Re: Textpattern Future, Development, Roadmap, etc.?
driz wrote:
How is WordPress industry standard?
I believe it refers to the amount of Wordpress sites out there and the support behind them. As in, Wordpress won’t disappear from the face of the web from one day to the other.
Which is really the concern people have when choosing an Open Source project. Will they be around for the long haul, will my time in learning it be rewarded down the road, etc.
Personally, I look at the technical merits of a project before I dive in, but I can maintain the code if need be.
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