Textpattern CMS support forum
You are not logged in. Register | Login | Help
- Topics: Active | Unanswered
[mention] A Tale of Two Competitive CMS’s
Offline
Re: [mention] A Tale of Two Competitive CMS’s
A fair (but brief) comparison of both systems. Can’t argue with the pros/cons having used both systems myself.
WordPress 3.3 sure does look pretty and that’s something I want to address within Textpattern during 2012.
Offline
Re: [mention] A Tale of Two Competitive CMS’s
“Admin back end looks outdated.”
Well, yes, because it is fundamentally unchanged since 2004. Everything from that era looks a bit dated now. But there is a counter-argument:
While I’m on this subject, my Mom has been having trouble posting to her WordPress blog. I went and looked and of course they had ripped up and changed the UI. I had trouble finding all the new stuff, and I somewhat understand the logic of WordPress. My mom, who is very smart and highly educated, doesn’t have time to learn a new way of doing things. Computers are not even close to the primary thing for her. Could we work hard to simplify stuff instead of complicating? Computer designers would do well to see themselves as servants to the users, instead of the way they view things now, which seems to be the other way around. – Dave Winer
There are some advantages to not changing too often, too.
Offline
Re: [mention] A Tale of Two Competitive CMS’s
Precisely, Michael. The aesthetics are old, but that’s not the same as usability, and Dave Winer’s point is spot on. Too many weekend webmasters always thinking how something looks (essentially aesthetics) trumps actual usability. Few “designers” really think in the users shoes, which is what matters.
But, what’s interesting (or sad) to me here is not the benchmark done, but the misuse of Textpattern’s brand name, which is another recent and public example of people getting it wrong. This shouldn’t be happening after 9 years of existence, and while there will always be lazy minds and writers, a good brand can go a long way to give the right impression, and I think Textpattern’s brand fails to do that. Particularly the logotype and excessive use of all-caps of the brand name in the website. These do not help clarify that Textpattern’s name is not camel-case, and in a market where every other CMSs name is camel-case, Textpattern needs to make extra effort to distinguish itself. Every time an article like this is circulated, it makes the problem worse, entrenching in the minds of readers—many first-time exposed to Textpattern—that it’s the way the brand name is spelled.
From that article’s comments…
Thanks for the heads up on Text Pattern – I had not heard about it until now.
Offline
Re: [mention] A Tale of Two Competitive CMS’s
I keep calling it TextPattern though, its Textpattern. Years of WordPress have corrupted me XD – Rubenerd
The funny thing is that my first forum post (or at least the earliest surviving) contains both “TextPattern” and “Wordpress.”
Offline
#6 2011-12-17 18:20:52
- els
- Moderator
- From: The Netherlands
- Registered: 2004-06-06
- Posts: 7,458
Re: [mention] A Tale of Two Competitive CMS’s
Destry wrote:
But, what’s interesting (or sad) to me here is not the benchmark done, but the misuse of Textpattern’s brand name
When someone writes an article like this, comparing two CMS’s, you’d expect the author to have more than a minimal knowledge of those CMS’s. If I see a misspelled brand name in such an article, my first thought is not ‘what did we do wrong that people still can’t spell our name right’, but ‘how well did this person actually look at his Txp install and the main site’. The word ‘Textpattern’ is all over the place, dammit; if the author can’t use his eyes, why would I trust his judgement?
@Michael: you’re forgiven, you totally made up for it with your Wordpress ;)
Offline
#7 2011-12-17 18:34:37
- uli
- Moderator
- From: Cologne
- Registered: 2006-08-15
- Posts: 4,311
Re: [mention] A Tale of Two Competitive CMS’s
Els wrote:
how well did this person actually look at his Txp install
Install? If I look at the screenie (Prefs > Basic > Site URL: “demo.opensourcecms.com”) it seems a “judge a book by its blurb” review ;)
Last edited by uli (2011-12-17 18:38:33)
In bad weather I never leave home without wet_plugout, smd_where_used and adi_form_links
Offline
#8 2011-12-17 19:17:55
- els
- Moderator
- From: The Netherlands
- Registered: 2004-06-06
- Posts: 7,458
Re: [mention] A Tale of Two Competitive CMS’s
uli wrote:
(Prefs > Basic > Site URL: “demo.opensourcecms.com”)
Wow, good catch, missed that! What a mockery.
Offline
Re: [mention] A Tale of Two Competitive CMS’s
Pet peeve TextPattern install Textpattern installation
Offline
Re: [mention] A Tale of Two Competitive CMS’s
I bet one-click installs for admin themes, front of site themes, and plugins would bring a horde our way of the sort that use Wordpress. I’m glad they stay away. This is a civilized place. We think before we start pushing buttons.
Last edited by whaleen (2011-12-18 08:42:11)
txtstrap (Textpattern + Twitter Bootstrap + etc…)
Offline
Re: [mention] A Tale of Two Competitive CMS’s
The upcoming Showdown! column in the new TXP magazine will go a long way to setting some records straight in these CMS comparisons. But we need to do it right—unbiased and supported with metrics—so this column won’t be ready for first issue (February).
@joebaich: I hope that’s not in the wiki anywhere? O_o
@Josh: Yeah, I know what you mean, but there could (and should) be a healthy balance between improving “x” of the product (define as you will) while growing the project (increasing awareness, at least).
Offline
#12 2011-12-18 19:40:44
- lazlo
- Member
- Registered: 2004-02-24
- Posts: 110
Re: [mention] A Tale of Two Competitive CMS’s
The quality of the review is a mockery and I was going to rail against it in my first tweet, but then I thought there is no such thing as bad press. The tweet” A Tale of Two Competitive CMS’s: WordPress And TextPattern In … “ has been tweeted about 40 times by people outside of the usual Textpattern community and this is a good thing.
Offline