[feedback] The client wants Wordpress, should i insist for Textpattern?

brunodario · 2012-02-02 03:31:28

Have you ever managed to convince a client to use Textpattern instead of Wordpress, even if the client said at a first moment that he wants WP?

What arguments would you use?

My case: i’ve managed to do it a couple of times, allways with clients that wanted WP only because they’ve heard of it. If they question me about the features i answer that it can be done with Textpattern. What do you say?

Textpattern is amazingly unknown in Brazil (typing textpattern brasil on google returns a post of mine on this forum) and i think that there are a lot of webdesigners here who would love to use it instead of wordpress (I do).

milosevic · 2012-02-02 07:35:49

You can insist, but if the client wants WP, give it to him. Otherwise we will give you problems in the future: he will ask for that plugin that still don’t exist in TXP, that thing he likes more of the admin interface of WP…

Other thing is that if you work better with textpattern, the price must be different, because you will expend more time to do the same work with WP instead of using TXP. I have never use WP mora than a default installation and loading a theme, if a client ask me for doing a site with WP, I will multiply the cost by 1.5 compared with using textpattern, because I don’t know of to do a lot of things that I really know how to do easily and quickly with Textpattern.

admi · 2012-02-02 10:28:01

I usually use wp if a client is tight on budget.:) But if u consider SEO I think TXP is better, I think. Give him a hint. Since WP is so popular, there are lots of splogs powered by wp etc…. easier to crack…

Last edited by admi (2012-02-02 10:30:46)

colak · 2012-02-02 11:54:54

Mention the security flaws of wp. It’s the one thing which might change their mind.

brunodario · 2012-02-02 14:54:24

Thx all for your feedback, @milosevic your price policies makes sense to me.

colak wrote:

Mention the security flaws of wp. It’s the one thing which might change their mind.

Since i’m not a security expert (i admit, i just trust the textpattern team and take care of known issues such as folders permissions, log checks, regular basis backups via cron jobs) can you point a security flaw on WP that doesn’t exist on Textpattern?

wet · 2012-02-02 15:11:35

From my POV, the WordPress security track record leaves not much to be desired since their ill-fated 2.8 release. Even more when it’s used for a typical brochure-type site with a well-known editor staff.

Another more important aspect is WP’s hectic update cycle. It’s their express policy to release three major versions per year with some minor releases intertwined, and they do not support or fix “older” releases as young as half a year.

For your prospect clients, this means either that they have to deal with continuous updates (via maintenance contract, or ad-hoc) and collateral scheduled downtime, or risk to run their site from unsupported software after not very much longer than 6 months.

philwareham · 2012-02-02 15:26:39

Chris Coyier (a WordPress aficionado) posted this tweet just a few hours back…

And we’re back. Huge thanks to @ciorici for spotting the issue. WP-Polls plugin was hacked somehow. How’d he know?

Nuff said really.

Gocom · 2012-02-02 15:35:46

colak wrote:

Mention the security flaws of wp. It’s the one thing which might change their mind.

Textpattern being empty-canvas and most sites build on Textpattern are very customized, personalized projects, using custom code and plugins, we could say that Textpattern is as secure as you make it to be.

Let’s put some perspective to it. What is the main difference between Textpattern and WordPress when it comes to templating? Yes, templating engine. Which we might argue, gives false sense of security. In reality it’s nothing more than a nice wrapper, a very well crafted regex that turns markup to PHP. For example if we have the following script, and we put that to the respectful system’s templates, which one you think can be directly cracked because of it, WP or TXP?

<?php echo $_GET['foobar']; ?>

Or in Textpattern;

<txp:php>
	echo gps('foobar');
</txp:php>

WP? Well no. You will have XSS vulnerability, but that’s about it. WP uses (raw) PHP, and thus will respect context/types and nothing will be parsed or evaluated. But in Textpattern you just gave everyone full access to your server (damn you two parser passes – secondpass should go, really). Am I saying WP is more secure or better? No, not really. Everything is relative. It’s about what you do with the site. On both system a lot lays on the end-users, developers (plugins, core) and the site production team.

Last edited by Gocom (2012-02-02 15:36:52)

colak · 2012-02-02 17:09:53

brunodario wrote:

Since i’m not a security expert (i admit, i just trust the textpattern team and take care of known issues such as folders permissions, log checks, regular basis backups via cron jobs) can you point a security flaw on WP that doesn’t exist on Textpattern?

A google search reveals a number of sites listing them

brunodario · 2012-02-02 18:58:43

One more time, thx you all for the great information provided, it will certainly be usefull on some situations.

michaelkpate · 2012-02-02 21:40:20

Just saw this link and thought I might add it here: Massive Compromise of WordPress-based Sites but ‘Everything will be Fine’

Textpattern CMS

Textpattern CMS support forum

#1 2012-02-02 03:31:28

[feedback] The client wants Wordpress, should i insist for Textpattern?

#2 2012-02-02 07:35:49

Re: [feedback] The client wants Wordpress, should i insist for Textpattern?

#3 2012-02-02 10:28:01

Re: [feedback] The client wants Wordpress, should i insist for Textpattern?

#4 2012-02-02 11:54:54

Re: [feedback] The client wants Wordpress, should i insist for Textpattern?

#5 2012-02-02 14:54:24

Re: [feedback] The client wants Wordpress, should i insist for Textpattern?

#6 2012-02-02 15:11:35

Re: [feedback] The client wants Wordpress, should i insist for Textpattern?

#7 2012-02-02 15:26:39

Re: [feedback] The client wants Wordpress, should i insist for Textpattern?

#8 2012-02-02 15:35:46

Re: [feedback] The client wants Wordpress, should i insist for Textpattern?

#9 2012-02-02 17:09:53

Re: [feedback] The client wants Wordpress, should i insist for Textpattern?

#10 2012-02-02 18:58:43

Re: [feedback] The client wants Wordpress, should i insist for Textpattern?

#11 2012-02-02 21:40:20

Re: [feedback] The client wants Wordpress, should i insist for Textpattern?

Board footer