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#1 2005-12-24 21:50:54

TrustySmurf
New Member
Registered: 2004-09-25
Posts: 8

Textpattern's Shortcomings and Weaknesses - An Objective Look

I don’t exactly have any material to offer yet but I am very curious to see what various Textpattern users see as the biggest shortcomings/weaknesses of this system.

Not its strengths or where it is best, not a comparison between it and Wordpress/MODx/Website Baker/etc., just experienced users opinions (experienced because new users may have issues with quirks of Textpattern that are old hat to long time users and not really shortcomings in any great sense) about where Textpattern is left lacking.

I ask this because while Textpattern is my favorite system and I can build a decently complex site with it, I still want/need to understand it better. Thanks!

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#2 2005-12-24 22:19:26

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

Re: Textpattern's Shortcomings and Weaknesses - An Objective Look

In short, there are three areas where I think TXP need to work on:

1. taxonomy and arbo. Zem has done some work toward that in crockery with nested sections. We’ll see how it will turn out. Nested sections may partially solve the no content tag issue, we’ll have to see.

2. Multiple authors as working group. Being able to write an article with multiple authors, authors being able to comment and talk to each other. Then, a revision system; and permissions&privileges system.

3. Several little things, when added to one another are as important as the two previous things. I won’t rewrite all of them here just now, but we can start with ressources (images, files, links) insertions into an article, management, and so on (some solutions exist as plugin, like img_popper but plugins have intrinseque flaws).

Last edited by Jeremie (2005-12-24 22:20:06)

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#3 2005-12-25 00:39:19

Maleika E.A.
Member
From: Hamburg, Germany
Registered: 2004-12-11
Posts: 39
Website

Re: Textpattern's Shortcomings and Weaknesses - An Objective Look

What I’m missing are better organization methods in textpattern.

Especially for larger sites, the lack of organizing articles in folders/subfolders or some form of hierarchy within the admin area can be cumbersome. Some JS functions, collapsing and expanding hierarchies to make maintenance easier would do miracles, but I also understand it’s not too easy to do. Good examples of CMSes using such methods are typo3 or phpwcms.

This is my biggest issue.

Another issue for me is the XHTML tag option for images. The way it is now, it’s almost easier to just enter the XHTML for an image manually. So, here my wish would be to have a more sophisticated XHTML or HTML tag for images as well as a better default sorting option.

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#4 2005-12-25 19:10:53

squaredeye
Member
From: Greenville, SC
Registered: 2005-07-31
Posts: 1,495
Website

Re: Textpattern's Shortcomings and Weaknesses - An Objective Look

One of the major issues I am interested in is the level of flexibility for what the end user sees / deals with.

I would be interested in a more flexible permissions system that an administrator has control over. For those of us who are learning php, and/or don’t know it, even commenting out some of the article tab options (ie: keywords, etc) can be tricky at best. It would be ideal if there were an admin tab labeled “permissions” which had each level of author in tabs within. Each tab could give options for what that author would or would not see/use. That way the Admin or site builder could customize the install to a much greater degree, which I think ultimately creates a far more friendly user interface, which seems to be one of the most important things to my customers?

All that said, its hard to pull down TXP’s pants without mentioning how much I love it. I’m in it for the long haul. I dig TXP and this community big style!

Matthew


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#5 2005-12-26 02:14:36

edburdo
Member
Registered: 2004-09-20
Posts: 79
Website

Re: Textpattern's Shortcomings and Weaknesses - An Objective Look

A couple of weaknesses that I see.

Full XMLRPC support. There are some good tools out there to make blogging/posting easier, and they don’t work that well with TXP w/out some hacking.

A themes feature. For my own sites, I don’t need them, but for some of my “clients”, they want to swap themes periodically, and they don’t know HTML and don’t want to learn the TXP Tags system to make their own theme.


Eric

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#6 2005-12-26 03:59:01

kevinpotts
Member
From: Ghost Coast
Registered: 2004-12-07
Posts: 370

Re: Textpattern's Shortcomings and Weaknesses - An Objective Look

RSS feeds for comments.


Kevin
(graphicpush)

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#7 2005-12-26 12:21:00

alexandra
Member
From: Cologne, Germany
Registered: 2004-04-02
Posts: 1,370

Re: Textpattern's Shortcomings and Weaknesses - An Objective Look

Textpattern’s Shortcomings and Weaknesses depends on which direction it will be developed in the future. As a pure blogging tool/software XMLRPc would be great and it seems the next upcoming version will include it.

Will TXP be developed towards a future-oriented CMS a sophisticated rights management is needed on the long run.

Last edited by alexandra (2005-12-26 17:37:52)

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#8 2005-12-26 12:50:45

Destry
Member
From: Haut-Rhin
Registered: 2004-08-04
Posts: 4,909
Website

Re: Textpattern's Shortcomings and Weaknesses - An Objective Look

I fear that no matter what, there will always be a perceived need for something that is not available at any given moment, and if we’re not careful, Textpattern will grow into another all-terrain vehicle like Drupal. Personally, I don’t want to see that happen. I love Textpattern for what it is: lean, quick, and flexible. Time will tell, but with any luck (and sensible planning), Textpattern will only improve within the wonderful capabilities it already has, not go the way of the Borg.

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#9 2005-12-26 14:17:21

edburdo
Member
Registered: 2004-09-20
Posts: 79
Website

Re: Textpattern's Shortcomings and Weaknesses - An Objective Look

Well Said Destry!

People will always find something they are missing. It’s human nature (for those of you who aren’t human, your excused).


Eric

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#10 2005-12-26 17:14:45

neutrino
Member
From: East of the Diablo Range
Registered: 2005-06-16
Posts: 134
Website

Re: Textpattern's Shortcomings and Weaknesses - An Objective Look

all-terrain vehicle like Drupal. Personally, I don’t want to see that happen. I love Textpattern for what it is: lean, quick, and flexible. Time will tell, but with any luck (and sensible planning), Textpattern will only improve within the wonderful capabilities it already has, not go the way of the Borg.

Amen, Destry. Txp is still the artist’s pencil or paintbrush as opposed to a craft kit. You can get a craft kit anywhere but you have to learn to use a pencil. That’s TXP’s major strength which can be perceived as a weakness by one looking for a “website building kit.” I have that tendency, myself, because I’ve experimented with too many CMSes in search of the ultimate one. I often want TXP to do something automatically but then when I step back and try to figure out how to do it TXP’s way I realize that it’s almost always a more flexible and better solution. There’s really no reason to build only one way of doing something into a system if in fact that locks you in to doing it only that way forever. Much better to have some things that are simple in other systems remain difficult in TXP. Forces you to become intimate with your software. Yes, that’s it. TXP requires of her users that we get to know her. Should it ever be any other way?

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#11 2005-12-26 18:14:48

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

Re: Textpattern's Shortcomings and Weaknesses - An Objective Look

I’m a newbie to Textpattern, so saying something on it’s shortcomings would be premature on my part.

I’ve used many Open Source dynamic site building apps and I can attest that they all have their strengths and weaknesses. Some are better suited for certain sites than others, just pick the right tool for the job at hand.

What I do like about Textpattern is it’s simplicity, speed and extensive tag system. Adding feature bloat just for the sake of keeping up with other web apps would be a real shame. There’s always room for improvement, as this thread is evidence of, but my hope is that the developers tread lightly towards the future.

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#12 2005-12-26 19:01:28

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

Re: Textpattern's Shortcomings and Weaknesses - An Objective Look

neutrino wrote:
I often want TXP to do something automatically but then when I step back and try to figure out how to do it TXP’s way I realize that it’s almost always a more flexible and better solution.

Agreed – mostly – but even there, it has some limitations and weaknesses I think. Cf my previous post.

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