ExpressionEngine’s architecture and power are undisputed, but the user interface is, well, engineerish. Has anyone seen Naz Hamid’s interface design for AIGA’s custom CMS? From the screenshots it looks like the interface is a real pleasure to use and helps unleash the full power of whatever that CMS is.

That’s the kind of improvement I’m praying for in the forthcoming and long-awaited EE 2.0. It would be a spectacular upgrade. However, I have confidence that attention is being paid to this very area—the staff expansion at EllisLab strongly points in that direction.

Very easy to design a simple dashboard/CP that is specific to one site. That’s not the case with EE. The AIGA CP would not work for 90% of the sites I’ve done. That’s not to say the EE CP couldn’t use some work but there are hundreds of options to deal with whereas the AIGA has very few. Of course, without seeing more than a screenshot it’s hard to tell what’s behind it.

Fair enough—there is a lot under the hood in ExpressionEngine, and from a screenshot one can’t tell whether the functions are comparable. But the interface of the product is as important as the functions. If you can’t locate the functions they are of no use.

If you can’t locate the functions they are of no use

Agree…sometimes I feel like I’m on a great scavenger hunt