Thread

Greetings, EE community! After a 5-year odyssey into video production, I’m heading back in web development for a season. I wanted to take the temperature of the EE community and see how things were going in users minds (those building sites with EE, not so much add-on devs).

I’ve built a few Wordpress sites over the last few months. While I think these look nice on the surface thanks to themes that I’ve heavily modified, I’m really missing the templating language and free-form data modeling that I had using EE. I’ve only used EE1 to date, so haven’t really gotten to try EE2 yet, though I’ve been following developments.

Clearly a lot has happened in the last 5 years - the rise of mobile is exhilarating. I’ve built a few mobile apps (with Mobile Roadie Apps), and am reading up on Sencha. The mobile themes for wordpress have been really powerful. WP seems to be great if you want to slap a bunch of pre-fab parts together, but it’s less flexible then. So, I’ve traded time-to-market for a lot of initial flexibility.

I still haven’t seen a good head-to-head comparison of EE2 and WP3 out there. Got one?

My questions for EE web developers:

- Are you happy with the current state of EE? Is it still meeting your needs?
- What kind of solutions are you building with it?
- What would you change about it if you could? (cue feature request thread… =)
- Are there other platforms you’re considering? Which ones? (there’s other platforms??)
- Do you use a framework like EESiteKit or Structure (is that a framework?) or one you built? Worth it?
- How are you developing for mobile platforms?

@ EL team: I know these might sound like pre-sales questions, but I’m pretty familiar with the feature set and history of EE. I just wanted to “take the temperature” of the current community and learn from the state of things. I’ve been away for a while!

Thank you all for reading! Would love to know what you think.

[Mod Edit: Moved to the General Discussion forum]

Greetings, EE community! After a 5-year odyssey into video production, I’m heading back in web development for a season. I wanted to take the temperature of the EE community and see how things were going in users minds (those building sites with EE, not so much add-on devs).

Welcome back!

I’ve built a few Wordpress sites over the last few months. While I think these look nice on the surface thanks to themes that I’ve heavily modified, I’m really missing the templating language and free-form data modeling that I had using EE. I’ve only used EE1 to date, so haven’t really gotten to try EE2 yet, though I’ve been following developments.

I was only ever able to re-skin wp themes which as you say, on the surface is nice though, you know it’s not your best work.

Clearly a lot has happened in the last 5 years - the rise of mobile is exhilarating. I’ve built a few mobile apps (with Mobile Roadie Apps), and am reading up on Sencha. The mobile themes for wordpress have been really powerful. WP seems to be great if you want to slap a bunch of pre-fab parts together, but it’s less flexible then. So, I’ve traded time-to-market for a lot of initial flexibility.

The great thing about EE is if you can think it you can do it, mobile included. I have seen sencha and am looking at jQuery mobile as well. Just like everything in #eecms you have many options to choose from.

I still haven’t seen a good head-to-head comparison of EE2 and WP3 out there. Got one?

Not a non-biased one so, I have used both and did my own comparison, that was the best way for me.

- Are you happy with the current state of EE? Is it still meeting your needs?

Yes I am very happy with #eecms. There are a few times when it doesn’t meet my needs. In those cases I find an add-on to overcome the lack in core.

- What kind of solutions are you building with it?

Publisher/Magazine sites, portfolio sites, e-commerce sites (soon) etc.

- What would you change about it if you could? (cue feature request thread… =)

A little less “let the add-on devs handle it” when a few things should be in the core. To be fair this really has to do with my clients’ pocket books versus my issue.

- Are there other platforms you’re considering? Which ones? (there’s other platforms??)

ExpressionEngine and MojoMotor are what I am currently focusing on though, I test a different cms at least once a week for kicks and giggles.

- Do you use a framework like EESiteKit or Structure (is that a framework?) or one you built? Worth it?

I found structure to be a bit to “structured” in regards to setup (errors etc.) and unistalled it. It’s not a framework “Structure is a powerful add-on that lets you create pages, generate navigation, manage content through a simple interface and build robust sites faster than ever..”

I haven’t tried EESiteKit. I could see how it might save you time. Though, I like doing things a certain way and their product might not be inline with “my way.” I could see myself undoing the same stuff they are trying to offer as a time saver. With that said I think I probably won’t be trying anytime soon unless I have $80 to burn.

- How are you developing for mobile platforms?

currently I am using http://adapt.960.gs so I guess that means nothing specific for mobile platforms.

Thanks Natetronn, that’s some helpful perspective.

Oh I forgot to mention I am using #eecms instead of EE which may be new for you. If you ever have a question for anything using the #eecms hash tag is a sure fire way of getting an answer quickly over on Twitter.

Whether one thinks a lot has happened in the last five years….depends on the app!

Google and Amazon and many of the biggest properties on the web look pretty similar to the way they did 5 years ago. Sure, some Ajax stuff might be new and more cloud computing, but the best way to hammer a nail is still the best way to hammer a nail…....

Actually, some of the CMS forum community went “sideways” for many of those years, so you may not have missed much. For instance, Vbulletin, the most popular forum on the web, went “corporate” and ended up taking years to create a new version which most people think is worse than the last. EE spent 2-3 years so far on EE2, and many here continue to say that it is just getting it’s legs as far as they are concerned.

So rest assured you didn’t really miss much.

I’ve used WP and I am completely amazed at the way it self installs and updates and the ease of plug-in installations. However, It does seems set up mostly for blogging and needs extensive study to make it do a plain old CMS….very capable, though, I think Huff Post is WP (busiest such site on the entire internet!).

I used CMS Made Simple for one quickie “brochureware” project, and I was pleased with it…..especially for the price. I would not hesitate to use it for a certain type of CMS site.

EE, though, is more of a blank slate which makes no assumptions about what you are going to paint. That makes it harder than paint by numbers, but the end result can be a masterpiece (don’t look at my site!).......

Ah, the right tool for the job is always the idea.

As natetronn said, Welcome back!

My thoughts / 2 cents:

I still haven’t seen a good head-to-head comparison of EE2 and WP3 out there. Got one?

Again, as natetronn said, nope, not an objective one. I also think it’s not really fair to compare the two “head-to-head”. As always, it comes down to choosing the right tool for the job. I find WP too limiting for the type of work we do but wouldn’t hesitate to use it if it was appropriate. And when it comes to support, though it’s been a while since I’ve used WP, EE’s support is still top notch (even if it’s a little slower than say a year ago).

- Are you happy with the current state of EE? Is it still meeting your needs?

Absolutely! Sure it has its quirks and bugs, but looking at what I’ve been building and at the bigger picture, it still remains my go-to CMS/platform. Don’t let some of the displeasure seen in the forums fool you - some are correct and some folks are just pointing out smaller shortcomings. Again, big picture!!

- What kind of solutions are you building with it?

Pretty much anything beyond a static brochure-ware site that requires just a bit more than standard management for clients. For instance, we’ve just built an artist’s site featuring shopping cart capabilities (CartThrob FTW!); a forum-centered site for a new community that will eventually grow into a subscription-based site; a gigantic, heavily trafficked site with three different “prongs”, if you will ((I can’t post the link, but two words: Rose Bowl); and smaller sites that require teams of people to manage specific sections.

- What would you change about it if you could? (cue feature request thread… =)

For me personally, I do have WP one-click install/upgrade envy. We don’t use WP much anymore, but I did set it up recently for something and having it set up in 5 minutes was jaw-dropping (a couple plugins included).

Beyond that, the biggest things that pop out for me (or at least the freshest in my mind) are:
-  the ability to set URL and server paths for file uploads in the config file (For EE2, I use the set up Matt Weinberg wrote up over at EEInsider.com)
- better integration between forum templates and EE core (i.e., using the same templating system for the forum as the rest of the site)
- better integration between member templates and EE core (same as forum but for member templates); Solspace’s User module handles this beautifully and I wish it would be part of EE natively.

Additionally, I do wish the CP was a bit easier to change in terms of colors/branding for clients. That’s kind of a “nice to have” feature for me though.

- Are there other platforms you’re considering? Which ones? (there’s other platforms??)

Again, it purely depends on the project. 99% of the time EE does the job, and does it well. But we’ve also worked with WP, MojoMotor, Drupal (though not by choice!) and a ways back, MODx. That said, there are some new ones that I’m interested in exploring (if nothing more than to have different options or to get my feet wet) but just haven’t had time to play with, such as PyroCMS, Symphony, and Fuel CMS.

- Do you use a framework like EESiteKit or Structure (is that a framework?) or one you built? Worth it?

I keep meaning to try EESiteKit but like with the above, just haven’t made the time. I don’t know if I’d call Structure a framework, but I’ve used it and it’s damn good. That said, I don’t use it for every project - doesn’t make sense. I decide based on what the site structure entails (no pun intended) and quite honestly, the type of client.

- How are you developing for mobile platforms?

Haven’t done a whole lot yet, but used EnhanceJS on a project last year which is a good start. Other than that, I’m still feeling a bit overwhelmed by mobile. 😊

Hope that helps!