Thread

After building several sites in WordPress, I’ve decided to create a site for a friend/client in Expression Engine for several reasons:

- Several of the best designers I’m aware of use EE
- All of the modules/add-ons are tested by Ellis-lab, so I can assume my plug-ins won’t break after an upgrade.
- There is a forum module available that appears to integrate nicely with the rest of the site.
- It looks like I’ll be able to get up and running quickly with way more flexibility than WordPress offers - with less need to immerse myself in PHP.
- It seems like there’s WordPress update every week or so because of security - probably due to the open-source nature of the product.

Here are a few things I’m unsure that Expression Engine can do:

- Place a “share with a friend” buttons on each blog entry
- Create a list of top rated, commented, viewed, etc. (day, week, month) so it shows up on the front page

Can someone here let me know if these things are possible? Also, are there any issues with my list of reasons for switching to EE with this project? Meaning, will I run into any unpleasant surprises?

Thanks,
Sean

Yes they are possible. I don’t use the highest commented part, but I do use the ‘send to a friend’ and over the last few months it’s gotten extremely popular on the site. Right now there are 20 to 30 sent per day. I know this because I added myself in a hidden input as a bcc recipient. So anytime someone uses it I get a copy of what they sent.

You don’t have to be as elaborate as this, but you’re welcome to see how I did it on my site. Click here and look for the green text that says ‘email to friend’ ont he left side stories. or click any of them and on the story detail page it’s on top and bottom.

I am considering switching this to use a slide form instead of a popup, like if you click a story, then scroll down to comments, click and you’ll see the page slide open. I was thinking of doing that and doing the form inline.

You’d need to pick up a third party add on if you want to rate the stories, but I highly recommend using Solspace Rating 2.1.0 for this. I use their tag module and it’s great.

Thanks. Your detailed response is much appreciated. Looks like this is a good choice for a CMS.