99 replies to this topic

[Nichod]

I found out about ProcessWire from the symphony forums. I've always loved the control symphony offered, but hated the odd path that was necessary to get the final output I wanted.

[diogo]

Speaking of symphony forums, i have the feeling that this will be very interesting

http://symphony-cms....s/thread/79645/

[Pete]

Speaking of symphony forums, i have the feeling that this will be very interesting

http://symphony-cms....s/thread/79645/

I think you're right

Everyone was very friendly and eager to talk about ideas and concepts in that discussion which is nice to see as to me that's what open source should be about.

[pers0n]

On opensourcecms.com

I periodically look at the rankings and for any new CMSes as I've never been satisfied with Drupal or Joomla. Wordpress is great for somethings. Processwire seems to get out of my way and let me do things how I want for the most part.

[Michael Martinov]

On textpattern forums. Someone discussed current textpattern state and said that he now turned to processwire

[arjen]

Since I've been working with some custom CMS's (one came really close to which PW defines content) I always wondered how it would like to just have a tree. And all the content should be considered in that tree. It could work for multisites, languages and pages. Searching in the Textpattern forums on a way to define data I've stumbled across a small post. I clicked the PW frontpage away too quickly. Then, a few months later (still searching for the custom fields, custom data, tree like structure) I was willing to spend some energy in ExpressionEngine. Then I saw something regarding a very fanboylike (no pun intended, the guy seemed very sincere) ExpressionEngine article. I guess it's the same one Christoph talked about. Then I saw the backend of the skyscrapersite and I was blown away. Now I'm pitching PW to my agency. Hopefully they will give my team a chance try do some clientwork with PW.

[ryan]

Arjen, thanks for posting this info. You mentioned that you saw PW a long time ago and clicked away. Do you recall why you didn't stick around at that time? We're going to be putting in a new site design soon, and the more we know about what makes our target audience click away or dig deeper is very valuable.

[arjen]

If I recall it correctly it was due to my interpretation that you were supposed to customize (develop) a lot. The last half year I am becoming more and more confident in some programming basics. I also understand jQuery a lot better. But the mean reason is I read a post of you, Ryan, expaining that learning a tag language (and it's principles - like <txp:get_custom_article />) is not really different than learing some basic PHP loops. That combined with my confidence made me dig deeper. Like I said when I say the backend I was absolutely shocked. This is a lot like I imagined a CMS should be. Plain and simple. And that combined with the easy integration (haven't used it extensively) made me look no further.

Breaking it down: my interpretation that PW was a heavy developer CMS.

[diogo]

Breaking it down: my interpretation that PW was a heavy developer CMS.

there's a lesson to be taken from this

[Pete]

I think it's somewhere between the two to be honest.

It can be simple (and deceptively so) but there are a lot of people who do get put off by code and just want to built a website, which is where site profiles will play a part later on

It's a powerful tool for developers and design agencies, as well as being a great CMS for those willing to get their hands a little dirty (which I think includes anyone who's done much with the templates in Wordpress as well). I'm hoping that as the web seems to be evolving - to me at least - into more of a community where people want to get involved more that this will help ProcessWire to become even more successful.

I certainly think the fact that pretty much everyone now knows someone who's had a go at building a website themselves, whereas you couldn't say the same thing just five or ten years ago, means that the time for people to get a bit more hands-on is arriving as people want more control over what they create.

Or maybe I'm just daydreaming, but it's a nice dream

[ryan]

Thanks this is good feedback. I have a feeling the new site design is going to make a big difference here. Adam has done a nice job with it.

[everfreecreative]

I found ProcessWire through a Google search for "CMS with custom fields." It was the #1 result.

Breaking it down: my interpretation that PW was a heavy developer CMS.

I too visited the ProcessWire site once, briefly skimmed the page, and didn't think much of it until I stumbled upon it again a week or so later. At the time I was trying to sort through 20+ CMSs at the same time, dealing with being let down by my exploration of Drupal, and the first impression that PW gave me was also that it was probably a "heavy developer CMS." I would have to say that the images of skyscrapers and the city skyline contributed to this first impression. The ProcessWire site and default admin interface is very clean and professional, but it does come across as somewhat "corporate." Not quite as "web 2.0" (or 3.0, or whatever number we're on now) as some of the other CMS sites out there (PyroCMS, for example). My impression was that PW was probably a powerful CMS, but not one that would excel on the usability front, would be easy to get started with, or that would be concerned with things like web standards, HTML5, or what have you.

Of course, all of that was wrong, as I quickly discovered after putting 20-30min into researching it and exploring the site materials. But being very visual and design-oriented, that's how it came across to me at first glance. Hopefully that's helpful.

The other thing I did at the time was a search for PW on opensourcecms.com, which turned up nothing. This gave me the impression that PW wasn't very popular and probably didn't have the support I was looking for.

[diogo]

The other thing I did at the time was a search for PW on opensourcecms.com, which turned up nothing.

This is a pity, but PW was actually listed there as one of the 3 best CMS for some time, until it got hundreds of automatic bad votes, wish took it to the bottom. Ryan decided to ask them to remove it from their list, until the voting system becomes more reliable

[everfreecreative]

So I read. Very depressing

[ryan]

Thanks for the feedback everfreecreative. We were on opensourcecms.com for a couple of months, during which time we gained several hundred positive votes and hovered around the first page, often in the top 3. Then one day, we suddenly had 2,000+ negative votes in less than 24 hours. We figured out how the results were being manipulated. I contacted the owners of the site to notify them what had happened and show them how it was being done. I also asked them to remove PW from the site until they could correct the issue. They did apologize, but the issue remains. Joomla is a good barometer--if it's showing up in the top 3 "best rated" then you know something smells fishy.

ProcessWire is not the only CMS missing from opensourcecms.com. Some of the best projects out there have intentionally disassociated from this site for similar reasons (Symphony is another good example). I know the site is under new ownership (apparently a group involved with typo3), and I'm still holding out hope that they will take the responsibility seriously. I would like to get PW there again, but not till the problems there are fixed and they are there to support open source rather than exploit it. (that statement is specific to the old ownership). I noticed they launched a new design, but with the same core problems in place. But change takes time and I remain hopeful with the new site ownership.

[cspeeds]

Haven't touched CMS for 7+ years but now due to various needs and limitations I need to select a CMS and have it rolling in about 3 months. I, not a coder but OK with a few edits/copypaste scripts, wanted something that's simple for everyone yet capable for specific needs. It's popular knowledge that everyone can use WxxdPres, but I'm unsure how to make it work for me. Upon googling for comparisons and alternatives I ended upon a "10 Best" post (2009) on webdesignledger.com. ProcessWire wasn't on the list but someone comments it lastly in 2011. Thanks to the PW DEMO site (exactly what I need) , and videos: I'm glad that you made them pragmatical (not marketing butterflies) and thank you all for making this work.

(currently instaling/learning/reading/forum digging)

[Pete]

We were on opensourcecms.com for a couple of months, during which time we gained several hundred positive votes and hovered around the first page, often in the top 3. Then one day, we suddenly had 2,000+ negative votes in less than 24 hours.

Plus they've still got that hosting company advertised all over it which puts me off for other reasons. Just makes them look even less impartial to be honest.

Welcome to ProcessWire cspeeds - if you have any questions just ask away

[onjegolders]

Have been on a merry-go-round of open-source CMSs for a while now. I seem to spend a couple of days once a month, desperately looking for something that fits my workflow. I have to say that this workflow has been very heavily influenced by ExpressionEngine.

Custom fields is the biggest must for me, I am constantly debating with my brother who is an avid Joomla man, the merits of custom fields per channel(ahem 'page') and I can never believe that it just isn't possible in most other CMSs.

I have to say that I've come to PW primarily because I cannot always afford to go the EE route, I genuinely love that platform. I am more and more getting the feeling though that even though I was attracted to PW as a cheaper alternative to EE, it may actually be STRONGER in many ways, though I'm at a very early stage with it.

One final point, Ryan (and others') kindness, openness and support shine through in not only these forums but also the docs and intro videos. If I stick at PW and make it work for me, this will have been a huge factor - I genuinely feel that you care and that is incredibly important.

I got turned off PyroCMS (as one example) because it felt exactly the opposite.

[alanfluff]

I found PW like this (and NO disrespect to Textpatten which I admire and have used to great effect):

• started a new project in TXP (Textpattern)
• went to do a couple of things that needed plugins and was tripped over by plugins not working
• made an executive decision that I had had enough of relying on plugins that generous people had shared but that inevitably they had sometimes stopped maintaining and decided, with reluctance, to train on EE
• bought $48 worth of video training and began to learn EE
• found EE was a little like a clunky version of TextPattern in some regards but inevitably due to it's commercial footing more complete and with an ecosystem of high-grade plugins — I was a little saddened to see I still needed to rely on plugins and even sadder* to see they often cost $30, $60, $+ (on top of the $300 for EE the client pays) but soldiered on and kept learning (*but I recognize that charging for good plugins is right in many cases)
• was Googling re EE and found Marty Walker's web site http://www.smd.net.au/ and as usual scrolled to the bottom to look at some meta and read "ProcessWire" and not EE, "Hmm" I thought
• clicked "ProcessWire" and never looked back

Thank you Marty and thank you PW community for your help and most of all, thank you Ryan for creating, sharing and driving this superb project.

[netcarver]

I heard of PW from a few posts (Txp CMS forum) and from tweets from folks like Alan. By the 4th (or so) mention, I visited the main site and watched Ryan's video and decided to try it out myself. A few weeks later I am still here, have migrated a site over to PW and am now writing my first module for it.