Weekly update – 8 August 2025

[jploch]

We are still targeting developers. But we are trying to be more accessible. Many of us where not trained developers when we started to use PW.  And programming can feel intimidating. For example Diogo and I where designers and then became developers when we discovered PW. The great thing about PW is that it’s relatively easy for beginners to get started. Even with little coding experience. I think it’s not a bad idea to make PW approachable for more users.

[jploch]

On 8/15/2025 at 4:06 AM, lokomotivan said:

I believe we need more developers pushing clients to use processwire,  not vise versa.

I think we need both. Clients usually ask what CMS the developer uses and more often then not visits the website. So the website should also help the developer to convince the client.

[ryan]

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BTW, I found an error in the following href:

Fixed! thanks. 

[monollonom]

The blur animation is very laggy for me and impacts the slideshow as well:

 

Most likely it’s because of the blur(0.6px) coupled with the svg filter. I understand why you went for this visually but I think it's unfortunately too heavy...

[Kiwi Chris]

On 8/15/2025 at 12:27 AM, markus-th said:

I'm confused. Isn't ProcessWire primarily the tool we want to convince more developers to use in order to gain a larger user base?

So this page should primarily be used to convince developers of the advantages with examples (sorry to say that) instead of animations that have nothing to do with ProcessWire.

To convince customers of the system, it would be better to provide a good demo that shows how simple ProcessWire is to user. However, this could also be done here, among other places: https://www.softaculous.com/apps/cms/ProcessWire 

ProcessWire can never be WordPress with its famous fast install, precisely because of ProcessWire's flexibility. The appeal has to be to developers, or designers who know a little code, but don't want to have to get stuck into learning a lot of code. I think with more site profiles, using popular CSS frameworks to enable easy customisation, ProcessWire could maybe grab some of those WordPress users, as the installation process is quick and easy, it's just the customisation that takes time, and if there's a profile that meets your needs, it's as quick to get a site up as WordPress. It's when you need anything else WordPress is horrible.

Maybe there needs to be an option for paid site profiles?

One of the issues with profiles is that they're applicable at install time only, but via something like RockMigrations it would be possible to have a profile like a blog profile, but then multiple migration files that can theme the same data differently. I wonder whether rather than calling things site profiles, calling them ProcessWire apps might better convey what they are - or not?

I think the key message I'd be wanting conveyed to other developers and potential clients is 'build anything - fast'. Much as I dislike Wordpress, it's claim to fame, 'build a blog - fast' it actually can deliver on pretty well. It's when you try to build anything else with it that it starts getting horrible.

Incidentally, I just took a look at wordpress.org, and if I didn't know any better, visually comparing that to ProcessWire, I'd choose WordPress. It starts off quickly summarising what it does, then with a bit of scrolling gives a bunch of screenshots of the diversity of things people have build with it. 

The only call to action on the ProccessWire site is 'download', and mostly impersonal, whereas wordpress.org is full of personal calls to action: 'Get', 'Meet', 'Discover', 'Explore' ...

The site uses some similar large fonts and a lot of visuals, but the above the fold content gets to the point quickly. The big stuff comes after scrolling.

Since I'm being critical, I'm happy to write something and send it through for evaluation, as I have benefited from the ProcessWire community. I'm not a designer, or probably even really a marketer, but I I do have a bit of interest in language, and I think the text could be significantly improved to be more compelling.

Here are a couple of examples of how I'd rewrite things: 

Save time and work your way with ProcessWire, a free content management system (CMS) and framework (CMF). Enjoy all custom fields, a secure foundation, proven scalability and performance.

Take control over the design
You can define and edit all fields in ProcessWire easily in the admin. You can create as many of them as you want, and of any type. You can even bundle them in repeatable groups called Repeater fields. You control all of the markup, not ProcessWire.

If I want to sell end users on ProcessWire I want to show them it can be as pretty as WordPress and more capable. Luckily here in NZ I can just refer them to the portfolio site of @Robin S as he's done a number of high profile sites that are well known nationwide, and I can say 'built using the same system', and also reassure them that I'm not the only ProcessWire developer out there. (It helps that I'm a regular visitor to several of the sites he's built too.)

 

[ryan]

Does anyone know what this "install processwire" thing is that occasionally appears on my android phone when I go to the website? (Pixel 8 pro android 16, Chrome). I've not coded anything into  the site that should be showing that, nor does that text appear anywhere in site's code, so it's got me curious. 

[matjazp]

Links to the Community, Docs, Download, Blog at the footer are incorrect (links on the home page are ok).

[bernhard]

5 hours ago, ryan said:

Does anyone know what this "install processwire" thing is that occasionally appears on my android phone when I go to the website?

The browser does that because you have a manifest file which means it is a PWA that is installable and therefore the browser shows the install prompt (https://processwire.com/site/favicon/site.webmanifest), see here: https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Web/Progressive_web_apps/How_to/Trigger_install_prompt

[ryan]

@bernhard Good find! I'm not sure I'd have ever found that. I'm still not sure what in that webmanifest file is responsible for it asking to install, or how it would even know where to get the files to install, but I'll read that link you included which I'm sure will answer it. Thanks! 

[BrendonKoz]

Simply having a manifest file (and referring to it in the HTML) causes it. Ironically, if you don't have one, a lot of website checkers/validators complain when you don't have one, presumably due to some people creating/dragging website shortcuts to their desktop to create a shortcut and not having a predefined way to direct how it (the icon/shortcut) should be presented.

[Mikel]

On 8/16/2025 at 10:58 AM, szabesz said:

I think both developers and clients should be the target audience and I cannot see why it would not be possible to target both. Anyway, in my opinion, the new design "targets typographers". To me, it looks like solution to a school assignment for students studying typography.

First of all, hats off to everyone involved in the redesign! I can only imagine the countless hours that must have gone into this project – really impressive work.

Of course, a redesign will always divide opinions. Some will love it, some won’t – that’s the nature of design (a bit like beer: there’s no accounting for taste).

But let me share a perspective from my three decades of experience working with clients: 99% of paying clients couldn’t care less about what CMS powers their site. What matters to them is that the website looks good and feels professional.

The ones we really need to convince are the second tier of decision-makers: the people who will actually use the system day-to-day. These users are rarely designers. They don’t care much about animations or typographic finesse – what matters to them is clarity, ease of use, and a sense that the CMS won’t get in their way.

That’s why, in practice, we almost never show clients a backend during the decision-making phase. Instead, we show them beautiful, carefully crafted frontends, and sometimes highlight the inline editing capabilities. That sells. Clients are impressed when they see polished websites that “might be running on ProcessWire” (since, let’s be honest, you can’t tell a CMS from the frontend anyway).

How this focus on real-world client priorities could be reflected more strongly in the redesigned ProcessWire website is something I’d love to explore further.

Cheers, Mike

[apeisa]

Hi all! 

Just wanted to say hi and comment that I truly love the new website, it looks and feels great, both mobile and on desktop. It also has its own unique look instead of general day-to-day trends we so often see. Great work @diogo @jploch and @ryan!

While we don't use ProcessWire at my current job, I still maintain few PW sites and I love the experience. Miss the community a lot, stay health and happy everyone!

[d'Hinnisdaël]

Rather late to the party, but congratulations to everybody involved on the website redesign! It's turned out really well. Such a clear and fun design for a CMS, I like it better with every minute.

One thing that doesn't quite work yet (I think) are the admin screenshots on the homepage. These could be much more lively and colorful. As in: examples of working with images and other multimedia content in the backend. Sure, the tables and custom fields are important, the search, filter, etc. But it's all rather dry. And I kind of miss the skyscrapers, they lent themselves to integrating images easily. Or maybe it's time for trees or birds. As someone said before, keeping the skyscrapers comes with some free brand recognition.

I agree that not of all the animations make actual sense or match the text beside them, but that's... okay? They're fun to look at, and the text is large and easy to read.

[AndZyk]

What will happen to developer directory?https://directory.processwire.com/

It is not mentioned anymore on the website but you can still find it on Google.

You cannot login anymore.

At this point I think it should either be deleted or relaunched. 😆

Regards, Andreas

[adrian]

And a JS error is preventing anyone from showing on the map.

 

[markus-th]

Has anyone else noticed that the screenshots of the “new” backend are incorrect, as it does not exist at all in the current master?

[Tiberium]

1 hour ago, markus-th said:

Has anyone else noticed that the screenshots of the “new” backend are incorrect, as it does not exist at all in the current master?

But with the new Design of the site, it makes sense to show the new backend, what is aligned to the same new concept design. It would be more looking "out of place", when it shows the old backend. Especial that the old site, but also the "old" backend, was determined that they're not "looking good" as advertising too new users/developers.

IIRC Ryan wants to publish more frequently master releases. So I assume, when the biggest issues reported are handled, that we see a new master soon.

[markus-th]

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 it makes sense to show the new backend,

What I meant to say was that the relaunch was perhaps a little rushed. It's not a good user experience if the users doesn't get what is presented to them.

[Ivan Gretsky]

Good day @ryan!

After the launch of the redesigned admin theme and site I had private conversations with some community members about it. And I have to say that they were pretty harsh about it. Some of us are choosing words here in the forums keeping hard thoughts to ourselves. Was it the right move? Was it made with enough consideration? Didn't it cost too much breaking things that worked? Is it possible to rollback somehow? This is what at least some of us here are silently thinking. 

Ryan, a lot of us here like myself have always relied on your vision and gut. You have managed to deliver exactly what was needed so many times. We want to believe the redesign is the right move too and we are just are too accustomed to the familiar and struggling to change opinions...

So let me ask this. You see the google analytics metrics, downloads and stuff. Maybe you can measure something else like forums activity rate. How did it change with the redesign? Did you get what you expected?

[szabesz]

28 minutes ago, Ivan Gretsky said:

Is it possible to rollback somehow?

I would not say a "rollback" is desirable, it is just that the new theme needs some more work because it is rough around the edges. Eg. when selecting pages in a Lister, the "label" showing the number of selections makes the list jump, which is bad UX but can be fixed with a display:"inline-block". Also, used to be shaded inputfield groups can have their background color back, etc...

So while I agree that it is sort of half-baked, it can surely be made better.

[Pete]

On 8/30/2025 at 6:56 PM, AndZyk said:

What will happen to developer directory?https://directory.processwire.com/

It is not mentioned anymore on the website but you can still find it on Google.

You cannot login anymore.

At this point I think it should either be deleted or relaunched. 😆

Regards, Andreas

Dev directory issues are still on me sorry - I'll point it to a different page for now but I do still plan to get it rebuilt (as I have done for years - again my bad).

It keeps falling foul of the classic "too much to do" but will get a temp page on the PW site signposting folks elsewhere for now I think.