Where did you find about ProcessWire?

[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.

[thetuningspoon]

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

[thetuningspoon]

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.

[alan]

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

1. started a new project in TXP (Textpattern)
   
2. went to do a couple of things that needed plugins and was tripped over by plugins not working
   
3. 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
   
4. bought $48 worth of video training and began to learn EE
   
5. 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)
   
6. 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
   
7. 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.

[Marty Walker]

I've been a user of textpattern (my first love) and ExpressionEngine. I came to ProcessWire after looking through Ryan Scherler's portfolio. I was searching for an un-bloated CMS that had some of the features I like of both txp and EE - custom fields, templates as files and a few other things.

I knew that if I picked up PW I'd struggle at first because of my lack of PHP knowledge but I didn't fancy getting into bed with another tag-based system either. I found that the API wasn't that hard to get my head around and that if I applied myself to learning some PHP I could do some of the same things in PW that'd be a complete pain or required numerous plugins or add-ons in txp or EE. I've gone through a few system upgrades with EE I can honestly say it's a complete PITA. Only having to upgrade one core directory in PW is a dream and a half.

After a while I decided to set PW as my go-to CMS. It successfully out-ticked txp and EE on quite a few of my recent projects. Being able to build a site is one thing. Putting it in front of a client that hasn't used it - or any other CMS for that matter - is a great testament to how well thought out PW is.

[Pete]

I knew that if I picked up PW I'd struggle at first because of my lack of PHP knowledge but I didn't fancy getting into bed with another tag-based system either.

...

After a while I decided to set PW as my go-to CMS.

...

is a great testament to how well thought out PW is.

I think this is a common scenario here

I think it's fair to say that as a community there are PHP programmers at all levels here - I still wouldn't consider myself an expert by any means and I like the fact that ProcessWire not only gets you started quickly but also that if I enjoy working with something I'll learn more about the languages that it uses - I've learned a lot more PHP in the last few months than in the last few years I think as well as some neat things about jQuery that I didn't know, and being able to go through clean, well thought out code definitely helps the learning experience.

[ptjedi]

Googling for alternatives to Wordpress. Found it on alternativeto.net website

[JeffS]

Found PW through a tweet! Was looking for a clean and streamlined CMS to migrate MODx evolution sites from as the dev team replaced it with Revolution which was too big and heavy for smaller marketing sites IMHO. I have deployed sites on Drupal, MODx, EE, Pyro CMS and can tell you that for many of the types of sites we build, PW is a better match. Currently converting a +150 page site over now and scoping a few more.

[alxndre]

I got tired jumping through hoops using WordPress and Joomla and started looking for an easier solution. I searched for about a week, testing CMSes that I've never used before. I first looked at Concrete5, and then someone at Concrete5 forum swore allegiance to ExpressionEngine, so I searched for it and found it was a paid subscriiption, so I turned to MODx as an OpenSource alternative. It was decent, and I thought that it might work, but then I ran into a problem, and while searching for a solution, I read someone bragging about ProcessWire, and how easy it was and how it was the simplest most, most powerful CMS he's ever used, and I thought, hey that's exactly what I want. Within an hour, I had the basic install running on my wamp stack. 5weeks later, I have 2 sites running perfectly, and 3 on the way. I'm never using any other CMS again if I can help it! Thank you Ryan, and thank you ProcessWire community!

[diogo]

Just thought this would be a good time for bumping this thread

[Joss]

Matthew Scheneker told me about it. So ask him.

[diogo]

Matthew? We're waiting

[Harmster]

As a student on a internship I've got a task to make a website in a CMS called Processwire. Had no idea what it was and so I went to look into the api and videos Ryan provided us with. At first i was confused I couldnt really see what it was maybe because i havent had much experience with other CMS before PW. Anyways it took me a while to find out what pages actually were and what you could do with it, when i found out i was amazed and i really wanted to code more and more in pw. I am also using PW now as my main cms/cmf and i love it more everytime i use it.

Thanks Ryan for you great work and especially for your great support

[MatthewSchenker]

Hello,

Why did I feel a buzzing in my ear this morning? Oh, I see!

Let me get this straight: I have to take responaibility for Joss being here?

Quick story...

I learned about ProcessWire over a year ago, through a ModX forum discussion. I was very impressed that in that arena a lot of people expressed respect for Ryan's achievement. But I did not start using ProcessWire then because I had invested heavily in a Joomla CCK system (long story). But then, just a few weeks ago, I saw a discussion on the Laravel forum where -- again -- a community of people not directly interested in ProcessWire expressed respect for what Ryan was doing. It was the right time for me to take the plunge. It took only a couple of days for me to replicate everything I was doing with the CCK -- and to be able to do a lot that the CCK could not do.

So here I am -- fully into ProcessWire.

OK, that was not such a quick story. But remember, I am responaible for two people here!

Thanks.

Matthew

[panictree]

I first learned about ProcessWire on this blog post: http://bit.ly/U9VugH. After reading it, I went straight away to ProcessWire.com, downloaded a copy and started to play with it. Can't say I regret it!

[diogo]

I first learned about ProcessWire on this blog post: http://bit.ly/U9VugH. After reading it, I went straight away to ProcessWire.com, downloaded a copy and started to play with it. Can't say I regret it!

Props to Barry for this

[MatthewSchenker]

Greetings,

Just to warn everyone... I am in touch with a couple of other Joomla power users, urging them to check out PW.

Speaking for myself, I believe the main barrier to switching CMSs is the legacy stuff you already developed. It's amazing how you can go for a long while knowing that the system you're using is not right, but you keep using it because... Well, because you have been using it. At some point, though, you just close your eyes and make a leap. For me, I was poised for a switch for about a year, but I had to wait until I had just the right bit of downtime between projects.

In this way, ProcessWire has another big advantage: we can honestly say that switching from your current CMS is not painful, because PW is so clean and intuitive. There are other CMSs that are also good -- and you know they are good -- but it takes a bigger up-front time investment to become familiar with their quirks. Of course, all systems have their quirks. There are just fewer of them in ProcessWire. And the payoff is so much greater!

Thanks,

Matthew

[Alessio Dal Bianco]

Hi there!

I have discovered PW in the middle of my desperate searching for a Plone substitute (our official CMS).

In fact i tried all major CMS such as Drupal, Joomla, Wordpress and recently i have put an eye to Concrete5 but... No way, all of those have something that make me feel "uncomfortable":

• Drupal: dozen and dozen of plugin for every small thing!, messy admin area ecc.

• joomla!: I used it about 5 years ago and it makes a lot of assumption on your HTML.... And i haven't noticed anything regards custom fields in recent versions...

• Wordpress: Is born for Blogs, and if you must make something more evolute than a Blog is real pain.

• Concrete5: I watched the videos and it seems make a lot of assumption on HTML.

Processwire is the real candidate for supersede Plone though there is some functionalities that must be developed and tested very well.

Anyway keep up the great work!

USSliberty

PS: This graph is interesting http://www.google.com/trends/explore#q=drupal%2C%20wordpress%2C%20joomla%2C%20plone&cmpt=q

[panictree]

Speaking for myself, I beieve the main barrier to switching CMSs is the legacy stuff you already developed. It's amazing how you can go for a long while knowing that the system you're using is not right, but you keep using it because... Well, because you have been using it.

Totally agree with you here. The beauty of PW, as you mention, is that it makes the transition a lot smoother than we are used to.

PS: This graph is interesting http://www.google.co...a, plone&cmpt=q

Thank you for that. It's interesting to see how WordPress keeps gaining traction while a system like Joomla seems to be in a clear downward spiral. Drupal, on the other hand, seems to have a consistent trajectory. I included ProcessWire in the mix to see how it stack up against the others, but all I got was a straight line at zero.