Just curious as to how many people, in addition to using Freeway Pro, are using Wordpress on a regular basis.
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I use Wordpress regularly. For some clients that don’t have the budget for a website designed completely from scratch etc. but still want full control of their site & content.
It’s quick and simple for me also!
Seb
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Hi Seb,
Thanks for your response.
For some clients I’m going to need to go this route as well for exactly the same reasons you’ve indicated. May I ask how you learned Wordpress? Also, is there a forum similar to Freeway Talk for Wordpress users that you find particularly helpful?
Thanks!
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Hi,
I learnt how to use Wordpress by just using it and playing around. At first, some parts were slightly confusing. Especially getting to grips with the back-end of the system. I’ve still got lots to learn I’m sure!
Installation is really simple and there are a whole host of plugins available. This makes it really simple to make some pretty powerful sites quickly and efficiently.
As for forums, I generally find the Wordpress Support forums helpful. There’s a load of good stuff already up there and the boards are pretty active for new questions too.
Seb
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I currently use it for one client site (not my choice) though not for too much longer. It’s a decent option for certain types of sites but there are other CMS I would use first.
Todd
Just curious as to how many people, in addition to using Freeway Pro, are using Wordpress on a regular basis.
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I still got end ever will have enormous problems in basic understandings of CMSes like this.
Simple questions like:
What is a page and what is a post, when to use the one and when to use the other? What are individual pages and how can I mix them with the “machinery-stuff”?
… are drivin’ me crazy.
Nevertheless I use WP as the “subscription-part” for my screencasts and this is pretty cool to handle and it works pretty well.
I once subscribed at Chris Coyier’s CSS Tricks at the time he planned to redesign his page (v10). This was in many ways impressive but as well overwhelming sometimes. Honestly, the WP part was too small but at least, I learned a couple of helpful more stuff regarding handcodings.
(and he is my idol screencast-maker - but never tell this anybody 
Cheers
Thomas
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Not all big CMS have this problem, in comparison some are remarkably straightforward when it comes to mixing-in the “machinery stuff”. Part of the problem is the WP template engine which can be fractured and convoluted and difficult to sort out. It can make for a steep technical learning curve when you need to start customizing things.
Todd
I still got end ever will have enormous problems in basic understandings of CMSes like this.
What are individual pages and how can I mix them with the “machinery-stuff”?
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On 25 Jun 2013, 1:10 am, Todd wrote:
It’s a decent option for certain types of sites but there are other CMS I would use first.
Todd
What other CMS?
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Of the more powerful options I would always choose MODX (especially when v3 is released this year http://modx.com/blog/2012/05/25/clarity-focus-and-simplicity/) or Expression Engine. In terms of creating/using templates they’re both among the easiest to use, pretty much the opposite of how Wordpress works in this regard.
As I and others have said numerous times before, WP is a great option when you need to get up and running fast and easily but as soon as your client needs to customize the design or functionality things can get complicated quickly. Personally, I would rather use a system that might take a little longer to setup initially but offers greater and easier control over the design. But that’s me, you’re mileage may vary. There’s always a trade-off.
Todd
It’s a decent option for certain types of sites but there are other CMS I would use first.
Todd
What other CMS?
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How are either of these for website designers with limited coding experience? Would you say they’re easier or harder to learn than Perch?
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The term “limited” is very subjective. I think it’s fair to say most CMS developers assume (and expect) from their user-base a minimum understanding of HTML and CSS to use their product. What I (and others) like about MODX and EE is that they don’t make you, as the designer, jump through hoops, you design a page the way you want. Period. Much like Perch in that respect. So if you are reasonably proficient with HTML then inserting tags is the easiest part. With Wordpress it’s more complicated because it mixes the logic (PHP) with the structure (HTML) so what you have is a fractured collection of parts (or soup) that’s harder to understand. From a strictly design point-of-view the process isn’t as straightforward.
It quickly becomes a matter of degrees and experience when you start asking is it “easier” than something else because everyone is different. But if you currently struggle with the fundamentals of HTML and CSS then any big, complex CMS is going to be an uphill battle, especially one where you may need to dabble with PHP now and again. EE, MODX, WP, Joomla!, Drupal et al. require fundamental code understanding. That’s the price you pay when you move up the CMS food-chain.
You seem to looking for the lowest common denominator: what’s easiest. I think that’s a short-sighted way to look at your problem. Upfront WP is dead easy and can and does work great for certain types of sites and clients. But what happens when you need to dig deeper into WP or extend it in a way that’s not point-n-click? It isn’t a question of whether something can be accomplished WP vs another CMS, it’s whether the CMS (any CMS) is a help or hindrance in achieving your goal.
Todd
How are either of these for website designers with limited coding experience? Would you say they’re easier or harder to learn than Perch?
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All very valid points.
I probably should have used a word other than “easiest.” My biggest concern about Perch is that I’ve noticed that some of their coding syntax tends to be proprietary, which makes learning proper HTML difficult—especially for beginners.
Is that something that all CMS do or is it specific to just a few?
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Any templating system is going to introduce new tags or other bits of code-like content into plain HTML. That’s how the template communicates with the application server to come up with the finished page. (For a simple example, you start with one template, and N database records, and you end up with N unique “pages” based on that template.)
There are lots of different templating systems, and they each take a different approach to how they intermingle HTML and template instructions. I have yet to find one that is pure HTML in the strictest sense.
Where Perch can get confusing is that it will extend HTML tags using syntax that appears to be HTML, but isn’t.
The template system I most often use in PHP is called Mustache, from the {{ shape_of_the_delimiters }}. It doesn’t extend the tags directly – you may do something like this:
<div class="{{ even_or_odd }}">{{ product_info }}</div>
But it’s very clear what you’re doing there – you’re injecting variable data into a static structure. Perch has these helpers which will construct an HTML tag for you, and they use a mix of HTML and PHP directives in a single file, without delimiters between them. That will bend your brain if you haven’t ever used a system like that before.
Walter
On Jun 25, 2013, at 6:11 PM, RavenManiac wrote:
All very valid points.
I probably should have used a word other than “easiest.” My biggest concern about Perch is that I’ve noticed that some of their coding syntax tends to be proprietary, which makes learning proper HTML difficult—especially for beginners.
Is that something that all CMS do or is it specific to just a few?
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