State of the state – of sorts…
I should create a new category here for these types of posts "Drama in Blogland". LOL!
So, in a nutshell, I played with ExpressionEngine. Looked very powerful. Played with Textpattern. Looked interesting. Played with WordPress and was very impressed.
There is a lot of room for growth with WordPress. If you're looking to do "everything MT can do and more" – then you may need to wait a little longer. That's not to say it can't be done, I KNOW WordPress can and eventually WILL do it. In my mind, it's sort of the "underdog" – and I love underdogs. 
I have a test area going right now trying to make scriptygoddess do (almost) everything it does now – but in WordPress, and it will take some time to complete. (It may even mean some code modifications or custom plugins I create) But that is where I'm going to be putting my energy now.
It's not about licensing for me, anymore. It's about where I think my "developmental" efforts (and public support) are best spent. The answer is WordPress.
So if things are a little quiet the next couple of days – that's where I'll be…
May 19th, 2004 at 11:32 am
I have been watching everything unfold and I can't tell you how exciting this is to me! I decided last night that I will probably be moving to WP as well and was so hoping you would put your efforts toward that program! YAY!
May 19th, 2004 at 12:04 pm
Good luck! I think I am going to go with b2evolution but we shall see. I'll decide within the nest two weeks.
May 19th, 2004 at 12:28 pm
Great! By the way, I have found almost instantaneous support on the irc channel #wordpress at freenode.
May 19th, 2004 at 12:35 pm
if you can get the Lazyman's smilies palette to work with Wordpress, i would kiss the ground you walk on! i can get it to work from within the control panel, but not from the comment form itself.
i'm very interested to see what plugins you create with WP. as someone who doesn't code (but can follow instructions very well), i like plugins so much more.
and the fact that WP will have multiple blogs in the future, i love this product even more.
May 19th, 2004 at 1:07 pm
Good choice.
I actually made the move from Movabletype to Wordpress a few days ago (seemless process by the way, with the help of the MT Import feature) and so far enjoy WP ten times better.
I love how the pages are built dynamically versus MT's static pages.
Now, obviously, you'll be focusing on tips and tweaks for Wordpress. I can't wait.
May 19th, 2004 at 1:29 pm
I'd like to use a blog interface which works equally well in each browser. In Opera and Firebird many formatting icons do not show. Any thoughts on MT and those browsers or on Word Press?
May 19th, 2004 at 3:24 pm
Out of curiosity, what tipped the scales in favor of WP over EE?
May 19th, 2004 at 3:35 pm
I like who's behind it.
It's open source.
I liked the interface better and was able to find my way around quicker.
I think I can be more of a help for that CMS.
EE was nice… but a little too big and scary. LOL! (Also – while I didn't attempt to import any posts in EE, I'd read about problems other people had. However, WP took no time at all – with NO PROBLEMS at all to import all my posts from scriptygoddess).
EE has "already made it" – whereas I'd like to help WP "make it". Don't know if that makes sense at all…
In short – there wasn't one thing – it was a bunch of things that made me pick WP.
May 19th, 2004 at 4:02 pm
Ah, all of that makes perfect sense!
I completely agree with you that Matt and the other WP team members all rock
. I don't think you could ask for more hard-working, sincerely nice folks.
I'm not sure I agree with you, though, about EE having 'made it.' Personally, I think it's not being positioned very well and may not be adopted as widely as it could be… specifically because it's being marketed as a blog (all the darn templates are bloggy!), but with the features of a lite-CMS tool and a pricetag that's higher than your typical blogger is willing to fork over.
So, frankly, I see WP getting more traction over time.
But interestingly enough, I'm choosing EE for many of the same reasons you list!
I'm tired of tweaking, and I mostly want a plug-'n'-play solution… even if it means having to pay for plugins.
I'm also happy about 'big'… since I may be able to replace other components of my sites with EE and not have to worry about integration issues.
And lastly, EE supports multiple sites now, whereas WP does not yet do so easily, and since I'm looking to power about 3-4 sites in the near term, this is important to me.
Anyway, I really think that people can't go wrong with EE or WP; both have outstanding support, great teams, and so on. And I'm glad that I finally got a kick in the pants to move away from MT.
May 19th, 2004 at 4:23 pm
Good, good, good!
I felt that the tweaker in you would be tempted. I haven't stopped tweaking since I switched a couple of months ago. Looking forward to your new adventures.
May 19th, 2004 at 5:14 pm
Hi,
I've been following your exploits with the different alternatives to MT with interest, thanks. I am also looking for something different but I need something that can support multiple blogs and offers some kind of user management.
I agree with your assesmnet of EE, it's a little too big for general blogging and the method of managing multiple blogs looks way too complicated. I also looked briefly at WordPress. I liked the ease of importing MT but I'm not sure about the multiple blogs. They claim it can be done easily with multiple installs using the same database (with different prefixes) but they don't seem to have image uploads (or is there a plugin?) and other things that MT offers. What do you think, are they headed for any of those things soon? (ie, multiple users and blogs etc).
Henry.
May 19th, 2004 at 6:29 pm
Hi, I just wanted to say I've also been reading all that you had to say over MT and other possible choices. I had been planning on switching over to Wordpress from Movable Type anyway as I missed having things built dynamically but I also really enjoyed the tips and hacks you had for MT, so I held off. After the recent drama though, I chose to go ahead and switch. I'm very excited that you've decided to go with WP and can't wait to see what you come up with.
May 19th, 2004 at 6:45 pm
Waterlily, wordpress already has smilies included. There is a hack for clickable smilies in the comments and in thw wp-admin entry area that is found here: http://www.alexking.org/.
I'll be switching over to wordpress when I change my layout.
May 19th, 2004 at 7:02 pm
I wish you had stuck with EE. The more I play with it the more I find it can do or be made to do easily. You want to flex your PHP muscle, you can certainly do it there. Create plugins, modules or even add custom PHP to your teplates.
EE has custom smilies embedded too. Anyway, I look forward to your experiences and I hope this community will support EE as this is my main source of hacks (already re-did expanded entries and LAzyman's to work with EE).
May 19th, 2004 at 7:06 pm
Henry:
The WP multi-blogs are actually fairly easy to do: not as slick yet at MT but getting there. I can't speak for WP before 1.2 but it does have file upload. It doesn't paste it into a post the way MT does, but does give you the code so you can paste it yourself. I may look at changing that functionality a little.
May 19th, 2004 at 7:30 pm
Elaine,
Ok, thanks for the info. The upload feature is important as some of my 'customers' use their blogs to display their photography. I'll take another look at WP.
Henry.
May 19th, 2004 at 8:03 pm
I'm so excited – I can't wait to see what you come up with for WP.
May 19th, 2004 at 10:27 pm
Feel the same way, Jennifer. I was considering EE, Textpattern, etc, but I've learned my lesson. I'd rather go with something open source, so I won't ever have to switch again due to pricing or cost. (I also want a PHP system, too, since I don't understand a lick of Perl.) Once WP 1.2 is official with multiple blog support, I'm switching!
May 20th, 2004 at 12:51 am
I am not saying this applies to WP, but Open Source does not = Free. Take a look at any of the Linux Distros and you'll see.
Open Source means exactly that, its Open Source that can be gotten for free and modified per the GPL. But you can package it and sell it within the terms of the GPL.
May 20th, 2004 at 3:18 am
As I understand, real multiple blog support is planned for WP, I just don't know when it will actually appear.
WP is licenced under GPL, and since it is PHP (the source is it…), it makes it pretty easy to get a working copy of it for free. So even in the extreme unliklihood of someone charging for it: anyone with a copy of it can distribute it for free.
May 20th, 2004 at 4:16 am
I think for many, this latest incident was the extra nudge they needed. I've been evaluating TextPattern, Expression Engine, and WordPress for a while now. I think Mark Pilgrim may have won me over. As powerful as EE is, it isn't open source. WordPress is open source, uses PHP and MySQL (which means I can easily make it do what I want it to do, as well as contribute to the project), and it has more momentum than TextPattern (which I also like… I just like the idea of a collaborative project better).
So I'm about 95% sure that WordPress is the one for me. I've started converting my templates. I look forward to seeing WordPress tips featured here and maybe to submitting a few of my own!
May 20th, 2004 at 11:20 am
Well, scriptygoddess, if you don't use EE, then PLEASE give your free copy to me.
I was number 1001 I think.
May 20th, 2004 at 1:53 pm
(thought I'd add my 2 coppers also, since I've been playing with TextPattern and Wordpress
I started using Wordpress last year, but quit, because of all the great hacks/plugins for MT.
, then I'll be using it a lot more then just 'play and test'.
This last 2 weeks, I've been playing with Textpattern, and Wordpress, and I have to admit, I really (Really) like Textpattern.
I was starting to get excited about Wordpress, especially this 1.2 they just put out, except for the multiple blogs thingy. (yes, I know they're saying you can use it, but WHERE? can you get info on HOW to do it? LOL I've tried putting in my config file 'wp_' 'wp2_' but that's not doing anything but making errors)
Any way, as soon as the multiple blog is worked out a little easier for us thickheaded (or dingbats, how ever you want to look at us
Especially if I know you're working on hacks and plugins for it.
May 21st, 2004 at 4:31 am
I really like wordpress but it has a *really* messy directory structure and apparently no support for extra fields…yet. Anyone know if 1.2 address any of these issues?
May 21st, 2004 at 7:48 am
I have also been fiddling around with WordPress, as the dynamic nature of the posts (especially being able to date posts ahead of time and have them not show up until then) however Movable Type has still got my loyalty, and has still got a lot of the elements that I like. Also, the new comment system has well and truly won me over.
May 27th, 2004 at 9:31 pm
I actually installed WordPress, B2evolution, and Nucleus on my site at the same time to compare and contrast. Nucleus ended up being the one I went with as it had equal features to WordPress but one upped it by having unlimited multi-blogging and database back-up built in. I wish more people would give Nucleus CMS a try. It's worth it and not at all hard to use. I truly think it has a good chance of giving MT a run for the money.
May 19th, 2004 at 5:30 pm
Some of the fog is clearing and the directions for weblog tools are becoming clearer. Movers seem to be (largely)…
May 19th, 2004 at 5:53 pm
Some of the fog is clearing and the directions for weblog tools are becoming clearer. Movers seem to be (largely)…
May 19th, 2004 at 7:47 pm
It's official. Another popular weblog, Scriptygoddess, is going WordPress.
May 19th, 2004 at 7:52 pm
Some of the fog is clearing and the directions for weblog tools are becoming clearer. Movers seem to be (largely)…
May 19th, 2004 at 11:01 pm
If anything, the recent blogworld drama has allowed some of…
May 19th, 2004 at 11:10 pm
Wow, even Scripty Goddess is going Word Press. I smell some nifty cool hacks in the future. LOL! I am trying to research and study up on PHP and CSS styles…I may have to create a hack, just to say…
May 20th, 2004 at 10:24 pm
The webmaster of my favourite site, scriptygoddess, decided to use WordPress for the same reasons I picked it
July 14th, 2004 at 9:51 pm
August 19th, 2004 at 4:59 pm
Maar waarom nu overgestapt op een andere logtool? vroeg iemand mij laatst. De reden is simpel. Dat loggen is wel leuk, maar nog veel leuker is het om met allerlei plugins te spelen, ontwikkelingen te volgen, kortom een up-to-date versie van de software…