[eluser]fredwu[/eluser]
First of all thanks D13 for the fantastic news! I always wonder why the community didn't come up with such an application earlier.
I love the name, InkType, sounds very modern.
Coincidentally I will be needing a blogging system in the next couple of days to revamp my personal website. I had looked at Wordpress and the demo of ExpressionEngine, I can say that I like Wordpress much more. (I should probably mention that I have been using Wordpress for many years.)
So here are some of the features I like in Wordpress:
- A straightforward backend. I *really* dislike the backend in EE, it's just too confusing, and too many clicks required to dig into the settings. Wordpress on the other hand, has a very nice interface that is efficient and user friendly. The ability to getting things done quickly is what the backend needs to be.
- Simple (and configurable) way of enabling the 'fancy-URL' feature. Users don't need to muck around with .htaccess.
- The bottom line: it's simple to use.
Of course Wordpress has gimmicks too:
- Templating system could have been made easier. Right now I just manually edit the template files. I wish there were some degree of 'automation', or, 'fragementation' that could reduce the amount of repeatative work.
- Not enough configurable features. e.g. To display latest 10 comments on the homepage, one requires to obtain a 3rd party plugin. Features like this in my opinion should be made into the system and can be turned on and off by the user.
- Plugin system could have been made better. For instance the system should be able to detect the version of both the system and the plugin (which it does), and tell the user if the plugin will or will not work (which it doesn't). Speaking of plugin system, I really like the one in Simple Machines Forum.
Well, these are just the ones from top of my head. I am sure there are pros and cons of Wordpress that I have missed.
Some suggestions:
- In addition to the default template, make one template that is designed for skinners. A template that specifically designed to be redesigned. Designers (skinners) can use this template as the foundation and work their way up from there.
- A common set of APIs for core extension and/or plugin development.
- Refactoring should be low in priority, the focus should instead be on rolling out the foundation with basic features. We all know that at some point in the future, when we look at our current code, we'd want to somehow refactor it. PHP4 will be gone (you know what I mean) after August next year, I suspect there will be many developers refactoring their PHP4 apps to adopt to PHP5-only by then.
- 'Pages' should have multiple (infinite) levels to form a tree-structure. That's just an extra field in the database, so it should be pretty easy to implement. This way the blog system can be used as a lightweight CMS.
- I don't see language support being mentioned anywhere in the thread. So, multi-language support?
- ACL, e.g. administrators, composers, normal users, etc.
- Tagging system (already in the list). It should have the influence in search results.
I would really love to see a blog system that is comparable to Wordpress in terms of user-friendliness, ease of use and is comparable to ExpressionEngine in terms of features. :)
Cheers
