Comments on: ExpressionEngine vs. WordPress – Final Thoughts

By: Adam

Adam — Fri, 26 Mar 2010 16:44:37 +0000

I have recently started learning ExpressionEngine (EE). I have been developing with WordPress (WP) for over 2 years now, and I like WP very much, but I have had times when I am limited to perform some feature for a client.

My new job requires me to learn EE. So far, I am liking EE. After learning how it functions, how it’s organized, and how to create a site, I think I may switch to EE. I may switch to EE from WP not only because EE is so flexible, but also because the ease of use for clients to add/edit content. WP tends to confuse clients needing to update their site for anything other than the blog. EE can be set up in the back-end for a client to easily understand how to add/edit content with fewer clicks.

By: John Crenshaw

John Crenshaw — Thu, 04 Mar 2010 21:49:33 +0000

EE2.0 could be good…I haven’t tried it yet, but it’s built on CodeIgniter, which I like for the most part. Hopefully they’ll address some of the issues I had with 1.x

By: SteveW

SteveW — Wed, 03 Mar 2010 03:52:14 +0000

Thanks for the great articles on EE. I have recently started researching EE as I have to redesign the website for my employer, and they really want to move to a CMS. After reading some pretty positive comments about EE on sitepoint I thought I would look into it.
After DL’ing the trial version last week, and poking around in it, I was totally baffled. I found I had a lot of the same gripes that you outlined in your first article. I found the documentation on the site to be very lacking, and ended up finding separate tutorials on the net that provided much more insight. Subsequently, I ended up doing a WP site for a friend this past week, and it was sooo freaking easy. However I don’t think WP will offer the scalability and flexibility I need for my employers site.
I think my next step will be to try the trial version of EE2 that I saw on their site. I really like the idea that it is a fully supported solution, and the cost seems pretty darn fair. I have my fingers crossed.

By: Troy

Troy — Wed, 24 Feb 2010 14:56:51 +0000

We are avid users in EE. We do find the positive qualities mentioned above useful when sell the solution to our clients. We relish the idea that we are supported by experts in the product and the support forum excellent. EE is a highly scalable and supported product. We also find the Multi-Site Solution a plus for a couple of clients. We can not wait to get our hands on EE 2.0 all driven by CodeIgniter.

By: WPclassifieds.net

WPclassifieds.net — Thu, 01 Oct 2009 03:13:04 +0000

very nice, but is there a way to register into your forum ? I have some questions and in the codex.wordpress.org they never answer me !! they just show off with their experience !!

By: Minnesota Attorney

Minnesota Attorney — Wed, 30 Sep 2009 04:30:11 +0000

It would be great to have some competition for WordPress. Maybe EE is up for the challenge. Competition helps foster innovation.

By: Minnesota Attorney

Minnesota Attorney — Wed, 30 Sep 2009 04:23:44 +0000

I would figure that if you have 10 blogs on WordPress, you would want to stick with the same system on all your blogs. No?

By: Mark C

Mark C — Mon, 21 Sep 2009 17:13:15 +0000

You really should take another look and this time take the time to customise the CP to your liking with extensions.

Issue 1: use Gypsy fields. If you look at the exp_weblog_data table it should become clear to you why it is safe to do so.

Issue 2: agreed, but I don’t find it a hassle. Create your template, tick the ‘export as file’ button, and from then on edit it in your text editor. Is it that hard?

Issue 3: so… why are you storing CSS as templates anyway? You don’t have to. Just store them is an _assets folder somewhere. That’s what I do for any project regardless of the CMS I’m using.

Issue 4: If you want a conventional page hierarchy and nested URI scheme use the brilliant Structure module.
http://buildwithstructure.com/

The URI routing in EE is a result of the MVC design pattern. Weblogs are generic models extended by custom fields, templates are views. EE modules/plugins provide the controlling glue. Thus EE is a powerful GUI for rapid application development. WordPress is getting there (specifically with the excellent Pods plugin) but it’s got a long way to go, IMHO.

By: Cute Graphics

Cute Graphics — Mon, 21 Sep 2009 02:20:04 +0000

I think your last line conveys your experience perfectly “my time with EE only served to remind me what I like about WordPress.” Thanks for the informative review, like I said before, I’ll stick to WordPress. Thanks again John.

By: Cute Graphics

Cute Graphics — Mon, 21 Sep 2009 02:12:01 +0000

That is the same reason I was put off as well, and plan to stick with WordPress for now anyways.