As one of the commenters points out – there is no perfect CMS. Each user’s needs differ vastly – especially enterprise clients. And as John James Jacoby says, Gallagher’s “they” are us. We can change the course of WordPress in a number of ways to make it more like the perfect content management system. You just can’t say that about proprietary systems.
Some of the proprietary systems do some of the things that Gallagher wants better, but none of them handles the user experience or ease of installation/updates better than WordPress. That’s something to remember. WordPress has nailed that pretty well, and can continue to build on it.
What do you think? Is WordPress as weak as Gallagher makes it sound?
I really need to write my first WordPress plugin. Jesse Friedman, a 10-year-old who recently attended a WordCamp, took away what he learned there and created one. Great inspiration, and good to see a young one getting involved in coding early.
Anyone can launch a blog these days. Services like WordPress, Tumblr and Posterous make it easy.
The hard part comes when you have to decide which service to use. They’re all similar but different, and have strengths and weaknesses. So how do you decide? It’s tough, but should always come down to your individual needs. I’ve compared Tumblr and Posterous before (one of my most popular posts), and thought it would be fun to compare all three blogging platforms. An important note: in this comparision, I’ll focus on WordPress.com, not the open source, downloadable software
Basic Information
WordPress.com: Run by Automattic, WordPress is one of the oldest, and most respected blogging platforms around.
Tumblr.com: Run by Tumblr, Inc., Tumblr is a rising micro-blogging platform that’s popular among creatives and blogging newbies.
Posterous.com: Posterous, Inc., Posterous, often mentioned in the same articles as Tumblr, made its name thanks to friendly email features and new group site options.
Positives: WordPress
Data portability: One of WordPress’ strengths – you can import and export from a variety of formats with ease. You never have to worry about the question: “How can I get my content out?”
Flexibility for future growth: The software that powers any blog you begin on WordPress.com is the same software you can download at WordPress.org. That means that if your site grows beyond the needs of a blog, requires advanced functionality that doesn’t exist in WordPress.com or you just want more control – it’s all a download away, with the same user experience.
Negatives: WordPress
Can the blogging giant keep up? With Tumblr and Posterous focusing on micro-blogging, mobile blogging, privacy and Google Plus, Facebook, Twitter and Diaspora innovating in big ways, can a a “traditional” blogging platform like WordPress keep up with endless changes?
Mobile app: The mobile app for WordPress (I’ve used the Android one) isn’t as strong or as integrated with core functionality as both Tumblr and Posterous’ apps.
Upgrades cost money: Many, not all, but many of the features and functionality that you’d find for free on Tumblr and Posterous cost money on WordPress.com. These include: your own domain, custom CSS, no ads, etc. If cost is a factor, this may be a deal-breaker.
Positives: Tumblr
Strong niche communities: While WordPress and Posterous have vibrant communities, Tumblr has great niche communities for fashionistas, creatives, journalists and more.
Quick and easy: While WordPress’ has built a name around its simple user interface, I’ve heard many say that Tumblr’s approach (with fewer options, quick micro-blogging features and built-in social network) has won them over.
Not for everybody: Even though Tumblr, WordPress.com and Posterous share many of the same features, Tumblr has the stronger social network feel. Some might see it as just another social network, and wonder why they need another one, of if they have the time.
No way to export content: Tumblr offers no way to export your content, which could force users to lose content if they decide to leave Tumblr.
Specialized content: As mentioned in the first point, Tumblr is a social network and creative, multimedia-friendly, short bursts of content performs well there. This certainly can be seen as a positive, but it might not be for everyone.
Positives: Posterous
Reinvented: Posterous became Posterous Spaces recently, turning the super-easy blogging platform into more of a social network, built for sharing content publicly or privately with flexibility over appearance and other features. Much of this can be accomplished using the other platforms, but Posterous has aimed for this to be its niche.
Group blogging/sites: I’ve used Posterous to some success as a group blog with Journalism Lives. It’s been fun, and Posterous as a platform excels at this.
Mobile publishing: All three platforms have strong mobile apps, but Posterous’ latest version ties into its new features well, priming it to be the perfect place to share content on the go.
Negatives: Posterous
Weaker Community: Posterous does not have as strong of a community as Tumblr or WordPress. It’s newer so that may change.
No way to export content: Posterous, like Tumblr, offers no way to export your content. Again, this should be seen by platforms as a basic feature to offer users ultimate flexibility.
Very much like Google Plus: The one thing that I noticed when I first checked out Posterous Spaces was how similar it was to Google Plus in overall goals… It will be interesting to see how Posterous and the two other platforms distinguish themselves among all of the competition in the social media space.
Final Thoughts
This was a fun post to write. Honestly, I had trouble coming up with three negatives for all of these platforms. They all have similarities, so ultimately it comes down to YOU. I’ve mentioned this before in my other post, comparing Tumblr and Posterous. You’ll get the most out of a platform if you’re comfortable with it and like/love using it. It’s why I ultimately started a new, fun blog on WordPress.com after trying with both Posterous and Tumblr to do the same thing. For me, the deciding factor was WordPress embracing the open source mentality. I always know that I will always have control of my data.
I’m always hunting for inspiration and looking to learn new stuff.
Today, I found it. Check out this WordPress project – Basetrack.org.
It tells the stories of soldiers stationed in Afghanistan and enables their families to keep up with them. It’s an ambitious project, and if you watch the video (or view this WordPress.tv post, clearly has made a difference in the lives of the soldiers’ families.
I love it because it’s WordPress, interactive AND tells powerful stories.
When you start developing a WordPress site, you always have to answer a question. Will I put my content in via posts or pages?
Most people opt for pages, but you shouldn’t overlook the power of cataloging your content with posts. Here are some guidelines that will help determine which option you should choose:
Go with Pages
If you’re creating a simple site with 30 pages or less.
If you just need a “news” or “blog” section, combined with mostly static content.
If you’re not planning on updating site content often.
If you’re not concerned about connecting or categorizing content in some way.
Go with Posts
If you plan on updating content constantly.
If you need multiple “buckets” or post types to hold your content.
If you need custom ways to categorize your post types with taxonomies.
If you need to take advantage of some of WordPress’ other features, like Custom Fields or Post Formats.
Options
Of course, you can always use a combination of the two, and most sites that rely on WordPress as a content management system do. The trick is knowing the strengths and weaknesses of each option, and thinking through how your site needs to work.
I have seen this tweeted and blogged about in a few places, so it’s worth a mention. The cool thing about the Bangor Daily News’ new WordPress site is that it integrates with Google Docs, making one complete content management system. I’d love to see a post in the future about how this works for them.
Sitemaps offer visitors a great overview of a site’s content, and WordPress allows you to create them with ease.
Joost de Vaulk shows you how to make one version of a sitemap. However, it doesn’t include an option for custom post types, which have become more popular since WordPress 3.0 came out.
Here’s how to make that happen, building on Joost’s example.
The Code
You’ll want to start out with Joost’s code because it works perfectly, and will give you just what you need for your posts and pages.
Use this code for for your custom post type:
You’ll see a few things happening here:
We’re setting up a basic unordered list, based on our custom taxonomy and listing posts in our custom post type by title.
In the second chunk of code, we’re using a new WP Query to query the posts for our custom post type and custom taxonomy.
You’ll need to change the code in a few key places.
Change the above code the your custom taxonomy name.
'post_type' => 'my_posttype',
Change the above code the your custom post type name.
'taxonomy' => 'my_taxonomy',
Change the above code the your custom taxonomy name.
Wrapping It Up
That does it. Now, whenever you add posts to your post type and taxonomy, it gets automatically added to the sitemap.
Nice!
You can see an example on my own sitemap. Huge thanks to Joost for a great code snippet! And thanks to Joeleen Kennedy for helping me figure this one out.
I imagine I’ll do something else with my photo blog that runs on Posterous – just not sure what. I’m happy to have tighter control over my content, functionality and presentation with this option though.
