On the very last day of 2005 WordPress 2.0 was released and gained immediate attention. Matt Mullenweg and his team put a lot of effort in a complete redesigned backend, bringing a smooth WYSIWYG editing experience to WordPress and assigning some AJAX to the admin interface. As usual bugs were located and fixed for the 2.0.1 release on Jan 31.
By now even TXP users are impressed by WP. Some intend even to switch or, as Peter Flaschner did, switched already. Time to investigate the differences between TXP and WP.
Some history first
WordPress´s roots and development go back to 2002. Matt Mullenweg was then involved with b2/cafelog writing his first patch “Texturize”. When b2 development halted, Matt had a self-interest in the codebase and took advantage of open source to start collaborating with a few other folks from around the world to continue its development. In 2003 Matt Mullenweg and Mark Little started forking b2.
WP Version 1.2 (called „Mingus“) was released Mai 22, 2004 first time presenting the option installing plugins and assigning subcategories.
Today WP has over four thousand downloads per day not counting hosts that auto-install it for their customers using a control panel. Total countings of WP driven sites are not available. Matt Mullenweg estimates it might well be over a hundred thousand. Development is driven forward by 12 devs.
wordpress.com is the WP hosting service. WP is a partner of TextDrive.
Textpattern was developed by Dean Allen back in 2001. Textpattern beta 1 was officially released in February 2003. The TXP Support Forum started in Feb 2004. Soon a couple of developers joined the Open Source project and a small team of three formed the core dev team. TXP left beta stage in August 2005 when Textpattern 4.0.0 was released. Current version is 4.0.3.
Total countings of TXP driven sites are not available though i estimate them on something between 10,000 and 20,000.
To compare TXP to WP let´s first listen to what users say. Some complain TXP´s learning curve is too steep while WP can be used right out of the box. TXP´s tag handling is complex and for beginners confusing. WP advantage in the first place is avoiding tags and supplying an easy to use theme switcher.
Peter Flaschner keypoints for switching his TXP driven site peterflaschner.com to WP were:
- try something new, a new blogCMS
- textpattern’s lack of support for xmlrpc
- WP is easier to use, posting is such a snap
- the theme function simply rocks
- Flock support
Let´s dive into the hard facts:
| TXP | WP | |
| URL schemes | limited, messy when adressing categories | highly customisable |
| XML-RPC | available | integrated |
| Image uploading | You can browse upload and place images in categories | Browse and upload WITHIN the post and images are filed by date |
| Link import | not available | If a program or website you use allows you to export your links or subscriptions as OPML you may import them |
| File uploading | Browse and upload the same way as images, categorize, link for download | no adequate file upload. You can use image upload to upload files, but it requires a hack |
| pages and posts | not just pages, but sections, then pages within sections, posts can also be put in sections, great for asides | pages and posts, all pages in one "section" all posts separate. You can separate how you display posts for asides, but again, requires a hack. |
| RSS | separate feed for links, otherwise they look the same, but you can show comment count in the feed and tell feed readers to update each time a comment is posted (if you have the need) | standard feeds for posts and by author |
| Import from another blog | Moveable Type (file or MySQL DB), Blogger, B2, Wordpress – with TXP you can specify WHERE you want the import to go to (which section, category, etc) | RSS, Blogger, Textpattern (blogger import has yet to work for me) |
| Code support | Template tags created for you based on your settings. You say you want a list of ten links from this category and it creates a template tag which you copy and paste into place | Must use WP website for documentation and template tags |
| Includes | Easy includes using "forms" – can be as small as one line of code or as large as a whole webpage, may use XHTML, textpattern code, or Textile | Must create a new PHP file for each include (can be a nightmare if you want 4-5 includes and you end up with a long list of files in your template area) |
| Plugins | Plugins are about the same, depending on who’s creating them, since they’re created by volunteers, just the install is a little different. With textpattern you copy the code and click install. | With WP you have to FTP the plugin to the plugins folder and then install – it’s fine if you can FTP, but TXP is better if you can’t or don’t want to. |
| Trackback | plugin and hacks needed, often fails | integrated |
| Themes switcher | – not available – | easy way switching themes |
| WYSIWYG editor | only as plugin available | integrated |
By comparing the keyfeatures of both blog CMS´s it becomes visible, none of both covers all expectations an average user might have. While WP supports integrated XML-RPC and trackback, TXP offers a broader flexibility for design through its integrated sections.
Though Natalie Jost, user of WP and TXP as well, concludes in her article Wordpress v. Textpattern :
If you’re a serious blogger with a professional blog, or a company who wants a professional content management system, use Textpattern. If you’re a new to moderate blogger or you’re just the type that likes things easy and comfortable, stick with Wordpress.
Elenita, who switched from WP to TXP, states similar: The thing about Wordpress is that it’s blog-centric; the assumption is that you’ll be using Wordpress to blog, but may need other “pages??? to display some static information that doesn’t necessarily fit into a blog format (e.g., an about page). Pages are almost an afterthought.
On the other hand, TXP user like german Holli (who is about to switch to WP) regards WP handling more comfortable. WP new backend facelift might require some habituation for longtime WP users but to new ones it is pretty intuitive and convincing. TXP user Nils H., who recently investigated WP 2.0.1 confirms how slick and easy to use the newest WP version is.
Comparing the both communities, WP user Scott Kennedy f. e. reports: ...in retrospect I feel like the people in the TXP forum were more helpful than what I currently get on the WP forum. Scotts sentiment was second by some other WP user. Holli asked in a german WP forum for help with switching and never got any replies. Checking the WP support boards show quite some unanswered posts. (Note: unanswered WP posts count 1 on the WP forums.)
Then again WP international activities are strong: wordpress.de, wordpress-es, WordPress en français ... .
Textpattern international activities got a kick when country boards were opened up on the TXP forum last year though international textpattern portals do not exist yet except for Slovakia (textpattern.sk) and Russia (textpattern.ru.
Note
TXP users who like to check out WP admininterface can login to a test install on opensourcecms.com.
Please note, Username is admin, Password demo.
WP useres who like to check out Textpattern can login to a testinstall on opensourcecms.com.. Username and Password are the same as for WP.
Links
- An Interview with Matt Mullenweg, WordPress Creator
- Professional Blog Software Reviews – TextPattern
- Futurosity moves from Textpattern to WP
- WP and Textpattern – comparison by a user
- What is wrong with Textpattern?
- German TXP Resource Blog
