Maybe I'm becoming an old man, but I'm not that happy with either Movable Type or WordPress. I'm not really happy with the current state of blog cms' and not too sure we're building "real" cms and getting away from the ease of use, which helped to popularize the format.
I've been playing around with the latest MT 4, being a long-time user and spent a lot of time....actually getting paid $40k+ a year, at one point, to develop Movable Type-based sites. I'm not sure I'm going to migrate my sites over to version 4 anytime soon. I have a lot of custom work, which will not move easily over. In addition, the new format is more WordPress-y and not as user friendly as I'd like.
I've been looking back toward some database-less solutions, like Blosxom and Linkwalla. I like managing my blog on my server, plus I actually like designing my own templates. One thing I don't like to depend on, are additional servers....too many points of failure.
This blog analysis actually started as I updated a client's website for the first time in years. I had moved the content from about 5 different servers, never reconnecting the CMS to anything. Then when I made the edits, it was easy to just login to the admin interface and make the change. No MySQL issues, no problems. Twittering with Elle, actually got me back down that path of a simple CMS, via the work of Adam Newbold. Then I started thinking, where are the simple blog cms'?
I guess this wondering is the result of working in environments, where databases have been the Achilles Heel. Can't run MySQL, that knocks out a majority of the stable blog platforms. Run Oracle? Then you're limited to a few, but those are gonna cost you. Run MSSQL? Then you get locked into ASP/.NET-based apps, where they're not exactly as easy as PHP or Perl-based solutions to edit.
I feel very fortunate, where I can see the attempts of a lot of companies to bring blogs to corporate environments. I've spoken with companies who work with a lot of large organizations and provide solutions. But a majority just do not provide simple blogging, commenting or management....they feel like a hodge-podge of larger programs....
More on this later....
Comments
You appear to have left out one CMS, Textpattern. I suppose you face the same problem if access to MySQL is an issue. But, to me, it a light and flexible presence compared to the other options.
I dropped out of MT when they hit 3.0. I've never like Wordpress. I use Textpattern most of the time, and Expression Engine when there are heftier requirements, like member login and protected areas.
But beyond those "Big Four," the options are indeed limited.
Posted by: Reid | October 3, 2007 11:29 AM
Like Reid, I too have given up on MT. I moved away from 3.x during the great comment spam deluge of '05 and never looked back except for a recent evaluation of MT4 (which I find bloated and overly complex).
I have never been big on WordPress. The template system, to me, lacks elegance and I may as well use raw PHP.
I like blogging tools that have an intuitive tag set, like Textpattern. I want the site requirements and design to be paramount and both MT and WordPress tend to constrict the process. I find myself building 'around' the CMS.
Textpattern lets me build the site while only using the features of the CMS that I need. I want to add the components that I need rather than rip out what I'll never use.
Posted by: Al | October 11, 2007 10:50 AM