Why the heck isnt word press a cms

Why the @#!% isn’t
WordPress a CMS?
John
Eckman

ISITE
Design

-‐
h4p://www.isitedesign.com/

CMS
Myth
-‐
h4p://www.cmsmyth.com/

Blog
-‐
h4p://www.openparenthesis.org/
Github:
h4p://github.com/jeckman

Twi4er
-‐
@jeckman

First, A Little Background
h"p://www.cmsmyth.com/2010/03/is-‐wordpress-‐a-‐cms/

@jeckman

#WordPressCMS
#wcbos

@jeckman

#WordPressCMS
#wcbos

Say What?
h"p://www.cmsmyth.com/2012/05/revisiFng-‐wordpress-‐as-‐a-‐cms-‐again/

@jeckman

#WordPressCMS
#wcbos

What’s a CMS?
“A
system
that
lets
you
apply
management
principles
to
web

content.”

(real
story
group)

A
content
management
system
(CMS)
is
a
system
providing
a

collecFon
of
procedures
used
to
manage
work
flow
in
a

collaboraFve
environment.
These
procedures
can
be
manual

or
computer-‐based.
The
procedures
are
designed
to
do
the

following:

•  Allow
for
a
large
number
of
people
to
contribute
to
and

share
stored
data

•  Control
access
to
data,
based
on
user
roles
(defining

which
informaFon
users
or
user
groups
can
view,
edit,

publish,
etc.)

•  Aid
in
easy
storage
and
retrieval
of
data

•  Reduce
repeFFve
duplicate
input

•  Improve
the
ease
of
report
wriFng

•  Improve
communicaFon
between
users

(wikipedia
on
CMS)

h"p://www.flickr.com/photos/quinnanya/5403098626/

@jeckman

#WordPressCMS
#wcbos

What would lead one to say
WordPress is NOT a CMS?
h"p://www.ﬂickr.com/photos/narisa/97218748/

@jeckman

#WordPressCMS
#wcbos

WordPress is
like the leading
candidate in a
primary race:
everyone’s a
critic
h"p://knowyourmeme.com/memes/haters-‐gonna-‐hate/photos

@jeckman

#WordPressCMS
#wcbos

Why would people say WordPress is just a
blog platform?
Because we keep telling them it is.
h"p://www.ﬂickr.com/photos/thomashawk/4595386436/

@jeckman

#WordPressCMS
#wcbos

@jeckman

#WordPressCMS

#wcbos

What if WordPress.com and
WordPress.org had different
names?
h"p://www.ﬂickr.com/photos/quinnanya/1935788259/in/photostr
@jeckman

#WordPressCMS
#wcbos

Sometimes people use tools in
unexpected ways: edge cases
Edge cases can reveal limits in a
platform. Is CMS an edge case for
WordPress?
h"p://bikeportland.org/2012/06/28/with-‐six-‐kids-‐and-‐no-‐car-‐
this-‐mom-‐does-‐it-‐all-‐by-‐bike-‐73731

@jeckman

#WordPressCMS
#wcbos

What doesn’t WordPress do well?
•  MulFlingual

•  Publish
to
Remote

Servers

•  Extended,
Fine-‐Grained

User
Permissions

•  Content
TargeFng
/

Dynamic

PersonalizaFon

•  In-‐Context
EdiFng

•  Custom
ApplicaFons

with
High
User

InteracFon

•  Complex
Workﬂow

•  Versioning
across

complex
asset
types

•  EdiFons
/
Content

Bundles

•  Digital
Asset

Management
at
Scale

@jeckman

#WordPressCMS
#wcbos

Do open source projects reflect the
attitudes of their founders and
leaders?
h"p://schipulcon.com/photos/514/in/9/

@jeckman

#WordPressCMS
#wcbos

Dries vs. Matt
•  PhD
in
Computer

Science
and
Engineering

•  Founded
Drupal
project

2000

•  Founded
Acquia
2008,

as
CTO

•  Coding,
Technology,

Photography

•  Studied
PoliFcal
Science

at
University
of
Houston

(leg
to
join
CNET)

•  Started
WordPress
in

2003,
founded

Automaic
and

WordPress.com
2005

•  Jazz,
Photography,

Simplicity

@jeckman

#WordPressCMS
#wcbos

Acquia vs Automattic
•  VC
Funded
(aggressive

growth
plan)

•  Corporate

Headquarters
in

Burlington
MA
with

some
distributed

employees

•  Focus:
“Your
enterprise

guide
to
Drupal”

•  VC
funded,
though

slower
growth
plan
(?)

•  All
virtual
/
Distributed

•  Small
oﬃce
in
SF
(now

closed?)

•  Focus:
“we
are

passionate
about

making
the
web
a

be"er
place”

h"p://www.ﬂickr.com/photos/pgoye"e/1276986086/in/photostream/

@jeckman

#WordPressCMS
#wcbos

What does this suggest about Drupal
and WordPress as platforms?
•  Engineering
culture

•  Steep
learning
curve,

but
very
powerful
once

learned

•  Design
/
Content

culture

•  Simple
learning
curve

but
arguably
less

powerful
/
ﬂexible

h"p://www.ﬂickr.com/photos/andrewl04/3163980834/

h"p://www.commonplaces.com/inspiring-‐conversaFon/team-‐posts/drupal-‐7-‐vs-‐
wordpress-‐3-‐ba"le-‐new-‐features-‐0

What, if anything, should we do
about the state of WordPress as
a CMS?
@jeckman

#WordPressCMS
#wcbosc

Do we want more power,
and therefore accept more
complexity?
h"p://www.cmsmyth.com/2012/02/build-‐one-‐to-‐throw-‐away/

@jeckman

#WordPressCMS

#wcbos

“What the detractors and critics
of electric vehicles have been
saying for years, is true. The
electric vehicle is not for
everybody; given the limited
range it can only meet the
needs of 90% of the
population.“
h"p://www.ﬁlmaluaFon.com/who-‐killed-‐the-‐electric-‐car.html

@jeckman

#WordPressCMS

#wcbos

Should there be a fork of
WordPress focused
on CMS use cases?
A Distribution? Package?
Application? Downstream?
h"p://www.ﬂickr.com/photos/jonathancohen/5396179251/

@jeckman

#WordPressCMS
#wcbosc

How can we preserve WordPress’
existing advantages?
•  Focus
on
usability
and
user
experience
design

for
the
content
author
/
site
admin

•  Ease
of
installaFon
and
Fme
to
“live
site”

experience

•  Broad
availability
of
themes
and
plugins

•  Community
(including
WordCamps!)

•  WordPress.com
as
a
massive
scale
ongoing

tesFng
plaoorm
for
new
concepts

h"p://www.ﬂickr.com/photos/r_a_z_e/498818720/

@jeckman

#WordPressCMS
#wcbosc

This is a great time for exactly what
WordPress is best at
•  Shig
in
buying
power
from
IT
to
business

owner

•  Renewed
interest
in
and
focus
on
content

strategy

•  Focused
small
iniFaFves
rather
than
large

enterprise
roll
outs

•  Focus
on
design,
usability,
and
content
impact

Closing Thoughts
•  WordPress
certainly
can
be
used
as
a
CMS:

the
quesFon
is
ulFmately
whether
this
is
an

edge
case
or
the
core
direcFon
of
the
project.

•  In
trying
to
grow
WordPress
as
a
CMS:

– We
won’t
win
by
trash
talking
other
plaoorms

– Power
is
shiging
from
IT
buyer
to
markeFng/
business
buyer

– Don’t
fall
for
the
technology
selecFon
myth

– Don’t
compete
on
feature
checklists

– The
“S”
in
CMS
should
be
strategy

h"p://blog.schipul.com/drupal-‐and-‐wordpress-‐at-‐schipulcon-‐one-‐stage-‐one-‐open-‐source-‐love/

@jeckman

#WordPressCMS
#wcbosc

Why the heck isnt word press a cms

Why the heck isnt word press a cms

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