Lately we’ve been struggling with WordPress and its HTML shenanigans. Not that they are new but we’re more actively pursuing a number of bugs that have been open for a while. Even after you remove TinyMCE, WP will insert closing paragraph tags within an entry if the visual editor checkbox is selected in user settings. Not cool, WordPress. Then there’s the whole concept of the Loop, the way WP filters things in the background, and poor documentation. And don’t get me started on plugins or security.
Besides, and this is more important for us, Automattic is pulling a SixApart circa early 2007. It’s all about pageviews at WordPress.com and how they’re one of the biggest sites in the universe. Look, decide once and for all whether you want to be in the GeoCities business or the software business. It’s irritating when giants such as Microsoft or Google pretend to be everything to everyone, but it’s downright ridiculous from start-ups, even if they’re well funded (how can a company get so much funding when it doesn’t even know what it wants to be when it grows up boggles the mind). I thought we’d throw ten grand at Automattic for a support contract but got cold feet when I saw them starting to chase consumer social fads. At least SixApart divested LiveJournal, got a new CEO and seems to be tightening their focus a little bit these days.
We’re just starting to research options to complement WP for some projects, and maybe replace it altogether eventually (no, Anil, we’re not going back to MT!) On that front, I like the philosophy behind ExpressionEngine:
“This is really a philosophical issue. Should it happen when a page is rendered or when it is delivered into the database? I