The dire state of WordPress
jshakespeare.com
The dire state of WordPress
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Re: The dire state of WordPress
#2Software rewrites are extremely challenging, and more often than not, fail (good example: http://www.joelonsoftware.com/articles/fog0000000069.html). Perhaps a more measured factoring approach over time would be more appropriate?
Re: The dire state of WordPress
#3I'm yet to inherit a PHP project that does not contain a file called "functions.php" and it always makes my heart sink when I see it.
What I don't get is the demand for all kinds of stuff to be built on top of wordpress that doesn't really have much to do with content management or blogging. For example online games, CRM systems, auction sites etc.
Seems a bit like asking for a CMS system that has been implemented as a minecraft mod.
Re: The dire state of WordPress
#4The main problem perpetuating Wordpress' design woes is its plugin ecosystem and how it depends on Wordpress' internals. A massive hook system, scopeless globals passed around like nobody's business and overall reliance on how "things work" right now - if you change any of that, you break most of the plugins (the code for which looks even worse than Wordpress itself).
An idea I always have in the back of my queue is to write an adapter over the hook system and various state variables plugins expect to have, and bridge it (the plug-in system) to something like the Zend Framework or Symphony. The amount of work involved prevents it from becoming more than a pipe dream.
EDIT: Added clarification for the adapter purpose
Re: The dire state of WordPress
#5i've had to hack additional functionality into some third-party wordpress plugins for clients. it is a nightmare compared to my own PSR-0/Composer projects. it's just an incredibly twisted kludge of code stuffed with globals and craziness. most unpleasant experience ever.
sadly, wordpress's massive plugin ecosystem of poorly written spaghetti is the very thing that will prevent it from being rewritten.
Re: The dire state of WordPress
#6The main problem perpetuating Wordpress' design woes is its plugin ecosystem and how it depends on Wordpress' internals. A massive hook system, scopeless globals passed around like nobody's business and overall reliance on how "things work" right now - if you change any of that, you break most of the plugins (the code for which looks even worse than Wordpress itself). An idea I always have in the back of my queue is…
there's already a symfony2 bundle that has started that work i think. I don't recall the name though.
Re: The dire state of WordPress
#7To paraphrase Churchill, Wordpress is the worst CMS -- except for all the others.
I'd love to find an open-source CMS (preferably in Python or Ruby) with clean, secure, elegant code and a well-organized framework that comes with a friendly admin and active, responsive development community like Wordpress, but so far I've got nothing.
(If anyone has any suggestions, please do feel free to share them!)
Re: The dire state of WordPress
#8To paraphrase Churchill, Wordpress is the worst CMS -- except for all the others. I'd love to find an open-source CMS (preferably in Python or Ruby) with clean, secure, elegant code and a well-organized framework that comes with a friendly admin and active, responsive development community like Wordpress, but so far I've got nothing. (If anyone has any suggestions, please do feel free to share them!)
And don't forget the amazing amount of functionality that's available for free using the plugin system.
It's a classic software development problem - Wordpress's complexity is both it's strength and weakness, and will probably be it's downfall one day (but not just yet)
Re: The dire state of WordPress
#9The main problem perpetuating Wordpress' design woes is its plugin ecosystem and how it depends on Wordpress' internals. A massive hook system, scopeless globals passed around like nobody's business and overall reliance on how "things work" right now - if you change any of that, you break most of the plugins (the code for which looks even worse than Wordpress itself). An idea I always have in the back of my queue is…
there's already a symfony2 bundle that has started that work i think. I don't recall the name though.
You're probably talking about this -
https://github.com/kayue/WordpressBundle
Not what I was talking about - this allows you to run wordpress on a symfony site and share user state (pretty trivial).
I'm talking about an adapter that allows you to run Wordpress plug-ins - without Wordpress. Basically allowing you to write a normal blog system while leveraging the huge community and functionality of WP plugins.
Re: The dire state of WordPress
#10I'm yet to inherit a PHP project that does not contain a file called "functions.php" and it always makes my heart sink when I see it. What I don't get is the demand for all kinds of stuff to be built on top of wordpress that doesn't really have much to do with content management or blogging. For example online games, CRM systems, auction sites etc. Seems a bit like asking for a CMS system that has been implemented as…
It makes me wonder if the companies behind that online game and auction site were "sold" Wordpress by a developer/designer as a way they could easily update their website. Perhaps whoever pitched Wordpress as a solution in those cases didn't have the knowledge to build a fully functional website from the ground up without Wordpress.
As a fellow PHP developer, I can say I share the heart sinking feeling when I see "functions.php".