Having recently switched back to Wordpress from a Rails based blogging application called Simplelog. I thought I would list some of the reasons why I made that decision. I find it rather ironic that I made the move back to a PHP based application after my rant about how Dreamhost Hates Rails, but the reasons for it have nothing to do with Rails vs. PHP, but have more to do with Simplelog vs. Wordpress.
With Simplelog, I found that I was writing plugins that already existed for Wordpress. While this helped me to better learn Ruby, I found it tiring after a while to be creating something that already existed. Also, I’ve really come to appreciate the abundance of themes available for Wordpress. Although it’s my goal to get better at design, I really appreciate having a solid starting point with which to create themes. It’s far easier starting small and only having to modify a color scheme and some images, rather than trying to create a whole new layout from scratch.
Support is another big advantage that Wordpress has over many other blogging applications. Due to the overwhelming popularity of Wordpress, there are thousands of websites devoted to Wordpress tips and tricks, as well as many great Wordpress experts willing to help out with any problems you may have. Wordpress also maintains a great repository of documentation called the Wordpress Codex.
There are a few other smaller reason why I switched to Wordpress, but those are main ones. However, I don’t want anyone to think that Simplelog isn’t a great application, because it is. If I had a little more time to actually work on the core Simplelog code, it could have easily been modified to suit my needs. If there’s one thing that we all know about Rails applications, I think it’s that they’re very easy to customize due to the great readability and structure of the code. However, I just don’t have the time at the moment. Though in the future, I could definitely see myself moving back to a Rails based solution.
James,
I noticed you have been having some troubles with Rails on a shared server. Although it may not be the solution you are looking for, cakePhp offers a lot of the same functionality as rails and helps to eliminate the server problems with rails. I don’t know any cms systems with cake but it wouldn’t take much to build a web logo to suit your needs.
Bob
I’ve looked at both CakePHP and Code Igniter, and while they both use the MVC pattern, I just can’t get past the language. Ruby is so much more elegant than PHP that I’m willing to spend a little more time on deployment if it means I can use Ruby and Rails.
And to be honest, deployment isn’t that hard if you’re not on shared hosting. I use a VPS from Slicehost now, which gives me root access to my server. This makes it extremely easy to install and run whatever I want.
The problem with shared hosting is that FastCGI seems to have some severe stability problems in the commodity shared hosting environment. On my VPS, I run a few Mongrel instances, and then just stick a load balancing reverse proxy out front like NginX. Works like a charm. It’s a fast, stable, and flexible solution.
If you have to use PHP though, CakePHP is definitely a good framework. I know quite a few people who use it for most of their projects.