I have 2 websites. This website - that has my portfolio, services and blog - and www.kevadamson.co.uk, which has another version of my portfolio and my services.
I guess the first question is:
"Why on earth have you got 2 websites which do the same thing you absolute plum-bum?"
Well. My first website was www.kevadamson.co.uk, and - like most websites - its first incarnation was written in tables, with layout images and obtrusive javascript in the html. Ewwwwwww.
It was a mess. But I didn't know any better. I was young and foolish. I went out on school nights often.
Then my brother (a web designer and man in London) sent me some Zeldman and Meyer books on web development, and the web standards cogs in my mind were set in motion.
I decided to learn and put into practice what I had been reading into a new project, and also wanted to develop a website using a 'liquid layout' which I had heard so much about. And so www.kevadamson.com was born.
www.kevadamson.co.uk - although badly coded - was getting traffic and getting me enquiries, so that is why I left it untouched and used www.kevadamson.com as my web standards practice ground. I didn't want to 'throw the baby out with the bath water' so to speak.
Then www.kevadamson.com won a converted web standards award. Hurrah! But also ... oh no! People were looking at my site as an example of form and functionality combined, and yet www.kevadamson.co.uk was a structural disgrace! If they saw it people may think I'm an absolute stinky-face.
I could have pulled the .co.uk site but, at the time, it was getting more traffic than my .com site, so I decided I needed to re-do it using what I had learnt from hand coding the .com site.
I designed the new www.kevadamson.co.uk but never got round to fully populating it with content as - in the meantime - I was getting busier and busier with client work. That was nearly 4 years ago!
So where does expression engine come into this?
Alright, alright! I was getting there. Tsk! Patience ...
Well I wanted to finish what I had started, but as kevadamson.co.uk was static, updating it was a pain. The programmer I work on with projects was too busy to add a CMS, so I decided: "OK, let's give Expression Engine a whirl. What's the worst that can happen?" I said, sipping the last dregs from my Dr. Pepper can ...
What I think about Expression Engine
Let's get straight to the point. It is brilliant.
But there is a problem. But it is not a problem with EE. It is a problem with my knowledge of EE and the nature of my website.
If I was starting from scratch knowing I was going to be using EE, and also with my newly gained knowledge of EE, then I think the site would be fine. I mean, look at http://veerle.duoh.com - an awesome example of what can be achieved using the EE framework.
But - due to me 'learning on the job', and also trying to fit what is essentially a blog format style CMS into a 4 year old quirky static portfolio site - there is a big casualty to the functionality on kevadamson.co.uk:
I can't add advanced pagination to my portfolio, or also inform the user that they are, say, viewing portfolio example 24 of 40. EE does do pagination, but not in a way that fits the way my site works. Meh!
I have a feeling to add this functionality I would have to add my own bespoke module, which I can't currently even think about doing with what I know about EE - I ain't no programmer!
I could easily blame EE for this shortcoming, but it is my lack of knowledge of EE as both a system and a language where the problem lies I guess.
To sum it all up
This is all well and good as a little (if slightly confusing and rather irritating) story about my 'encounter' with Expression Engine, but what helpful advice could I possibly offer to anyone from my experience? Well ...
- Learn the EE system and the 'tags language' as much as you can first, so that your design and development ideas will fit snugly into what EE offers as standard. It is true that CMS's shouldn't dictate ideas, but understanding a system will help a project run smoothly and be manageable
- Apply it only to new projects from the conception stage, unless you really know EE inside out.
- Don't staple-gun giblets to an expensive jacket and walk around casually in the bear enclosure at Chester Zoo - it will ruin the jacket and you may die.
Think that's about it really. It's not perfect, but no CMS is. It also requires a lot of learning and reading, which may annoy those who want something more plug and play. But I imagine that - if you learn the system inside out - the rewards are: plenty, and any compromise: few.
Good luck with it. Study hard. Drink plenty of water. Eat fresh vegetables etc. ...
SAY STUFF