Why We Love ExpressionEngine

With more than 10 complete ExpressionEngine sites under our belts, we have a few things to say about ExpressionEngine.

We’ve created 8 sites now that use ExpressionEngine, and we’re convinced that it’s one of the best CMS products that’s available on the market. We’ve been asked how it compares to Drupal, Joomla, and some other popular applications. Before we get into comparisons, here are some reasons why we like it:

LAMP
We would always prefer to work in a Linux, Apache, MySQL, PHP environment. It’s popular, free and relatively easy to deploy and maintain, and lots of really great applications already run on LAMP platforms. Unlike the Rails projects we’ve experimented with, LAMP applications are very easy to deploy on a server. There are Rails experts who will argue that Capastrano makes Rails deployment easy, but I don’t think anybody would argue that it’s any easier than moving PHP files and setting up/migrating a MySQL database.

Flexibility
Our focus as a studio is on creating well-designed, standards-compliant solutions that provide an excellent user experience. We’re not backend developers, and ExpressionEngine makes it easy for us to focus on the stuff we do best. Using EE’s templating system feels almost the same as getting your hands dirty with HTML and CSS, with the added magic of ExpressionEngine tags. This allows for 80% of the functionality we need, even for more complicated site configurations. When HTML, CSS, and ExpressionEngine tags aren’t enough, we can still use PHP. We can use raw PHP code and still have secure access to ExpressionEngine data and settings. ExpressionEngine’s documentation also clearly defines what methods and settings are ready and waiting for you should you delve into more customized PHP.

Security
We’ve Googled and read blog posts like everybody else. The general consensus seems to be that ExpressionEngine is a secure CMS to work with. We haven’t had one security issue with any of the sites we’ve built thus far, and we don’t hear about any ExpressionEngine security flaws.

Value
The era of the $10,000 CMS may be passing, and there are certainly very strong open-source CMS candidates. For $250 at most, however, ExpressionEngine is a killer deal. For most companies this is a minor expense, and the value is exceptional. Instead of hundreds of modules we’ll never use, there are a reasonable number of well-built, supported modules, plugins, and extensions. There is a very active community surrounding ExpressionEngine, and support for the product is fantastic. Whether it’s an email to the EllisLab support team or a post in the forums, you can always get help troubleshooting or getting help with your specific problem. Some CMS products seem to have limitless numbers of modules and addons and fans. Like Apple (if we can open that can of worms) products, part of ExpressionEngine’s value lies in what you’re NOT getting with it. Someone (EllisLab) has gone to the trouble of making on the best stuff available and leaving out the junk.

Modularity
ExpressionEngine is comprised of a core system and a number of modules, extensions, and plugins. All of the included parts are excellent in quality, and there are a variety of add-on modules, extensions, and plugins that are also solid. Having great parts available and a system that’s highly-configurable allows us to customize each site and tune it for the client’s needs. And usually installing and configuring ExpressionEngine for a client is a matter of days, not weeks. We can very quickly get back to the design rather than spend lots of time (and the client’s budget) fiddling with the CMS.