Would you recommend the product? yes | Price you paid?: None indicated | Rating: 8
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Pros:
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first book on Textpattern, coverage of a wide topic
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Cons:
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technical coverage sometimes not sufficient
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"Textpattern" is the name of some amazing new technology code which is extendable by plugins and is so flexible that calling it a "CMS" is a pure understatement.
With 260 -300 KB of code Textpattern code is not only at least 3-4 times smaller than its "competitors" (Wordpress etc.), but also includes features which you wont find in any other "CMS".
I put "competitors" and "CMS" in brackets because Textpattern really is a complete different breed of software.
The Textpattern software package is what the Germans would call a "Eierlegende Wollmilchsau - a sheep that gives also milk, eggs and meat". It seems like you can make it do almost anything you can come up with. Calling it a CMS does NOT describe anymore adequately its capabilities.
Textpattern has its own little environment for developing and compiling plugins + pages (Variables, functions, macros, may I even dare to say language ?)
Textpattern is not only a blog focused CMS but rather a mixture of a web based IDE, compiler and web environment.
For potential system admins its not enough anymore to upload the core software package itself or a plugin for it. While that would work it wouldnt even explore 5% of the possibilities the textpattern system provides.
The book "Textpattern Solutions" is an attempt to cover the sheer wide range of possibilities you will have at your fingertips.
Not only is it the first book describing Textpattern in such detail it is also quite likely that it will stay this way during 2007 as I am not aware of other publishers that are preparing a book on Textpattern. So Friends of ED has a real edge here with a book written from the people that should know their stuff.
This makes your choice an easy one ;-)
In 2007 this is THE book for all things with Textpattern.
So in short: If you are into Textpattern, for now at least, this is your book to get !!
Got it ? - Good.
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I would also like to point out that I would have LOVED to give the book 5 stars, but I did expect better presentation skills and not just f.e. (Chapters 3-5 ) listing up some 80 pages of GUI options with some screenshots and explaining those individually.
I assume a few more diagrams would have worked wonders.
Regardless, systemadmins, developers and designers will find this book to be a worthwile investment.
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