With so many popular content management systems (cms) and blogging tools on the market, it is difficult to choose which one is right for you as a developer, but also right for your clients.  After much research (and some seriously late nights) on which cms or blogging tool I thought would meet my expectations, I chose ExpressionEngine (EE).  I first learned of ExpressionEngine in a book called Blog Design Solutions written by a group of highly respected individuals in the industry.  The book didn’t compare the products, but had a chapter on the each of the more popular tools; WordPress, Movable Type, TextPattern, ExpressionEngine, and of course the option to build your own.  The first thing I did was build my own.  I thought it was great but very time-consuming.  I wrote a few different basic content management systems featuring blogs with the help of the internet and many other books.  I thought it was great fun and still do.  However, I’m not sure if that is the best option for every website and especially if time is a factor.

In choosing the tool that is right for you. It is going to come down to your current knowledge of web design and development, accessibility and usability expectations, features, patience, and time. 

My choice remains ExpressionEngine. My opinion may change after further usage, and more research and development of the other options.  But for now, I’m excited to use kevinguill.com as a playground to learn more about ExpressionEngine. I had only minor issues in developing this site with EE and were all worked out to my satisfaction.  Hopefully, the release ExpressionEngine 2.0 (summer ‘08) will address (rumors say they will) the member profile area.  Visually it is just awful.  I dabbled at theming the member templetes to match the look of my site, but after reviewing how massive the library of file was, I decided to wait and see what EE 2.0 will bring.