New 2.8 version, current projects and PW usage

This is another relatively quiet week for ProcessWire updates, as I've been out of the office for most of it, keeping up with family needs, and my wife has been away on a business trip. Next week we'll be back to a regular schedule hopefully. While I don't have a lot of new stuff to report, I did want to mention a little bit about current work in progress, highlight a new version of ProcessWire out on the 2.8.x (legacy) branch, and take a brief look at our recent growth.

ProcessWire 2.8.62

This week the 2.8.x legacy core version moved from 2.8.36 to 2.8.62. This brings it up-to-date with the current 3.0.62 master version. You can get a ballpark of what's new in this version (relative to the previous) by looking at this recent blog post. While I'm not sure how many people are using the 2.8.x legacy versions, I do plan to continue updating the 2.8.x legacy repo consistent with new master versions of the main 3.x repo. If you upgrade from a previous version to 2.8.62, please test thoroughly and let us know if you run into any issues in the ProcessWire issues repo.

We've not mentioned much about 2.8 recently, so if you aren't familiar with it, here's what it is: a non-namespaced version of ProcessWire 3.x. This can sometimes make it a simpler upgrade path from prior 2.x versions. Though we recommend the 3.x version over the 2.8.x version when possible. When starting new projects, we always recommend using the current master or dev 3.x version.

What’s in progress?

Page export/import
Page export and import functions have been getting some attention here, and I'm looking forward to getting this into the core sometime this year. We'll be supporting export/import of one or more pages as JSON (including copy/paste support). For pages containing files, we'll export as a ZIP containing both JSON and the page's files within. The page export/import features will be kind of similar to the existing Template and Field export/import functions in some ways, and different in others. We'll have more to see here soon.

Uikit-based admin theme
If you've read recent blog posts, you are probably already familiar with this project. Last week it reached a stage where we think it's ready for other designers and developers to get involved, where interested. We're looking forward to seeing new approaches to the colors and styles of the theme. If you come up with something you like, please be sure to share it. See the AdminThemeUikit repo.

New site profile(s) for ProcessWire 3.x
Past blog posts also cover this project (“Regular” site profile) and while we've not mentioned it here recently, it is still very much part of the plan to get this into the core soon. Though ideally, since the theme is based around Uikit 3, we'd like to wait till Uikit 3 is no longer beta. More

Pro module updates
I've pretty much always got work-in-progress here. A major update for ProDrafts is still in the works and getting closer every week. New ProFields modules are in development, and I continue to optimize and improve FormBuilder, ProCache, ListerPro and the ProDevTools modules. Most of the modules have had recent updates within the last couple of months, and more are on the way.

ProcessWire usage continues to grow

According to w3techs ProcessWire continues to grow in CMS market share. The overview of all CMSs page is also quite interesting. While we're at 0.1% market share, this is actually quite good when you look at the big picture and how the first 3 (DrumlaPress) slant the weight of everything else. It also places our usage well above a lot of other more recognizable CMS projects, some that are represented by rather large companies. Considering we weren't even on the map of stats like these a year ago, I think we're doing pretty well. Also worth noting is that ProcessWire isn't always easy to detect, so I have no doubt our actual usage will always be higher than what can be accurately measured.

Capterra also recently published a list of the top 20 content management projects and included ProcessWire at #14. Their numbers are not a ranking/awards type of thing, but rather a compilation. This puts us right in-between MODX and ExpressionEngine–two big players back when we started this project. Here's a quote from Capterra with more detail:

“Capterra released a new report that ranks the Top 20 Most Popular Content Management Systems. This report is determined by an algorithm that includes social presence, total number of customers and total number of users,” said Rachel Wille, Senior Research Product Analyst at Capterra, a web content management reviews site. “Processwire ranked #14 due to a strong user and customer base.”

I'll be honest, I've never cared much about our usage numbers, as I'd be doing the same thing with ProcessWire even if there were just the two of us, you and me. I do this work because I love it, and I don't care about being popular. Popularity is a burden as far as I'm concerned. Our focus has always been to be the best CMS according to our standards rather than anyone else's. But it's also encouragaging to look at things outside every once in awhile and see that ProcessWire is becoming more and more recognized in this market.

That's all for this week. Hope that you all have a great weekend and week ahead. Also check out the ProcessWire Weekly this weekend for the latest ProcessWire news and updates.

Comments

Szabesz
- 8 years ago
- 7 0
★★★★★
Great post as always! Thank you Ryan!
Reply
adrian
- 8 years ago
- 1 0
I'm using 2.8.x for new project. Some legacy modules like the PageTableExtended whom the developer will not update it anymore.
Reply
kixe
- 8 years ago
- 7 1
"Our focus has always been to be the best CMS according to our standards rather than anyone else's"
... that's the way to do it ...
Reply
kixe
- 8 years ago
- 4 0
★★★★★
... and now the stars. Thanks ...
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Zahari M
- 8 years ago
- 0 0
★★★★★
Thrilled for you Ryan on the recognition stats side of ProcessWire! I totally share your perspectives on popularity!
I look forward to these site profiles as I have found that with each new PW milestone release, there is always much to learn from you in the guise of all the helper functions you put into the site profiles!
Reply
Helder Cervantes
- 8 years ago
- 3 1
★★★★★
Everytime I have to pick up another platform I end up thinking "why is this so complicated?". PW is genius in it's simplicity and flexibility. Ryan is the man!
Reply
Niko
- 8 years ago
- 0 0
★★★★★
Thumbs up for adding page export/import to the core! Thank you!
Reply