Am desperately trying to find an open-source alternative to ExpressionEngine, not because I have an issue paying for it, I just can't justify it on every site unfortunately.
PyroCms seems to be a very polished up and coming open-source option but I just can't seem to figure out how you link up the templates to views and then to urls. How does one go about creating custom fields for the end-user to add content? How can these custom fields then be linked up to a particular template? Is this even possible?
Perhaps my head is still very much in EE mode but though the Pyro docs seem well presented, I do find them a bit light, perhaps understandable as it is a non-commercial product.
If I'm on the wrong track, is there a different option that would enable me to keep a similar workflow to that of ExpressionEngine?
Thanks for any help.
PyroCMS does things a little differently from ExpressionEngine so there will be a little confusion coming from one to the other expecting things to be the same.
URL's can be a few different things:
So, /blog goes to the blog module.
/foo loads up a page that you have created called "Foo" with a slug of "foo".
/login is a route, that goes to /users/login
Unlike ExpressionEngine there is not the idea that every URL maps to a template which needs to be created in the database. Instead a module can load its own views (which can be overridden in the theme) and pages can be easily created by the user entirely without needing to know anything about templates.
The general idea is that the designer creates the theme, the developer creates the modules and the end user just uses, without needing to set up templates and URL mapping, etc. By keeping the specific tasks to specific types of user there is no confusion in the middle where end users try to redesign the site (think MySpace) or designers end up writing code. Instead everyone does what they are best at and can share the results in the Add-on Store on the site.
"I do find them a bit light, perhaps understandable as it is a non-commercial product."
If you could give some feedback through our forums or contact form about where you feel the product is light then perhaps we can work out A) if the functionality could be added or B) if the functionality is there but could be made more obvious.
PyroCMS is not just some "dumped onto GitHub" hobby project by a few devs, it is its own company with support staff and a team of developers, so we don't like to see comments like this! If anything can be done to help you just need to ask. We don't troll StackOverflow that often so just swing by our site with any other questions.
