Expression Engine (EE) is a very popular and mature content management system. It is not free as fx. WordPress, Drupal and Joomla, but still it worth considering for your projects. It very powerful, simple to use, flexible and for those who need it there is premium support. Using EE requires no knowledge of programming on PHP, HTML, CSS etc. and there is a great extensive online documentation. It’s designed for individuals, companies and non-profits creating content-driven sites. I would say it an ideal solution for web designers and their customers.
In this article you will find a brief review of the Expression Engine CMS and a huge showcase of stunning web sites build using it. Please be aware that this is a product promotion.
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EE have evolved from a blogging tool into a CMS, and the base unit of the system was the “weblog.” EE no longer self-identifies as a blogging tool, and now calls these things “channels” instead. EE allows you to create as many “channels” as you’d like (what you’d call “blogs” in the WP world). These “channels” may contain “entries” (similar to WP blog posts) – and with different custom fields, custom status and category groups for each channel. This is quite similar to the WordPress MU feature that is now available in WordPress 3.0-
The EE feature list is very long and deserves a visit. It is amazing how much you can do with EE and at the same time you will have first class support that user rate to be very good.
The features have been divided into the following categories (visit the feature page here and click on the individual features to get detailed descriptions:
- Web Publishing
- Commenting
- Tracking
- Typography
- Template Engine
- Communications
- Search
- Spam Deterrents
- Utilities
- Member Management
- Data Caching
- Security
- Add-Ons
Besides the features included in the box there are many free and commercial add-on modules and plugins that can be used to extend the platform and improve your web site.
The user interface/control panel looks good and is intuitive and simple to use.
The content entry screen is simple and can be easily customized your needs. You can take the default editing page, and with simple drag and drop, modify the size and position of elements, even moving elements between tabs. The problem with clients not entering important information like fx. categories is over. You can simply place the mandatory fields on the first tab on the main screen.
One of the most difficult aspects of developing or re-branding a website is picking the right template. No matter what you write, what you’re selling, or your level of expertise, the first thing your customers will recognize about you is the way your site looks.It is possible to find great templates from vendors like Woothemes that are very well settles in the WordPress theme market, but the documentation is also very good and you can either create them yourself or hire a designer to help you.
Resources
On the following sites you will find many useful articles, tips and tricks for EE.
Price:
- $149 for non-commercial, $299 for commercial
- Or get a freelancer license for $99
- You can upgrade from EE 1.6.3 or above for $50.
Examples of web sites builds on Expression Engine
Steinway
Story Pixel
Jason Julien
Cable Wakeboard
Sam Houston Project
Wild Wings Safaris
Hoaxland
Tufts Alumni
Ghostown Studios
Craft Profiles
Pure Grips
New City
The ApMa Project
Glue
FortySeven Media
Think. Do. Create.
Veerle’s Blog
Duoh!
EllisLab
Show & Tell Consignment Sale
Kent & Fraser
31Three
Devot:ee
Render
Hambo Development
5pieces
Fritz Quadrata
Newism
Tripping Words
Bene
HelpSpot
The Sanctuary
Gist Creative
Daniel Howells
Designchuchi
Edgepoint Church
The Biggest Apple
Jupiter
Indiqo Media
Sarah Longnecker
Lealea Design
Want to keep surfing? Have look at these Drupal 7 Themes maybe this is what you’re looking for. Or if you’re looking for Cute Tumblr Themes there also is a lot of good one to choose from.
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{ 7 comments… read them below or add one }
Great rondup article! Expression Engine is something I want to learn more about to see whether I want to use it for projects.
Is Expression Engine build with CodeIgniter? Can anyone comfirm this?
@ Richard – Yes, to the best of my knowledge EE 2.x is build with EllisLab’s CodeIgniter.
Let me first say that I like Tripwire Mag. I try to pop in at least a couple times a week. However, this article is just plain silly. I say this because it has nothing much to do with EE. The true beauty of EE is not on the outside, but on the inside. It’s not these designs but that that it can work with any design.
In fact, with rare exception almost any site can be built with EE. It’s not an app that gets skinned and hacked a la WordPress (which I also use, appreciate and respect its place). EE is closer to a framework. Clay that is useless until you mold it. EE is flexible. EE is powerful.
Also, be warned, to get started EE does require some basic understanding of programming. It’s not as simple as install, set some parameters and go. Actually you can (kinda), but EE’s beauty is not in doing that but in being able to take anything that can be marked up and turn it into a CMS driven site. Add in dashes of jQuery, etc. and things can get pretty interesting.
All that said, thanks for mentioning ExpressionEngine. It really does deserve a lot more attention.
Bottom line, don’t let the price fool you, in the right hands EE is worth every penny and then some
Opps, one more thing worth mentioning. Technically, the name is ExpressionEngine. There’s no space between the two words.
Thanks for your input and for answering questions about EE. I think you are right about the name…
thanks for the help. i am trying to understan EE. this gives me an idea of it and i find this very interesting.
very interesting thank you (:
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