Suggestions about CafeEngine

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qforever
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Suggestions about CafeEngine

Post by qforever »

I'm going to use cafeengine.com(http://cafeengine.com) for my new project. Have anybody experience with this engine? Caveats? Alternatives?
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greyhoundcode
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Re: Suggestions about CafeEngine

Post by greyhoundcode »

I personally would not hand over $115 for something that offers no clear advantage over WP, ModX, Drupal etc. The information on the website is not written in clear English and, for commercial software, I don't find that to be acceptable.
alex.barylski
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Re: Suggestions about CafeEngine

Post by alex.barylski »

I personally would not hand over $115 for something that offers no clear advantage over WP, ModX, Drupal etc. The information on the website is not written in clear English and, for commercial software, I don't find that to be acceptable.
Just curious but what kind of benefits would be looking for? I say this because every CMS will have it's pros and cons, WordPress, Joomla, Drupal, etc. All solve problems differently and meet the unique requirements of every individual, IMO.

Beside that though, what do you consider to be the pros and cons of comparible CMS.

Cheers,
Alex
qforever
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Re: Suggestions about CafeEngine

Post by qforever »

greyhoundcode wrote:I personally would not hand over $115 for something that offers no clear advantage over WP, ModX, Drupal etc. The information on the website is not written in clear English and, for commercial software, I don't find that to be acceptable.
Advantage... is a specialization. If you don't need a blog(like WP) and don't like to have 20 MySQL queries to show just "Welcome"(like Drupal), but need something to create restaurant site FAST and without a headake on any change from customer.

I have an experience with Mambo(it became Joomla later:)) and PostNuke... and I don't like to use them for such specialized projects. May be somebody have a glue how to offer similar to cafeengine functionality for free?
alex.barylski
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Re: Suggestions about CafeEngine

Post by alex.barylski »

Build a custom component in Joomla to emulate exactly what CafeEngine offers. It's not very difficult you could have it built in a week.

Alternatively you could use Drupal CCK and Views to hammer something in probably less than a day if you are proficient in Drupal.

Speed and number of mySQL queries should be irrelevant to your decision making. Learning curve is a factor, but Drupal assumes you know how to use the system.

Put another way, if you know Drupal you could offer the client the exact same functionality in less than a day without any programming. The interface is going to be a little more difficult to teach clients on (than something specialized like cafeengine) but if that is a big deal, than you could opt to build a custom component in Joomla which did exactly as cafeegninee does.

The benefit being, there are thousands of other Joomla components which also work along side. If you install cafeengine and your client loves it but then decides they want a forum or a blog, you now need to install WordPress separately, introducing another authentication process and more work in integrating the themes, etc. Not to mention maintenance.

You could probably find third party plugins for WordPress which generated a resturant menu with many of the features which are support by CafeEngine. Niche market software, you will have a very hard time seling it to the masses or those who are familiar with alternatives. Selling directly to resturants would be your only bet. Selling to developers or designers, who are familiar with WP, Drupal, Joomla. You need to be very specific to the advantages of that software over Drupal/Joomla, etc...and even if you are you will probably be called out on general misunderstands you have of WP, Drupal, Joomla, etc

Good luck

Cheers,
Alex
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Eran
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Re: Suggestions about CafeEngine

Post by Eran »

Build a custom component in Joomla to emulate exactly what CafeEngine offers. It's not very difficult you could have it built in a week.
If cafeengine costs 115$ and saves a week of work, I would say there is no doubt he should buy it.
alex.barylski
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Re: Suggestions about CafeEngine

Post by alex.barylski »

If cafeengine costs 115$ and saves a week of work, I would say there is no doubt he should buy it.
Hehe...it depends on how you lookk at solutions I suppose. If a client wants something quick and I don't feel they are a long term investment (which I avoid like the plague BTW) I would use WordPress or something vertical like CafeEngine.

If you want to build a long term relationship with your clients and you have their best interest at heart, then using a extensible system like Drupal or Joomla makes way more sense.

How many times I have accepted a quick job, where the client wanted WordPress and phpBB or SMF to use the same authneitcation tables, templates, etc. When those requirements occur (and they always do eventually) you as a developer are stuck hacking like mad or your client is left in the dust with a web site that feels hackish and hodgy.

Cheers,
Alex
matthijs
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Re: Suggestions about CafeEngine

Post by matthijs »

It totally depends on the project and the client. Alex is concerned about the long-term benefits of having an extensible system. That's an important thing to consider. However, many small business still need a basic website, nothing too complicated, not too expensive and no need for extensibility. Build quickly.

They will just leave their site like it is, maybe once or a few times a year have a couple of text updates. I even have clients who have sites build in Joomla, who come to me to do the updates because they find it too difficult to do it them selves.

A restaurant just seems like such a small business which has a very specific, basic need. Have a website with a few pages, and a simple system behind it to be able to update the menu's. If cafeengine fits those needs and is a stable and safe system, I'd also have no doubt it's a good choice.

If you build a custom component in Joomla, first of all building it costs 10 times the cost of cafeengine. Second, whenever something in the future has to be changed, the client needs to get back to you and is charged hours of work. Or he needs to find another developer to change the component you build (even more hours)
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