Textpattern 1 | Articles | the bombsite

OK then. As promised here’s the start of my TXP – WP comparison. I shall do it over several posts as I get used to the various parts of TXP. I’m not trying to do WP down in any way. I had no big problems with it. It was simply the case that as I tried TXP out on my test site I found it more suitable for me. You have to remember that I don’t just have a Blog, I have a full-blown website to control. Not to mention something wonderful.

So first step is to download your beast of choice. In zip format WP comes in at 310kb whilst TXP weighs a hefty 153kb. Only half the size then. Maybe there’s something missing? Let’s unzip them and find out. The first obvious difference is that TXP only has 4 files in the root. To be honest I’ve forgotten how many there were for WP but it was around 15 or so. Two of those TXP files are place-holders, a third is the index file which is really another place-holder (I’ll discuss these later in the relevant section) and the fourth is an htaccess file. We can discount this one as you probably already have one but you should remember that you need to add what is inside this one to your existing htaccess file and upload that otherwise this new one will replace your existing one and wipe anything you already had. So really only 3 extra files in the root. Makes your root directory a little tidier.

Having remembered to modify your htaccess file first for TXP the next thing is to upload them. Well hang on a minute. You can do that for TXP but before you upload WP you need to modify the config file with your database info etc. No great shakes. Just get it done and upload it.

For WP you now need to run install assuming it’s a new installation, for TXP you need to run setup. Both apps should run through the install procedure quite easily but with TXP it will put up a screen where you enter the information you placed in the WP config file then continues with the install. Once TXP has finished it throws up another screen with a text-box that contains all the config information. You need to copy/paste this into the config file on your PC then upload it. It also asks for your name and login information before completing the installation run.

When both apps are finished you get a screen with a link to the admin login but TXP at this point tells you which files you can delete for security purposes and to do it NOW. Get that out of the way and click the link to admin.

My next post will go through what you see first in both apps. I may even have graphics.