I have an user complaining they can’t use ClassicPress because the Enfold WP Theme (paid theme) is not compatible with the CMS and they are “waiting for CP to be compatible with it”.
I tried to explain that they could pay a developer to check theme code and that I was very willing to be hired for the job, if they could provide access to a test site with the theme and editing enabled so that I could make the necessary changes and release a version for them that works for CP. The answer was “the theme allows to disable GB and it does not even need the ClassicEditor either as of latest versions” - so it’s one of the many kitchen sink theme builders out there. this means not only it is not compatible because of blocks FSE but for other reasons.
They did not give me access to the code sadly, but I am wondering if someone here has already checked the Enfold theme to make it CP compatible - I can tell them they can contact that person here and their problem would be solved.
What I am aiming at here is helping that person even if it means referring them to another dev, because I think that ultimately this is going to benefit CP visibility.
Why don’t they just email you the zip file for the theme? There’s no license violation involved if you don’t create your own live site with it but just work on it for the client.
they are finding many ways to decline. They are not a developer, they are just building sites for clients but do not want to be involved in what’s under the hood (and I can understand that), wanting the thing to work out of the box. The fact is they also told me that using a fork of Enfold modified for CP they are going to lose the stellar support Enfold offers its users (I pointed out that is not the case since the dev making the fork can totally support them and maintain the fork). I suspect they just want the solution without having to invest money, and I am not willing to invest in a ktchen sink theme I will never use just for the sport of making it work with CP.
Also they reiterate their idea it’s CP that needs to be compatible with it and not the way around.
I think that their are set on “it is the way it has always been done” and they are somewhat scared to venture in something new. I do not seem to be able to convince that kind of people of my reasoning and I feel they will come around when they are ready. But it saddens me. Any advice on communicating with such people so that they can evaluate CP better is welcome.
EDITED TO ADD: latest reply was “I am not interested and the theme is under copyright”. ROTFL maybe there is no way to communicate with people when they are like that.
Lol, the copyright extends to allowing people to work on it!
I think my advice depends on what exactly it is they want. If they want Enfold, then you have to decide if you’ll work on WP instead. (I have to do this for my employer, and I can tell you it’s a major PITA because it’s noticeably less stable, but sometimes it’s the only thing permitted.)
But if they just want a site that looks a certain way and does certain things, then Enfold isn’t really required and you can essentially ignore that and say you’ll build them a site that does what they want.
Some people can never be reasoned with, though. But those are probably the clients you don’t want anyway.
I think I explained the situation in the wrong way. this person is a self-proclaimed very expert “developer” building sites for clients. In the group they were asking how to remove WP prompt for the block editor (that pop up that shows up when you do your first page/post in a fresh install of WP to give you the tour) (!!). I told them “try ClassicPress”, they countered with:
I do sites for clients and when CP becomes compatible with Enfold I will. They stated CP is behind WP (generically) and that they have a test install of it to see its progress.
(I mentionned v2.2.0 and all the good stuff here and I had the feeling they never updated the CMS to see if v2 and above is to their likings)
I do not want to know what is under the hood, I just want to install stuff and it works (I suppose they do not know how to code…). with this I empathized, no need to know how to code to build a simple working website. It is preferred but not strictly required.
I do not want to ask a dev to make the theme compatible because I lose the support for it from the enfold company - I explained that they get support for the CP version of the theme from the dev that made it compatible for them then.
the theme is copyrighted was their last resort to shut me up and I explained the GPL thing.
Their overall complaint was that ClassicPress is very behind WP, it has to be compatible with the theme and they do not want hire a dev to help them. They reiterated this strongly (borderline rude in a way)
BUT
when CP is compatible with what they use they are going to adopt it…
Now, my take is that if instead of arguing back he gave me the theme zip, he would have it back solved by now. and they could have another tool under their belt (ClassicPress + enfold theme for CP). But they did not want to do this.
So the question is valid: how do we reach that kind of people without having to resort to working with WP? because they are frustrated with WP but not yet ready to jump ship.
Since in Italy where I am many people behave like this I am wondering how to address them in a better way. Or if it is worth addressing them entirely. I feel is my responsibility in a way to educate them, and I am slowly taking the courage to do so (I started to interact more and answer questions on sites/social media groups etc. - my series on CP on linkedin is one of the things I am doing to address people and raise awareness on CP since I do not want to work on WP to build a market I need people to know CP and trust it)
As you say, he/they evidently haven’t looked at ClassicPress version 2.2. If they had, they would realize that, irrespective of the blocks issue, there are numerous ways in which CP is now well ahead of WP. Here are some off the top of my head:
Media management in CP is now streets ahead. Users no longer have just the (equally awkward) options of storing uploads by month or in one big folder. They now have the additional choices to store them by year or by media category.
Media categories and media tags are now ready to go out of the box. You said they want stuff to “just work”. Media categories and media tags do just that in ClassicPress; they absolutely don’t in WP.
So now a user can create a variety of media categories and then, in addition and if they wish, store their uploads in a folder that matches that category. (This is going to be very useful for me, as I have several sites where I want to have academic years as the categories.)
If storing by category has been chosen, a new dropdown on both the media list and media grid views also enables uploads to be shown according to the category to which they have been assigned.
The media list view now shows where each upload is used on the site, and differentiates between an upload used as a thumbnail and one that’s used in the body of a post or page.
As if that weren’t enough, we have further improvements already in the works for v2.3.
And that’s not all. I assume these people have clients who like to administer their sites on their phones and other touchscreens. Well, contrary to their silly assertions, WP doesn’t “just work” in that regard. On the contrary, if you try moving (say) a menu item, post or dashboard meta box, or a widget on a touchscreen, it won’t work on most browsers (and when it does work, it’s awkward and jerky). But on CP we replaced the ancient libraries that WP uses for such movements, and now things work really smoothly for CP touchscreen users.
And how about security? Version 2.2 of CP has moved away from the not-very-secure hashing algorithm used for passwords in WP to use bcrypt instead. It’s several orders of magnitude more secure.
But we didn’t stop there. You might have seen a ClassicPress Pepper plugin appear in your plugins list. I’ll be doing a blog post on the CP site in a week or so, but this enables a user to take their security to the next level beyond even what bcrypt alone can achieve.
Oh, and did I mention CP is significantly faster on both the front- and back-end? Well, that’s because … it just works!
That is material for the new issue. And I mentioned some of it to them. But being ahead of WP (as I think we are) might have been slightly too much for them LOL
I think sometimes a person may have a (mis)conception that sets up the impasse. Here it relates to the (incorrect) assumption that CP is somehow broken and needs to be fixed to work with a theme or other software. Imagine trying to use that logic with WP, and how far you would get with it. Still, as you said, people here would be willing to work on the issue and come up with a solution if possible. In todays world I do not have to try and explain that once someone’s mind is made up in a certain way, they are likely to simply push back if you try to do anything but agree that they are right…
… I think you are in a way right. I am making peace with the fact that I can control what I say (be kind, informative and such) and only react to what other people say by staying respectful and kind despite the way they say it. Ultimately its their opinion.
What I can do ultimately is publish content hoping that it serves its purpose of communicating CP the right way. Lately I am feeling less an imposter - I understand and write code slightly better. And this is helping with my fear of being out there with my content.
In Italy people do thing the same old way because they are scared of venturing (we are very very behind as a nation on every aspect of digital also). This I think is one of the factors that creates that push-back reaction.
I was advised during a communication class that in order to attract the right people to CP I need to create a “movement” because just targeting the right people is not enough. That is because my audience according to the teacher as of now is accustomed to listen to people who walk the easy path of doing things the same old way that albeit seeming easy blinds them to everything else in a way. In the tracher’s opinion when there is resistance to overcome it one needs to talk to a “tribe” - not a following. I am setting up to do exactly that. Let’s see if that gets results instead of talking to walls.
Thanks, they are using an outdated version too. they said they will test the newer on latest CP in the coming days. I only hope they consider just hiring a dev to make it compatible.
and I had the feeling they never updated the CMS to see if v2 and above is to their likings)