You seem to be concerned with the aesthetics for the most. My take is this, there is the development part and there is the design part of a web application. You can make any site look the same with any of the frameworks you mentioned including web2py. You have to be good at CSS/ HTML and some photo editing software and you are set. I also think Web2py is new compared to the other frameworks you mention, however, it does not lack any feature the others have, in any case the others lack alot of features web2py has. I believe web2py developers community will grow as time goes by and more sites will begin to appear. As for the documentation, I think almost every open source technology documentation is scattered around. If you ask me, as a non natural coder and someone who did extensive research on frameworks before settling with web2py, web2py is nearly transparent for the developer making it so much easier than any other framework. All in all, is what you feel the most comfortable working with.
On May 10, 2:54 pm, Anthony <av201...@yahoo.com> wrote: > All, thanks so much for your thoughtful responses -- very helpful and > encouraging. I can see this is a very active, open, and supportive > community, and I believe I will give web2py a try. (I followed > Massimo's advice and posted a similar question on the ROR list, and > Massimo even popped up over there to add to the discussion -- nice > work.) > > I appreciate the points made regarding why I'm not finding a lot of > impressive looking examples of web2py-powered sites (i.e., focus on > intranet development; lack of design-oriented web2py developers). > Digging into the list a bit, it appears this issue has come up before: > > http://groups.google.com/group/web2py/browse_frm/thread/22d37d27b6fc969fhttp://groups.google.com/group/web2py/browse_frm/thread/e70143ebf8be476c > > I know I'm new here, and I don't want to be presumptuous, but perhaps > it would be useful to hear the perspective of someone who has recently > been "shopping" for a web framework and comparing the different > alternatives. For me at least (and I suspect I'm not alone), it's very > helpful to be able to identify some high quality examples and/or some > high profile organizations using the framework. These "used by" > examples (a) tell me that other successful organizations have found > value in the framework, (b) demonstrate real-world capabilities and > use cases, and (c) boost confidence in the long-term viability of the > framework (i.e., it's more likely to continue being developed/ > supported if it's got lots of users and/or at least a few high profile > users). > > Given web2py's unique situation, you might consider some of the > following: > > * Identify a handful of your best public examples and highlight just > those. Among the existing crop, a few that stood out to me were > several of Julio Flores' sites (i.e., pyforum.org, techfuel.net, and > the screenshots of pyshowcase.org and pystack.com posted on > techfuel.net), web2pyslices.com (though the design could use a little > polishing), and qualitysystems.com. > > * Just as important as what you include is what you don't. Don't list > 50 sites just because they all happen to use web2py. The unimpressive > ones may actually detract from interest in web2py, and they make it a > lot harder to find the few good ones (not to mention that some of the > sites listed don't even exist anymore). If there are a few sites that > have some impressive capabilities under the hood but just happen not > to look so pretty, maybe call those out separately, but provide some > explanation (e.g., "Doesn't look pretty because not intended for wide > public consumption, but it does XYZ in only 100 lines of code..."). > > * For internal/intranet projects with notable companies, try to get > permission to mention the company name (possibly with logo) on the > web2py site. > > * If you can't get permission to mention the company name, provide a > general description of the type of company and nature of the project > (e.g., "A Fortune 500 financial services organization uses web2py to > power its mission critical XYZ system..."). > > * In some cases, you might also be able to show redacted screenshots > (i.e., blur out confidential/proprietary details or replace with > generic data). > > More generally, compared with some of the other frameworks (even > Pylons and TurboGears), I think the web2py site itself could use a > little more polish and organization. There appear to be a lot of great > resources, but they seem a bit scattered. For example, there's the > book, which includes its own wiki pages, plus a separate wiki style > FAQ (which is just a very long unorganized list), plus an entirely > separate wiki site, all with different UI's. In addition, there are > examples and applications on the main site (not particularly well > organized), a separate plugins site, and additional apps, plugins, > examples, and snippets on web2pyslices.com, again all with different > UI's. That's a lot of seemingly related documentation and resources > scattered across a lot of different places (that are not well > integrated or universally searchable). Also, I can't find a way to > navigate to the "Powered By" list without already knowing the URL > (actually, that's probably a good thing for the time being), and at > least two of the affiliated companies listed don't appear to exist > anymore. I could go on, but you get the idea. > > Honestly, coming from the sites of some of the other frameworks, > web2py suffers a bit by comparison (I think unnecessarily so). You > seem to have all the ingredients -- they just need to be organized and > presented a bit more effectively (and attractively). Fair or not, > prospective users will make inferences about the substance and quality > of the framework based on the presentation (not to mention the fact > that the organization/presentation of the resources directly impacts > the ease with which prospective users can learn about web2py and new > users can become proficient with it). > > Anyway, I'm sure you've thought about and discussed some of these > issues before. I just thought it might be helpful to hear from someone > looking at it with fresh eyes. > > Again, thanks everyone. > > On May 10, 12:00 pm, mdmcginn <michael.d.mcgin...@gmail.com> wrote: > > > But, as has been pointed out, people might be confused or discouraged > > by the look and feel of web2py.com, if all they want is easy, good- > > looking websites/webapps. It's great that Massimo is making Drupal and > > Wordpress templates to work with web2py. But we should strive to make > > web2py.com, web2pyslices, etc. look beautiful, so we don't give the > > impression that great design is incompatible with web2py. > > > On May 8, 11:30 am, Thadeus Burgess <thade...@thadeusb.com> wrote: > > > > One thing I have noticed is django and RoR is for the most part, a > > > designer oriented community. IE: Lots of designers, few real > > > programmers/engineers, this is why you see design-oriented keywords > > > floating around in those frameworks. Most of us here in the web2py > > > community are programmers/engineers/physicists, etc... we don't have > > > the best design skills, even if we are brilliant =) > > > > -- > > > Thadeus > > > > On Sat, May 8, 2010 at 9:07 AM, Alexei Vinidiktov > > > > > On Thu, May 6, 2010 at 12:37 PM, Anthony <av201...@yahoo.com> wrote: > > > > >> From what I've read, web2py sounds like a great framework -- > > > >> comprehensive, well-integrated, easy to set up, learn, and deploy, > > > >> etc. However, although it sounds good on paper, I haven't yet found a > > > >> single site built with web2py that looks all that impressive (at least > > > >> superficially). It's easy to find quite a number of sophisticated and > > > >> impressive looking sites/apps built with Ruby on Rails and Django, but > > > >> I haven't seen anything remotely comparable based on web2py. I'm > > > >> wondering why the disparity. > > > > > What you've seen on those sites is the façade. It's the work of > > > > graphic designers and not a merit of the underlying frameworks. That's > > > > what you see. > > > > > I'm sure the same effect can be achieved with any web2py based > > > > website. You just need to hire a great graphic designer and usability > > > > expert.
