My Journey with HTMLy, Bludit, Textpattern, and Chyrp Lite
I've recently created three websites using HTMLy, and I must say, I'm quite pleased with the results. HTMLy is secure, neat, and fast. However, I found myself missing a built-in commenting system. After spending considerable time integrating the Remark42 commenting system, I was thrilled with the outcome—it worked beautifully!
I also have a site on Bludit, which is brilliant in its own right. However, like HTMLy, it lacks a built-in commenting system. Between the two, I prefer HTMLy for its simplicity and built-in protection for the login page. One of my pet peeves is when essential features are only available through plugins that may not be maintained in the future and have their own update cycles.
I must mention that both Bludit and HTMLy are flat-file CMS and don't require a database, which contributes to their simplicity and speed. On the other hand, Textpattern and Chyrp Lite require a database, which can offer more advanced features but also adds complexity.
For over six years, I've used Textpattern for one of my sites. It's blazing fast, very neat, and highly secure. Plus, it has a pretty good built-in commenting system. However, Textpattern doesn't offer good caching out of the box, and its templates are stored in the database, using TXP markup, which is specific to Textpattern. While the developers are extremely diligent, the platform feels a bit behind the trend in some areas.
Enter Chyrp Lite. It sits above HTMLy and Textpattern with its Twig integration, support for comments and likes, spam protection, and out-of-the-box caching support. Chyrp Lite combines the strengths of both HTMLy and Textpattern, making it a compelling choice!