I have built about half a dozen EE sites in the last year or so. Prior to that I had done some WP stuff but didn’t really get deep into it and I have no experience with WP 3.0.

The first site I did with EE there was a learning curve of course but not really that bad. I did some basic database programming a loooong time ago (can you say dBaseIII?) so at least I was familiar with conditionals and other concepts. EE was easier to learn than expected, especially for what you are able to do with some basic skills.

You can really do a lot with a little. With just some EE tags and no php at all you can add a lot of functionality to a site. The tag system is easy to learn and any designer already is going to be familiar with the idea of tags from HTML. Everything is done in the templates and you have total control with those. You don’t start from a theme or pre-defined template structure. I begin by creating a page in HTML then start replacing HTML with EE tags.

So from my experience it’s a good solution for a designer who wants to build more advanced sites but without getting into any php, JS coding.

On the downside, yes you have to spend a good $500+ for software. On the one hand I do feel that a few of the must have addons provide functionality that EE should have built in. And some of those must haves are a bit overpriced. But then again, I have been trying to get away from dealing with bottom feeding clients for whom a few hundred dollars is going to make a difference. So I agree with some one’s comments about getting a better class of client :-) Those clients for whom a few hundred dollars is a deciding factor are the ones who are going to want a boat load of features for bargain pricing. So those clients are going to cost you more in the long run.

Anyway, I can recommend EE as being worth a look if you are in the market to learn a new CMS. I am an independent designer so I don’t really have time to climb the learning curve of several different platforms. I am pretty much using EE as my CMS solution. I understand the idea of using the best tool for a given job, but as an independent it’s pretty tough to find the time to invest in learning several different CMSs. Maybe at some point I’ll add Joomla or Drupal or some other to the mix.

But at this point I would rather leverage my knowledge of EE than slog through the learning of a new system.

If you like your current CMS and it’s meeting your needs then you can be more productive sticking with that. Saying that you should use the best tool for the job is hard to argue with, but the truth is we all have to limit the range of tools we use else we never truly master any of them. I find that the increased productivity of working with a limited toolset far outweighs the difference in cost of software. Constraints can be a good thing.

2. WordPress – Ease of Use, Lot of Plugins and Ready to Use Templates. Lacks CMS part when you talk about enterprise level websites or portals. Developed for lay man.

3. Drupal – Strong core. Close knitted community. Limited resources for themes and plugins. Developed for developers.

4. Expression Engine – Not FREE, no community. limited resources and possibilities. Developed for Developers.