CMB2 vs Advanced Custom Fields

Resolved Stagger Lee
(@stagger-lee)

11 years, 3 months ago

Tested it and works. But i dont see anything there ACF cannot do ?

Dont want to sound rude, please excuse me if I offend someone, I know you are brilliant coders, do it for free. New Pods 3.0 will have CMB2 in core, it says a lot.

But make some GUI for this plugin.
Just look at Active Installs for ACF and yours.
https://ww.wp.xz.cn/plugins/advanced-custom-fields/

You dont have chance to come even near that number, even if you get double time ACF got. You lose your time and code for humans, not aliens.
ACF = one man, CMB2 = several men.

I guess Pods 3.0 will have GUI for this. But it would be in your intresse to make it for plugin, for all people that dont use/need Pods.

What is point with all this. As Mona Lisa painting hidden in the basement.

Again, excuse mi if I sound rude. Just saying.

https://ww.wp.xz.cn/plugins/cmb2/

Viewing 11 replies - 1 through 11 (of 11 total)

Plugin Contributor Michael Beckwith
(@tw2113)

The BenchPresser

11 years, 3 months ago

Thankfully it’s not a numbers game in terms of downloads, it’s a matter of finding the right tool for your workflow. I know many people love Advanced Custom Fields, and that’s great. However, others love CMB2 and that’s also great. Use what works for you. We can all live in harmony.

Thread Starter Stagger Lee
(@stagger-lee)

11 years, 3 months ago

Yes, it is true.
I personaly dont believe any developer saying numbers of installations are not important.

Except those who abandoned its plugins.

Scott Kingsley Clark
(@sc0ttkclark)

11 years, 3 months ago

Stagger, it should probably be clarified that CMB2 is not a plugin, it is a library. It is made available as a plugin for purposes of distribution and ease of implementation. CMB / CMB2 is in wide use across a large amount of sites, they won’t switch to the plugin because they implement it within their own plugin/theme code as a library. So the active installs will never be accurate as this is a plugin that does not fit into the normal plugin mold.

As someone who seeks a GUI, then ACF is certainly more suitable than CMB2. The focus on being a library is a big win for CMB2 in my opinion and puts it lightyears ahead of other library-type solutions. Sure, you can use ACF and include it in a theme or plugin, but at the end of the day that’s overkill and probably the wrong way to do it. CMB2 was made for that, and that’s why it’ll continue to lead the way in that space.

Thread Starter Stagger Lee
(@stagger-lee)

11 years, 3 months ago

I do understand all of you. Just chit-chating without hidden agenda to flame topic.

Saying all this mainly for these reasons:
– ACF is done by one person.
– You are WP core coders, bunch of persons. If not maybe now cooperation with Pods makes you this.
– Addons for ACF usually stop to work after ACF update. Github addons, and not very chance they will work soon.

– One of the first thing I deactivate on all websites is WP Custom fields metabox. I cannot explain to beginners what goes where and why. Sometimes I cannot explain it to myself.

– I know there are other GUI for WP native custom fields. But seems not single one so good as CMB2. And with so bright future.

– ACF is not choice between hundreds of choices. It is necessity and huge risk for future, if websites depend on ACF.

I just say reconsider a bit how CMB2 is used and works. You have to admit it is difficult to use.
It doesnt need to have fancy GUI as Woocommerce. Look at Contact Form 7, and number of installations. At first sight very primitive, but very easy to make as you wish and need. Without any fancy GUI.

Dont stuck in pageload/pagespeed paranoia, and code for huge trafficed websites. They behind Drupal did it, did it overcomplex, and now they chase WP (at least a bit) with Drupal 8, Drupal 9. (yes, it is about number of installations)

Take just for example 80-90% tourism websites in Europe. If they have 100 unique visitors per day they are lucky. So your GUI would make absolutely no difference.

Just make it in any way possible to be more easy to use. You code, lose hours, days, weeks, all for free. Then it sholud be used on as many websites as possible.

Scott Kingsley Clark
(@sc0ttkclark)

11 years, 3 months ago

Pods 3.0 will essentially be a GUI for CMB2, it has other features but those are all optional and aren’t really that heavy. CMB2 doesn’t have a GUI because by definition, the library is meant for developers to implement themselves.

Thread Starter Stagger Lee
(@stagger-lee)

11 years, 3 months ago

🙂

Yes i know. And i will use it with big smile. You see it is possible ? A bit overkill as you say it, if you only need few fields, not custom content types, etc…

Man i wish it should be some future elegant solution for native WP custom fields. They should be as underwear and trousers, but no, they look like the fell from Mars in WordPress.

Scott Kingsley Clark
(@sc0ttkclark)

11 years, 3 months ago

We are working on a patch for WordPress core would could bring similar CMB2-like functionality to WordPress itself, though maybe not as feature packed, CMB2 will have everything it needs to extend that API and be even more powerful.

Pablo Pacheco
(@karzin)

11 years ago

At least speaking as a developer i think CMB2 is faster and easier to implement than ACF.

Grouped and repeatable fields are just awesome and are easy to make. There are other free third party extensions for CMB2 as Select2 for example that are also great.

CMB2 is a must use plugin for me on every site i develop.

gillchristian
(@gillchristian)

10 years, 4 months ago

As a developer CMB2 and the way it is implemented is more useful for me than a GUI one. There are times when I need to do crazy things with Custom Fields and that can not be achieved with a GUI because the work around would be too much work. Many times ACF and Types were lacking options for me and CMB2 was the perfect solution for that.

I know the chat was while ago but wanted to hive my perspective

Thread Starter Stagger Lee
(@stagger-lee)

10 years, 4 months ago

Time to start to learn CMB2 properly.

Developer of ACF is some very bright mind, but I am scared my websites are so much dependent of just one developer alone.

So much scared I try to avoid thinking about it.

Plugin Contributor Michael Beckwith
(@tw2113)

The BenchPresser

10 years, 4 months ago

We have some pretty good documentation going and we strive to be quick to respond on forum threads.

Let us know if you run into any issues.