@t33dub – Totally agree with you. I downloaded this plugin about a month ago and started playing around with it. Everything that I had heard about pods sounded awesome and I was stoked to take a look. Unfortunately, it did not live up to my perceived expectations. I’m not trying to bash Pods at all, the authors have succeeded in creating a pretty nice interface for the dynamic creation of database tables, but if I really wanted to create another table for my WordPress installation, I would just do it from scratch.
t33dub, if you are looking for similar functionality, I would suggest looking into Flutter. While it does not offer the flexibility of pods, I believe that it is much easier to use and I have heard great reviews about it from colleagues. If Flutter is not up to the job, the only other solution that I have for you is to wait it out until WordPress 3.0 is released. 3.0 should enable us to use custom post types with ease.
I guess I would fall on the “more experienced” side of the equation, but I found Pods to be very easy to jump into and integrate into my site. I read a couple of tutorials, installed the software, and made some changes to my template, no sweat. I know have a scrolling news ticker, pulling Pods news items out of the database onto my homepage.
The software looks very flexible and quite promising, although some features don’t seem to be fully implemented yet. I’m curious to see how much of this functionality ultimately ends up in WordPress or how far along plugins like Pods and Flutter can take it.
@dalton
The software looks very flexible and quite promising, although some features don’t seem to be fully implemented yet.
Totally agree. The main feature that I was let down with is some sort of built in date picker. These can be a pain to code from scratch and was really hoping the Pods would implement something of this variety. Unfortunately, there was nothing…
In fact there is a date picker, and it works as advertised. I only wish it had a “clear date” function. The date always has to be something.
Thanks everyone for your input, we’re working on expanding Pods in some very cool ways. I’ve been tackling another plugin that may help with managing Pods when it comes to that part for you, it’s called Pods UI http://wordpress.org/extend/plugins/pods-ui/
The goal of Pods UI is to be the testing ground for the completely new UI for Pods. We’re keeping it separate for now to avoid issues with the core features that we’re also developing at the same time.
The goal is to bring the Pods UI plugin and Pods together for Pods version 2.0 – another great release that will offer even more functionality and usability enhancements.
We have a huge following of developers that thoroughly enjoy Pods and what it brings them, but we’re working towards lowering the bar for understanding by improving the way the User Interface flows.
Again, thanks for your input, we’re watching these threads to help us understand what users want. It’s obvious that the UI is a big step in this process and we’re definitely making progress.
