Show HN: The WordPress Query Generator, create WP loops in plain English (wpquerygenerator.com)

Here's a random example from that docs page:

    $args = array(
     'post_type' => 'my_custom_post_type',
     'meta_key' => 'age',
     'orderby' => 'meta_value_num',
     'order' => 'ASC',
     'meta_query' => array(
         array(
             'key' => 'age',
             'value' => array(3, 4),
             'compare' => 'IN',
         )
     )
    );
    $query = new WP_Query($args);

- Are of the post type: "my_custom_post_type",

- That contain a custom field with the key of "age",

- That are in ascending order by the value of the aforementioned custom field,

- Where the "age" field is equal to either 3 or 4.

That seems relatively easy and straightforward to me.

The bit that you brought up is the loop, which is the canonical way of displaying the posts retrieved by a query. You don't have to, of course, you can just get an array of them and foreach your way through. The abstraction does allow for quick, easy, and relatively flexible development. I'd fully believe that it's messy on the backend, but that honestly doesn't normally affect my day-to-day usage.

Now, I'm not about to argue the merits of the core architecture of Wordpress - that's beyond my expertise. But I use it daily for client work, and it works very well for my needs.

Saying WP is a shitty CMS is easy, but where is a good alternative? There is none.

Anyone can say anything about WordPress, but the FACT is that it's most used CMS, with a BIG community and market arround it.

People saying it's shitty don't know what they are talking about (even you point out others you've tried are worse).

Wordpress is best in class for what it is: open source content manager. It's best use case is for a simple blog. It can be bashed into submission to be an ok general CMS or even a community managment solution. Past that though, it's architecture falls to pieces - but then, you wouldn't use a hammer to drill a hole would you?