Chris Pratt - Latest Comments in MODx: Simply the Best CMS

Re: MODx: Simply the Best CMS

Danielle Hilton — Mon, 05 Dec 2011 02:27:06 -0000

Thanks!
It's funny you say this because I am in the same boat. I love wordpress as a
CMS but I designed my portfolio site without wordpress integration. I've been
looking for a CMS that's lite but flexible. I'll have to give modx a try.
Thanks for blogging.

Re: MODx: Simply the Best CMS

Natetronn — Fri, 07 Jan 2011 16:48:38 -0000

Old post though, I thought I would chime in for whatever it's worth. (note: MODx is in version 2 now so everyone's comments might be a bit outdated (or not since they are mostly opinion based as probably will be mine.)

I have used or tried a bunch of different "CMS" and I am really exited about "tag" type systems where you can build something dynamic with ease in the admin using the appropriate fields then paste said tags into your own html and style it with css. Wordpress has pods and magic fields (think formerly named flutter) plugins which seem similar to what MODx has done though, MODX is on a much higher level with more ease since it was built that way from the start (I love Wordpress too by the way.) At least this is how I am understanding it after reading this article (Chris please correct me if my view on it is wrong and as I am new to MODx.)

As far as Joomla goes, well it's not my favorite cms, and definitely not a client favorite which was the "final nail in the coffin" for Joomla. I will say that I switched from Joomla to Wordpress, which for allot of sites has been great and usually clients like using it as well. Drupal is amazingly complicated (in a good way) and I need more time and probably php experience to fully use it to the degree I would like. I am guessing it's not going to be a client favorite either unless they have the staff to run it properly. The Drupal community from my understanding has owned up to this issue and is taking the steps to make it more user (non dev) friendly (better with the just released 7 but, I hope 8 will be the one.)

I think you really have to ultimately decide what is best based on the project and the client abilities to run the system and actual needs of what they want to achieve. Your not going to use a larger cms like this for say a 5 page web site when you could just do it up in html/css or use something like Cushy CMS, Surreal CMS or Pagelime and only if the client still wanted editable capabilities. I think there are some open source options out there too which are similar to those.

I really don't want to have to start with someones template/theme and build from that which is what I used to do with Joomla and I do now with Wordpress and Drupal. It's sometimes easier that way though, I am not advancing in my own right doing it that way. I want to start from my own design, html and make it work from there which is why I am currently testing out MODx and Expressionengine (both again after 2 years)

Adobe's Business Catalyst has a "tag" type system with their web apps (and other mods) which is really nice though, it's SaaS, costly to start with and not open source which some may or may not like. You can't just go hire a php dev to do you up a "snippet" or "mod" and need to wait for them to slowly go through their ".net" processes.

In regards to Wampserver; I have used Wampserver for quite awhile, and with phpMyAdmin (or even the mysql console) it's very easy to create a database and user. This is almost the exact same process when installing Joomla, Drupal, EE or Wordpress and many others too. The install on each of the cms's are almost identical as far as Wampserver goes.

Finally, Chris, your article does very well explaining the main features, what they are for and I thank you for that as I experiment more with MODx. I hope as I look more around your site that you were able to find the time to expand on some of your article points as you said you might.

Re: MODx: Simply the Best CMS

nyl auster — Sat, 06 Mar 2010 11:59:56 -0000

Modx can do much more thing than CMS like Drupal and Joomla WITHOUT looking at php code. If by code you means templates and Modx tags, well you maybe not the good end user for Modx : it requires to know perfectly html.

Re: MODx: Simply the Best CMS

chola — Sat, 06 Mar 2010 01:49:36 -0000

Modx is behind the times as far as a CMS goes, it's more for code monkey's who enjoy spending all their hours of the day looking at code.

The more user-friendly CMS are far more intuitive and effective for day to day content management.

Modx just doesn't get it, they will always be 20 years behind.

Re: MODx: Simply the Best CMS

nyl auster — Fri, 28 Aug 2009 19:53:31 -0000

@Brian : If you are not able to dechiper the reference between snippet and chunk; that's mean you are not able to see the difference PHP and HTML. I hope you are not a webmaster or a developper.

Re: MODx: Simply the Best CMS

John — Fri, 28 Aug 2009 18:31:58 -0000

I can't be more agree, Joomla and MODx are two different beast.

Basically Chunks are HTML and Snippets PHP code.

I think that you're looking for "Point & click" system like joomla or Wordpress.
MODx is not geared toward what you're searching for and will probably never be.

In the same way, your Joomla sites will always look like every Joomla websites, your are limited to think the Joomla way to develop your applications and the framework is not as Flexible as MODx is.

MODx may seems obtuse, but backwards and clunky? Comparing to Joomla? You're kidding right?

Re: MODx: Simply the Best CMS

Brian — Thu, 27 Aug 2009 16:02:47 -0000

Modx sucks. Another developer installed this on a site we did and everytime I have to go in and edit something I spend 50 minutes trying to decipher the difference between a chunk and a snippet and how it all flows together. It certainly isn't intuitive.

In modx's defense it took me a little time to get up and running with Joomla, but the differences between the two are vast. Modx seems obtuse, clunky and backwards. If you're going to use a cms, just use joomla and don't waste time with this.

Re: MODx: Simply the Best CMS

Chris Pratt — Mon, 24 Aug 2009 03:33:29 -0000

MODx will attempt to create a database if one hasn't been created yet, but depending on your server configuration, this may or may not be successful. Particularly on shared hosting environments, it will invariably fail, since most do not allow automatic database creation.

That said, it seems you're trying to install MODx in development environment on your computer, and while I'm not overly familiar with either Xampp or Wampserver (both Windows, and I'm exclusively on a Mac), my guess is that they, too, are not allowing automatic database creation in their default configuration.

You should be able to simply use whatever GUI those tools give you (most likely phpMyAdmin) to create a database and a user for MODx, though, and then provide that information to the MODx installer. If the database checks in the MODx installer are failing, it can only be caused by one of two things: 1) wrong connection information (server name, database name, database username, and database password) or 2) the database user doesn't have sufficient privileges.

Re: MODx: Simply the Best CMS

besman — Sun, 23 Aug 2009 11:22:21 -0000

Modx might be the best but installing it is definitely not intuitive!

I tried using both Xampp and Wampserver. I get one step further with Xampp but a little. With Xampp, I get stuck at Database Information (Database name, Table prefix, Connection method, Collation). I'm instructed to

"Enter the database name to use or which you wish to create for this MODx install. If no database exists, the installer will attempt to create one. This may fail depending on the MySQL user permissions"

and to...

"Create or test selection of your database"

but when I do, I get...

"Checking database: failed - could not create database"

When I try installing it using Wampserver, i.e.
"Enter the database host (server name or IP address), the username and password before testing the connection."
But nothing happens.

Perhaps there are some settings that I'm overlooking but if so, there are no clear steps to configure the required settings.

Re: MODx: Simply the Best CMS

Shane Sponagle — Wed, 15 Apr 2009 13:35:12 -0000

This is a great overview of MODx. I am convineced that i can use MODx for anything :)

Re: MODx: Simply the Best CMS

Chris Pratt — Fri, 23 Jan 2009 13:18:19 -0000

Thanks for your comment Ray. When I came to my current job, they had just switched to MODx for their client CMS solution. This was my first exposure to MODx, and I was instantly entranced by it. It was a lot less polished back then (early 2007) than it is now. I'm seriously impressed by 0.9.6.3.

I just finished customizing out a new default install of our MODx (which is what prompted me to write this post). It's not really upgradeable that way, but it's amazing the features you can.

I think there's probably a time and a place for just about any CMS, but I've yet to find something I couldn't use MODx for.

Re: MODx: Simply the Best CMS

Mamnier — Fri, 23 Jan 2009 10:38:11 -0000

An excellent overview! High-level, yet going into just the right amount of technical detail to explain to a potential new user how the components actually work together. I've been happily using MODx for most projects since mid-2006 and I can fully agree with your asessment.

This is definitely a good resource that I can point people to who are "shopping" for a new CMS.