MODx
is different. Big time.
There's about 3-4 ways to get to the same end result. It's flexible and allows you to work the way you want to work. It also runs some decently large sites. The components are highly configurable and I'm not aware of any commercial ones yet.
Oh, and everyone keeps telling me the community is as great as I consider it (and I hold it in the highest of regards)!
BackgroundWe started the MODx project out of frustration after a multi-year search for an open source CMF (Content Management Framework). We needed a solution that would allow us to quickly build clean XHTML/CSS sites and web applications (i.e., a sensible, robust and extendable API without extended learning curves), and that also worked as a great marketing-site CMS. While MODx began as an add-on hack of Etomite, we ultimately found ourselves in the "interesting" position of having to choosing between forking the project or abandoning over a thousand hours of work. We chose dinnerware.
Since then, we've significantly enhanced the API and rewritten much of the application. Our 1.0 release will launch as a ground-up rewrite from scratch, and will hit private testing before it starts regularly hitting 100-degrees F in Dallas again... probably much sooner.
Why MODx?There's a few things that people relay are part of the reason behind their choosing MODx:
- Simple templates -- build a page and replace the content parts with some simple tags. No complex template system required, and XHTML/CSS sites are dead simple. Converting existing sites is typically very fast, too, taking 10-15 minutes for a basic template port thanks to our Template Variables (see below) and some helpful and free code Snippets.
- Unlimited hierarchy -- it never made sense to me that you can't build sites as deeply-nested as you want in some system. MODx has no such restrictions.
- QuickEdit front end editing -- log into the manger, surf your site, and click the edit buttons that appear when you want to make changes.
- Template Variables (TVs) -- you can have as many custom content fields as you want for your site with TVs. They can also have "widgets" attached to them to create things more easily like data grids, select boxes, pop-up lists and so on. (even questionable things like scrolling marquees as well...). This allows developers to turn complex content scenarios into a simple process of filling out an online form for content editors.
- @bindings -- this the USP for MODx, and most powerful aspect of the system. It allows you to bind virtually anything as the input source or the default value to TVs. Can be a logic evaluation, an API call, a flat file uploaded to a specific directory on your web server that's then parsed into a data grid, an RSS feed, a file listing in a directory, or pretty much anything you can dream up... combined with the output transformation widgets this is really powerful.
People also talk a lot about the community. I've been a part of other projects that are run by prima dona control freaks that typically wind up with failing communities, or major bad blood -- just not pleasant places to participate. I try to keep the MODx community and actively solicit feedback and outside contribution; there's no not-invented-here syndrome at MODx ... the "community vibe" is pleasantly different according to virtually every person that's migrated from other projects.
The Unblog/Anti-YAPS Paradigm ShiftBlogs are big these days. The way I see it, a blog is just another bit of content, usually with commenting attached to the end. It could just as easily be a series of press releases, articles, software downloads, FAQ questions, songs, podcasts or ... you get the point. The problem I perceive with so many systems is that while they're typically pretty good blogging platforms, you're stuck with a certain "look" and you're basically screwed if you want to deviate much from a blog-site functionality unless you want to start patching and hacking away.
MODx's "unblog" tool (currently known as NewsListing) is simply a tool that summarizes/serializes other pages on the site. Our comment tool is another little "snippet" of code, that appends the comments as a child page of the original article.
Similarly, the whole YAPS syndrome is out of control. Again, most CMSes I've run into I refer to as Yet Another Portal System. Wonderful for your local Quake clan (or whatever the FPS-of-them-moment is), but have fun sorting out a site that doesn't fit into their blocks/channels/"insert lingo here"/whatever paradigm.
I'm not the only one that finds these things and more questionable;
Jeff Veen does a better job of going over the not-so-subtle-nuances of what's broken with so many Open Source CMSes. Are they all fixed in MODx? Heck no, but they're all on the radar and under the knife so to speak.
MODx gives you total freedom to build sites like you want, and there's typically 3-4 ways to get to the same end result. It's about total flexibility and bucking conventional patterns of website management software.
Example SitesSome notable example sites, none of which poses a particular "MODx look" as there just isn't one
:
Music, media and tech:Sports & Politics:Institutions & Organizations:Goods & Real Estate:Services, Bits & Bytes:Selected QuotesHeard around the web:
Excellent software. I have been able to do more in just 10 minutes with Modx then I did in several hours with any of about a half dozen other CMS's I've tested. I'm HTML savvy, CSS average, and a php beginner, but Modx makes it easy to create a totally custom page using my html and css skills and then add content as needed. Loving it! --
Jeffery Sound different enough for you to say goodbye?
