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MennoPP

Hi all,

I am aware that I am a little bias, since I am a MODX Ambassador for The Netherlands (not a payed job b.t.w.), but I really think that MODX Revolution deserves more "buzz" as a amazing flexible CMS and framework.

Systems I tried/used

Wordpress
Joomla
Drupal
Magento
Concrete 5

Of course: there is no "winner" or "best" CMS, we use the best tool for the job, but I would like to explain why MODX is great and a lot more flexible then most other CMS systems.

Start clean

After installing MODX Revolution you start with a blank page, no template, base structure or tags, just a blank page. You decide what to build in any system/structure you want. This might be harder for new users, but the first thing I usually do when using Wordpress or Drupal is clean out almost everything to start fresh...

Use your code

MODX Revolution will work with your code, just paste in your HTML in a template and add one tag in the header

<base href=`[[++site_url]]` />

Now your HTML will work in MODX (maybe adjust you CSS, image and Javascript URL paths) nothing else is needed.

Tags are so easy!

MODX uses three basic tag types (there are more, but these are the most used)

Chunks (bits of HTML)
Template Variables (custom fields)
Snippets (bits of PHP)

With these tags you can make yout template interact with MODX and start using the power of MODX.

Tag basics

MODX uses very basic tags, they are easy to read use and understand. These is no loop, php or other structure needed.

Some examples:

Get the content of a page

[[*content]]

Show a HTML chunk called "template_header"

[[$template_header]]

Show a Template Variable called "page_tagline"

[[*page_tagline]]

Output filters and combining tags

MODX Revolution can use these tags in very powerfull ways, output filters and combining Chunks, Template Varibales and filters (even: a Template Varibale inside a Template Varibale inside a chunk!)

Some examples:

Show a HTML chunk called "contact_form", but do not cache it.

[[!$contact_form]]

Show a Template Variable called "page_tagline" in a H3 tag, but only if the tagline is filled in.

[[*page_tagline:notempty=`<h3>[[*page_tagline]]</h3>`]]

Output a list of child Resources of the current Resource, using the "myRowTpl" chunk

[[!getResources? &parents=`[[*id]]` &tpl=`myRowTpl`]]

The "myRowTpl" chunk could look like this:

<div><h2>[[+pagetitle]]</h2><p>[[+introtext]]</p></div>

A example of a basic MODX Revolution template

[[$template_header]]
<section>
  [[*content]]
</section>
[[$template_footer]]

The "template_header" chunk could look like this:

<!DOCTYPE html>
<html class="no-js" lang="en">
<head>
  <base href="[[++site_url]]" />
  <meta charset="[[++modx_charset:lcase]]" />
  <meta name="description" content="[[*introtext]]" />
  <meta name="keywords" content="[[*keywords:notempty=`[[*keywords]],`]]my,keywords" />
  <title>[[*pagetitle]] - [[++site_name]]</title>
  <link rel="stylesheet" href="assets/templates/my_template/stylesheets/style.css">
</head>
<body>
<header>
  <nav>
    [[Wayfinder? &startId=`0`]]
    <!--Wayfinder will create a nice basic navigation-->
  </nav>
</header>

The "template_footer" chunk could look like this:

      <footer>
          <p>[[$footer_content]]</p>
      </footer>
  </body>
  </html>

MODX is great for SEO

MODX Revolution is great for SEO becouse you descide your site structure, tags, description and titles. Using Friendly URL`s your links are readable and clean.

A nice MODX header, automaticaly generated for SEO:

  <meta name="description" content="[[*introtext:empty=`[[*content:strip_tags]]`:limit=`200`]]" />
  <meta name="author" content="[[*createdby:userinfo=`fullname`]]" />
  <title>[[*pagetitle]] - [[++site_name]]</title>
  <meta name="keywords" content="[[*keywords:notempty=`[[*keywords]],`]]your,own,general,keywords" />`

All the plugin's (extra's) you need

There are loads of great plugin's available for MODX Revolution.

A few great plugin's

SimpleSearch (add great search functionality)
Wayfinder (amazingly powerfull and flexible navigation)
getResources (get any content from anywhere to any place)
MIGX (make Template Varibales even more flexible)
Articles (create a blog in MODX Revolution)
FormIt (simple an easy contact forms)

MODX Cloud

Need power and you ite in the cloud? The new MODX Cloud will serve your needs! With MODX Cloud you can launch, clone, move, share & test MODX sites in seconds.

The MODX community is amazing

For sure the best thing about MODX is the community. On the new MODX forum and Twitter (#MODX) users are always happy to help.

Please give MODX Revolution a try, I would love to hear your thoughts about MODX.

MODX Documentation - Getting started with MODX Revolution

BenWalker

I used MODX just over a year ago and ultimately moved (at the time) to GetSimple CMS. Nowadays I would probably use Kirby instead. I also use Wordpress for larger sites that multiple people edit.

My experience of MODX was that the template syntax wasn't particularly intuitive (although I'm sure it is powerful). However, my biggest gripe, and the reason I ultimately moved, was that I couldn't find a way to make the cache do what I needed it to. It was a nightmare to turn off and was inconsistent with what updated with no clear means of adjusting it. The settings panel was something like 10 pages of settings that weren't particularly clear as to what they pertained to.

Sorry to be negative, but that was my experience. However, I'm well aware that a lot changes in a year (and a bit) and it is highly possible a good number of my problems have since been fixed.

MennoPP

Hi Ben,

Thanks for your response. Indeed many of your problems have been fixed... Settings and docs are a lot better now.

Funny that you say that the template syntax is not intuitive, to me it is way better then Wordpress or Drupal... (guess that this is different for everybody)

The Caching part have been a big topic for a long time now see the is post

BenWalker