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Books Book Reviews

Book Review: MODx Revolution - Building the Web Your Way 70

Posted by samzenpus from the read-all-about-it dept.
First time accepted submitter matria writes "MODx is a free, open-source Content Management System and Framework, developed and supported by MODX LLC and a global community. The latest iteration of MODx, called Revolution, is entirely object-oriented. To take advantage of the power of MODx, the developer needs to learn how MODx works and how to use its building blocks to extend it to satisfy his purpose. While there is official documentation and a number of websites with tips and tutorials, as well as an active and friendly forum, for the dedicated developer one of the publications that it is good to be aware of is W. Shawn Wilkerson's MODX Revolution — Building the Web Your Way." Read below for the rest of matria's review.
MODX Revolution - Building the Web Your Way: A Journey Through a Content Management Framework
author W. Shawn Wilkerson
pages 622
publisher Sanity Press
rating 9/10
reviewer matria
ISBN 0985853204
summary an extensive look at an amazing and extensible Content Management Platform
Known to the MODx community as "sottwell", I've been a developer and contributor to MODx since its beginnings, so I'm well-familiar with W. Shawn Wilkerson's contributions to the MODx community over the past six years. He is the founder of Sanity LLC, a technology integration company, and holds 9 degrees in programming and web design. His book on MODx Revolution, subtitled A Journey Through a Content Management Framework, was published in August of 2012 by Sanity Press, with ISBN 978-0985853204. It has some 600 pages, with 19 chapters divided into 5 sections.

This begins with the obligatory introduction to what MODx is (and is not). Use MODx as it installs for nearly instant, fully-functional sites, or turn it into a framework for complex web applications.

The second chapter introduces the Manager interface. This is an excellent place to start for new MODx users. We are taken step-by-step through the Manager, with each feature and function explained. Of special importance is the tree structure that lists the content Resources that provide the main content elements for each page, this tree structure reflecting the overall site structure.

Shawn explains how the Manager itself is built on the core MODx framework, and so it is customizable and even totally replaceable

The next five chapters discuss the basic building-block elements that are used to build a MODx site. The coverage of these elements is by no means superficial, everything from customizing the Manager forms for creating and editing them to how they are stored in the database to how to format and manipulate their final output on your web page is explained. Plenty of actual useful code samples and in-depth explanations make it easier to understand how MODx builds up a site using these modular blocks of content and content-generating elements. One entire chapter on Output Modifiers caught my attention here, as it covers a topic often overlooked or, conversely, overused.

The Quick Start chapter walks through the simple procedure to create a basic website after installing MODx, from a few basic System Settings such as a name for your site, through setting up the Template for your pages and assigning it to the Resources that will provide the main content for the pages, using Chunks, Snippets and Template Variables to add dynamic content to your pages, and installing and using third-party add-ons via the handy Package Manager. A complete site, with a dynamic menu structure, search functionality and a contact form can be set up in less than an hour, using any one of thousands of free HTML templates as the base Template.

The rest of this section goes on to show how common Web essentials such SEO, AJAX, friendly URLs and .js and .css minification can be easily arranged, to how a full-blown blogging platform can be added to your site with the Articles package.

One of the more frequent questions that comes up in the forums is how to use JQuery or other libraries, or how to handle AJAX in MODx. Basically, MODx doesn't interfere with your css or javascript in any way. But there are speed and optimization considerations in how and where Javascript links and code should be inserted, and MODx APIs can make processing AJAX requests or inserting data into Javascript functions clean and easy. A chapter on Javascript, CSS and JQuery works through several examples of how various features of MODx can be leveraged to automate best practices for everything from a simple JQuery slideshow to a complete AJAX-driven web application.

The MODx Revolution user management system is a complex network of users, user groups, roles and policies, based on the ACL model of user management. This section is vital to understanding how to control and manage user access to both protected sections of your front-end site and limit Manager functionality. With plenty of screen shots and examples, the reader is gently guided through the whole inter-related subject of organization and controls.

The chapter on Contexts explains how this feature can be used for dividing the site into sections. Contexts can be used to manage separate domains, allowing multiple websites to be managed from one MODx installation. They are also used to provide virtual subdomains or subdirectories for easy management of multi-language sites. Again, plenty of screen shots and examples open up the possibilities of using Contexts. Some of the limitations and pitfalls of using Contexts are explained and resolved.

Since this is not exactly a beginner's tutorial on OOP, the section begins with a brief overview of what OOP is, with some useful links to OOP and OOP in PHP tutorial sites. Then it continues by describing the fully object-oriented MODx Revolution API and the basic $modx object. MODx, like most CMS applications, relies heavily on the database, so there is an emphasis on understanding the database access methods and how MODx stores and caches data. Using the API simplifies just about every facet of MODx development, and the explanations and examples here make this a good reference to keep close at hand.

The foundation of MODx Revolution, the xPDO ORB/ORM object library, is extensively discussed. Coding best-practices are discussed. Real-world, complete, functioning and useful examples abound.

The section ends with how to install and use third-party add-on packages, and how to create your own packages.

Everything from MODx Revolution terminology through system settings and how the MODx parser works, ending with an interesting set of "rules", shared nuggets of hard-won programmer philosophy, make the Appendix another useful resource.

The book is clearly based on a deep understanding and love of programming, web development, and of MODx Revolution itself. One thing I especially appreciated about the layout of the book is the extra large font used for the code examples. It does't make for a pretty layout, but it's a great improvement in usablity over the usual prettier blocks of small, often hard-to-read text. This is even more significant when considering that Shawn is the founder and CEO of Sanity/Sanity Press. While typos and grammatical errors are common, this was understandably explained by the need to get such a book published and available before the fast movement of the web development world in general and MODx in particular make it at least partially obsolete. A year later, it's still covering material well within the leading edge of MODx Revolution functionality. The occasional personal ramblings actually give us an insight into Shawn's programming philosophy, and make the whole book seem more like a personal message, almost a conversation, than a cold presentation of facts. Overall, this is an excellent book, I very much enjoy it, use it, and recommend it.

You can purchase MODX Revolution - Building the Web Your Way: A Journey Through a Content Management Framework from amazon.com. Slashdot welcomes readers' book reviews -- to see your own review here, read the book review guidelines, then visit the submission page.
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Book Review: MODx Revolution - Building the Web Your Way More

Book Review: MODx Revolution - Building the Web Your Way

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  • Oh great... (Score:1)

    by Anonymous Coward

    ...yet another "revolutionary" cms. This one uses [[*SOMEVAR]] for template placeholders, instead of the now rudimentary [[?SOMEVAR]] or [[>SOMEVAR]] used by other obsolete cms'es.
    Also, nice ad.

    • Re: (Score:1)

      by Anonymous Coward

      That's what I thought - reads more like a press release than a "review".

  • If you can't even bother to drop a few "RESTful"'s in your review, I'm not sure we can take you seriously.

    How exactly does this CMS help me DRY my cloud?

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by matria ( 157464 )
      It's a CMS. By default it manages content. Add whatever functionality you like, DRY up and give it a REST or whatever you want. That's what the API is for.

    • How exactly does this CMS help me DRY my cloud?

      Are you kidding? It fluffs your cloud!

  • "The latest iteration of MODx, called Revolution, is entirely object-oriented."

    Even setting aside the fact that regardless of what it means for you, and that in the strictest sense imaginable, this would be very difficult to achieve in most PLs, PHP included, this sounds like a statement from the same category as "our software uses memory" or "our software has a user interface". It doesn't actually tell you *anything*, does it?

    • Re: (Score:1)

      by Anonymous Coward

      Any CMS, plugin, widget, app, template, theme, API, etc that touts itself as open source but has a "professional" version has historically given me nothing but headaches (in web development anyway). The open source is their marketing and the "professional" is their product. Their job is to make sure you need to move from their marketing to their product. Usually you'll never see it until you're in the middle of a project trying to do some common thing X or obvious thing Y and are told "sorry, that is only f

      • Re: (Score:3)

        by matria ( 157464 )
        There is no "Professional" version of MODx. Evolution (1.x) is the original code base, Revolution (2.x) is a complete rewrite with a new codebase. Both are free. Both have hundreds of free third-party add-ons.

    • "The latest iteration of MODx, called Revolution, is entirely object-oriented."

      Even setting aside the fact that regardless of what it means for you, ..., this sounds like a statement from the same category as "our software uses memory" or "our software has a user interface". It doesn't actually tell you *anything*, does it?

      I'd like to add that "object-oriented" doesn't necessarily make a product better.

    • Yes, and for pity's sake no more frameworks. You know those things have started to become part of job application requirements? You can know the underlying codebase back to front but if you aren't familiar with whatever arbitrary shorthand the developers mashed together for the latest and greatest, you're out of luck. And rarely do they add much to any project except bloat, with a few notable exceptions like jquery-style interpretations. Bootstrap: CSS made simple! How in the name of god can you make CSS an

      • Re: (Score:2)

        by mutube ( 981006 )

        Bootstrap: CSS made simple!

        It makes a lot more sense if you interpret "simple" to mean "generic".

    • Well, there's one big object will all of the functions in it.

      That's OO right?

  • Argh (Score:2, Interesting)

    by Anonymous Coward

    My brain was unable to properly categorize this post. What language is this MODx thing built on? Is it a cool language like C, Perl or Python? Or a potentially hip thing with Javascript? Or is it built on something that makes me cringe, like ASP? Does it run on Unix? Node? Apache? Microsoft? The "Cloud"?

    Without knowing any of these things, I'm not sure how to categorize this story, and I can't decide if I want to read this to learn or to condescend.

    Oh wait ... "He is the founder of Sanity LLC, a technology

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by LiavK ( 2867503 )
      Seems to be PHP.

      • Re: (Score:2)

        by UPi ( 137083 )

        You're correct. I had to look this piece of information up in Wikipedia. Oh, PHP.. And to think that I had some interest in the framework a moment earlier...

    • Re: (Score:3)

      by matria ( 157464 )
      It's a book review, not a review of MODx. And I would think that a book review should mention the credentials of the author.

      • I believe part of the point is that anyone who brags about having nine degrees (with very, very few exceptions) is full of it. Not that they're lying but that the degrees that they hold are basically worthless. I've worked with some of the top engineering professors in their fields - they typically have two to four degrees, at least one of which is a PhD. Having nine associates degrees (err, certificates) is kind of like having 9 white belts from different martial arts schools. Bragging about it shows a l

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by jrumney ( 197329 )

      For me, the phrase in the first paragraph "To take advantage of the power of MODx, the developer needs to learn how MODx works" was enough clue. But the "9 degrees in programming and web design" really had me chuckling.

    • Re: (Score:1)

      by blibbo ( 928752 )

      holds 9 degrees in programming and web design.

      The "9 degrees" in the summary seems to be sourced from his linked in page:

      ---
      Daytona State College
      AS, Computer Programming and Analysis - Software Engineering, Internet Services Technology

      2006 – 2011

      9 Computer & Internet Degrees/Certificates With Honors
      ---

      http://www.linkedin.com/in/wshawnwilkerson [linkedin.com]

      ... which is marginally more precise than the summary: 9 pieces of paper from a University. Not all are degrees.

  • I just finished a hand-coded revision to my personal website. It's small and modest and after going at it for about a week, it was clearly time to switch over to a CMS.

    This is the fourth one I've come across that comes highly recommended (see also, Stacey, Bootstrap, and, obviously, Wordpress). What are the differentiators? How do you decide?

    • Re: (Score:2, Informative)

      by matria ( 157464 )
      Try a free MODx developer's lab account to see if you like it. https://modxcloud.com/signup/lab-account.html [modxcloud.com]

    • I'm sure if you take the time to read the product features and compare them side by side you can answer your own question on differentiators.

      Most business decisions in regards to CMS are a functionality vs implementation / licensing cost.

      I know most people absolutely hate it, but I like Sitefinity... maybe because i know some of the framework, but seriously it's cheap... in your case it might be free if you're non-commercial, and it behaves like a web application meaning devs can extend it infinitely, thoug

    • What are the differentiators? How do you decide?

      You 'Ask Slashdot' and of the 217 responses you'll get 495 opinions, an Apple flamefest, a Google flamefest, 3 links to goatse, and the three responses that would actually be helpful to you marked as Troll.

      No, I'm neither bitter nor cynical!

    • All CMS's will come "highly-recommended" from someone.

      The most interesting CMS's I've seen are Concrete5 and ProcessWire.

      The biggest pain-in-the-ass has been Joomla --- funny that it's one of the most popular of the bunch.
    • Well I can reduce one for you. Bootstrap isn't a cms. Its a UI framework (all css and javascript) that helps you get up and running quickly. The other CMS's are fine if you already know them and can work within their scope of how they intend people use them. You tend to start fighting the system soon as you do something out of their examples. If you have a small and modest website why do you think you need a cms?

      • Re: (Score:1)

        by LiavK ( 2867503 )
        I'd like to continue growing it out and developing it. I definitely need to transition it to, at the minimum, a template based system, if not a full CMS. Hand-coding the html/css is a good way to understand the subtles of the box model, responsive design, etc, but it doesn't scale. L

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by rueger ( 210566 ) *
      If you're "hand-coding" a modest personal site, then by all means go with WordPress. I've mucked about with Joomla and Drupal and a few others, including some custom designed stupidly complex sites, and for small sites Wordpress is just SOOO easy and fast that it wins hands down.

      Plus it's really easy to customize, plus there are lots of good quality plug-ins.

      Obviously you're not going to launch the next Amazon.com using Wordpress, but for 99% of small sites there's little reason to look elsewhere.

  • More tools to efficiently create more sites for fewer actual visitors.

    Go to the gallery [modx.com] (it doesn't hurt, really.) Sort by "Rank". Note that you've never seen any of these sites. Scroll down, noting that the thumbnails repeat (...) after 6 rows for a total of 24 unique sites.

    Which is pretty good, considering how many [wikipedia.org] distinct CMS tools against which all high "Rank" sites must be amortized.

    One day something important will happen and the Western world is going to have to stop making so many web sites. And

  • Oh wow! Just what I needed, yet another CMS built in PHP that requires MySQL as the database backend. If I really wanted to be pained by that, I'd use concrete5. In reality, I'd choose Radiant, typo or refinery LONG before I'd choose anything PHP developed.
  • I have a client who wanted to implement ModX (Evolution, the prequel to Revolution). I took a look at it for them, and found it to be very simple to work with, and was quite flexible to be able to do what you needed with it.

    It has its own coding standards, and allows for static templates or DB storage for HTML. It's definitely easier to use/customize than Joomla, and some of the other (more popular) CMS's. Out of the box, it just works, and works well.

    Would I recommend it for everyone? Definitely

  • Criticism from a past MODx user (Score:5, Interesting)

    by YurB ( 2583187 ) on Monday April 08, 2013 @05:04PM (#43395063)

    I was using MODx Revolution for around two years, and it has many good sides, about which you can read on their website, in the books they published and in their wiki. But there are also some issues that led me to seeking an alternative now. MODx developers, please take this as an attempt of constructive criticism (and sorry for my imperfect English).

    • Too much is stored in the db, and that makes it very hard to work with git. Even with the 'static elements' functionallity one must have the actual 'element' in the database even if the code is stored in a file.
    • Poor performance of the backend. The backend is implemented entirely on ExtJS and is slow. Despite it's ExtJS it still requires to reload the page too often.
    • Very hard to develop own stuff on top of it. Just take a look at the tutorial on creating an extension [modx.com] (called 'extra'). I've developed different 'extras' to implement custom functionality in my projects, and I constantly had the feeling that they just made simple things much overcomplicated.
    • Poor documentation. Just take a look on their API docs [modx.com]. For example, the documentation for the modX::addExtensionPackage() function just says: "Add an extension package to MODX", and no information on the arguments besides what types they are.
    • Some serious problems in the core. For example, the widely used function modX::getChunk() has a performance bottleneck and can't be used in anything like, for instance, displaying a big list of products on a page, despite that this is exactly what it's for. If one instead reuses a same chunk object to iterate through a set of DB records (using $chunk->process()), the performance is dramatically increased. This issue has been reported on the forums, but didn't catch much attention (I can't even find the thread now.) The getChunk() function is widely used in some very important modx extensions, and yet the performance bottleneck doesn't seem to bother to the MODx community.

    This isn't the full list. This is just some random (but major) inconveniences I can recall right now. To me, MODx is a great idea which for some reason wasn't implemented well.

    • Re: (Score:1)

      by jackd ( 64557 )

      I was using MODx Revolution for around two years, [..] But there are also some issues that led me to seeking an alternative now. MODx developers

      So what did you end up using instead?

      • Re: (Score:2)

        by YurB ( 2583187 )
        I'm using Wordpress on a few personal blog-like projects but I think I'll stick at Drupal as my main platform, because my main requirement is flexibility and modularity. I'm currenly trying to build a blank html5boilerplate-based theme in drupal to see how it goes. And what do you use?

    • Re: (Score:1)

      by epo001 ( 558061 )

      I too was an early MODx user, enthusiastic but clueless is the best I can say about the "community" at that time, while MODx developers embodied all that is bad about open source dogmatists, accepting mediocrity and only ever working on stuff they find interesting or cool but neglecting things like documentation, usability and quality and having no care for timescales. And its not even as though they developed it, they just forked etomite and fiddled around a bit. Like children, these amateurs (in the worst

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