How is MODx CMS compared to Joomla and Drupal ?

[petronel]

I just tried MODx and i like how it works... anyone else that use MODx ?

[ifyn]

Modx is very light weight and it is offered with a platform which you can easily build on. Ajax support is good, lots of cool features, not good at multilanguage. But I havent used it that much, there were some security concerns though.

[howardroark]

It is an etomite fork. It can't compare because it has much fewer features and is best for simple pages. With drupal and joomla, you can have forums, document management, download directories, and much more...

[opengeek]

It is an etomite fork. It can't compare because it has much fewer features and is best for simple pages. With drupal and joomla, you can have forums, document management, download directories, and much more...

This may stir up a hornet's nest, but as a founding member of the MODx team, and a MODx user, I'm going to have to try and change howardroark's understanding of what MODx is about, and how it does compare.

First, MODx originated as an attempt to add some really great features to Etomite which were literally deleted from the Unofficial Mods forum at Etomite without warning. At that time I was just discovering Etomite, and found these specific mods to be essential in my deployment of Etomite sites. When they were removed in the manner they were, I immediately contacted the contributors and others using the mods, and the rest is history. But a very rich history for MODx, that includes a great deal of new, powerful features, and a growing add-on repository that includes forum integration, some simple document management tools, download systems, and many other components that serve as site building blocks.

not good at multilanguage

There is nothing in the framework that specifically addresses internationalization yet, though some very cool i18n support will be in the 1.0 product. That said many MODxers, including myself, have deployed dozens of projects using MODx that are localized following the latest W3C best practices, and we have forums serving at least 10 non-english speaking audiences.

The key is, MODx just gives you the basic CMS framework to work with; nothing more. It's a tool to help you get the markup you want generated dynamically the way you want it, without having to hack hard to understand code, with snappy performance (generally serving between 4 and 24 pages per second) and scalability that can handle most small to medium size sites (can handle several thousand pages easily). The rest are add-ons, and if you know your way around XHTML/CSS and know a enough PHP to be dangerous, you can create some great looking dynamic sites or web applications that look like you want them to, and not like everyone else using a CMS.

I use MODx as part of my freelance web development, and generally use it as a platform to collaborate with a professional designer (I'm more of a code geek myself). The designers love the total freedom to design to exacting XHTML and CSS standards, or not, and PHP developers of all levels can quickly start making use of the quite agile framework to design all kinds of scripted content.

I will say that Drupal and Joomla are more mature at this point, and have a larger base of add-ons available. So it may not be the right solution for every webmaster at this point, and that's why we have chosen not release a 1.0 product at this point. But I do believe for the professional web developer and designer looking to deploy very specific, custom designs or applications, MODx is an evolutionary new approach to CMS that can help simplify, organize, and manage your site without taking away your freedom.

there were some security concerns though

As for any identified security issues, the MODx community has never failed to respond almost instantly when any vulnerabilities have been discovered, offering appropriate patches and upgrades. I will also note that none of the security issues that have plagued Etomite since we were forced to fork have affected MODx at all. We immediately removed several potential vulnerabilities and questionable code before our first release, and we continue to take security issues very seriously.

But don't take my word for it though, give it try yourself, if you haven't. You can read more about MODx in this excellent summary by co-founder Ryan Thrash -- http://modxcms.com/modx-looking-back-looking-foward.html, or just drop by and see what's going on in our community.

[ravianz]

can any ony post some example sites using MODx;

[SaN-DeeP]

Originally Posted by ravianz

can any ony post some example sites using MODx;

even i want to see some sites using modx..

[opengeek]

If you go to modxcms.com/modx-looking-back-looking-foward.html and look towards the bottom of the article, in the section called "The Proof is in the Pudding", you will see a list of representative sites, or visit our forum dedicated to users interested in showing off their MODx accomplisments at modxcms.com/forums/index.php/board,14.0.html.

[davidm]

Let me drop a line about comparing MODx to Joomla and MODx to Drupal.

First, let me say that saying MODx is lighter feature-wise than Etomite and suffers from security issues are both statements which would need to be substantiated by facts. Of course, that's going to be hard, since neither are true.

A quick look at the doc will help anyone see that features such as Template variables and @bindings are pretty advanced and Eto doesn't have those (even if I have heard they wanted to integrate MODx code into the next Eto version to have... template variables :P). Anyway, I am not saying Etomite is not a very nice piece of code, just that you certainly can't say it's lighter than Eto. Another clue would be : Eto is filed under Lite CMS while MODx is listed as portal @opensourcecms.com.

Now the security stuff : as any other CMS, security issues araise time and again, no web application is ever totally secure. This being said, a quick look at MODx secunia's page (http://secunia.com/product/9369/) will give you an idea of the real security problems, how critical they were and how fast they have been adressed. This should ease your mind Personnally I have 4 active MODx coporate websites which never suffered any problems at all.

Anyway, back to the subject. How does MODx compare with Joomla ?
The question is tricky, since it's really two different worlds and approaches.

Joomla has adopted a "one-click philosophy" which means you can install extensions easily, and themes too and there are a lot of both around. It makes building feature-rich websites a breeze, it's true but also makes it a real pain to customize. Another strong suit of Joomla is the polished "windows like" admin many come to like.
On the downside, though a lot of work has been done in that department, there are lots of hardcoded elements of presentation in the core code an extension's code.
It make the webdesigner's life a misery when it comes to fully customizing the look of a website using modern CSS approach (and, even if a lot of efforts have been made, validating your sites). Of course, you'll point me towards counter-examples, exquisite, customized and standard compliant Joomla websites, but how long did it takes to hack into those harcoded styles and html ? Seems like it's hard severing the ties to the Mambo past, despite great efforts to modernize the code.

Drupal is somewhat in between the "one-click philosophy" and the customizable CMS/CMF concept. It's way better in terms of content / presentation separation, and templating is also easier in my opinion (though I have heard Joomla was changing for patTemplate). There are boatloads of extensions, some of them really awesome (Taxonomy and i18n modules comes to mind). Drupal has great caching and load balancing, standard compliancy, and has great performances. All in all, it's a great contender despite an admin which is far from user-friendliness IMHO.

Now MODx. When I discovered MODx I really felt like I had gotten a “Get out of jail” card : you are not bound by the system the way you are by most content management applications, the systems works for you, not the other way around and it feels good

There is some pretty nice features enabling the designer to fully customize his websites :

• A simple and powerful Template system: MODx doesn’t use a template engine, adding a layer of complexity and rigidity to the system. MODx uses a built-in tag language. You can use tags to display variables such as document attributes, systems settings, template variables, chunks…
• Micro-templates for granular control over content: to go one step further, MODx gives you the ability to define “micro-templates” which allow you to control precisely how and where you want to place the output of a Snippet (through what we call placeholders).
• Dynamic stylesheets: No-one would challenge the fact that dynamic web pages have brought a revolution to the web. To this date, dynamic stylesheets (a.k.a server side css) are still rare. With its flexible document types, MODx is able to parse stylesheets and allow you to add dynamic elements to your css, via tags and snippets : pretty handy to have a dynamic path for images when moving from test to production server, or randomize a background : whatever you can imagine is possible !

Now that was the look and feel side of things, but flexibility extends to a new dimension : custom content structure. Most systems have a rigid way to structure content. Usually, content has a limited structure: Title, Summary, Body. Extensions (plugins, modules or the likes) sometimes offer to manage different types of content (images, products, job offers…): but again, they force you to use a predefined content structure which does not necessarily fit your particular needs. When they do offer a way to create custom content fields, they are either limited in number or in types. MODx has no such limitations :

• You can create any type of custom content fields: text, rich text, number, date, images, checkbox, dropdown, email, url… with no limitations whatsoever. The best part: you can do so directly from the backend, without ever having to alter the database structure manually.
• Each custom field is linked to a given template: that’s why the custom fields are called Template Variables in MODx. It allows you to define which templates can use the custom variables, and possibly define several content structure if needed (need a product catalog ?
• You can use, style and place those content field easily: a simple tag, [*my_template_variable*], and you can display the content wherever you like, the way you want it displayed. Better yet, if you need to make it available for frontend editing, just add a # before the variable name [*#my_template_variable*]. Pretty easy, uh?

As a conclusion, I'd say no system can be everything to everyone. Flexiblity and power has a price. Unlike most CMS, you won’t find a template installer, nor will you find a module/plugin installer in MODx. Though it’s quite fast to learn if you have a decent knowledge of website design, MODx is not a “one-click” foolproof system. Why is that?

If you read the article mentionned by opengeek, you'll see MODx has been built by professionnals out of frustration with existing solutions. Therefore it's only natural that it aims primarily pro-ams – geeks – power users who are looking for a tool to build highly customized, accessible and standard compliant dynamic websites.

Now does that mean MODx doesn’t care about the end-user? Sure not! It aims the end-user but as content managers or editors, not websites builders. My take on things is : many opensource content management project have chosen to try to satisfy the end user first, focusing on the range of built-in features and one-click-install systems which in the end makes the application less flexible. The MODx team has made a different choice, and that's lucky that there is an alternative. Some CMS are part of this "flexible - highly customizable - standard compliant" systems (Textpattern, CMS Made Simple, Expression Engine), but IMHO MODx is the power forward of the team, so to speak

[hantuketawa]

Originally Posted by ravianz

can any ony post some example sites using MODx;

Hi,
This's example site use built on ModXcms
http://sypudell.info

thank,
nad

[libsys]

There is some pretty nice features enabling the designer to fully customize his websites :

A simple and powerful Template system: MODx doesn’t use a template engine, adding a layer of complexity and rigidity to the system. MODx uses a built-in tag language. You can use tags to display variables
such as document attributes, systems settings, template variables, chunks…

A "built-in tag language" is, by definition a templating language. You can't have it both ways. Welcome to a template-based system.

Micro-templates for granular control over content: to go one step further, MODx gives you the ability to define “micro-templates” which allow you to control precisely how and where you want to place the output of a Snippet (through what we call placeholders).

Drupal's theming system is extremely granular. BTW, I thought MODx didn't have a template engine.

Dynamic stylesheets: No-one would challenge the fact that dynamic web pages have brought a revolution to the web. To this date, dynamic stylesheets (a.k.a server side css) are still rare.

Interesting idea!

When they do offer a way to create custom content fields, they are either limited in number or in types. MODx has no such limitations :

Drupal has no such limits either, see the mighty CCK module and related modules for more detail -ie, this is not an exciting new feature offered only by MODx.

You can create any type of custom content fields: text, rich text, number, date, images, checkbox, dropdown, email, url… with no limitations whatsoever. The best part: you can do so directly from the backend, without ever having to alter the database structure manually.

Again, this is not unique, see Drupal's CCK system. You can even build your own complex content type fields with CCK. Need a mortgage calculator form that other users can embed into their own content types? Just make a new CCK field module..viola.

Each custom field is linked to a given template: that’s why the custom fields are called Template Variables in MODx. It allows you to define which templates can use the custom variables, and possibly define several content structure if needed (need a product catalog ?

Also not unique: see the contemplate module in Drupal. It even provides you with a nice clicky-clicky GUI interface to style teasers, node content and even RSS feed content. BTW: you can always style content down to the nth level of granularity with the theming system if you so desire.

You can use, style and place those content field easily: a simple tag, [*my_template_variable*], and you can display the content wherever you like, the way you want it displayed.

Yep, see above comment (contemplate).

Better yet, if you need to make it available for frontend editing, just add a # before the variable name [*#my_template_variable*]. Pretty easy, uh?

Now this is an interesting idea, first time I've seen it.

If you read the article mentionned by opengeek, you'll see MODx has been built by professionnals out of frustration with existing solutions.

This often what drives technological innovation, it's a healthy impulse. But there is also a lot of "Not Invented Here" (NIV) that goes on in the developer world; I've been guilty of it myself. Often times, you just get a better understanding why system XYY t0tally SUXX when you are forced to make the same trade-offs yourself.

Based on what I've read, MODx does appear to be an interesting new player on the lightweight web CMS scene, but you have failed here to provide much in the way of what is unique about it.

I suggest you refrain from comparing such systems without a better understanding of the unique strengths and weaknesses of each. You seem only vaguely familiar with Drupal and somewhat familiar with MODx.

[Suri.CMS]

The key is, MODx just gives you the basic CMS framework to work with; nothing more. It's a tool to help you get the markup you want generated dynamically the way you want it, without having to hack hard to understand code, with snappy performance (generally serving between 4 and 24 pages per second) and scalability that can handle most small to medium size sites (can handle several thousand pages easily).

Can you please tell me how MODx works for very high traffic sites. And what special measures are put in the software to handle loads of traffic ?

Can you provide some good example high traffic websites using MODX ?

[Hummerbie]

@opengeek

You guys did good!!
http://www.packtpub.com/article/modx...pen-source-cms

[fcolor]

I definitely vote form MODx. This CMS is becoming a hit in Open Source website development.

[b4ndeng]

www.titan-built.com another simple web by modx

Modx has bridging well between web designer and programmer using snippets with very flexible form to develop (any web you can transform to modx).

[fcolor]

One more thing Drupal has a large number of contributors and developers. Me and 2 other guys have recently participated to DrupalCon 2008 in Hungarian town Szeged and I can tell you that only the Hungarian Drupal community numbers more than 600 developers!

Although MODx still don't have too large community of developers, it is very flexible and I think it's influence will grow a lot.

[scanadi]

www.nrg.rs/index.php

Hi this is my first site in modx and mi loving MODX by the way I'm a Web designer not a developer or programmer, more of HTML/css guy, so it was not easy at the beginning nut now i fell like i have a little use of programmers just When I'm in a bit of jam time to time.

It's still under development buy the way

Love MODX an hope to see the 1.0 release soon

[WebHostingBucket]

Originally Posted by scanadi

www.nrg.rs/index.php

Hi this is my first site in modx and mi loving MODX by the way I'm a Web designer not a developer or programmer, more of HTML/css guy, so it was not easy at the beginning nut now i fell like i have a little use of programmers just When I'm in a bit of jam time to time.

It's still under development buy the way

Love MODX an hope to see the 1.0 release soon

Nice site, I wish i knew html/css