modx CMS is quite different than other CMSs. In fact, it’s quite a refreshing change. Instead of worrying about nodes, views, sections, categories, and all the other fun stuff that goes along with building CMSs, modx takes a much different approach: You worry about the output. Period. It’s quite different.

A typical modx project goes something like this:

1. Figure up a site map
2. Design the site visually
3. Prototype the site into HTML/CSS/Javasript
4. Convert the entire prototype to templates, simply by adding in template variables
5. Build the rest
6. Train your editors

This pretty much sums up the entire development process with modx.

Often, when developing any site with a CMS, you’ll encounter some very common obstacles. For example, have you ever tried to get an intuitive breadcrumb working in Drupal? It’s doable, but it takes some work.

In modx, you’d simply call a snippet called [[Breadcrumbs]]. And guess what? The snippet actually works right out of the box, just as you’d expect. Awesome!

In the backed, modx provides a very intuitive interface. Sure, the admin uses three separate frames, and could appear a bit clunky at first. But when it’s time to populate your site, the speediness of frames actually increases the developer’s productivity. Dramatically.

The admin area contains a site tree, similar to SilverStripe and a few others. This is great for your site editors, as time and time again, I’ve found that editors have a hard time grasping the concept that ‘every item is a node’ or that ‘every item is an article in a category in a section.’ With a site tree, my editors are easily able to find the page they’re looking for, and the interface is intuitive enough for even the most CMS-illiterate editors to figure out pretty quickly.

In addition to a pretty nice admin interface, modx also provides a quick editor, which exists on the live front-end, if an editor-user is logged in. This makes it even easier for my editors to make changes. Lots of my editors say that they never even enter the admin area; they simply use the quick editor from the front-end.

A few complaints

There are only a few caveats and complaints that I encounter. Modx is the perfect fit for many sites, but certainly not for all sites.

For example, one minor complaint I have is that modx stores nearly everything in the database! This includes all your html templates. I’ve grown accustomed to editing templates as a collection of files, but modx stores them directly in the db. Of course, this improves speed performance, so it’s a fair trade.

Also note that with modx, you could store the entire theme layer in the database, by using documents/resources as css or javascript files. Just make sure to set the appropriate content-type in the headers.

Another caveat is that modx isn’t the most robust for a site with hundreds of users. Nor is it great when the number of pages on your site exceeds a few thousand.

But in general, modx is a great choice for many simple websites, and you’ll be amazed at the increase in your productivity level during development.