Worpress 2.7 vs MODx 0.9.6 (or Revolution)

Hello.

I know that this is not the first post about Wordpress here...

I recently came across a fresh new Wordpress installation (version 2.7, I think), because my University has installed the multiblog version of Wordpress for all the faculty. OK.

Honestly, when I saw how smooth the "qTranslate" add-on works, and when I started to browse and search the list of WP add-ons, the huge amount of clear documentation... I mean, I think it is a very mature project. Very attractive. Everything seems to go smooth, easy to install and to use plugins... It dazzled me. I was tempted to abandon MODx for my personal site, but I think the main difference is, of course, that Wordpress is blog-oriented (perfect for it, IMHO), while MODx gives you a more general "CMS" frame. And, as someone wrote here in these forums, I don’t like to insert PHP code within templates.

So, a couple of questions I leave here for you to answer:

(1) What do you think about the amount, variety and (I think) quality of the WP plugin collection and the complete documentation? Do you think MODx is far from it? If so: Behind? In front of? In a more serious mod: how long do you think it’ll take for MODx to become as mature as Wordpress in that kind of aspects (if it is not already)?

(2) Do you know any web page with an up-to-date review of Wordpress vs MODx? Anyway, can you give me your up-to-date feel?

And a third one:

(3) I’ve been reading here about integrating Wordpress and MODx, and so on. But what about adapting WP plugins to MODx? Would it be easy? I suppose it depends on the plugin. But, at the end they are all PHP code... as far as I understand. If there is a WP plugin I like (not a very complex one), can I adapt it to MODx? I mean two different things in "can": Am I allowed to take code from others and re-use it? And also, is it technically possible to adapt the code from a WP plugin into a MODx plugin or snippet?

Sorry for my English and my all-in-1 three questions!!!

Looking forward to your answers.

Honestly you can’t really compare the two. As you said - Wordpress is more of blog initated and MODX is not. ModX is more directed into a CMS than a bloglike environment. Granted I have built a site using Wordpress 2.7.1, and granted they have tons of themes for it and etc. They do have alot of plug-ins but honestly you don’t get the flexibility of customization or more like you do with ModX. ModX offers so much opportunity to become more flexible and allows you to fully control how you want your site to look and behave. Trust me - with Wordpress you will have to tinker with some PHP - modify some php to get it to behave in the way you want mannerwise - I did.

Now as for maturity - keep in mind Wordpress is older than ModX, and so of course they are more mature than ModX. But I do think ModX will eventually get there. Its just going to take time, but I do honestly got a gut feeling that ModX will eventually one day be named in the same area as Drupal and Joomla as one of the most frequently used CMS down the road.

How far are they along with ModX - alot of it from my perspective is based on the community and the community involvement. Wordpress, Drupal, and Joomla have heavy community involvement which explains why they are really a stronger base. But MODX is growing daily and I have been messing with MODX for the last few weeks (wish I had found it earlier) and I see alot of potential there. So if you want to see MODX grow and become a stronger community - it all depends on the people involved to help out.

Im grateful for MODX, and would love to become more involved but I dont know enough about MODX to really to do so. But Im learning new stuff every day! And maybe one day I’ll be one of those who can really help others.

Well said Billy

/k

I recently did a blog for a friend in WP 2.7 and I was impressed with the quick install, easy UI, and wealth of add-on components. That said, it was murder to tweak it into anything other than a blog based on one of the available themes and some of the add-ons I used didn’t actually work as advertised.

The main difference I see is that MODx is designed to be customized. It’s core architecture assumes that you will be modifying it to fit your needs. Everything you do is very clean and logical. My sense is that WP is essentially a blog that’s been extended (often in fairly weird, non-intuitive ways) to do other things. All the customization in WP is either very limited or like installing gills on a bird.

I confess that I’m not all that familiar with WP and someone who knows it better might have a different opinion.

Quote from: BobRay at Jun 04, 2009, 11:03 PM

I recently did a blog for a friend in WP 2.7 and I was impressed with the quick install, easy UI, and wealth of add-on components.

The manager UI is very easy and intuitive. I think in MODx Revolution there is a significant improvement about this, isn’t there?

Quote from: BobRay at Jun 04, 2009, 11:03 PM

That said, it was murder to tweak it into anything other than a blog based on one of the available themes and some of the add-ons I used didn’t actually work as advertised.

OK, it is good to have a reference from someone who has put his hands into WP.

Thank you for your feedback.

Quote from: Billy_Koch at Jun 04, 2009, 07:26 PM

Granted I have built a site using Wordpress 2.7.1, and granted they have tons of themes for it and etc. They do have alot of plug-ins but honestly you don’t get the flexibility of customization or more like you do with ModX.

But, what I’ve realized recently is: sometimes, you can/may sacrifice a portion of "customization" if you get a nice effect with a nice and simple plug-in (which otherwise would need code work/customization to get it too).

And, on the other hand, I see a very good multi-language solution: qTranslate WP plug-in is fully integrated in the manager UI, and it translates not only content, but also tags, categories... And some other plug-ins adding extra things to content are also compatible with it. Do we have (or will we having) something similar in MODx??

Quote from: Billy_Koch at Jun 04, 2009, 07:26 PM

Trust me - with Wordpress you will have to tinker with some PHP - modify some php to get it to behave in the way you want mannerwise - I did.

That’s what I realized, when digging a little bit inside forums.


Quote from: Billy_Koch at Jun 04, 2009, 07:26 PM

Its just going to take time, but I do honestly got a gut feeling that ModX will eventually one day be named in the same area as Drupal and Joomla as one of the most frequently used CMS down the road.

I do think so, and I am glad to know that we (and many other people, I guess) have the same feeling.

Quote from: Billy_Koch at Jun 04, 2009, 07:26 PM

How far are they along with ModX - alot of it from my perspective is based on the community and the community involvement.

Thank you for sharing your point of view. I think you are right.

Me, at the moment, I’m just a beginner, but I think that I could contribute in the future.

I put another related question [maybe I should post it in a different thread, I don’t know]:

Is it right if I find a WP plug-in which is interesting for me, and, in case I don’t find any equivalent in MODx, I ask for help or hints about how to get the same results in MODx? Would it be "not nice", or is it OK?

And, on the other hand, I see a very good multi-language solution: qTranslate WP plug-in is fully integrated in the manager UI, and it translates not only content, but also tags, categories... And some other plug-ins adding extra things to content are also compatible with it. Do we have (or will we having) something similar in MODx??

Yes - there is something like this very close to being released. See:
http://modxcms.com/forums/index.php/topic,35940.msg219273.html#msg219273

Quote from: therebechips at Jun 05, 2009, 04:09 AM

Yes - there is something like this very close to being released. See:
http://modxcms.com/forums/index.php/topic,35940.msg219273.html#msg219273

Very interesting!! I see that multilingual sites (without multiple document trees and so on) are now closer to be a reality in MODx.

Thank you for the link.

Also keep in mind that Automatic and Drupal have both seen millions of dollars in Venture Capital invested in the companies behind the projects. That goes a long way towards maturing products. That said I think you’ll find the releases of Evo and Revo quite robust, and the new site infrastructure (Add-ons, ReleaseMe, Documentation, etc.) will also continue to improve as well.

We’re DEFINITELY in this for the long run. If anyone has a spare million bucks laying around that’d be helpful too!