a simple way to start

As Susan said, there are lots of online tuts.

If you just want to set up and use MODx you really don’t need to know that much about MySQL or SQL for that matter. You just need to be able to login to your server and set up a database. Depending on your host you may be able to do this directly from your control panel. You just need to note your db name, username, password, path (usually localhost) and tables prefix (which makes it easy to add modx if you are limited to the number of databases allowed by your hosting co.)

As far as books go, you don’t really need them to get started with a CMS but if you want to learn PHP/MySQL you can try either one of the Peachpit Press books or SitePoint.com Books on PHP and MySQL.

Hope this sends you on the way.

All the best,

Jay

As mentioned above, you can actually do a lot with MODx without knowing any php or sql.

It might help, though to understand a little about how MODx works.  The tips and hints will be easier to understand.

In a plain web site, you upload a series of files (each is a web page) that have links to each other and can be viewed directly in a browser.

In MODx, the contents of those files would be stored in the MODx database. Most of that process is behind the scenes so you usually don’t have to deal with it.

Here’s the usual procedure for starting out with a web site in MODx:

In the MODx manager, You create a template, which holds the information that you want to appear on each page (e.g. headers, footers, menu, etc.). Later, you might want to create other templates for separate parts of the web site that you want to look different, but don’t worry about it for now.

Then you create individual documents (web pages) that contain the content that is specific to that page.

When someone goes to your MODx site to access one of those pages, MODx gets the template from the database,  plugs the page-specific content into it, and then sends the completed page off to the users browser for display.

Of course, you need to install MODx first, but the instructions for doing that are quite good. Once it’s installed and you have logged on to the MODx manager, you can easily create a very nice site without using any php or sql on your own.  You can have .css styling, any html tags, photos, lists, tables, as many pages as you like, and a menu that lists all your pages.

It’s only when you want to do something a little exotic that you need to delve into php or sql.

Bob

As for good books try the following:

1) PHP and MySQL for Dynamic Web Sites by Larry Ullman
Great easy book covering in an easy way must of what you need to know.

if you want to learn more about database design, try:

2) Databases Demystified by Andy Oppel (McGraw-Hill Osborne)
One of the most gentle introductions I have read regarding intro to databases.

Enjoy MODx and learn a lot.....

This site is where I started six or seven years ago; they had just released php 4, and most hosts that offered PHP still had 3. I’ve based a number of the scripts I’ve done for MODx on some of these tutorials.
http://www.devshed.com/c/b/PHP/

Especially the PHP 101 series:
http://www.devshed.com/c/b/PHP/36/

I based my DocMan mini-document repository on this series:
http://www.devshed.com/c/a/PHP/Cracking-The-Vault-part-1/

And I still want to do this one
http://www.devshed.com/c/a/PHP/Time-is-Money-part-1/1/