Help Wanted - Willing To Pay For Assistance

I am stuck here between the proverbial rock and hard place.

I have been asked to create a website. The concept sounds pretty ’cutting edge’ but, in truth, I think it is fairly straightforward. There is nothing that is not already out there, it’s just a question of bringing it all together. I am also convinced that MOdx can provide the solution.

My initial problem is I am just thinking round and round in circles trying to learn how to control MODx, and getting absolutely nowhere. I am sure that if I hang around the forum long enough, and ask the right questions, all my problems would be resolved. However I do not have the time for that. Therefore I need some clear thinking, unpaniced, MODx experience for which I am prepared to pay a fair market rate.

The next problem is, how much? Initially, I am supposed to produce a demo site which will then be used to woo the sponsors. If they buy it we are in the money! However, I think that the demo site is pretty much the end product, minus the content. That is to say all the work is done up front. The end user does not seem to realise this though. If the sales pitch falls through then it’s out of my own pocket,

It is my intention that any modules/snippets/whatever should be fed back into the project if it would be useful to do so.

I do not wish to reinvent the wheel though and it sounds as if, from forum answers, much of what I require is already planned for future release. A roadmap would be useful here! Core team liason would help prevent this.

The crux of the project is to take an XML infeed and distribute it in a number of formats using XSLT. How hard can that be ? There are a number of smaller issues though. Last, but not least, I have to fully understand what is going on.

What I need initially is some idea of cost and time involved.

If anyone is willing to help out then please reply to this thread or PM me and we will try to work out a deal.

Thanks.

http://modxcms.com/roadmap.html

it is on the first page.

I empathise with you, I have been in over my head before, but the best advice I can offer you is, unforutnately, hind site. It seems you have accepted a large, perhaps important, project without the knowledge base and comptetent experience necessary to complete the requirements. It is possible you have defrauded this client. My sincere advice is that you contact them and confess that you are not ready to take on this project yet.

The forum moderators here are AMAZING! Most questions get answered within a matter of hours, and MODx has built up quite a following of talented users who graciously contribute to the forums on a very regular basis. You should be able to implement what you described above yourself, but first you need to familiarize yourself with the tools. IMHO, MODx (when compared to other CMS) is really easy to learn, but you will need to spend a few days with it to get the basics, and probably a couple weeks to catch on to the advanced stuff. You CAN do this. Try not to get frustrated. Like anything worth while, this requires some effort, but I promise, If I can learn this... and I did... You can accomplish the task you described using MODx. It is just not likely to be done in the timeframe you are expecting.

Good luck, and happy MODx-ing

-sD-
scotty Delicious

zenmaster,

There are quite a few people on these boards who actually make a living building ModX sites. I am sure, given that this is a commercial project, you can find one of them to partner with you on this.

What might help is a more detailed description of what you need done, the timeline when you need to do it, and maybe even what your budget looks like for this thing.

zenmaster,

I’m one of those folks who does them for a living, but the XML/XLST stuff is not my cup of tea. However, one of the devs that works for me is pretty much a guru when it comes to that technology.

If you could scope out the requirements beyond the cursory overview above, I’ll be happy to see if it makes sense to get involved in some way. If it involves a plugin or module, then Raymond (xwisdom) is your man, too, and he’d love to get some funded MODx work!