should I leap?

Thinking of moving from Joomla.

My major concern is layout control, by that I mean the position of content not the CSS.

I’m looking at the home page of Modx and think I’d like to create that. Now in Joomla it’s dead easy using modules and each element of the content can be maintained separately.

So far I’ve built a template using Artisteer an imported into Modx and added the TV for content.

But that’s just one lump of content. I want sub-content panels, that change independently and latest news/feature panels.

Is any of this possible in Modx

I don’t know Artisteer but you can control the layout in any way you want with MODx, it is very flexible

Artisteer creates templates/CSS for Joomla etc.

Yeah I get that you can have any "layout" you like, but what I’m really asking is can I have multiple content sources on one page. For example, can you id the TV’s and edit them independently?

Yes you can do that, if you need a example to get you started let me know.

If you need to create a site to mimic the block and module structures. Try having a look at these links. You can use a mixture of snippets, chunks, and template variables. It really depends on the the content and how you want to manage it in the back end.


http://wiki.modxcms.com/index.php/Adding_TV_Widgets_without_hacking_the_core

http://wiki.modxcms.com/index.php/Create_TV-Based_Chunks

http://wiki.modxcms.com/index.php/Multiple_content_areas

I see, it’s not as obvious as Joomla. You embed other pages in the parent with calls in the template(?). It’s OK but not really ideal if I have to explain it to my client. He’ll still look at the page list and get confused

Just a thought; how will in impact on navigation or am I wrong to think it’s automatic as I can’t see a menu builder.

Sorry to be so negative I’ve been using Joomla for so long

You’re not negative, you just discovering another approach.

MODx is clearly not a point and click system like Joomla or Wordpress, so you can’t think in "blocks" right out of the box, you need to build the facility for you’re usage.
Now i don’t really understand what you’re calling "embed other pages in the parent with calls in the templates".

Building menu is not automatic, you can use Wayfinder to make it.
The menu will look like the tree of the site that you’re building. The link i gave you explain it better than me.

Sorry I mean’t the use of Ditto to embed. If the menu looks like the page tree what about the sub pages that ditto uses?

I’ll keep trying, thanks again

Obviously the question is "is it worth the move" I’m enticed by phrases like "SEO Friendly", but to be honest I’ve positioned sites at #1 that break ever rule in the SEO Monkeys manual:)

I get the Modx thing it looks great. I can build templates in Artisteer or Style Master and import them no probs. What I don’t like/understand is the logic that feeds the page elements. The page metaphor seems a little old fashioned(sorry). I want to design sites and pass them on to the client. He’s used to a more straight forward logic from the apps I develop so I was hoping this would be the case with modx(Jommla is slightly more logical).

I suppose, like a previous poster mentioned, block driven content is what I talking about. So once I’ve built a site and set the content positions, the client knows that to control the latest news panel he just adds content and assigns it to that block. YEP, sounds like I’m talking about Joomla HA!


I want to like modx! I wanted to move!!!

As lossendae said, MODx uses another approach. It sounds difficult to understand the logic, but it’s not.
I have tried both MODx and Joomla and in Joomla I was completely lost at first.

What you are saying here is that the client knows already how to use Joomla so he won’t understand easly MODx logic, and this is comprehensible. But what do you think a "new" client that has never tried both system would understand faster, MODx structure or Joomla strcture?