idea for raising money for modx

Ok, here I go again, a few months ago I had started a thread about killing two birds with one stone: http://modxcms.com/forums/index.php/topic,48476.msg284129.html#msg284129 and after asking many stupid questions while trying to port my evo site to revo, it occurred to me than there seems to be one thing that some people have mentioned over and over; ie the inability of designers to understand coders (at least some of the threads I have drudged up in my search for tricks and tips).

For my part I am quite envious of the ability of those who can code php blindfolded, I just paint pretty pictures, but I do see that, often times, a coder may write a one sentence response to another coder and the two understand one another perfectly, whereas people like me are left scratching our heads grubling: "wuh?"

There are a thousand things a lot of us lone, inexperienced, designers would like to accomplish on modx but aren’t sure how to go about it because we can’t find the tutorial that will enlighten us. for example, I have seen a lot of posts on how to add an image to a resource under a ditto (or getresources) container and have that image automatically re-sized and placed in a summery (this one I figured out after reading many a post). There are also are a ton of other examples, plus there seems to be all sorts of little hacks or techniques which coders understand because they have a much more comprehensive understanding of the modx core than a photoshop guru has.

I thought one way that could help support modx is to take a page out of sitepoint’s playbook...release a pdf book and sell it for ten bucks. The book could have tutorials written for the php illiterate on how to accomplish many tasks that a perspective client may ask of a designer, from simple things like the aforementioned "how to get an image to do this" to far more complex problem solving. it could cover just modx and only the extras which the core development team feels will most likely follow modx as it grows and expands. some of you guys could probably pull a thousand questions off the top of your head that you have seen posted in this forum time and time again.

I have also noticed that some hardcore php gurus will ask a question, get an answer than post a reply where not only had their original question been answered but they have expanded on it and have come up with some remarkable stuff...wish I could post a specific thread to explain a bit about what I am saying. This type of customization for specific needs often eludes us lowly designers.

I don’t think an ebook designed to explain how to use modx would be the way to go but rather a single resource that brings some of that key knowledge spread out here in the forums into one place. something that can get a single designer putting out better sites without having to rely on outsourcing or spending hour after hour finding the magic mix of keywords to get the forum search to spit out that one perfect thread we all seem to be searching for. It could not only be offered here on the site, but it could be sold also through apple ibooks and kindle.

ok, my incoherent babbling is over for now...just a thought.

Something like a "MODx Cookbook". Good idea.

thanks susan, I had thought that when I first found modx there was something similar alongside that great wayfinder pdf how to, and before I posted I checked to see, but couldn’t seem to find it, and I wasn’t too sure about the books on amazon, I was just thinking that something you could download right here while supporting the modx team to pay the bills would be the way to go. there are tons of great sites, yours, bobrays, maryspad, matter of fact, those are my first three bookmarks in my modx folder.

I am sure you can tell by the many panicky posts I have submitted (as well as others), that there are times where we designers are rocking back and forth in our chairs staring at the monitor like traumatized circus bears waiting for people like you to swoop in and save the day.

Or you see posts (very rare, though I think there is one in flame bait) where disgruntled designers are ranting and raving rather than realizing how good things are...most of us are well aware modx is pure heaven compared to drupal’s or joomla’s seventh circle. Plus, I just don’t know why, but modx just seems to have a good vibe to it, I really can’t put my finger on it...probably the people behind it I suppose.

a simmering bowl of modx php tips, tricks, and core hacks (with maybe a pinch of javascript and howtos with common webservice apis to taste ) would be great...i’d eat it up, lick the bowl dry and ask for seconds!

I for one can feel the power of modx, its flexibility, but I just don’t have the know how to make things such as template variables jump through hoops for me...I mean I have already used it for simple things like keywords,images and switching css, but I can tell just by the cryptic conversations between some of you heavy weights that. I am really missing out (in the end its about learning more about php)...plus there are so many areas of web design which are insignificant to a php guru but are seemingly important to designers, little stupid things like getting resources created by a particular author to have the image of the author, I mean I have found this answer awhile ago (thanks bobray), I don’t need it, but I seem to run across these types of questions time and time again when looking for answers to my own questions.

I am hungry as heck!

Thanks for the enthusiasm and suggestion. MODx is actually going to publish its first book that Bob’s been working on for more than a year. It’s absolutely fantastic and will be quite comprehensive. It even contains a beginners PHP tutorial, too. But you’d be shocked at how long it takes and how much effort goes into writing books. $10/pop on a PDF would make it incredibly difficult to ever recapture the time investment. That being said, I’d like to see a printed version of the Wayfinder PDF too.

actually I did have a book of mine published and I know how little comes back from the saleprice, that’s precisely why I suggested a pdf and epub you can put it out yourself and no middle-man. And now since the ipad is so hot among the "must haves" you could distribute it on that platform as well, because if you sell a book for 15 on amazon, depending on who puts it out or if it’s self-published (I dunno maybe publishers like oreilly or others who specialize in tech books give more) you only get a couple bucks per title.

and as far as it being electronically available, I have a triple monitor set up, actually dual and a wacom cintiq as the third, I tend to have several apps open and spread out over ’em, and when working with wayfinder, I had that pdf open on my first monitor so I could simply turn my head, bookmark the file where the key points were and work while reading, for me at least when it comes to tech subjects having it right there without breaking the workflow and flipping through pages but searching the pdf for keywords really sped things up.

I am stoked to hear bobray has that coming down the pipeline, I will be all over it!

I guess a site that would collect all valuable links, and furthermore use proper tagging and categorization, could come a long way

-> starting point: http://www.modxlinks.wangba.fr/www/

darn good one sharkbait, in all my scroogling never found that... it’s bookmarked!

modxlearner123, I totally feel your pain.

I’ve been working as a graphic designer for almost 10 years now. Back in 2001 I knew it all about making websites with tables. Then I focused on designing for print and other disciplines such as video post production/motion graphics, so I stopped developing my web design skills. It’s just recently that I decided to broaden my skills and get back on track with web design and studied xhtml+css from the ground up, at last.

Next step was finding a CMS that would suit me. I needed something to make simple sites by myself, without having to outsource the code (damn economic crisis), even though I know nothing about coding. I asked around to some friend devs, and I heard myself asking the very same question everytime: "I just need kind of a framework, just design the site myself in html/css and then easily hook it somehow to snippets that will do the magic". Some suggested Drupal, others Joomla, Wordpress... and one of them said, why not just a wiki? But looking at some samples of those CMS, I knew they weren’t for me. I crave for simplicity and flexibility. I googled for "best cms for graphic designers" and for the first time read about Modx in some blog post. Not in the best cms list, but the comments, hehe. There were some very passionate comments about Modx. Those are the ones I value the most.

Well, since right now I really can’t waste my time testing dozens of CMSs, I decided to go with Modx. I began installing Revo, very straightforward and easy. But just a couple days later I reverted to Evo 1.0.4. Why? Because of the available documentation and extras. Since I don’t know a thing about coding, I figured it’d be best to save Revo for a time when more addons and help has been given.

I spent something like a whole week reading a LOT about Modx, how it works, how to configure it, browsing the extras library, etc. Then, this last weekend, I began porting my first static html/css to Modx. First thoughts? "This was just what I was looking for". Ahhh the freedom, ohhh the power, uhhh the joy! It took just a couple days to fully comprehend how templates, chunks, and even wayfinder work.

But it wasn’t that easy, simple or straight forward. And here’s where I’m actually adding something to the topic The learning process was pretty hard. Why is that? Is Modx difficult? Counter-intuitive? Obscure? Not at all... for me, there are mainly 2 problems with the way Modx is documented.

First of all, the info is scattered all over the internet. Modx forums, the wiki, Mary’s codingpad, Susan Ottwell, the url sharkbait just shared (thanks!!!). There is no way to learn it in a structured way. The official documentation is ok but lacking in many areas. There actually exists a book about it: http://www.amazon.com/MODx-Development-Antano-Solar-John/dp/1847194907/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1285061516&sr=8-1 but its reviews are not that good.

Secondly, there is the fact that, as you very well put it, designers and developers speak mutually alien languages. I found many, many of the resources available to learn Modx to be most definitely written by coders in a slightly obscure way (no offense here my fellow coders!). I’m a person who likes to always get a more or less deep understanding of how stuff works and usually invest quite a bit of time on learning on my own and searching for info before asking newbie questions (btw, I’m amazed at the patience most of you in the forums have with total newbies who haven’t even bothered to read the official documentation!), but many times I just couldn’t follow the train of thought of those resources. I’m deeply grateful to the people that took the time to write those though, don’t get me wrong! For example, to this day I still don’t quite grasp the concept of TVs. I know what they are, I’m just not able to get the complete picture and resort to them when I need them. Just yesterday I needed a certain functionality involving inserting several different images in different sections of a wayfinder generated menu, and I was lucky enough to find a blog post giving me the key to do it with a TV. "But of course!!!" I thought. That just illustrates how I still am not aware of the tools -or rather their functionality- that Modx gives me.

As a graphic designer and someone whose work is to organize and make information clear, usable and easily understood by anyone regardless of their field savvyness, age or whatever... I would love to help Modx to get its message across and help newbies like me. Problem is time, in my case I’m in a tight spot right now (that’s why I’m broadening my skills, to see if I can reach a wider area of clients), I need to make a living and currently lack the time to help. But just as modxlearner123 suggests, I’d be willing to pay for a good, structured source of Modx learning. Otherwise, as again modxlearner123 suggests, it will be a matter of posting my questions and praying for any of the pros to hop in and help out.

I truly love Modx and I’m willing to keep learning on how to work with it. It’s just not that easy. As rthrash pointed out in some other post, the team is more focused in refining the core code than in the documentation. That’s more than fair enough, and since this is an open source project, it needs of people helping and documenting. But in order to Modx to keep spreading, I don’t really think it’s a matter of charging for nicely developed extras or support, really. I think it’s all about getting passionate people involved with it, passionate people just as the ones that commented on that "best cms for designers" post, who drew me in. I think it’s about getting more graphic designers aware of Modx. I think it’s about getting more developers involved with it, adding to the core and extras. How to do that? Provide an even better starting point. Right now there’s an outdated wiki, the new rtfm Wiki, the forums, etc etc... it’s all scattered right now (but hey, at least it exists!). But not only that of course. Spread the word, build great sites, share your knowledge. I know I’m spreading the word. The other two I will, eventually.

I really don’t think you should rethink your whole marketing strategies. Just keep on refining, keep on reaching out.

The Modx cookbook sounds great, and it’s great to know that a new book on Modx is in the works as well.

About my current experience with Modx, I’m starting to hit some dead ends even with a very simple site. I’ll keep on reading, and eventually I’ll begin posting in the forum and see if anyone can help. Hope I can help others as well as my Modx comprehension increases.

Ok, that’s about all I wanted to say Sorry for the rant, I just wanted to share my first impressions with Modx and felt so close to the OP. Sorry as well for the chaotic structure and all (so much for information clarity!), I feel so excited right now about Modx I want to say so many things!

Thanks for creating Modx, I’m loving it more and more every day!

How about a MODx beer mug? The 1 liter ones!

I love the beer mug concept. I am starting to research new ways to promote my own business, and came up with custom printed condoms and laser-etched USB drives. But a 1 liter beer mug is sweeeeeeeeeeeeeeet.