Technical requirements of MODx are not on the web site?

Hi all,

I work with MODx for a few years now and am very happy with it.

Today I had to install MODx on a server that’s not mine, and it was still running PHP4. Ouch, deprecated technology. Could MODx run on PHP4? Probably it can, but let’s try out the website.

It’s not on the home page, that’s okay. Let’s have a look in the navigation. Nope, nothing that’s suggests Technical Requirements. Documentation? No info either.

I think this is an important omission on the web site. Let’s pretend you are someone interested in using MODx. You have always have these questions:

• 1. What is MODx? This is answered in the first alinea of the home page. Excellent! If this is what I want, the next question pops up in my head.
• 2. What can MODx do exactly (features)? Again this is answered on the home page. Excellent. It even points to "discover more". Now a bit of confusion starts. In the navigation there are two menu items under Features: AJAX and SEO. SEO provides a lot of good information, AJAX is almost empty. Hmmm. Confusing. Anyway, I am thrilled with the features, so the next question arises.
• 3. What do I need to run it (technical requirements)? I couldn’t find it on the site. This is the point I want to address in this post. Because, if I as a potential new user of MODx, see that my hosting provider or desktop fulfills the technical requirements, I have my fourth question.
• 4. How can I get it? This is handled by a button in the sidebar and a menu item. Excellent.

Now, most of the time, just downloading and installing MODx will "just work", I know that. But I think it would be great if the technical requirements would be easily accessible. A potential new user would like to know:

• What versions of PHP?
• What versions of which databases?
• Needed hard drive space?

I think it is a small step in lowering barriers to people who are investigating the use of MODx.

Bee

Beestar you are right and wrong. They are there I just realized the other day that they are not where they should be (under installation and configuration).

Here is the link to the current version:

http://modxcms.com/about.html and look down to the "For Optimal Results" section.

Otherwise you are right on most points. These elements will be addressed in the upcoming website update and will continue to improve over time.

Thanks for your post.

Jay

Jay,

ah, there it is. The reason I missed it, is because About is below Blog, therefor giving me the impression that it’s not that important. It’s just like the About under most Help menu items in desktop applications. You know, version information and credits.

To store the technical requirements under Installation & Configuration would be a good place!


Bee

Noone should be expected to find it where it is now. I think it will be moved into the documentation. It should also be on the downloads page as well.

Cheers,

Jay

Quote from: smashingred at Mar 02, 2008, 09:03 AM

It should also be on the downloads page as well.

Great idea.

Good points and discussion. Thanks for helping us make this a bit better. I like the backtick remark too.

I know some hosts limit your file count so that could also be an interesting thing to note.... You could also put something like this isn’t normally a problem or something like that...

AMDbuilder