What a MODx Blog would consist of

Quote from: kenquad at Jan 04, 2011, 02:04 PM

Quote from: Photowebmax at Jan 04, 2011, 01:37 PM

"downloaded 14,873 times..."

Good point!

In the real world, however, how many ordinary blog followers are going to say, "Hey, that blog uses the Monochrome Pro theme from Graphpaper Press! I’d know it anywhere!"?

Now let me be clear: Our clients get unique, high-quality designs, not templates. However, if somebody’s just looking to start a run-of-the-mill blog, I don’t think one person in a thousand would balk at becoming download #14,874 for that oh-so-cool theme.

I totally get your point here. Really. In my case I am not taking on quick jobs setting up run of the mill blogs. My main gig is photography. I build custom sites on the side, hopefully using my photos. I only work with folks/clients who want custom work. So I am faced with a blank slate in most cases. Of course I will be using some common basic code and CSS declarations on every project. But the reason I like MODx is that I don’t have to backwards engineer themes to design anything. I don’t have to cater to the specifics of the Wordpress loupe and other blocks of stuff. I am trying to learn more scripting languages so I can understand more and be more responsive to some of the MODx issues or demands that arise. My poor brain fights it but I am slowing absorbing more all the time.

This is an interesting discussion. I think many guys and girls like MODx because it provides an open framework that gives them room to play with development code. I am not one of them. I like MODx because I need to build sites my way. The appreciation line between installing a module and having it perform its duties with a couple of mouse clicks versus having that module being super flexible to custom script finessing can be very different to different users. What is liberating to some is frustratingly vague to others. Its certainly interesting watching the different forms of appreciation that users have for MODx as a whole though...

Quote from: JWMSales at Jan 05, 2011, 12:13 PM

your sig site appears to support IE6 partially or not at all - is that policy? If I could chuck IE6, that would save a lot of time

I no longer support IE6 on my site. Less than 2% of visitors are using that browser and it isn’t worth the time to make it work. It does cut down on a lot of time.

Interesting...

If one out of a hundred designers catered to IE6 I would admire that individual tenacity. I would also loudly cheer the fact that the other 99 ignore IE6. The more the design/development community shun catering to IE6 the faster its eventual demise will be in my book. I think we as a community should only bother with IE6 when the client is going to pay dearly for the effort. There was a time when it was considered admirable for us to make sites function in IE6. Face it, some of the time this required skill and effort. But these days I think its best to keep this miserable browser away from any polite consideration. Keep it locked outside in the snow, away from the warm fire in the cabin. Then maybe the damn thing will freeze to death?

In all my years of MODx development I have yet to meet a client who was content with a "stock" template. Every one wanted something different. Working with CubeCart and various other external packages has been a nightmare, as opposed to customizing MODx templates and add-ons. I did some work with a couple of the more commonly used CMS scripts before MODx, and it wasn’t at all fun. MODx is fun.

Ken - I think of "simple" template as a site that’s very straight-forward without a lot of TVs or other integrations. Plus, as we’ve been alluding to, it all depends upon your starting point for the site (how much info you already and know before you begin.) Obviously, with my site I knew everything I need to do.

Essentials for Blogging 1.0-pl: http://modxcms.com/extras/package/793


Nice discussions by the way

My philosophy is to give my clients the best tool for the job at hand. If the site they want is primarily a blog then I give them Wordpress or if it’s a little more than a blog then I might build the site in Squarespace. But if they need a content management system then MODx is the choice. Even if they want a blog but it’s more important to have a great CMS then I choose MODx and with getResources, getPage, tagLister, Disqus (for comments) I add a simple blog. A great front end editor and publisher would be a nice addition as some clients don’t want to deal with the manager. It also takes a lot of my time to write up full documentation for them on how to use their new site. So a simple front end editor/publisher would do wonders. I like where the upfront editor is going http://upfront.butter.com.hk/ but it’s not ready for prime time yet.

MODx shouldn’t be something it’s not. Though most websites have a blog component these days so simplifying the process of setting one up or clarifying the documentation for this purpose might be helpful.