modxcms vs. wordpress

Since the previous thread is rather old I thought I would renew it.
The latest modx looks impressive, with multiple domain support for one installation and a bevy of plugins to handle all sorts of tasks fairly easily. The same can be said for WordPress.
For example, http://www.tripwiremagazine.com/2010/06/14-plugins-to-extend-wordpress-for-making-money.html

Every time I see ecommerce discussed on this forum concerning modx, the responses go along the lines of recommending Foxycart.
I’m not wanting to pay a monthly fee for ecommerce functionality. There are too many options available out there.
I’ve put off redesigning a large site I have (500 static pages) where I sell old books/collectibles and now need to dive in.
Would like something where I have a database (with image links, price, shipping) say on Google Docs where people can pay for them via Paypal, and products can be displayed via a widget on web pages, searched on, and bought.

What are people’s thoughts on the latest WordPress compared to modx as a CMS, especially when it comes to ecommerce tie in?
Any suggestions on free tools to pull in content from existing pages to populate template pages to save time?

What are people’s thoughts on the latest WordPress compared to modx as a CMS, especially when it comes to ecommerce tie in?

I have no idea on Wordpress, but the lack of eCommerce addons is probably one of the biggest downsides of MODx. Indeed Foxycart is probably your best bet, and even though you have to pay - you are sure it is being maintained.

There’s also TreasureChest. There’s the legacy version 1.0 @ http://treasurechestcart.com/, and as of May it’s back in production by someone else (topic: http://modxcms.com/forums/index.php/topic,46813.0.html). He offers the product for CHF 17,90 (something like 17 dollar if I recall correctly).

Any suggestions on free tools to pull in content from existing pages to populate template pages to save time?

To clarify, you mean "importing" a full static website?

Mark, thanks.
What I mean is to be able to pull text and images into the CMS from current static pages to save time on rekeying in, or copy and pasting manually each page. Of course, I plan to change the text around, update it and the like. Saw somewhere online awhile back that there were tools available to do this. Don’t remember where I saw it.
I don’t want to spend all my time learning something then find that I could have done it quicker another way in just as effective a manner. ecommerce is an important component. Why are there so few plugin options for modx in this regard?

Here’s a snapshot of the current wordpress - http://wordpress.org/development/2010/06/thelonious/

ecommerce is an important component. Why are there so few plugin options for modx in this regard?

There is no single ecommerce configuration; every site has different requirements. Trying to develop such a beast rapidly becomes a full-time job, as users demand more and more features and require more and more support for all their different requirements. That’s why you find so many stand-alone ecommerce packages with entire teams bigger than the MODx development team working on them. I developed ShopX, which started as a simple cart application, then quickly ballooned into far more than I was able to deal with. There are a few others like Treasure Chest, but all ended up being dropped as support simply became more than the developers could devote their time and energy to.

I worked extensively with CubeCart for a while, and every site required a number of mods, until before long each one was so heavily modded that it was impossible to upgrade it, and even some of the mods were stepping on other mods. It was a nightmare.

FoxyCart may be $19 a month, but in my opinion it’s more than worth it; if a site can’t support that then either it’s in the wrong business or doesn’t need that much of an ecommerce application in the first place. JCart is a nice little AJAX-based cart that has PayPal integration; maybe that’s all you really need.

There’s also ecwid (http://www.ecwid.com/compare-plans.html) which has a free plan and integrates easily into MODx.

Thanks all. I’ll take a look at these. Ecommerce is so important to most sites at least the ones that are not powered by affiliate money or sponsorships. It would seem that more CMSs would have a secure cart as a central component, with seamless tie ins with Paypal, Google Checkout, Amazon, etc. that don’t have an interest in handling credit cards directly and being able to manage their database of individual products easily using Google Docs.
Have seen a widget for Google Checkout that looks interesting that pulls data from a Google Doc to populate the widget where you can then embed the widget where you want on a page. Would be great if it were more robust and supported Paypal as well.

We are going with Lemonstand. It’s open source, but not free, but frankly it’s very much MODx like and the price is far less then the development hours and frustration you need with a lot of the other Cart systems. We can use the sample template code (XHTML/CSS) that we use for the content part of sites unlike Prestashop, where you have to work with SMARTY, OS Commerce (have to work with tables), Magento with it’s own templating system, etc. It’s flexible and well documented. There was a great deal of relief when we first heard of it and now that we’re using it we’re doubly relieved to not have to work in the other systems. The reporting system is spectacular as well.

It would be nice if MODx and/or other CMS’s had the same features in regard to eCommerce, but in many ways it really is another world. For eCommerce intense sites with simple surrounding content we only use Lemonstand and not MODx at all, as the CMS elements in it are good enough for that, but definitely not at MODx level.