Is MODx Evolution Dead ?

I confess that I’m confused by much of this discussion. Revolution, as installed, is empty because if you add every add-on that somebody wants, you get a CMS cluttered up with a ton of stuff you’ll never need. If you have a reasonable internet connection, you can download and install any add-on you need in about 30 seconds (as opposed to 10 minutes to several days to download, install, and configure an add-on in Evolution). Further, you can use PackMan to pack all your favorite add-ons into a single Transport Package for quick and easy installation in other sites -- something that would take you forever to do in Evolution. Remember, too, that clients aren’t installing Revolution and won’t see it until you’ve installed the necessary add-ons and perhaps customized the Manager.

What most confuses me, though, is the idea that the Revolution Manager is so much harder for clients to use. In Revolution, just like Evolution, you can right-click on a document in the Tree and select edit (or you can just click on the document) -- then you’re looking at pretty much the same screen you saw in Evolution. If you want to get rid of the Template Variables tab (I personally like it) or change its name, you can easily do so and can move the TVs to the first panel where they were in Evolution. If you want to simplify the Top Menu by removing items that clients don’t need to see and/or adding a New Document menu choice at the top level, you can do it in about 5 minutes. You can also pretty easily hide the files tab and the elements tab and/or let the user see only parts of any tree.

I agree with Susan and others about the perceived speed of the Revo UI and I’ve also been frustrated by the ExtJS/Smarty approach, but that’s a small price to pay for the powerful and consistent tools that Revolution provides for developers.

The bottom line, for me, is that I’m quite a bit more productive in Revolution than in Evolution and I can make the site look and work however I want it to for clients. It’s true that customizing the manager takes longer than it did with ManagerManager, but there’s no reason a ManagerManager-like interface can’t be developed that will do the customizing for you. I think the xPDO methods on which Revo is based would make this relatively easy to do.

I agree with every word you say, BobRay. But I still prefer Evo. Probably my lack of formal education is showing here; I just don’t like the effort it takes for me to wrap my head around how Revo works, and I’m not one to just accept the surface of anything. I’ve got to figure out what’s going on. That’s why I started building my own computers, after I’d been repairing sewing machines and bicycles for some years. That’s why I like Evo; I figured out how it works years ago (not that it’s all that difficult!). I suppose that one of these days I’ll get started with Revo, but I know I’ll somehow feel disloyal, like I’m abandoning somebody who has served me faithfully for many years.

FormCustomization is the native ManagerManager for Revolution (Allowing to rename each and Every field for those who want to hide verbosity).

I’ve seen here and there that it is not as easy to use as the original.

Quote from: lossendae at Nov 12, 2010, 11:41 AM

FormCustomization is the native ManagerManager for Revolution (Allowing to rename each and Every field for those who want to hide verbosity).

I’ve seen here and there that it is not as easy to use as the original.

I may be misremembering, but IIRC ManagerManager also let you hide menu items in the Top Menu, which Form Customization doesn’t do (although it’s relatively easy to do with custom permissions). In Revo, you can also customize the Top Menu just by dragging things around in Manager->Actions. You can create an Admin-Only menu with a custom permission and just drag everything to it that you don’t want clients to see in the top menu.

Quote from: sottwell at Nov 12, 2010, 11:40 AM

I agree with every word you say, BobRay. But I still prefer Evo. Probably my lack of formal education is showing here; I just don’t like the effort it takes for me to wrap my head around how Revo works, and I’m not one to just accept the surface of anything. I’ve got to figure out what’s going on. That’s why I started building my own computers, after I’d been repairing sewing machines and bicycles for some years. That’s why I like Evo; I figured out how it works years ago (not that it’s all that difficult!). I suppose that one of these days I’ll get started with Revo, but I know I’ll somehow feel disloyal, like I’m abandoning somebody who has served me faithfully for many years.

I know just what you mean. After all the time I’ve spent spelunking in Revolution, I’m still not comfortable with the whole controllers/processors thing and, like you, I just don’t like JavaScript. OTOH, every time I have to write a snippet and get to use xPDO, I feel like I’ve just won the lottery. I see a lot of Evolution questions here on how to do things where I think, if this were Revo, I’d could answer this off the top of my head in less than a minute -- with Evo, I’d have to spend at least a half-hour playing around with code to answer the same question.

Yeah, I frequently see things in the forums that make me think "That’s really neat!" One of these days I’ll get pushed over the edge, I just know it.

I cut my teeth on Evolution but didn’t necessarily find some of the snippets that straight forward to use - never quite got to grips with MaxiGallery!! But I love to learn which is why I’m loving Revolution!

Sure change is always scary and there is inevitably a learning curve, and afterall one size does not fit all, so whilst I have some sites built with Evo and newer projects will be built in Revolution, until those first sites I built need a complete redesign I’ll leave them as they are.

My USP is the fact that I can build sites with Modx which gives clients the power to maintain sites themselves. I’m also passionate about teaching clients in as simple a way as possible how to get the most out of this CMS, and IMHO Modx in either Evo or Revo fits the bill.

If you haven’t yet taken the plunge with Revolution, try it - you might like it! And if you have, and it doesn’t push your buttons, carry on with Evolution.

It seems to me that Evolution is going to be around for sometime to come, but ultimately Revolution will grow from a rough and ready teenager into something altogether more mature.....

Quote from: sharkbait at Nov 12, 2010, 10:18 AM

Ability to have an almost unlimited number of docs before the system barfs.

...not so sure about this

Shark,
You’d know better about number of docs that I would! Just what I’ve been hearing. And OMG, don’t tell me that there’s something that I might have more experience in than Susan?!!!!?? Nah, probably not. (Revo)

Here’s a thought: I’m a pro guitarist, and whenever I want to relate better to students, I simply flip the guitar over and start playing left-handed - not too easy. For those who are amazed that anyone could have trouble with the Revo interface, give it to Mom or Dad, and see how they do with no instruction at all. I’m just sayin’.

[Yes, yes, earnest developers, I know, you go much faster, it was my feeble attempt at humor. Nothing to see, please disperse]

Cheers, D

Quote from: samba at Nov 12, 2010, 03:13 PM

Here’s a thought: I’m a pro guitarist, and whenever I want to relate better to students, I simply flip the guitar over and start playing left-handed - not too easy.

I’ll try using the mouse with my left hand next time I log in Revo

Revo is a welcomed tool ’cause I kind of got used to Evo and needed a new challenge. I can’t wait to dive into all that OOP programing: new MODx Api, xPDO and all that ExtJs cool stuff(except the ExtJS’s html part). Developing snippets is almost the same for both versions but I think developing 3PC/modules is a lot more OOP in Revo than Evo; and I need more OOP in my coding.

So I will gradually move to Revo but still use Evo for simple projects.

hey samba

i was only referring to this thread (and others): http://modxcms.com/forums/index.php/topic,56823.msg327269.html#msg327269
my biggest site is ~600 resources, so it doesn’t affect me that much (atm), but a lot of people think the resource limit will vanish automatically by switching over to revolution