What did you use before MODx?

Out of curiosity (and possible for documentation reasons) I’d like to know what some of our users were using before they switched to MODx. Or if you’re planning your switch to MODx, let us know what you’re using now.

If you have any suggestions for a CMS you’d like added to the poll please post them here.

Well...I definitely used Etomite before. But for more of a portal site, I was really trying to get Mambo/Joomla! to work for me (with little success!). I think the problem with other CMS’ is the fact that you’re stuck within the confines a specific way of developing templates. Plus, the advent of "modules" and such in CMS’ such as Mambo can lead to some confusion. The main problem I had with Mambo was getting some of the modules to output valid DHTML/CSS code. That and I had specific things I wanted to accomplish and the code itself for alot of modules were just sloppy and hard to modify.

These problems don’t really exist with MODx. If I was to classify MODx as anything, I would label it as more like a "Website Construction Kit"...meaning that you build it the way you want to using the API and tools provided by the CMS. What else could a web developer want?

We had our own "home grown" CMS, which had much (but certainly not all) of the functionality of MODx. There’s no point continuing to develop our if we can use and contribute to a superior, open source CMS.

The layout and methods of working are very logical and easy to customise - something which can’t be said of most of the competitors. Good work!

I used Etomite and cmsimple and before that no cms just notepad

I used Etomite and, before that, Drupal.

For my home page I maintained one of the original themes of Drupal, ported to MODx:
http://www.dis.uniroma1.it/%7eallulli

I was trying out a lot of different systems (Mambo, Typo 3, etc.) when I came across Phase. I was really impressed by it’s potential. And I’ve stuck with it (sort of). I just love the features of MODx.

Here’s a quick list of the systems I’ve worked with in the recent past:

PostNuke
MD-Pro
AutoTheme (template engine for PN and MD-Pro)
Mambo
osCommerce
WordPress
Etomite

I’m sure there are more, but since everything I develop now is for Etomite and MODx, I only have a few more sites to convert from PN and MD-Pro, then I’ll be free from the forced table layouts and limited design options I suffered through for many years.

I still use Limbo (a light Mambo) and of course Etomite. I use the appropriate CMS for the appropriate situation.

This is all very interesting. We’re definitely mostly Etomite refugees, but there are more Mambos out there than I’d anticipated.

Keep ’em coming!

I am not coming to MODx to switch CMS per say, but to find one that will fill a gap in my current shortlist of CMS. You could say I am looking for one more tool, a "different from the others" kind of tool.


What I used and dropped

Typo3, because it’s too heavy, cluttered and not standard compliant. SPIP, also for being non-compliant. Mambo, for the same reason but also because templating is so clumsy and there’s no tag language or template engine (... but hey there’s hope with Joomla and patTemplate, let’s not burry them). e107 : while it had a clean and easy admin, lots of good stuff for a portal system, its plugins were too buggy and generally speaking I have been tired to wait for 0.7. Drupal : I had great hopes, it’s truly powerful once you get past its sometimes weird logic, but the admin is messy (just the same thing is true of Xaraya...). Bitweaver : Great hopes, modular architecture with great promises, at least a tableless portal CMS ! but community is smaller than small and bugs don’t make it a viable choice for production.


What I currently use

I have mainly been using textpattern : so far the most flexible CMS (no, it’s not a blogging tool) as far as templating and design is concerned. Awesome and numerous plugins (there are some true talents there !), and an amazing community are big pluses too. The only limitations are limited hierarchical levels (2), an admin that could be more usable and content keywords/tagging is somewhat limited.

I also use CMS Made Simple, it shares textpattern’s flexibility but is still young (use it for personnal or testing purposes)... Other than that, I use Unclassified News Board and PunBB for forums (might add SMF to this in the future, BTW, I like the simplicity theme for SMF here). I am involved in an opensource social software project named AroundMe, which I plan to use for a client. In the "blog area", I use DotClear which is clean, simple and efficient, and for power blogging the only "non-opensource" I use is Expression Engine.


Why I came to MODx

Whaow, I know this has been a long message : more to the point now, why I came to MODx.

I need illimited hierarchical structure for more complex corporate websites. Corporate also means usable, user-friendly backend and frontend editing. Since for me flexibility and modularity are key, and I wouldn’t adopt a CMS with a clumsy template system , I chose MODx for this very specific need because it’s the only one to fit the bill I have a feeling I might just end up using it for other projects as well...

I also must say the responsiveness of the dev team, and the dynamics of this community are key to my being here... This probably explain why I tested and never adopted Etomite while I saw great promise in it. It’s hard to put your finger on it, it’s not the number of post or snippets or whatever. I don’t see Etomite moving forward, MODx is. It makes me want to contribute and invest time, and ultimately : use it for actual projects.