The Help! in Revolution is no help.

Here’s another thought. I don’t see MODX as a CMS, I see MODX as a tool to build a CMS with the flexability of MODX most things can be changed in some way or another, so using things likes Form Customisation, and the ability to create a custom theme for the manager(not done the theme bit yet), I can create a CMS that works the way I want it to.

The thing is MODX has never as far as i’ve seen claimed to be a CMS it has always claimed to be a CMS Framework, i have always taken this to mean a framework to build my CMS on.

And as Bob says, the help pages can be edited or added to by the developer, my view is the developer edits MODX to fit the client.

cipa and skndn60: in the analogy about buying a car, you don’t seem to understand what a CMS is for. A CMS is a Content Management System. That means that it’s primary function is to manage content. A client hires me to design a website in which he/she can easily and quickly add or change their own content when they need to. In the case of a CMS, it’s not the client who chooses the car, but me, and I have to persuade the client that it’s a good car for the purpose of them quickly and comfortably getting from A to B each day, or whenever, to add or make a change to some content. If the car has seven peddles, two gear sticks and a dashboard with strange names and symbols on it, they’re not going to be very happy. They will be reluctant to pay me when I present the bill, and they won’t recommend me to any one else.

I’ve spent a huge amount of effort and time in learning how this strange car works and getting proficient at using it. But, if I’m going to stay in business, I have to either ditch it and buy a new one, or else pursuade the manufacturers to install more user-friendly controls and to put familiar names and symbols on the dashboard.

The nice thing. Its open-source and you can use it for nothing, if you want.
You are the one, who wants to sell it to your clients for money. But before you can sell it, you have todo some work to make it usable for them and write some documentation, so he can understand and use your work.
And if you are a good boy you give some contribution back to the community. May be some documentation or donation or what else, what you feel you can help out with.

If you don’t like this gift or you are not able to use it, let it be, use another one, which fits better to your skills.

Quote from: Bruno17 at Jan 27, 2011, 03:53 AM

The nice thing. Its open-source and you can use it for nothing, if you want.
You are the one, who wants to sell it to your clients for money. But before you can sell it, you have todo some work to make it usable for them and write some documentation, so he can understand and use your work.
And if you are a good boy you give some contribution back to the community. May be some documentation or donation or what else, what you feel you can help out with.

If you don’t like this gift or you are not able to use it, let it be, use another one, which fits better to your skills.

Spot on!
+1

Quote from: aspen at Jan 27, 2011, 02:24 AM

sidahmed: unfortunately, I can’t remember the specifics of the difficulties I had in the install. All I remember is that, for the final difficulty, I found, from the forums, that I needed to change some code deep in some files somewhere. I had to comment out, or un-comment something. Sorry, but that’s the best I can do. When I’ve got more time I may try another install. (Yes, if only I’d written it all down...!)

Yes this will be great, I hope you find a time, if so please write also about your server environments (look at red text under reply box).
If you couldn’t find a time, then may be you can just tell us about the environment you have, I can simulate it and do the installation hopefully I see the difficulties and write about it.. i have almost all sort of hosting types (from shared to cloud hosting) and have some free time..

Quote from: aspen at Jan 27, 2011, 02:24 AM

cipa and skndn60: in the analogy about buying a car, you don’t seem to understand what a CMS is for. A CMS is a Content Management System.

Just by saying "system" you already proved my point. I don’t know of any system in this world that doesn’t need learning or teaching
Maybe your clients don’t need a Content Management System but a Custom Content Management System. This is a decision you have to make for your client.

Anyway, MODX is here to make your job easy but it can’t beat a Custom Content Management System.

Quote from: aspen at Jan 27, 2011, 02:24 AM

cipa and skndn60: in the analogy about buying a car, you don’t seem to understand what a CMS is for.

A bold statement and I will not ponder on its merits.

The key is suitability for the job at hand. There’s unfortunately no universal tool. They all have pros and cons... and learning curves. I found MODx very suitable for the following reasons: easy to extend, robust and well thought out architecture, clear API from a developer perspective, active community, underpinned with industry standard technologies. This list not in any specific order or complete. In its current shape and form probably more a framework than an out-of-the-box CMS. The choice is yours. Choose wisely....

wowzow: thanks for your attempt at my challenge to answer a client’s question in a couple of jargon-free sentences. However, I can’t give you the prize. Firstly, the question asked by the client was actually not "What is a Resource?" but "Why is that left-hand tab, which shows the page structure of my website, titled Resources instead of Web Pages, or Website, or Site Map, or Documents?".

Secondly, I don’t think my client would agree with you that using ’resource’ instead of ’web page’ is like using ’automobile’ instead of ’car’. Using ’document’ instead of ’web page’, for instance, would be closer to ’automobile’ instead of ’car’. No, I think that using ’resource’ instead of ’web page’ is more like using a word such as ’vessel’ instead of ’car’. And the reason you are given for the use of ’vessel’ is that it is the official word used by the International Trade Federation to describe any entity that can contain other entities, and also because the developers want to include all possible such entities under one category in their User’s Manual.

Perhaps you think that’s being a bit extreme. Actually, I think I might not even be going far enough. If you read the entry that I am supposed to get my client to read, at http://encyclopedia.thefreedictionary.com/Resource+(Web), in the fourth paragraph it says:

"The first explicit definition of resource is found in RFC 2396, in August 1998 : A resource can be anything that has identity."

A resource can become a web page. Or not.

I frequently use them to contain snippets for AJAX processing; the URL used by the AJAX request is the URL for the resource which can by no stretch of the imagination be considered a web page, document, or anything else. By thinking of resources only as embryonic web pages, you’re limiting yourself.

If it makes your client happier to see "pages" or "documents", then by all means change the lexicon for them. But please don’t lump the rest of us in the same ...er... vessel as your clients, and limit our understanding of what we’re working with.

The thing I love about modx is you can customize almost every part of it. For my clients I completely strip back the interface and re-name some of the more technical sounding terms.

That said there are quite a few UI interactions in modx revo that are pretty damn confusing, but I think these will be improved upon soon enough.

Bruno17:
You say, "And if you are a good boy you give some contribution back to the community. "

So you don’t accept that feedback from a newcomer and suggestions about what could be better from a newcomer’s point of view are a valid contribution? I am not experienced enough to contribute code or to write tutorial articles or such like.

einsteinsboi:
I’m steadily working my way through all your tutorials and I think they’re the best on the web. I hope you find time to do more about Revolution, and I look forward to them.