Need someone to convert PSD to MODX theme

Quote from: einsteinsboi at Jun 03, 2011, 08:14 PM

Quote from: cyclissmo at Jun 03, 2011, 03:38 PM

I would recommend contacting a MODx Solution Provider directly. You’ll work directly with an experienced company, and help support the MODx infrastructure along the way.

http://modx.com/partners/solution/

I’d like to think that there are other experienced companies and individuals that the OP can work with who aren’t necessarily MODX Solution Providers. These kind of posts and the directing of all commercial enquiries and jobs to an exclusive place seems to suggest that if one is not a Solution Partner then their skills and experience are suspect or not up to snuff. An exclusivity and hierarchy of sorts is developing here that’s honestly quite unlike anything I have seen in other open-source communities and quite off-putting (for me anyway). Just my 2c.

Plus one.

Quote from: rthrash at Jun 04, 2011, 10:14 AM

Quote from: einsteinsboi at Jun 03, 2011, 08:14 PM

These kind of posts and the directing of all commercial enquiries and jobs to an exclusive place seems to suggest that if one is not a Solution Partner then their skills and experience are suspect or not up to snuff. An exclusivity and hierarchy of sorts is developing here that’s honestly quite unlike anything I have seen in other open-source communities and quite off-putting (for me anyway). Just my 2c.

Thanks for the feedback Mary (and everyone else); I totally understand your reaction. But please let me explain our rationale.

We made the decision that one of the benefits of joining the MODX Solution Partner Program is enhanced lead generation. Frankly, the leads in the forums and through the website were how we survived for so many years of bootstrapping, while continuing to share all the fruits of those efforts with the world. You’d probably be shocked at how expensive it is to fund putting out free software. Donations are not a viable funding model for us with less than $60K having been donated in 6+ years. (That doesn’t even cover the hosting bills much less the salaries of a growing group of employees scattered around the globe.)

So, part of what we have to do to continue growing and innovating is generate real currency to help cover these expenses—the Solution Partner Program is part of our revenue generating business model. Further, since we promise we don’t compete with our Partners—we will and do collaborate with them when requested for advance engineering tasks and support, another source of revenue generation—we don’t cherry pick the prime opportunities that are generated through the various MODX website properties. We pass all leads along to our Partners who are making very real investments in MODX and their business by joining the MODX Solution Partner Program.

But please don’t think for a second we’re abandoning or minimizing our commitment to Open Source and the Community. The opposite is very much true.

We’re actively continuing to share our efforts and code, and hiring for positions that are specifically Community-focused. We have some things in development specifically for the Community that we’re super-excited about and that we think everyone will really enjoy. We’re absolutely committed to continue invest tons of time, dollars and effort to foster the ever expanding Community and to continue developing, curating and sharing the tools and techniques to make everyone’s life with MODX better—whether you’re a multi-person company building a business on MODX, a budding freelancer, an enthusiastic hobbyist, someone that’s simply curious, or just a MODX site owner.

While I understand the need for this, and I’m all for the core team making their money off MODX, I’m surprised any one has bought into this at the prices set. They seem high, without clear value coming in. I mean, so far as I know, it is the developer that the company has chosen that will usually push towards a particular system. Chances are good the companies don’t know anything about the software that is available, so I don’t see many companies that would go to MODX to look for a developer.

And to find a developer, I very likely wouldn’t be willing to pay the prices needed to hire a ’Solution Provider’. I need to make money on the deal as well. And the internet creates ’perfect competition’, allowing me to choose someone for so much less, it isn’t worth the peace of mind for 3-4 times the price (or more). Just my 2 cents

Personally, I think the Solution Provider program has a great deal of merit. At the very least, SP dues afford your company real estate space within the MODx website, gives your company some added credibility, and you help support MODx so that the community can continue to benefit from the framework and timely updates.

My recommendation to the OP to look into Solution Providers was not a strong-armed demand, just a suggestion. Customers can hire whomever or whichever company they see fit to provide development services. But given the decision to choose between an anonymous email response to a commercial inquiry or a company noted for their expertise with MODx, I would always choose the latter-- unless it was grossly unaffordable

Quote from: goonz at Jun 04, 2011, 10:22 PM

And to find a developer, I very likely wouldn’t be willing to pay the prices needed to hire a ’Solution Provider’. I need to make money on the deal as well. And the internet creates ’perfect competition’, allowing me to choose someone for so much less, it isn’t worth the peace of mind for 3-4 times the price (or more). Just my 2 cents

You may be surprised by the price to hire some of us "Solution Providers", in many cases the paid work done for some clients ends up in the community (MetaX for example). It never hurts to ask, and you can always say thanks, but it’s outside my budget.

I would say if you need the work done why not post in a few places and see what happens?

Quote from: goonz at Jun 04, 2011, 10:22 PM

And to find a developer, I very likely wouldn’t be willing to pay the prices needed to hire a ’Solution Provider’. I need to make money on the deal as well. And the internet creates ’perfect competition’, allowing me to choose someone for so much less, it isn’t worth the peace of mind for 3-4 times the price (or more). Just my 2 cents

How do you know the rates of all solution partners and base your ideas of that they are more expensive then others?

Personally, I’ve been told many times that my rate is way low. Recently someone asked me if I could check out something and that they could afford me checking it out for an hour. Then I replied with my rate and it was fine to spend a couple of hours on it. I could probably increase my rate (and I’ll probably will again next year or so), but just that I put a logo on my site saying that I’m a solution partner doesn’t mean I charge over (say) $ 100 per hour.

I don’t know all the rates of others either, but I do know there’s a few younger companies and a bunch of freelancers involved that don’t necessarily are in the top rate segment.


As for the prices being high for the program - perhaps so. The tangible benefits (right now) basically consists of the advertising space on the site (can’t say I got a lot of clicks from there yet either: 7) and it was a big decision for a parttime freelancer to save up the cash.

But it’s the intangible benefits you’re getting that make it totally worth it (to me).
- Very concentrated private forum: quite active, and the core team is much more involved compared to the regular forums. You get very high quality & in depth responses to queries.
- There are whitepapers being worked on that we can use in the boardroom to present on MODX instead of for example Wordpress that go into detail on specific points in which either system trumps the other, and how this affects the ceo of the client.
- Sneak previews. Remember that you could check out the new forums by posting in a certain topic? Partners already got access to that about a month earlier.
and there’s much more depending on what your specific interests are and what you would like to get out of the partner program.

To me, it’s a justified investment.

Quote from: Mark at Jun 05, 2011, 05:25 AM

As for the prices being high for the program - perhaps so. The tangible benefits (right now) basically consists of the advertising space on the site (can’t say I got a lot of clicks from there yet either: 7) and it was a big decision for a parttime freelancer to save up the cash.

But it’s the intangible benefits you’re getting that make it totally worth it (to me).
- Very concentrated private forum: quite active, and the core team is much more involved compared to the regular forums. You get very high quality & in depth responses to queries.
- There are whitepapers being worked on that we can use in the boardroom to present on MODX instead of for example Wordpress that go into detail on specific points in which either system trumps the other, and how this affects the ceo of the client.
- Sneak previews. Remember that you could check out the new forums by posting in a certain topic? Partners already got access to that about a month earlier.
and there’s much more depending on what your specific interests are and what you would like to get out of the partner program.

To me, it’s a justified investment.

Don’t you think though that making these sorts of in depth resources and quality involvement available to the entire community would be a more open way of doing things, and would accelerate the adoption and embracing of MODX by more developers and end users and thus grow the community? While I understand and appreciate that the core team also need to make money, I think that there are ways of doing things that don’t foster an exclusivity mentality that locks only some people into the best resources. I believe one of the things that has made projects like WordPress and Drupal so widely adopted and successful has been the free dissemination of knowledge and opportunity, and the openness of the community and the developers to sharing the best resources with everyone. To adopt this closed "only certain people who can or are willing to pay" get the best stuff seems counter intuitive and counter productive to me.

As i’m a Solution Partner i’d like to explain Why it Jakes Sense to me.

I’m a solo-freelancer and Sell Websites Basedow on MODX As well As Teachings. I Know that some companies require Special certification for a product i will Teach to them. Furztet on i have possibilities to get exklusive Jobs via Partner Board (this is like it is in real Life, you have to Pay to get exklusive stuff). And i get Support from MODX Team, too.

So for me it Males Sense. But how would you say MODX can get Money otherwise than out of the programs?

As u Know i contribute work to MODX for free, too. That’s not(!) the Point here and Not komparable.

I’m in two chicken and eggs about this - in the UK I’m seeing Silverstripe being very effectively evangelised by Silverstripe partners, with adoption rates surging and business increasing for all those involved (core team, partners, freelancers). This growth of an ecosystem locally makes life much simpler than being a MODX island here in West London.

I have no problem with priority service or prominence for people who actively evangelise and develop the product. There is a category of people, like you and Susan and Bob, who have done a great deal to help novice MODXers up and running (and you are all linked in the learning section), but for commercial purposes I would like to see agencies (and bigger agencies) taking / being given a more prominent role.

I think MODX is technically superior to Silverstripe (and most other CMS/F I’ve worked with), and I have a lot emotionally invested in seeing it work commercially (for myself, for others). I’ve thought about becoming a Solution Partner - but commercially that makes no sense at present for my business size, and considering my primary interest is in getting better at offering MODX solutions, so I’m looking for the certification program (MODX U - I sent an enquiry about this months ago - no reply) or MODX Press to finally ship Bob’s book.

At the same time, MODX continues to evolve at a pace that is ’challenging’ to those of us who come to this as a second or third career, which skews things towards the more technically competent - which can feel like a vicious circle. I can’t (buy / easily) get the skills to become more competent therefore I don’t become a Solution Provider therefore I become less attractive commercially over time....

These are the reasons I became a MODX Solutions Partner:

1. Adspace - the MODX Partner Program (MPP in this post is an investment just like any other in marketing and creating an Internet presence. Anne @redtoadmedia told me about how @modxcms helped grow her business - even before joining the MPP, and that when time came it was a no-brainer. So I joined, and accepted everything that comes with it - the costs, the benefits, etc.
2. Certification - I really wanted something to cement my MODX skills and establish my business as one that can reliably deliver quality MODX Solutions. What better way than to train/test yourself? Granted the MPP certifications are slow coming...but I will forgive @modxcms a LOT, because of what they’ve done for everyone who uses MODX - and that leads to....
3. BECAUSE I BELIEVE IN MODX SO MUCH, that pretty much WHATEVER it takes for @modxcms to continue developing it, is OK by me. So if they need to monetize on the MPP, commercial add-ons, books, tutorials, whatever the case may be - I’m behind it. I had a chat with Jay and they said the best I could do to contribute at that time was to join the MPP - so I did. I feel like I owe it to them, AND I when I add #1 and #2 above, I see it as a sound business decision that makes me feel good too.

Just for the record, the "Premiere" Partners pretty much get all the leads, so I could just as easily feel "2nd priority" to those guys - but guess what? I don’t do as much business as them, I don’t develop as many MODX sites, and I didn’t pay the big bucks! If you donate to a museum, or theatre or public art gallery - they will put up a plaque in your honor the size and placement of which depends on how much you donate. This is the same thing - do we scrap the idea of donating to these entities just because it fosters a hierarchal atmosphere?

I have the greatest respect for Mary, and I think it’s a worthy discussion: What is best for the Open Source MODX Community?

I speculate that if I’d spent years investing time in MODX and the MPP comes along, making me feel like 2nd priority somehow - that might be a source for contention....one that @modxcms might consider doing something about. BUT, I really don’t think the MPP is a problem in and of itself. Sure, it’s different than other CMSs - so is MODX. Maybe there’s a way to recognize long-standing contributions to MODX within the new MODX commercial ecosystem? I think we all agree non-financial contributions are just as valuable...I dunno...this is all beyond me. But a couple other points:

Don’t you think though that making these sorts of in depth resources and quality involvement available to the entire community would be a more open way of doing things...

If it were possible to make them available to the entire community I think @modxcms would do it. My perspective is that they’re saying "We can’t do it, or at the very least we need help." Help can mean: donate, join the MPP, continue to contribute to the forums and add-ons, continue to help each other and spread the platform. I mean how often can you twitter or email the founders of Wordpress and get a response at all? IMO @modxcms has done a lot to make things available to us, and if it’s their decision to grow the platform this way, I’m behind it.

And to find a developer, I very likely wouldn’t be willing to pay the prices needed to hire a ’Solution Provider’. I need to make money on the deal as well. And the internet creates ’perfect competition’, allowing me to choose someone for so much less, it isn’t worth the peace of mind for 3-4 times the price (or more).

Perfect Competition - if by "Perfect" you mean a system that values Cheap and Fast over every other quality. This is the problem with the Internet and Auction sites, IMHO. It fundamentally values Cheap and Fast more than Personal, Accessible, Responsive, Custom Tailored, Certified, Reputable, Honest, etc. When you go on Freelancer or Elance or something and see people bidding to template a MODX site for like $300 or something - who is that benefitting? The person doing the work is underpaid, the client is more removed from the source of the work - and they’re still paying top dollar to the person "brokering" the deal and what is the added value to the client? I’m sorry, I will probably get pelted from every direction for this but I think auctioning off work to the lowest bidder is full of disadvantages and negative implications. Just my 2c.

So far as the mention of prices, I assumed; I apologize, I shouldn’t have done that. I actually never tried to hire a solution partner. But, that being said, I think I got scared away price-wise by something I saw on modx.com, by the commercial support:

Incident resolution not to exceed 60 minutes per incident. Incidents are limited to problem resolution. Expanded issue resolution time or consulting and implementation advice is available for $250/hour.

That’s core team support. They don’t come cheap.

If you look at the tier 2 support (which means a solution partner helps you, but if they can’t fix it they can forward it to the core devs with the click of the button) you’ll see that’s much cheaper.

Oh, and I agree with Mr. YJ.