Do clients find it easy?

First post here, so hello to 1 and all.

I’d like to know if administering a non blog website with MODx is easy for clients? Can they be shieled from interface widgets the don’t need?

Thanks,
Lee

Quote from: leeaston at May 26, 2006, 04:36 AM

First post here, so hello to 1 and all.

I’d like to know if administering a non blog website with MODx is easy for clients?

I think it is, by the use of the QuickEdit module users can navigate through their site and just press the edit button whenever they want to edit a page. And also they can add pages very easily through the manager.

But... Don’t think you can give your client a CMS and then turn your back and let them play. You should always take a few hours (depending on their computer skills) to show them around and make them feel comfortable with the CMS.

Quote from: leeaston at May 26, 2006, 04:36 AM

Can they be shieled from interface widgets the don’t need?

Yes they can, by adding userprofiles in the backend you can specify almost every action a user is allowed to do.

Like:
- Managing Templates
- Managing Snippets
- Managing Plugins
- Which pages they can manage

Al these points can also be specified further, like a user can edit a snippet but cannot delete or create a new one.

I’ve got multiple non-technical folks using the manger quite successfully to create entirely new sections of content thanks to WYSIWYG editors and DropMenu. A few hours training results in amazing levels of productivity!

In my opinion, the coolest thing is being able to use snippets and TVs (template variables) to create really, really "idiot-proof" sites. For example, let’s say they want their homepage to display the latest news, blog posts, and something else. You can set the homepage up so they never have to touch it; they just create new content and it happens automatically. Example here: http://simpleprayer.org

And when they create that content, you can specify exactly what you want them to enter. They want a thumbnail image next to each new article? Just make a TV for an image. When they create the article, they just click and upload their image. Everything happens automatically (after you’ve set it up that way, of course).

I have 2 clients that still call me for help after a year of using Mambo/Joomla. I don’t usually need to help my MODx clients after 1 or 2 weeks of them using the system.

Big recommendation from me though: Customize the FCK Editor toolbar to remove all the junk that they’ll never need. It’ll save you some headaches and keep their code clean. And teach them how (not) to paste from Word, because everybody does it, and it’s horrible

Customizing the editor would be a good thing, though I usually put my clients in tinyMCE, which outputs more compliant code. How exactly does one do that? (with minimal php knowledge . . . )

Quote from: kickass at May 28, 2006, 11:38 AM

Customizing the editor would be a good thing, though I usually put my clients in tinyMCE, which outputs more compliant code. How exactly does one do that? (with minimal php knowledge . . . )

By installing the TinyMCE plugin. It’ll take you all of 10 minutes, including upload/download time.

Um, I know that, I’ve already installed tinyMCE. I’m talking about ripping out the stuff that clients can use to get in trouble re the html, ie tables, or border/vspace/hspace on images- stuff like that, like is talked about earlier in the thread--

Customize the FCK Editor toolbar to remove all the junk that they’ll never need. It’ll save you some headaches and keep their code clean.

I think it’s a bit more involved with TIny to make custom menu bars. I’d be interested in a solid, quick tutorial as well.