MODx For Idiots Book?

Quote from: Bravado at Dec 20, 2006, 03:14 PM

This is probably one of the reasons why I would love to write a full fledged MODx book. Maybe once we get closer to a 1.0 release, I’ll really dig into this idea. At least that way, new users can get a great introduction and won’t feel lost afterwards on where to go from there.

If you’re serious about doing that, let me know when you’re ready. I have some good contacts at O’Reilly (having done work for them previously)

A MODx book is a good thing. I hope in the future

Quote from: smashingred at Dec 20, 2006, 09:36 PM

On the book idea: Peachpit Press’s Visual QuickStart and Visual QuickPro series are by far the best books I have read for programming or web design. The use of images and visual examples at a ratio of nearly 50% to text is most helpful to someone who needs to see what is being done rather than be told what to do. MODx Content Management and PHP Framework System A Visual QuickStart Guide sounds like a pretty great title. No matter what it is called I am sure it will be as good as MODx itself.

I concur with smashingred - those Visual Quickstart/pro guides are far easier to plough through than anything else I’ve read.

A MODx book would be slightly different as it’d be less coding-oriented than a lot of books in their range, but illustrating the main points as you go with a few screen captures really helps. A picture is worth a dozen clicks

So I’m all for a book as well, and recommend whoever takes the lead on it grab a Visual Quickstart book to peruse as an example of a good style to possibly adopt. I think the title should be a bit more professional, however the book really needs to start with the basics and work it’s way through. A lot of coding books you find are split into three sections, with the general intro in part 1, some more advanced stuff in part 2 and the really advanced stuff in part 3 with all the tables of API functions and so forth at the back with the techy bits.

If anyone needs a hand design wise, I’d be happy to put some ideas forward. A bit premature I know, but it’s a good thing to start getting excited about

All I can say is...Wow! Great responses so far on the idea! Definitely will collaborate with any and all of our current MODx team members when it comes time to do this. In the meantime, I think we can get the ball rolling by getting a wiki started for the book itself. From there we can start working on how it will be organized, all the different sections and such, and the overall flow. Got a lot of ideas on this so far so....guess we need to start somewhere!

I have been going through the document parser class and, for my own records, deeply documenting all the functions and writing down examples of how I could use each function. I found that the online documentation, of course, was at times outdated/inaccurate, or incomplete.  I was planning on dumping this in the wiki when I am done, but I would be happy to submit this report for review and inclusion in your book if you like. Sometimes haveing real-world, working examples (preferably multiple examples) of the API functions can be really helpful for snippet/module/plugin creators.

-sD-
Dr. Scotty Delicious, Scientist.

Quote from: Dr. at Dec 21, 2006, 09:36 AM

I have been going through the document parser class and, for my own records, deeply documenting all the functions and writing down examples of how I could use each function. I found that the online documentation, of course, was at times outdated/inaccurate, or incomplete. I was planning on dumping this in the wiki when I am done, but I would be happy to submit this report for review and inclusion in your book if you like. Sometimes haveing real-world, working examples (preferably multiple examples) of the API functions can be really helpful for snippet/module/plugin creators.

I agree we need this Scotty (I think it should go in the Wiki now), but, since 0.9.5 is the last version in which the document.parser file exists, we need to quickly shift the focus to the upcoming API IMO and not continue to promote and describe what is essentially the old API, deprecated in the near future. Again, I’m not discouraging this being posted, as I am sure it will be useful for those adopting 0.9.5 now and for the next month or two while 0.9.7 is finalized, but I think focusing on the new API as soon as possible is important because it can serve as a good exercise in getting used to the new object-oriented API’s that will be available to component developers, and will be good way to achieve better documentation for the next release, even before we release it.

That said, I do think the focus of the book being discussed here should be on the future. By the time we complete such a project, I have no doubt it would be post 0.9.7 release or later.

I think MODx would lend itself to a slightly different approach as well.

And smaller chunks, no pun intended, might move it along quicker and make it more robust overall.

So maybe there is a foundation book, the real getting started, basics, philosophy, etc.

Then you have your next layer, which are smaller guides... MODx Blog, MODx eCommerce, MODx Marketing/Brochureware, MODx Community, MODx Gallery, etc.

And of course, the Under the Hood Advanced Developer Guide.

You can always ponder the value of going to print versus electronic format as well. What would really be slick would be the ability to print and toss in a binder, then being able to swap out any major updates, add to the binder, etc... something that represents the heart of MODx... the ability to grow, adapt, and add on over time.... evolutionary.

Quote from: OpenGeek at Dec 21, 2006, 09:53 AM

I agree we need this Scotty (I think it should go in the Wiki now), but, since 0.9.5 is the last version in which the document.parser file exists, we need to quickly shift the focus to the upcoming API IMO and not continue to promote and describe what is essentially the old API, deprecated in the near future. Again, I’m not discouraging this being posted, as I am sure it will be useful for those adopting 0.9.5 now and for the next month or two while 0.9.7 is finalized, but I think focusing on the new API as soon as possible is important because it can serve as a good exercise in getting used to the new object-oriented API’s that will be available to component developers, and will be good way to achieve better documentation for the next release, even before we release it.

That said, I do think the focus of the book being discussed here should be on the future. By the time we complete such a project, I have no doubt it would be post 0.9.7 release or later.

I totally agree with this agenda Jason.
I downloaded 0.9.7 last night, but I did not install it yet.
If you would be kind enough to point me at a good file to start tearing apart for documentation, I would be forever grateful [sic] to you.

-sD-
Dr. Scotty Delicious, Scientist.

Quote from: vbrilon at Dec 20, 2006, 11:09 PM

If you’re serious about doing that, let me know when you’re ready. I have some good contacts at O’Reilly (having done work for them previously)

A couple of months ago I approached several publishers - but not O’Reilly - with a detailed proposal for a book. However none of them were interested due to the "small" community size, unfortunately. Otherwise I probably would already have it 50% done by now.

Andy

Quote from: ajayre at Dec 21, 2006, 01:36 PM

Quote from: vbrilon at Dec 20, 2006, 11:09 PM

If you’re serious about doing that, let me know when you’re ready. I have some good contacts at O’Reilly (having done work for them previously)

A couple of months ago I approached several publishers - but not O’Reilly - with a detailed proposal for a book. However none of them were interested due to the "small" community size, unfortunately. Otherwise I probably would already have it 50% done by now.

Andy

I wouldn’t worry too much about that. I feel pretty confident that as we approach an official 1.0 release we’ll have enough interest to warrant a book. Hell, if worse comes to worse, we can always get some pre-orders for it and approach a book publisher with the notion that we’ll already have a certain number of books already sold when it’s released.

As for help on the book, once I have a little more free time I’d like to steelhead this idea and lead the way towards writing the book. I’ll get with some of the others on the team to work out all the details.