Why I shifted focus from Drupal to MODx

Quote from: gspark at Jun 06, 2008, 10:35 AM

I use Drupal now because Modx is just not developed enough, Drupal is where Modx should be IMHO. I would prefer using Modx, but unfortunately it’s just not a complete CMS unless you are a programmer. It should be called the CMS for programers. Other CMS like Wordpress and Drupal and Joomla are already 20 light years ahead of Modx. What I find interesting about Modx is that it’s a futuristic state of the art application, yet it’s so far behind the times when compared to the current CMS solutions.

Try programming custom features on one of those systems. It just plain makes you want to quit using computers (IMHO). So yes, MODx is designed by and for PHP web developers who felt limited by what these more "mature" systems impose on them. Wordpress is not a CMS. And how is MODx futuristic yet so far behind the times at the same instant? You don’t make much sense here and honestly sound like you had no reason to post other than to bash us, but if MODx isn’t for you, well, there’s Wordpress, Drupal, and Joomla to keep you happy, right?

Sounds to me like you just wish more people developed generic add-ons for MODx that you could use without having to do any development. This market is for the traditional CMS players like Drupal and Joomla to compete for; MODx likely will not enter that market directly, and if we do it will be once the code and ideas evolve a little more. Our system is quite a bit younger than these other systems, does not have nearly the developer base (yet), and is targeted at web professionals who want to deploy custom CMS-empowered web applications on a lightweight framework that does not dictate how everything is to be done.

I’ll point out what the founding fathers will.
It’s a CMF not a CMS the difference being F for Framework rather than S for System.
To me it means it’s more flexible but doesn’t offer every one an out of the box type solution.
Just my two cents worth.

@gspark

It should be called the CMS for programers

Maybe. MODx doesn’t do everything out of the box like Drupal, rather it gives you powerful toolkit that takes a bit of thought to use. I tend to use it as a sort of framework with a GUI (I know the core devs would disagree with it being described as a framework, but I think it’s part of a new class of CMSs like Silverstripe and Expression Engine - essentially they are evolving as RAD toolkits).

Other CMS like Wordpress and Drupal and Joomla are already 20 light years ahead of Modx

Now that’s just not true. WP is a superb blogging tool, and Drupal and Joomla are the leading examples of the old school approach to CMS and are great for community type sites. But I’d choose MODx every time when appropriate, because it’s such a rewarding system to work with.

I have sometimes felt the same way as gspark. Especially when I’m trying to learn a new snippet like MaxiGallery, WebloginPE. It seems so easy just to add a module for Drupal (like views or panels which are really really cool). But I got into really customizing the output for that module- whoa! It could not suck less.

One of the best things about a website is the small attention to details. And that is where Joomla and Drupal suffer. You can easily edit their pre-defined css, and you can edit the default layout. But d@mn its a pain. So I keep coming back to MODx - Im addicted to the easy, custom freedom it provides.

However, Drupal is a great system (esp. for community sites). And to each his own.

I actually love Joomla. For it’s use. And I used it from the very beginning, just after splitting from Mambo. But I will never go back to it. Because I love MODx so much more! The flexibility in the way I can do the thing I need. For my part some of the fun is to find out howe to use Ditto, Wayfinder, Jot, eForm and som other modules and plugins in a way that would take tens of modules and components in Joomla to do the same. And I can design everything the way I want.

I still have a couple of sites in Joomla, and they run well, but they will be converted to MODx as soon as I have the time.

Both Joomla and Drupal are great systems. But for me, MODx is lightyears ahead! Why play with a premade plastictoy when you can build in Lego. (Ehmm )

Both Joomla and Drupal are great systems. But for me, MODx is lightyears ahead! Why play with a premade plastictoy when you can build in Lego. (Ehmm )

Well said, my sentiment exactly

I’m a recent convert to ModX, after developing several sites in PostNuke and one in Drupal.

The simplicity of setting up a site in ModX is what attracted me to it. With PostNuke, it’s common to hack the basic code in order to get it to do what you want -- and with Drupal, you’ve got to master their taxonomy model before you can move forward much at all.

With ModX, though, it’s a simple matter of straight-forward templates with HTML chunks and PHP snippets, all controlled by CSS. Table-less design which validates immediately -- now there’s a concept!

In fact it’s been the concept from day one !

And once you’re used to it, you hardly ever go back to anything else really...

I was thinking a little more about what makes MODx a better solution (most of the time) to Drupal. Drupal does have TV like objects through CCK. And it has individual modules to create TV images or Amazon ISBN. But you need to install these modules and each one comes adds more and more weight to the runtime process. Like I said, after installing all the needed modules, I had to increase my MAMP server to 64MB- way more than can be used on shared setting.

MODx has the TV’s built in. You can use snippets, widgets, or PHx to modify the ouput to (ASIN, etc)

I just got thrown a drupal site. UUUGGGHHH! What a mess. I do like CCK and Views. There are some other "specialty" modules that the client needs, so no modx for now. But I wish that new TV’s types could be easily added like CCK modules are. I wouldn’t mind a color picker or image thumbnail on the edit page.