How can I help document ModX?

As I'm getting further along in ModX, I'm finding that the documentation on a lot of issues is missing. While I think that the forums are a great way to get personalized help, I find many times that many of the same questions are asked over and over again. I would love to help contribute to the RTFM Wiki for ModX Revolution. How would I go about doing this? What would be the requirements/considerations?

Sorry for the delay in response. Thanks for your interest in helping improve the MODX Documentation. There have been a number of discussions on how to improve the documentation including this very long one: http://forums.modx.com/thread/?thread=3998&page=5

The typical process of late has been that those who wish to write docs do so by improving the documentation or writing documentation for user contributed add-ons. Once they demonstrate competency and trustworthiness, we will grant access to the MODX Docs.

Additionally other ways to contribute include logging deficient or submitting improvements and/or corrections to the docs via the bugtracker project for the docs: http://tracker.modx.com/projects/docs/issues

One of the key steps to contributing to any part of MODX is to "sign" the Contributors Licence Agreement which can be found here: http://develop.modx.com/contribute/cla/

Thanks for the response! I do have to say that while I am encouraged by ModX and its community as a whole, this answer has me discouraged. "... as of late..." implies reactionary rather than proactive. Rather than address the documentation specifically, "... other ways to contribute..." implies that there is difficulty getting either a) a straight answer or b) involved with the process of just documenting my heart out.

I certainly hope you do not mind some constructive criticism. I consider ModX to be the fastest, most powerful and most flexible CMS/CMP I've ever worked with. Its only limitation is its documentation, which, frankly, does not hold a candle to any of its competitors. Being quite fair, I would say that ModX has some of the worst documentation I've ever seen. Had it not been for the awesome forums and some quick revelations, I might not have seen how cool ModX was.

In other words, ModX should be blowing all of its competitors away. I don't mean ModX team should be rich (although, I think this is certainly a possibility). I mean that ModX should be featured near the top of all of the search engines. When people ask which CMS to use, ModX should be the most common answer (with considerations, of course).

A big reason why this isn't happening like it should can be found in the forums themselves. "How do I ...?" for the most basic questions. There are many times I'm reading the forums and I often see "I've been working with ModX for X time... and I'm ready to throw it out the window..." kinds of comments. Often the problem is relatively easily solved. This should not be the case with such an amazing platform.

I'm not saying ModX is easy, but it certainly is not hard and its complexity grows with your expertise. This means that it is just as easily accessible for users of little experience as it is powerful enough for the most expert. Hell, I'm teaching ModX with success in my little old town of Albuquerque, NM. People are eating it up because it is SO awesome.

You guys need a solid strategy for addressing this. I would love to help with the documentation itself, but instead of having to do development work (which is not going to pay me) and submit it as my "application, I can only offer up the tutorials I have written as my application (and the many more I have planned). There are not a lot, but I think they are easily followed and show competency. If you think so, too, the ModX team may PM or EMail me.

Respectfully,

Donald Atkinson (aka FuzzicalLogic)

P.S. I have now read and signed the CLA. [ed. note: fuzzicallogic last edited this post 11 years, 9 months ago.]