Bold suggestion for plugin developers and this site

I've only been using ModX for less than a week, but one thing that bothers the heck out of me is when I see a plugin/addon that has no description about what it does, only instructions for installation and/or notes about what's changed since the last release. What good is telling me what's changed if I don't know what it is?

My suggestion is that all plugins must have a form completed for submission. That includes but may not be limited to...:

• Plugin Summary
• Long Description
• Alpha/Beta/Production/Not-Maintained Status
• Known Issues
• Versions of ModX for which plugin is approved and/or known to be faulty
• Install Notes including configuration whether by TV, system params, etc.
• Links to home page, wiki, forum discussions, or anything else that will help to explain why the plugin exists, how it's used, and potential issues
• Release notes noting changes from prior versions - not just delta changes because some people miss point-releases and thus can entirely miss being informed about a new feature added in a prior release

Doesn't this seem like something simple enough for this site to host? I mean, that all looks like a typical template or form, no? That sort of metadata about software isn't a new concept. There are XML schema for software that includes that info and a lot more (dates, author info, contributors, screenshots...).

If a plugin does not have this form completed then it won't be accepted for the package manager. If no information is provided over time then packages will start to get the Not-Maintained Status set by default.

And that brings us to the ability for visitors to filter and sort by the above features. What if I don't want to see plugins that don't have a description - right now my time is wasted seeing plugins I can't make a decision about loading anyway. And I'd like to filter out plugins that haven't been updated in the last 2 years - chances are high they don't work and I won't be able to get any information about usage from the author. How about the ability to receive notifications when there are new known issues, or any changes to the data? You get the idea...

If I had time, knowledge, and drive, I would send a form like that to all plugin authors and get them to complete it to improve the quality of the package manager - and ask anyone familiar with the various packages to fill in whatever detail they can as their valued time permits. CMS offerings live and die by the quality of their plugins. Just cleaning up this aspect of the software can help a great deal in terms of product marketing.

Well, that's enough out of me.
Thanks for your consideration.

If you do a bit of searching with appropriate words, you could find numerous threads with strangely similar first posts as yours.

Plus subsequent replies discussing the merits of, ways to go about implementing such an illogical idea, and brilliant deep thoughts and ideas from authors and our favorite MODX team members as well.

It just hasn't happened exactly the way we want it just yet.

One of the best things about MODX users is our patience factor. It's not unknown that people are working tirelessly, and things like this are on the "list". However, bringing it up again in the forums to remind is not a bad thing at all.

If you've only been here a week, you may not know that we recently got this spanky new forum design only a few weeks ago, a nice surprise after some... ahem... well many moons of patience and requests/suggestions. We all breathed a collective sigh of relief, and I'm sure more than a few happy dances were actually performed. Of course, then we settled down and started complaining and critiquing again.

My point is, you're in good company wanting to improve the package information, and your points are right on target. However, we wait patiently because there's so much else that endears us to MODX, we can wait a bit for the ideal package management system because we know it's coming in due time. Plus, the fact is... you can do anything you want to do with the properly documented packages, and ignore the others without losing much, if anything.

You aren't the only one who has noticed that many extras lack descriptions, screenshots, and changelogs. It's up to the extra author to include each of the items, so technically MODX isn't at fault for the lack of information.

That being said there are definitely areas that could be improved to make the extras site more useful, my suggestions:

MODX Branch - Ask for the MODX Branch (Evo/Revo) at the same time as the name, so you can ajaxify the categories (and related items)
Remove Tags - Unless I am missing something the tags are useless and from before catagory days
Link Branch Extras - The push is focused on Revo, but crosslinking extras (eg: MetaX) available for each branch would be nice
Documentation Link - In addition to the Extra Website (could be dev website?) let us link to the RTFM page, or an external source. Documentation/Install directions in the description is a waste IMO, if anything make them separate. Granted Revo items should all be the same directions for installation.
Abandon Status - Allow for extras to be marked as Abandon, or make it time based as suggested above. Granted some extras (Copyright, MetaX) require little to no ongoing maintenance as they aren't MODX Version specific.
Community Support Votes - Let the community vote what extras work for what version(s) of MODX.

I'm sure a refresh of the extras site is planned, until that point in time it's a great idea to discuss the shortcomings so they can be factored into whatever refresh is planned.