Research: Is MODx suitable for multisite of mid-sized school with different departments?

Hi guys,
Kindly hope on your advice. Be or not to be?!

I am very new to modx.. so please forgive me if I missed something here..
I am still continuing to research this subject, but so many variables to consider and information to read and research so I thought I better create new post and see what experienced modx ninjas woukd say on that..

The objective:
To create something similar to this www.ucd.ie (but of course in much less scales)
A portal for multilanguage school that has different departments (mini schools)

So the idea is that links would look like that
mini-school-1.main-school.com
mini-school-2.main-school.com
mini-school-2.main-school.com/other_lang/ and so on

Each website should be able to handle:
* different plugins,
* languages,
* templates,
* preferences
* and settings..

Main school site should automatically host(aggregate) some kind of calendar(schedule) of all courses that other mini-school have

And of cource all that zoopark should be managable from one modx admin panel e.g by superadmin.. and also would have mini-admins for each particular mini-school..

I've seen something similar on this blog http://www.modxcms.de/multiple-domains-with-modx.html
But it looks a bit too custom..
Does MODx has a feature like that out of the box.. as e.g WP or Drupal have?

So far from what I've seen and heard I like modx, but just not sure will it work for me.. in this case.
At this time the case described above is my one of the cornerstones..

I hope you won't reprove me if such question already has been asked before.

Looking forward to hearing some advices, siggestions and disscusing that with you!

Thanks you in advance

Regards
Alex

In short: Yes, that is all possible with MODX.

But if you can say that it has the features "out of the box" i'm not sure. A lot of the tasks can be done with extras like babel, but it will still require to be configured with contexts and ACL's. Especially ACL's has a bit of a learning curve.

Quote from: MathiasD at Jun 09, 2013, 07:32 PM

In short: Yes, that is all possible with MODX.

But if you can say that it has the features "out of the box" i'm not sure. A lot of the tasks can be done with extras like babel, but it will still require to be configured with contexts and ACL's. Especially ACL's has a bit of a learning curve.

Thanks Mathias,
Appreciate your quick response..

Thanks for the Babel mentioning.. As I understood it does multilingual sites.. however does it manage multisites or only in terms of languages?
The project described above separated on different sites depending on the schol department (cooking, languages, bartenders etc)

Regarding to ACL.. I've heard it has some steep learning curve..
And that's what worries me to be honest ) It seems overal MODx is not that straight forward as WP for example.. that's a bit slows me down to start such big project with new and not an in one go easy tool.. as WP perhaps would be. But I believe WP it not right tool for such project as well..

will still require to be configured with contexts

Not quite well see the complications...
Is it the core configurations? or on a plugin or middle front level?

Lets say I have managed to configure everything as I needed.. Will those configurations persist after next update of modx?

Thanks you
A

[ed. note: sashareds last edited this post 10 years, 10 months ago.]

Should not be that difficult to create a page like that with MODx.

I think a good solution would be to have one context for each school and handle the different languages with language-folders.

For some infos see:
http://rtfm.modx.com/display/revolution20/Using+One+Gateway+Plugin+to+Manage+Multiple+Domains
http://rtfm.modx.com/display/ADDON/ContextRouter

http://www.sebweb.ca/modx-tutorials/multilingual-website-using-subfolders.html
http://rtfm.modx.com/display/ADDON/Lingua

One of the strengths of modx is that there are many ways of doing things. I can think of several ways of setting up what you described, each with different pro and cons. Modx doesn't try to be a one-click solution like wp for example - imo it's more a tool for professionals. That means a lot more posibilities, but also a lot more to learn.

The multi domain part is very easy in modx. You simply have a context for each site and make a simple gateway plugin, there is a good example of how to do that in the rtfm.

Babel is made to make it easier to administer multilanguage versions of the same resource. I have never tried to do a babel install on multiple contexts, but i'm sure it can be done.

If you set things up right(by using property sets for example) you will never lose settings with an upgrade.

This sounds like a big project and I have no doubt MODX can solve it. If you have plenty of time I would say that you should just go for it and learn as you go - i'm sure you will be able to get lots of help on the issues you will meet here in the forums. If you are on a deadline I would consider finding a modx professional to work with that can help you.

Going to agree with everything said here, more or less. Your mini-schools would be different contexts, and you could manage them all from the same install of MODX. Since this is just research for you, I'm not going to go into much detail on all of that, but I will say that the resources cited above by Bruno are a great start. Good luck and welcome to the world of MODX!