Hi Folks,
does anyone know if there are any plans to renovate the modx docs?
I ask for several reasons:
Evo and Revo are now completely separate CMSs, with different codebases, different extras/plugins and largely different ways of doing things. Isn't it about time they were completely separated in the docs? Having them merged together creates unnecessary bloat and adds unnecessary effort to always be on the alert that what you're reading is for the correct CMS. This doesn't always work.
Doing a search of the docs bring up results from both CMSs. Why?
For example, searching for 'template variable' returns the following, in order:
1. Creating a Template Variable (evolution/1.0)
2. Creating a Template Variable (evolution/0.9.x)
3. Accessing Template Variable Values via the API (revolution/2.x)
4. Template Variable Input Types (revolution/2.x)
5. Creating a Template Variable (revolution/2.x)
6. Template Variable Output Types (revolution/2.x)
7. Template Variables (evolution/0.9.x)
8. Template Variables (evolution/1.0)
9. Template Variables (revolution/2.x)
10. What are Template Variables (evolution/1.0)
Also, for the same reason, wouldn't it be an idea to separate major Revo versions?
OK, I understand this would be a major task, and there are discussions about it going back about 9 years or more here, but it would make MODx a LOT more accessible to newcomers (as well as to old novices like me - been using since 0.6 or so and still feel lost half the time).
Here's an idea:
if every page in docs was tagged with a list of the versions it applies to, the first thing a user would do in docs is to select the version they're using. That would filter out all the non-relevant pages. Then browse the contents or do a search and only see relevant docs. User's problem solved.
This would help docs editors too because it would be easier to see what info is present/missing for a particular version.
Tags need only be a simple array, or comma-separated string, with version numbers/ranges etc. Of course, many pages would be tagged for most versions. If a feature change in new version makes a doc page irrelevant, just duplicate the page, edit as appropriate and tag it for that version. If the change is rolled back in the next version, just add the new tag to the previous page. It would keep pages simpler and more focussed, with no need to discuss different versions.
Some sort of system would have to be added to enable duplicated links to different versions of the same page to work with the tags. Could the version number be held as a server session var / js global var, then be appended to any links to the docs URL; then something htaccess-like to redirect the request to the correct version of the doc?
The docs directory structure wouldn't then need to reflect version numbers, only to split Evo and Revo.
Just an idea. (Generally when I'm looking at the docs I end up thinking more about the way docs are presented than what I started out looking for).
