A tip for helping Newbies find their Modx way

I just thought this myself, from a newbie point of view,

this is something all newbies can do to help Modx build either documentation and/or help other newbies find their way through the Modx learning curve,

TIP: if you are a newbie creating a topic you need assistance on, title the topic (in a Newbie way) so its something that other newbies who are looking for the same thing can easily find it here in the forums.

Perhaps some items might be added to the Modx documations eventually while the topics themselves in the forum alone will help newbies find solutions to their needs.

For me, it means thinking first before creating the topic title so I can be more effective for others to find it

Ah yes, finding "the" way is so very important!!!!

As a newbie (for now,) I am struggling with the following:

No HELP built in to the Manager:
The manager "HELP" (ie "You can obtain free community support by visiting the MODx Forums") is a fast putoff. The "free" is attractive, until you begin to wade through forum posts that aren’t terribly relevant to learning MODx (see below.) A built-in (tag based)help within the manager would be far more attractive (and cool.) For instance a Tag or pop-up that would define field/table selections etc.

The arrangement of MODx documentation:

• For instance Designer vs Developer guide categories are a tad misleading. As a designer who might understand the value of server side CSS, I wouldn’t think of looking under the developer guide (or the forums for that matter) for detailed how-to on implementing (best practice) server side CSS.
  
• Not enough working examples linked (or cross linked) to the documentation.

Forum’s SUCK as a learning tool:

• Although populated with very helpful folks, I’ve read numerous thread posts that assume the newbie knows for example what a snippet call, @binding or chunk tag is (I’ve even seen this in the newbie threads.)
  
• Forum search results seem to be quite limited (or nonexistent in some cases) unless a single string is used, which doesn’t help narrow results.
• OLD Forum Posts that recommend (and provide install instructions) for modules that are now included in the current version.

As an admitted "newbie" (and inexperienced programmer) the power and capability of MODx seems to be significantly understated by:

• Not saying "it’s rapidly becoming the most powerful opensource CMS solution available for discriminating web developers."
  
• Support and instructional needs that are being ignored (or offloaded) to the "apprentice" users still hacking their way toward "the" path.

I understand your frustration. I also had it and sometimes I experience it still - depending on what I actually want to accomplish with MODx.

The problem, however, is, that the path simply does not exist.
Each and every user will have to find his own individual path, since the fields and grades of previous knowledge and experience are all different. And so are the different requirements and needs for using MODx at all.
Compared to other CMS which provide a similar functionality (and this is the only comparision which I find is fair), MODx is relatively easy to check out. Later on, when you feel the need to modify it (like writing your own snippets and the like), it gets more difficult. But in that MODx does not differ from other CMS.

At the end it’s the same thing with every new software or system you’re trying to master:
you need patience, the will to try things out instead of looking for a premade doc.
(Or engage a teacher..)

BTW: what is "server side CSS"? Never heard of that before, seems I’m more newbie than I thought...

Server side CSS is basically making a MODx page act as your CSS files. That way you can have conditional logic in your CSS. Pretty easy with MODx actually...

Yes. It’s a dynamic programmable document configured as a different filetype. Which is why the implementation guide is under Developer not Designer.

Quote from: eagleshout at Jul 31, 2006, 05:02 PM

I’ve read numerous thread posts that assume the newbie knows for example what a snippet call, @binding or chunk tag is (I’ve even seen this in the newbie threads.)

Yes. This is perfectly reasonable. If there is ONE page that I expect all forum posters to read, it is Introduction to MODx Terminology. I would expect any poster to be able to look up any term they didn’t understand there or in the rest of the documentation - The What are @bindings page is fairly straightforward to find.

You are however probably right that splitting it up into Designers and Developers may make some people feel they can skip vital parts of the documentation.

Forum search results seem to be quite limited (or nonexistent in some cases) unless a single string is used, which doesn’t help narrow results.

Tip: Try repeating the search. The first search only searches the current forum. But yes, forum search is crap.

OLD Forum Posts that recommend (and provide install instructions) for modules that are now included in the current version.

Yes. Treat with caution anything prior to about March 2006.

Please note that whilst MODx is open to all, there are no apprenticeships going and we do not owe anyone an education.

Paul,

Thanks for your post. I agree that instruction shouldn’t be part of a discussion regarding learning open source apps. That’s part of the tradeoff of not using a commercial app. In some cases it’s still a tradeoff of commercial apps if the developer doesn’t provide decent documentation. I was simply stating that instructional tools can be very valuable for the novice if they’re accessible and logical.

Although I’ve reviewed and tested dozens of CMS before returning (with good reason) to work with MODx, and I’ve only worked with it for a day or so, I’m seeing it’s strentgths for sure.

I’ll be sure to steer clear of older forum posts (which are obviously dated or suspect.)

For search, your best bet is googling site:www.modxcms.com/forums/ "your search terms".

I havent found a forum yet with great search results.

Chuck

Quote from: ProWebscape at Aug 01, 2006, 08:54 AM

For search, your best bet is googling site:www.modxcms.com/forums/ "your search terms".

I havent found a forum yet with great search results.

Chuck

for Firefox users, you can create your own custom search bar using rollyo at http://www.rollyo.com/firefoxsearch.html Give it a name like "MODx" and enter "www.modxcms.com/forums/" in the site list. Saves you from typing it each time. The search is powered by Yahoo.

Thats a good tip. Thanks.

Chuck

You could also use a favlet I ported from Wilshire @ Textpattern’s forum