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  • Book Overview & Buying MODx Web Development - Second Edition
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MODx Web Development - Second Edition

MODx Web Development - Second Edition

By : Antano Solar John
2.8 (5)
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MODx Web Development - Second Edition

MODx Web Development - Second Edition

2.8 (5)
By: Antano Solar John

Overview of this book

MODx is a content management system and PHP web application framework rolled into one. With the ease of a CMS and the extendibility of a framework, MODx allows you to develop professional-looking, intricate websites with its easy-to-use interface and flexible architecture. MODx provides reusable code fragments called snippets, most of which are so generic that, without any modification, they can serve multiple functionalities. The generic nature of the snippets makes it possible to get the perfect customization that is so hard in other CMS. This book will get web developers up-and-running with MODx. With step-by-step examples and illustrative screenshots, you will be guided through installation, configuration, and customization. By the end of the book, you will have created a powerful, dynamic website by using the individual elements of MODx, without the need for programming know-how. Starting with a walk-through of how to install MODx, you will quickly learn how to develop your site without having to use any programming language. Logical, step-by-step instructions will show you how to create your own unique site by adding and editing documents using the inbuilt TinyMCE editor. You will change the look and feel of your site by creating your own templates using HTML, CSS, and widgets. By following the example of a blog site, you will learn how to extend your templates to allow rich user interactions through comments, posts, and forms. The book teaches a few code snippets such as Ditto and Wayfinder in detail. These powerful and flexible snippets will enable you to add multiple functionalities to your site. The book will also introduce you to many more snippets that will help you build some of the commonly required web functionalities such as forums and image galleries. You will manage your users with authentication and authorization and make your site user-friendly with user groups, forums, and the use of PHx notations to embed logic in templates. Through following this easy-to-use, step-by-step guide you will, by the end of the book, have a fully functional, feature-rich MODx site with professional-looking, dynamic web pages that are totally customizable.
Table of Contents (16 chapters)
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6
6. Content Aggregation
12
12. SEO, Deployment, and Security
15
Index

Why MODx?

As the following diagram shows, MODx breaks the limitations that are generally found in CMSs and yet provides the simplicity necessary to quickly start developing.

Why MODx?

Why a CMS?

Content management systems are used when one wants to create a site that can be self-maintained. It really does replace a programmer for maintenance. The websites for most companies have simple workflows, if any. And there are a lot of individuals who would like to have a website for themselves, just like everyone wanted to have a business card. Content management systems avoid having to pay professional rates for simple websites when you can create and maintain such sites yourself. You might want to use a professional to initially create the website, but still maintain it yourself in order to provide a quicker turnaround time in updating new content. These are situations where a CMS like MODx provides a solution.

Why an application framework?

Application frameworks take over where the limitations of CMSs begin—when you want more than what is possible. To use any application framework, you must know the language it uses. But if you really want to develop, then you better be a programmer—but a smart one who lets the system handle "the obvious things"!

So, why MODx?

MODx provides the ease of a CMS and the extendibility of a framework, which is made possible by exposing a new architecture that is both easy and flexible. It is possible to create very complex and custom sites in MODx. Hence, one can start developing a complete site in MODx without any programming knowledge and use expertise only for the elements that need programming skills, if they are needed.

Another interesting concept of MODx is how it handles templating. Unlike most CMSs available, there is no need to learn any templating language in order to introduce a theme to your site. Hence, it does not even have the small learning curve of a templating language.

MODx is designed to be intuitive; hence, it is easy for anyone to understand how to create sites quickly and effectively. Once you have learned the basics, you will realize that the experience keeps getting better.

MODx administration is AJAX-driven, giving you the ability to manage the site with abilities that are very user friendly. Sites created with MODx can also have AJAX-enabled features without much effort. Many built-in snippets, such as the AJAX search snippet available for MODx, come with interesting AJAX functionalities that can be used out-of-the-box.

MODx is search-engine friendly, which means that it has everything to help you get your site listed on Google or any other famous search engine.

MODx is an open source project and, like most open source projects, it has strong community support. There are countless places from which to get help when you are stuck, and almost all queries get answered within a day. Moreover, having community support means that support will keep getting better.

All of this makes MODx suitable both for a casual developer who would like a quick site and also for serious developers who want something easy to start with and the option to build sophistication gradually. MODx uses an architecture that helps to overcome most of the disadvantages mentioned under application frameworks and CMSs while retaining their advantages.

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MODx Web Development - Second Edition
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