The Web Hosting Blog of Host Color

In the last post where I introduced this column, I mentioned that I was going to focus on content management systems and how to get started using them to build and maintain websites. In today’s post, I am going to start talking about one of my favorite content management systems - MODx CMS. Host Color has done a nice general introduction to what MODx is in one of the previous blog posts, which I strongly recommend that you read before reading through this post. To avoid redundancy, I will not repeat what is written in that post.

But basically, MODx CMS is a PHP content management framework/system that helps you set up SEO friendly websites. In my experience, MODx is flexible and powerful, and you can build upon it to create websites that are as simple or as complex as you want them to be.

Currently MODx CMS has two branches, one that is stable and currently available for production sites (Evolution), and one that is in beta (Revolution).

If you’re new to MODx and PHP and are interested in building a production website I would recommend that you use Evolution (currenty at v1.0.2).  While Revolution is more powerful and feature rich than Evolution, it’s still under testing and bug-squashing, so it’s nice to play with it, but not necessarily to use it to launch your critical websites.

So what makes MODx CMS so powerful and flexible?

Why do I choose those two words in describing this CMS?  Well, there are several reasons.  MODx does not restrict you as a designer when it comes to themeing.  You can take your regular HTML/CSS template and port it into MODx in a matter of minutes.  You can arrange things on each page using chunks and create special areas for different pages so that each page on your website maintains it’s own look as you desire.  There are no complicated hooks or templating language issues involved.  It’s really a designer’s dream porting templates to MODx.  You will see this in a few posts when we start building our MODx website.

For the developer, MODx has “extras” in the form of snippets, plugins, and modules to allow you to add functionality to the backend and the frontend of your site.

You can find a repository of available extras on the MODx site but the MODx API allows you to build and develop your own custom snippets, plugins and modules.  The limit to the functionality of your website lays in your own imagination and coding abilities.

What kind of websites is MODx best suited for?

There is no definite answer to this question. My assertion is that with the right amount of knowledge, skill, and coding ability you can build any kind of website with MODx, but that doesn’t mean that you should try to.  MODx can be used to build anything.  You must use your own judgement as to when you will use it. For straightforward personal or business sites I almost always, without fail, recommend MODx.  But for more complicated tailored specific applications, I must make a determination as to what solution is best suited for the job.

When deciding between MODx and another CMS for building a particular website, it’s important to look at what capabilities MODx offers versus what the site needs as well as what level of customization and uniqueness in terms of functionality is desired in the application. For example, out of the box, MODx is not the ideal solution for a social networking website, not because of capability, but simply because there are other more robust and mature systems for that out there. You can build a social networking website using MODx, but do you have to? Not necessarily.

Similarly, Wordpress is the uncontested king of blogging engines, so if all I want is a blog, why try to reinvent the wheel when I can just install WP and start blogging?  Not all solutions are that cut and dry, because you may want more control over certain aspects of how you order the site management that you can’t achieve without hacking WP to death, so you may choose MODx because you can customize and taylor your own blogging engine easily by building it into MODx.  So there are no cut and dry answers as to what types of sites MODx is best suited for, the important thing to realize is that the limits lie not in MODx but in developer’s skills and abilities.

Just to cement this, you can see a showcase of websites built using MODx in the official MODx showcase - Made in MODx, and also at MODxIt.

What do you need to use MODx?

Most importantly, you need a server that runs PHP (at least PHP 4.3.11 and above). Host Color fully supports MODx and is great for your MODx hosting need. In addition, Host Color is a Gold Sponsor of the MODx project so you can be sure they are leading in configuring their servers to support MODx hosting.

If you want to test drive MODx before installing it on your web hosting account at Host Color, you can install it locally on your computer by first setting up a local development environment using an Apache, PHP and MySQL stack like Wampserver (for Windows), XAMPP (for Windows, Linux, Mac OS X), or MAMP (for Mac OS X).  This will allow you to install and test drive any PHP applications on your local computer. You can develop your website fully on your computer, test it to your heart’s content, and then upload it to your Host Color account when you’re ready.  In future tutorials I will be showing both how to install MODx and other CMSs both on your local computer and on Host Color.

The full official list of requirements for installing and running MODx is:

Supported Operating Systems

• Linux x86, x86-64
• Mac OS X
• Windows XP, Server

Supported Web Servers

• Apache 1.3.x - 2.2x (uses htaccess for Friendly URLs by default)
• IIS 6.0
• lighttpd
• Zeus
• nginx

PHP Compatibility

• 4.3.11 and above
• Required extensions: mod_rewrite (for friendly URLs/.htaccess), GD lib (required for captcha and file browser), Freetype (required for captcha)
• Safe_mode off
• Register_globals off
• Memory_limit 32MB or more

MySQL Database Requirements

• 4.1.20 or newer
• excludes version 5.0.51
• InnoDB storage engine
• MyISAM storage engine

You can read more about the requirements at: http://modxcms.com/learn/general-requirements.html, but as I stated earlier, HostColor fully supports MODx, so don’t think too hard about it, just grab yourself a Host Color hosting account

What Next?

Having decided you want to use MODx for your website/application, and having your hosting all set up and ready to go, the next step is to start out by installing MODx. This is the step that we will cover in the next post.  We will install MODx and take things from the ground up, explore the backend and learn the terminology/lingo that will start you on the road to becoming a MODx expert, so stay tuned to Mary’s Corner for more.  And remember to visit the Host Color Forums if you have questions or if you just want to discuss MODx or anything web related.

About Mary:
I am a part time web developer and full time web enthusiast who is very committed to open source technologies and promoting their potential for use across the web. Some of the technologies that I am involved in are MODx CMS and Drupal.  I am also a fan of Wordpress, SMF, phpBB, and any and all open source endeavors.  I enjoy learning new things and teaching people what I know in ways that are simple (I hope) to understand.  You can find me on the Host Color Forums (username is mary), at my blog (The Coding Pad) or follow me on twitter (@einsteinsboi).