Geekly Articles each Day
📜 ⬆️ ⬇️

Our view on the development of MODX Revolution in the CIS


MODX Revolution is a powerful Content Management Framework, with broad basic functionality. The attitude towards it is ambiguous: it doesn’t seem like a CMS, but also not a real frame.

All over the world they are successfully used to create websites of varying complexity and for me personally this is the best CMS. I do not want to discuss the pros and cons of MODX, its architecture and other subtleties in this article.
The important thing is: this is a well-known system, and it is in the top five ratings of the OpenSource CMS. And if you believe CMS Magazine and Rating Runet , then altogether - in third place.

MODX, like most open source systems, is developing decentralized. Of course, there is a command center, kernel programmers and all that, but the main thing in any CMS is extensions, and they are written by users. They do this for several reasons:

So, in MODX there is no possibility to sell your add-ons through the official website or repository . They are all free and this is, on the one hand, good, but on the other - there is no normal support, documentation and quality of additions no one guarantees.
')
As a result, we get a powerful, popular system in which no one writes additions professionally, does not guarantee their support / updates, and is not obliged to help users when working with them.
In my opinion, this is not a good situation. Over a long period of time, all serious specialists will simply stop sharing their extensions, or will work hard for wear, supporting them for free for hundreds of users. Well, or start something like that, to sell something, through personal sites, blogs, etc. - then we get a complete confusion and vacillation (which is happening now).

In my opinion, MODX authors are simply obliged to provide a platform for making money for programmers , but they have not done it yet.

I had to get down to business myself. We have built a repository store for Revolution , in which any developer can put his add-on and even sell. It is important that this is the first such service in the world for MODX , it is Russian and works entirely on its own system.

Repository


In MODX Revolution, all add-ons are delivered in the form of transport packages that are usually downloaded from the repository. Of course, work with different sources and key authentication are also provided. Moreover, this is done from the very first versions, just for our case.

There are no source codes of the standard repository, considering that it works on RoR, they would not have given us anything, because we immediately decided that we would do everything at MODX itself, as evidence of its flexibility and toughness. Anyway, I only work in it.

The result was the Extras component, which allows you to turn any site into a repository. It is not yet publicly available (and not sure what will happen), but package management looks like this:


As far as I can tell, our repository supports all official gadgets: version loading, parameters, download counter. There is also an innovation - access only by keys for more accurate statistics and protection of purchased add-ons.

Many will ask, why is it even needed, if you can upload everything for free at modx.com?
There are 2 very important reasons:



Score


We proudly call our site a shop, although paid add-ons there are less than 1/3 . Basically, these are add-ons for e-commerce, in particular for miniShop2 - the store itself works on it. If someone wants to build a store on MODX and get ready, tested functionality and support, this is for you.

There is a personal account, filters, synchronization with 1C, a couple of payment systems and one more thing. Already sold 2 add-ons of third-party authors: a text editor and a quick revaluation of goods. In my opinion, it is logical that the additions for making money are sold.

At the moment, for all paid additions discounts from 30% to 50%, it is likely that current prices will not change later. If you want to place your add-ons in our repository, it does not matter whether it is paid or free - here’s how you can do it today .

In the store we came up with a bold system of discounts: 10% discount on the supplement, each time it is purchased and up to 50%. That is, active freelancers will soon be able to buy everything they need for half the price. Given that the customer will pay for the purchase - it will also be very interesting to him.

If anyone is interested in the technical details of the store and the repository in one bundle, user registration and access control - ask questions, I can write about it separately.
All the functionality of the site is made with standard add-ons, and almost all of them can be bought or downloaded for free. There are no special add-ons or system kernel hacks. In my opinion, this is very important.

Conclusion


The project is created and funded by Simple Dream Studio, which has been developing MODX sites for a very long time and is included in Tagline's 100 best Russian studios.

This is an attempt to give impetus to the development of MODX in the CIS, to collect disparate developers and organize a platform for them to realize their talents. Maybe, when something happens, we will earn something on it, but our goal, first of all, is development.

If there was an official store, or another similar platform from the authors of the system - we would not bother, but this is not. Therefore, I am writing to the MODX blog, not “I am promoting”.
In my opinion, this is the only real way of development for CMS - gathering specialists around it.

Statistics for today:


Just in case, once again leave a link for developers . For free add-ons, there is no need to issue documents, they should be just good.

Source: https://habr.com/ru/post/186872/

More articles:


All Articles