I’m new to the MODX community and excited to learn more about software and app development possibilities. I’ve been reading about the flexibility of MODX, but I’d love to hear from experienced users.
- Could you share some examples of complex applications or software built with MODX?
- Are there any specific resources or tutorials you recommend for getting started with MODX development?
- What are some of the advantages and challenges of using MODX for app development compared to other frameworks?
Regards!
Attract Group
Can you be a bit more precise about what you mean by “software and app development” or what exactly you are trying to do using MODX?
And also what “other frameworks” you have in mind to compare it to?
(Personally I would define MODX as a CMS and not as a framework.)
Welcome to the community!
Here’s a good resource for a lot of commonly-needed things: https://modxcookbook.com/
And here’s a link to a recent post where Rob Carey shared a project he worked on: My Best MODX Project Yet. Connected Image Library
There are a lot of advantages to working with MODX but, in my opinion, the biggest is developer experience. MODX is simply a joy to work with. A possible disadvantage might be the lack of pre-built, plug-n-play themes which would allow one to quickly spin up a generic site, à la Wordpress or Squarespace. But I don’t think generic sites are really what MODX is for. Rather, MODX is all about customization and creative freedom.
$0.02
I’ll leave you with this old but still-fitting meme:
I’ve built a few “web applications” with MODX. The most complex one involved:
- A small, public, information-oriented website about the project.
- A login-only, user-friendly web app for users to learn and explore the topic, with learning tools, charts of progress, self-evaluation tools, user notes, and other custom database stuff, along with a live chat to help them move through the process. This web app was designed to look and feel like a mobile app.
- Admin software for guides to chat with the participants, communicate with other guides, and see statistics on participants’ progress, pages viewed, engagement, etc.
Each of the above was a separate context within the same MODX installation and required different types of programming and templates. All of this was a breeze to develop in MODX. The client considered creating a mobile app instead of web-based one, but the benefits of the integrated system we developed outweighed any benefits of a separate mobile app.
As long as by “app development” you mean “web application”, I don’t see any reason why MODX wouldn’t be a good choice.
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