MODx Adds a Touch of AJAX to PHP Development and Content Management

JavaScriptSearch
Monday, July 10, 2006; 06:33 AM

MODx, currently fully operational in v.0.9.2, is both a CMS and a PHP development framework at the same time.  But that is not all.  Apparently unsatisfied with the multifaceted functionality of their product, the developers of MODx have coded on to add some AJAX, aided by popular JavaScript library script.aculo.us, for some extra oomph in the eye-candy and usability departments. 

The combination of these adds up to a well-rounded and smoothly working “Content Management Framework,” as its creators chose to name it. As the integration of CMS, application development and AJAX features in one package seems to have gone smoothly, MODx's immediate challenge in the near future, other than reaching the milestone of v.1.0, will be to attract a faithful following. MODx is open source, and the project website at http://modxcms.com/ offers fresh downloads and complete documentation.

The feature that traditionally appeals to a wide public is content management. A Content Management System, or CMS for short, is a web application that allows non-coders to create and support dynamic websites.  That aspect of MODx is executed in a fairly standard way: writing content is handled by a rich text editor, documents are organized in easily accessible folders, moving content around and updating it is a breeze. A useful feature is the availability of visitors statistics section, which is enabled in the default install.

The administrative panel itself uses AJAX to good effect. For example, accessing many of the functions does not require a reload of the whole page, live sorting for file lists is provided, and sections of the CMS-supported webpage can be edited from the preview panel (see screenshot).

Web developers are likely to fall for MODx's custom API, which allows for creating rich internet applications, and fully suports Web2.0 AJAX technology thanks to JavaScript framework script.aculo.us. The API makes it easy to apply effects to page elements and to perform AJAX-style communications so you don't have to constantly reload pages for things like submitting forms.  Script.aculo.us also offers various visual effects, drag and drop sorting, auto completion, and more. Additionally, the CMS is well suited for expansion using custom built modules. Widgets (small scripts that add functionality to a website) can be included in the pages.

Live demo of MODx is hosted at http://opensourcecms.com/. The default installation is publicly accessible and gives a good overview the new CMS's capabilities. MODx runs on the widely used Apache web server with mod_rewrite and PHP installed, together with a MySQL database.

MODx's administrative panel.