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Expression Engine vs. MODx CMS Review
In this article I am going to review two content management systems, Expression Engine 1.6.7 vs. MODx, and why when we were right in the middle of building ProImpact7, we switched from Expression Engine to MODx CMS.
When we were deciding what CMS to use for our website, we were looking at which CMS would be a good solution for the majority of our clients. Firstly we started with Expression Engine (EE) CMS even though previously we had had good experiences with MODx CMS. The reason why we started with EE was very simple; you get technical support, which we saw as very important and wanted to test another CMS.
At a glance the main difference between EE and MODx is that EE costs $245, whereas MODx is FREE open source. So we hoped that the paid solution would offer us a bit more.
But after a while working with EE, we soon realized that the $245 wasn’t necessarily well spent. Firstly, in order to edit a page you need to be at an advanced level in html as there isn’t a WYSIWYG editor as a standard. Obviously, not a real problem for us, but our clients, the real users, most of them without any HTML knowledge, would definitely struggle to make any changes.
Secondly, development tasks which should typically only take us lets say 30 minutes on average, took us in same case up to 3 hours, due to the different way EE works. So after a couple of weeks battling with EE trying to find ways to make simple edits, but getting nowhere quickly, we ruled out EE as not suitable for us and most importantly, not for our clients, who without HTML knowledge, would really struggle to keep their site up to date.
So why is MODx better? Firstly, it is easier for end users, i.e. our clients, to manage the content as it has a WYSIWYG editor and predefined fields for SEO, like title of the page, page description etc. Secondly, the content management seems to be better organized and thirdly, development takes a lot less time with no stressful nights trying to figure the system out.
Lastly, once you are logged in MODx and visit your website which is run using MODx a little window appears on the top left hand corner of your page. That icon is for editing purposes and is visible only to you. And I must say that I liked that feature a lot as it allows you to edit your site on the fly using WYSIWYG editor. Until now, I have only seen this feature on enterprise CMS. But, there is little problem with this feature: anytime I made any changes on pages with video content centred in the page, as soon as I saved it, the video moved to left, which I found a bit annoying. Also it doesn’t seem to like javascript and it could mess up your code. Apart from that, it’s pretty impressive for free open source software. Highly recommend.
As you will be able to see in the video below, MODx is equipped with WYSIWYG editor, so for users without html knowledge it’s much easier to use.
So is MODx the best solution for any website? MODx is probably not the best CMS out there, but compared to EE, it is a clear winner and Proimpact7 recommends it for any clients who are looking for a free CMS which is easy to manage. And I personally like it too and would recommend it to my best friend.
Please speak to us about your needs and we are happy to build a professional web presence for your business at competitive prices.
Questions or comments?
For queries regarding web design, landing page optimization, and for more information on this article please contact Jan.
jan@proimpact7.com
Interpreting post for some one like me who loves EE but has always kept an eye on ModX.
EE can have TinyMCE and plugin as well “edit” plugin allowing to jump from live site into edit/admin mode. But I hardly find this to be the enough for your switch.
Can you share something about custom fields, related fields, media management, how is the support for ModX, are there any ‘certified’ plugins, can you have multi author ACLs, SEO and URL structure does it have a forum module etc.
In other words, can you share some of the development insights?
Thanks for the post!
Hi Jackola
That’s a pretty full question. I’ll keep it relatively short.
You can set up custom fields in modx, which is relatively easy. Related fields are not necessarily built into modx but you can code whatever logic you want into the fields so it isn’t out of the question.
Media management is handled through the cms that keeps it relatively easy for the client to choose and upload media.
Because modx is open source, there is no “call in support”. There is however a fairly well developed forum with moderators who are in general able to answer any questions you have on capabilities and trouble shooting.
There are “certified” plugins which have well documented support. Since it’s open source there are quite a few plugins out there created by users as well.
Modx is relatively good at working with seo and allows for customized url structures.
I don’t believe there is a forum module for modx, but it is possible to interface with a forum as long as you are capable of coding it.
We’re also fans of MODx. Although there are no inbuilt forum modules, MODx can be bridged into SMF and vBulletin – there are already free plugins to do this. This means that you can have a login in the CMS that also logs you in to the forum on a common username and passwod. This way you get the cool CMS features plus the unbeatable stuff of vB.
MODX is a great piece of OSI software. Trust it and learn the easy way to CMS your website.
Compared to EE, the implementation of a xhtml template and easy snippet/plugin/chunk installation and management is a piece of cake.
Cheers.
Alexandru…I must only agree with you, as that’s what we have find out when working with both CMS. It was easier to work with MODx CMS than with EE…Jan
Thanks Jan for replying. I would also be interested in a debate regarding using MODX or WordPress, or both.
Happy to comment on this subject further, if interested.
Alexandru
Hi all,
This was a really interesting read for me as a big fan of Expression Engine that’s tentatively looking into Modx. It took me a week or two to get my head around Expression Engine but now I know there’s not a thing that it can’t do. I find the templating system very easy and flexible and the custom fields system a godsend. The lack of WYSIWYG ‘out of the box’ is, I think, because there’s loads of WYSIWYG plugins out there and they’re extremely easy to install in EE and so the user can go for their personal choice.
I’m currently poised to create my first Modx site and will post here again perhaps when it’s underway. First impressions are very good – except I have noticed a few bugs in the backend, most notably ‘Notice: Undefined variable: action in C:\wamp\www\Clients\modx\assets\plugins\qm\close.php on line 16′ when you are previewing a page and then edit it. I’ve reinstalled it twice thinking it may be a problem with the installation but it seems to persist.
Cheers,
Alex.
You said that after a while of working with EE, you realized your money wasn\’t well spent. I\’m curious as to how long you used it?
As I read through the article, it doesn\’t really seem like gave EE a chance. Almost as if you were an avid MODx user, heard buzz about EE, decided to try it, used it for a few days and went back to MODx after you couldn\’t figure it out? What were you trying to do in EE that took three hours, but you can do the same in 30 minutes with MODx? That\’s one thing in the article to makes me think you didn\’t really give it enough of a chance to actually learn it. Unless you\’re doing something extremely customized like nested embeds in a template, three hours is a long time for any task in EE. Other than that, the article sounds like the rest of your decision for going back to MODx was based on MODx having a WYSIWYG editor installed by default? I\’ve found that WYSIWYG editors tend to allow the clients to screw up the consistency of a design, but to each their own. I think Textile is a much better way to go although it does require a small bit a training for end users so they know how to use the Textile editor. If you did need a full blow WYSIWYG, EE now has: http://brandon-kelly.com/wygwam.
My .02.
Deron,
we used it for 2 weeks. We wanted to learn EE so we could compare EE and MODx. But after constant battle while developing a website we decide to go back to MODx. The final straw for me was when I was updating the pages with the text and I realized that this difficult system won’t work for our clients as majority of them are not CMS/html geeks. So we went back to MODx as anyone can use MODx. That’s for us the biggest criterium when we use free CMS – a CMS which is easy to use for our clients.
Regarding the cost. We hoped that once you pay for a CMS which is battling against free open source CMS that it would be better. Not in this case. In the price isn’t wysiwyg editor, navigational structer is difficult etc. Jan
It\’s strange that one of the main reasons you liked Modx better was because of the template system… EE\’s template system is the best of any CMS. I\’m a front-end only designer, so I require an easy-to-use template system, and I\’ve tried WordPress/Modx/Drupal/Textpattern/Joomla/MovableType and only TXP comes close to EE.
Creating a new weblog (data holder) with posts, then adding 5 recent posts in a sidebar is a breeze. You don\’t have to use a weird thing called Ditto and nothing is annoyingly preformatted into lists for you.
You can save the sidebar/header/footer to a \"chunk\" too just like in Modx and include it – {embed=\"includes/header\"}. The EE tags are also easy to read.
The client thing I\’d agree with, although $250 shouldn\’t be much to charge a client considering the time you took to code everything into the CMS and to give them full control of their site. Also, the article was about Proimpact7 using EE/Modx not clients.
Brett, the major reason if you read the article wasn’t the template system, but difficulties of use for end user. The template system was a factor which could be overlooked if EE was offering a value in different areas.
I personally found it difficult to administrate after working with MODx. So for that reason I decided not to use it or recommend it for our clients, simply because our clients are not html savvy, and they would found it hard to use. For this very reason I decided to switch back to MODx and I am glad I made that decision because I know our clients will be able to use MODx without any deep learning curve. That’s what I and majority of our clients expect from a CMS, to be user friendly.
One thing you need to understand is that our clients are looking for a CMS which almost any member of their team could use to update their site, and that’s what MODx can offer, easy to use content update system.
Is MODx the best free open source CMS? Far from the best, but I know one thing for sure. Our clients who decide to use a free open source CMS like MODX, instead of an enterprise CMS will not keep coming back to us with questions how to update their content. Jan…
Hi Jan,
Thanks for the review. You would not be related to Drazen Petrovic would you?
You might consider looking into EE2 now that is out.
I am EE user and I must say I found it much easier from developer and end-user point. I don’t think that Modx is any more easier because “deep learning curve for customers” or “because our clients are not html savvy”…they both ride on editors as far as customers having to mess with html it is non existent while if they do know a bit of html they can even make their own adjustment to themes – should they desire.
“Our clients who decide to use a free open source CMS ”
-no they won’t, but they will end up like many WP users “surprised when their site is hacked”.
As open source Modx is great…but it suffers from the very same issues as any open source app…developers are busy, no incentive to keep current, no support other than when someone feels like replying to your threads…
If this is hobby site all is great but for a paying clients I am not so sure. Unless, you provide a support plan to keep them running and up to date…that might be developer incentive more so than customers.
Never the less, you article is appreciated, I always wonder what makes developer go with one app vs. another.
Thanks.
i used both expression engine and modx.Both are good.I use modx whenevr I want to develop a customized site for the clients.I use expression engine for cutomers who wants a quick turnaround.
You got to be joking, man…!
MODx Evolution restricts you to 5000 resources (mind you – that is not necessarily webpages)
MODx Revolution is a nightmare to work and buggy, can’t even get a clean MODx install… you got to be lucky if you do, so if you do, its not the norm.
MODx support? – MODx documentation?
… where is it?
… nothing but a repetitive self-praise on what is all possible (you can read the same over and over on dozens of pages all spread around the net.
… never an in-depth explanation on “HOW TO” (and if there is an attempt, then it is merely a surface cover)
… FREE ARROGANT core developers and other community members who wonder why you ask anyway. Don’t you know it and if not, what do you want then here? (sorry to interrupt your private club of FREE arrogance)
… The Coding? Another self-praise.
A nightmare for developers to integrate any 3rd party script or develop modules. MODx’ API (is it really?) sucks and drives any decent developer away.
C’mon, speak the truth guys – for once only even though MODx is another FREE COMMUNITY DRIVEN … thing (it was developed by some I know!)
Of course, everything and everyone is the best (least on the internet) Aren’t we so lucky to live in cyber age. In the real world we barely would make it through an apprenticeship. But here we are, in cyberspace. Here we have our own rules and everyone is allowed to be pretentious and arrogant. Hey, what do you want … it’s all free here. No one ever asks you to join or worse, believe me!
Thanks for the message, MODx!
Surely if you would be that good as you proclaim, MODx, why don’t you make it a premium CMS and sell it for money? Shall we assume you are scared only a few would then use it because the real developers know what kinda stuff(up) MODx is?
Not necessarily a bad idea, but surely an extreme arrogant and bad execution!
I prefer the traditional CMS over the new Modx system. That is just me but I am willing to try this Modx and see how it goes.