Learning how to create a new post
Unless you are one of the lucky ones who can intuit almost instantly how to use MODx, the first thing that happens after you get it installed is: “Great CMS! Now how do I use it?” Well, read on, and have a look at the overview video posted here: www.TipsFor.us
The idea with this tutorial is to give you some early success with MODx, answer some of your basic questions, and set you on the path to learn the rest of MODx yourself.
One caveat: Although this tutorial is about how to use MODx, it does get into several other areas of website building, so if you are an experienced website builder, please just skip those areas you are familiar with.
Everything in this tutorial template involving location and appearance on the webpage is done with a Cascading Style Sheet (CSS) file. If you don't know CSS - learn it. It is the future. This tutorial will introduce you to some CSS usage. Use caution when making changes to the CSS file – go slow and check to see what you did. Webpages can break in the browser very easily if you do the wrong thing with the css. Before you make any changes to the css file, make a backup copy of it while it still works.
If you have the template open in a browser, you can make changes in the CSS file in your editor, save the CSS, and then do an F5 in the browser to refresh the page and see the results of the CSS change immediately.
So, then—let's get into it.
Before you install MODx
Several prerequisites come to mind:
- It's best to have a functional webpage to create a template for MODx. Note: You do not need an entire site, just one page containing the layout of what your site will look like. Because MODx essentially relies on substitution to create dynamic pages, if you find a site you like, view the source. If you're able to see all the HTML and style sheets, chances are you'd be able to use the site's source code as a starting point for your own MODx template.
- You must have access to a web server, either local (localhost) or remote (A server you pay for access to from a hosting service).
- If you don't have a local server, you should get one as it greatly simplifies the constructing and testing of a website. You really don't have to know much about Apache (the preferred server among those who know), just go to Apache Friends and download and install XAMPP on your computer.
- You must have access to a MySQL database. The XAMPP install includes MySQL. Eventually you will need database access to the (remote) MySQL server. Discuss this with your hosting provider (ISP). See Create the modX database.
- Now you can install MODx. Be sure to take the option during install to install all the snippets – you will want them later.
Note for Mac OS X: OS X is a Unix system and it ships with Apache -- once you're in the Terminal, it is nearly identical to most Linux variants. You merely need to enable Web Sharing in the Sharing control panel. You can download the latest PHP module at http://www.entropy.ch/software/macosx/php/ and the Please configure your Apache setup securely! Download the MySQL module at http://www.entropy.ch/software/macosx/mysql/ A very convenient solution is MAMP. The abbreviation MAMP stands for: Macintosh, Apache, Mysql and PHP. With just a few mouse-clicks, you can install Apache, PHP and MySQL for Mac OS X! MAMP installs a local server environment in a matter of seconds on your Mac OS X computer, be it PowerBook or iMac. Like similar packages from the Windows- and Linux-world, MAMP comes free of charge. Download it here: http://mamp.info/en/home.php
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Reply #255 on : Thu March 11, 2010, 02:14:30
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Reply #253 on : Thu March 11, 2010, 01:24:03
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Reply #252 on : Thu March 11, 2010, 00:37:28