I'll admit: deep down inside I'm hurt. I've spent hours and hours trying to get this blog just right with all the right features. You may have noticed that I set up some automated archiving, tags use friendly URLS and you can even leave comments (with notifications). And guess what? You can have all that and more in literally five minutes with the all new "Articles" component for MODX 2.2. Thanks Shaun!
No - but in all seriousness, the release of this all new "Articles" plugin (formerly called "modBlog") is great news. The timing could have been better (like, not right after I deemed the blog section of my new site completed), but this is a great step leap forward for MODX, and I would really say it welcomes MODX 2.2 to the stage with a bang.
Now, for those that have been hiding under some rocks lately - Articles is a Custom Resource Type developed by Shaun "splittingred" McCormick, MODX Senior Developer. "Custom Resource Type" is real nerdy talk for saying it's something that shows up in the side hierarchical resource tree, but doesn't neccesarily act similar to your regular Documents. If you want the nerdy description - it means you can extend the modResource class, and change its behavior (methods), customizing the user experience (controllers) and more.
So what does it do?
Well, here's a list of some of its features:
- Provide an overview UI when clicking the Articles resource in the resource tree, where a grid of posts are shown, as well as a huge amount of settings to configure its behavior.
- Lists the individual articles on the front-end (powered by getPage and getResourcesTag, meaning you got it paginated and filterable on tags)
- Creates automated archives (using friendly URLs).
- Generates RSS feeds.
- Allows imports from Wordpress and resources.
- Has built in commenting (configurable through the Settings tab) powered by Quip. Real nifty thing here is that the Quip comments view in the manager is integrated with the individual article update screens.
Well, that pretty much sums up blogging right? I probably forgot a thing or two there, and luckily there's still some things planned for future releases for the total feature-nuts out there.
All in all Articles really is a game changer, and the fact that it is for MODX 2.2 and up (I really should write a blog post on that, too!), I have the feeling we're about to see a big spike (a new download record, perhaps?) when 2.2-pl hits the shelves.
(And yes - this blog is still powered by my own craftmansship and hours of hard labor. And 2.1 for that matter. I'll upgrade it all someday - let's launch this baby first!)
Im excited about trying them. Today will be my first time.
Have fun! :) There's actually a new release of Articles (1.5) for 2.2.1-pl out now, which resolves some bugs from the 1.4.x series.