MODX

It’s no secret that before now, changing the Manager theme in MODX took a lot of effort. With MODX 2.3, you’ll finally be able to quickly change the way the Manager looks. Because, Sass. Manager Themes in MODX A considerable effort went—and ... [More] continues as of writing this—into the way the Manager works with MODX Revolution 2.3. It is infinitely more customizable than its predecessors. This article covers the basics of what you’ll need to know to start exploring creating a Manager Theme today. To work on a Manager theme, you need to be familiar with Sass. Fear not—this is a very good thing. Using Sass is a excellent way to build and maintain CSS for websites. It's also been adopted by major front end frameworks including Zurb Foundation and Twitter Bootstrap, so chances are you'll run into it sooner than later. In short, Sass makes writing CSS right a lot more straightforward. However, there are additional dependencies you need to use Sass. The key part of Sass workflows is compiling the Sass you create into proper CSS files for web browsers. The MODX Manager theme itself uses grunt.js and build tasks, but there are many other ways to go about compiling Sass into CSS, including Compass, native applications and more. (see below) What Goes in a Manager Theme Manager Themes can be highly customized, replacing every file in the Default theme, or you can just alter a few styles and make selective overrides. You can even change the way the Manager works by including custome ExtJS files, but that is beyond the scope of this introductory overview. Manager themes are located in the manager/templates/ directory. The MODX Manager automatically scans there, building a select list from the name of any directories it finds in the Back-end Manager > manager_theme system setting. To change your theme, navigate to that system setting, double-click the name, and choose your new theme from those listed. A custom Manager theme will usually contain the following directories: sass/ – the baseline Sass files used to build the custom styling css/ – where index.css and login.css stylesheets are generated images/ – a copy of all images needed for the theme js/ (optional) – overrides for the overall layout of the MODX Manager, for instance to use a full-height tree menu, instead of it being nested underneath the top navigation, or to change the way the überbar works. note: this is advanced stuff for seasoned ExtJS developers There are many other directories located in the default Manager theme, most of them being the layout templates, ending in .tpl. You can create custom *.tpl files should you wish, but it's not needed most of the time, and this is probably an advanced area that would be left to experienced back end developers. The exception to this rule might be the security/login.tpl file and the help.tpl files, which affect the login page and the Help page. The sass/ Directory The Sass files are probably the most imortant files when it comes to creating a custom theme. For example, a clients might want branded colors and their logo in their Manager. This is where those changes would get made. The main Sass files you'll modify are as follows: _colors-and-vars.scss – probably the first starting point for your MODX Manager theming work. This is where all your baseline colors, font sets and other baseline styles are set that are used throughout the other Sass files. A few changes to the variables here can make a radical difference in the look and feel of the MODX Manager. index.scss – the styles for the MODX Manager after logging in. This includes the majority of the _xxx.scss files inside. login.scss – the styles for the MODX Manager login The additional Sass files that you may also wish to work with include: _buttons.scss – the button styles used throughout the Manager _forms.scss – the styles that control how forms appear _help.scss – the styles for the MODX help page inside the Manager _navbar.scss – the styles for the top navigation _tabs.scss – the styles for tabs, both horizontal and vertical _tree.scss – the styles for the trees _uberbar.scss – the styling for the überbar search and keyboard navigation tool _xtheme-modx.scss – a custom version of the default ExtJS 3.x styles (in which we'd love your assistance in purging unused styles) In addition, there are a few mixin and helper/utility Sass files: _box-sizing.scss – a simple box sizing mixin helper file _image-set.scss – a mixin used to create multiple background images _utility.scss – mixins that don't output directly, but that can be used as helpers for things like image replacement, Font Awesome calls, hiding things visually, etc., via Sass extends functions. Exploring Sass for Beginners If you're new to working with Sass, you might find the Webdesigntuts+ article, SASS and Compass for Web Designers: Introduction, a great way to get your feet wet. I did. In about half an hour I got comfortable with the concepts for working locally using Live Reload, which makes my Sass explorations almost automagical. If you really want to get started exploring today: Grab a copy of the development branch from Github. In a sandbox on your local development machine, duplicate the manager/templates/default/ directory to a new name like custom. Copy the _build/templates/default/sass/ directory from step 1 into your new custom theme directory from step 2. Pick your favorite tool from the tutorial above to compile your Sass files and have fun changing things up. The Next Steps I hope you have a better grasp of what goes into a Manager theme and understand why we chose Sass. In a future article, I will show you how you can create a custom theme, without having to use anything other than your web browser, and a couple of quick trips to a command line. Trust me, if I can do it, it's easy! Stay tuned for more … and happy Sassing. [Less]

To make sure Revolution 2.3 is the release everyone hopes for, we decided to delay its final release until July 15th. This should provide for more quality assurance time, help vet that Extras work as expected, and to give translators more time to ... [More] update their native languages. In the weeks since we announced the feature cutoff, we've seen a large and still increasing volume of contributions. Even with additional integration managers—the Community members with push access and decision-making authority for the source code repository—it takes time to review these very valuable enhancements and fixes. In fact, in the last couple of months over 600 issues have been closed while working on 2.3. This additinoal time will also give the integration team and contributors more time for that final polish before inspection. This also means there is more time for your feedback and testing prior to the release. We encourage you to grab the regularly updated (almost) nightly builds frequently, or test 2.3 builds in MODX Cloud. If you do find issues, please report them to the Revolution project on GitHub. The list of things being double-checked ahead of Revo 2.3, release: Additional UX polish on new features coming in 2.3 Resolving Extras that are not working as expected in 2.3 dev builds Including additional bug fixes Refining the design and UX in new Manager Completing additional translations and updating existing ones Extras Authors: We Need Your Help If you authored or maintain a MODX Extra, we would love for you to test it to ensure it works as expected in Revo 2.3. We hope to have all major Extras that worked in 2.2 work in 2.3, and be available at launch. We're attempting to contact all Revo Extras authors by email. Translators On June 25 we migrated Revo translations to Crowdin. The reactions from Community translators and proofreaders have been overwhelmingly positive to this new tool, and we're seeing activity like never before. And with two additional weeks, translators will have additional time to check and make suggestions and updates. One of the reasons we chose Crowdin over other solutions is that it gives translators and proofreaders the opportunity to translate and see the work in context. It's like a front end editor for language translations, only it sits within the Manager. All you need to do is click on the edit icon next to a string and make your changes. They'll be saved to the project instantly. If you know more than one language and know MODX, you're welcome to contribute your translations. No permission required, just sign up for free at Crowdin and you're welcome to submit suggestions for a string. One of our community proofreaders will review it for acceptance. Still Something to Download We didn't want you to go without a release. In the next day or so there will be a 2.2.15 patch release, which resolves a number of minor issues and bugs. Are You Excited About 2.3? It's been long overdue, and everyone's anticipation is high. Moreso, the increase in Community participation in architecting and coding new features and functionality bodes incredibly well for the future 2.4 and beyond releases, which will happen with a considerably more rapid pace. Hold on tight because the future of MODX is exciting! So if you're as eager about the 2.3 release as we are, tell us what you think and what you're looking forward to the most. [Less]

In our ongoing quest to improve MODX Cloud’s usability, usefullness and stability, we’re announcing a few key updates to help site builders get their jobs done more productively. Backups Refactored—Backups took too long and ... [More] consumed too much IO. We were able to cut the processor and load in half and they also complete about 30% more quickly. The platform stability has improved, and as a result MODX Cloud users can expect a more reliable platform. We'll continue to monitor and improve backups. Remote Database Management—one of the most requested features by site builders is now in production. Your database access credentials to use tools like Navicat or remote backup tools reside on the same page as your SSH login details in the MODX Cloud Dashboard. Get Your Git—many site builders want to use Git from the command line in their development workflow. This is now possible due to changes in how Git is deployed inside each MODX Cloud project, so you can checkout and manage your projects just like all the cool kids. Keep Your Sites Safe—Part of our commitment in Cloud is to keep up to date with current releases of the software stack powering MODX Cloud. In this release, we updated PHP to the latest 5.4.29 version and pushed it live to close potential security holes on the first day of our development sprint. General Updates—as a result of improving the UI and fixing bugs, the Dashboard works better giving users a more fluid experience in MODX Cloud; fewer support tickets were opened as a result. The improvements include removing the pagination from the Favorites on the Clouds page so you’re not limited to only seeing four active projects at a time, improving notifications of activity in MODX Cloud, and ensuring cancelling no longer needed trial or Lab accounts works as expected. Expunging “Clever”—while we certainly appreciate good humor and the occassional clever message buried deep in the corner of apps, it doesn’t need to be pervasive. In preparation for translating the UI into multiple languages, we began removing things that didn’t add clarity to the User Experience. As Steve Krug would say, "Don’t Make Me Think." [Less]

The long awaited MODX Revolution 2.3 is planned to be released on July 1st, 2014. This release includes major improvements including a new, vastly streamlined and more modern, Manager Theme, User Group settings configurable by user group rank, and ... [More] Resources and Elements can be opened in a new tab or Window. Last Call for Features In preparation for it's release we are instituting a feature freeze commencing on June 20, 2014. Any features not ready for integration at that time will be scheduled for 2.4 (following semantic versioning rules). For translators, translations will be accepted until the day prior to release. We'll be sending out an email to notify all translators and answer any questions you may have. What's New in 2.3 Here's a list of the highlights of Revolution 2.3: Manager Theme Redesign One Connector to Rule Them All Actions Now Identified by Name (path) rather than an ID User Group Settings by User Group rank with preference to Primary User Group Contexts Now Have a Name Field separate from the Key Define Custom Welcome Actions via Settings Manage Custom HTTP Headers by Content Type The Manager Gateway is now Configurable (i.e. change from index.php) Open Resources and Elements in a New Tab or Window Define Custom Tree Icons by Template Added in/inarray Conditional Output Modifier Added contains/containsnot Conditional Output Modifier Element Categories are now unique by Parent + Name Manager Menu split into 2 top-level Containers--- topnav & usernav Added Dependency Management to Transport Packaging Testers and Bughunters Wanted Anyone interested in testing MODX Revolution 2.3 prior to its release, you can download it here at modx.com or, if you're using MODX Cloud, you can install Revolution 2.3 into a new instance and test away. If you find bugs, we'd love to be able to fix them before the general release. Please report any bugs or, even better, submit patches to the MODX Revo project on GitHub. [Less]

Last week we announced an exploit found in AjaxSearch that could allow a Remote Code Execution in MODX Evolution. We originally suggested the removal of the index-ajax.php file was a sufficient method to protect your site from vulnerability. It has ... [More] come to our attention that this was not correct. The correct methods to close this vulnerability are: remove all AjaxSearch files (if you don't use this snippet on your site), upgrade the AjaxSearch files to 1.10.1, or upgrade to Evolution 1.0.14. Please share this message to ensure every Evo site owner knows. [Less]

Last week we announced an exploit found in AjaxSearch that could allow a Remote Code Execution in MODX Evolution. We originally suggested the removal of the index-ajax.php file was a sufficient method to protect your site from vulnerability. It ... [More] has come to our attention that this was not correct. The correct methods to close this vulnerability are: remove all AjaxSearch files (if you don't use this snippet on your site), upgrade the AjaxSearch files to 1.10.1, or upgrade to Evolution 1.0.14. Please share this message to ensure every Evo site owner knows. [Less]

Last week we announced an exploit found in AjaxSearch that could allow a Remote Code Execution in MODX Evolution. We originally suggested the removal of the index-ajax.php file was a sufficient method to protect your site from vulnerability. It has ... [More] come to our attention that this was not correct. The correct methods to close this vulnerability are: remove all AjaxSearch files (if you don't use this snippet on your site), upgrade the AjaxSearch files to 1.10.1, or upgrade to Evolution 1.0.14. Please share this message to ensure every Evo site owner knows. [Less]

Last week we announced an exploit found in AjaxSearch that could allow a Remote Code Execution in MODX Evolution. We originally suggested the removal of the index-ajax.php file was a sufficient method to protect your site from vulnerability. It has ... [More] come to our attention that this was not correct. The correct methods to close this vulnerability are: remove all AjaxSearch files (if you don't use this snippet on your site), upgrade the AjaxSearch files to 1.10.1, or upgrade to Evolution 1.0.14. Please share this message to ensure every Evo site owner knows. [Less]

Product: MODX Evolution Risk: Very High Severity: Critical Versions: <=1.0.13 Vulnerabilty Type: Remote Code Execution Report Date: 2014-May-29 Fixed Date: 2014-June-5 Description The AjaxSearch component distributed with all versions of ... [More] MODX Evolution (and 0.9.x) contains a vulnerability that allows remote code execution. Affected Releases All MODX 0.9.x/Evolution releases prior to and including MODX Evolution 1.0.13 (with AjaxSearch installed) are affected. Solutions There are two ways to resolve or mitigate the issue: Upgrade AjaxSearch to version 1.10.1 Upgrade to MODX Evolution 1.0.14. NOTE A special thanks to Semko Vitaliy for identifying the vector and community member Thomas Jakobi for the resolution. [Less]

Product: MODX Evolution Risk: Very High Severity: Critical Versions: <=1.0.13 Vulnerabilty Type: Remote Code Execution Report Date: 2014-May-29 Fixed Date: 2014-June-5 Description The AjaxSearch component distributed with all versions of MODX ... [More] Evolution (and 0.9.x) contains a vulnerability that allows remote code execution. Affected Releases All MODX 0.9.x/Evolution releases prior to and including MODX Evolution 1.0.13 (with AjaxSearch installed) are affected. Solutions There are two ways to resolve or mitigate the issue: Upgrade AjaxSearch to version 1.10.1 Upgrade to MODX Evolution 1.0.14. NOTE A special thanks to Semko Vitaliy for identifying the vector and community member Thomas Jakobi for the resolution. [Less]