moving from ModX to WordPress

no former modx users out there?

Hi, I am in the process of doing this right now. It is not really a blog, but a company site. So I am moving to WordPress as a CMS not as a blog.

My MoDX site has .html extensions… after looking at various htaccess options (which I would just copy, I am not capable of writing my own mod rewrite rules), I have decided the best option is to use a WordPress plugin called Redirection. I’ve used it on other sites for a straight HTML site going to WordPress. It’s super-easy to administer.

https://www.ads-software.com/extend/plugins/redirection/

So I have a list of all my MODX page URLs and will redirect them to the WordPress urls…

To replace Ditto, I am using several plugins to mimic what Ditto does for Modx…
Yoast Breadcrumbs

To add breadcrumbs:
https://yoast.com/wordpress/breadcrumbs/

To fix the WP inclusion of “category” in the breadcrumb path:
https://wpjudge.com/category-redirect-version-1-2-released-bug-short-tag-fixes/

For dropdown menu
https://pixopoint.com/products/multi-level-navigation/
To add easy drag-and-drop arrangement of pages to order the menu:
https://geekyweekly.com/mypageorder
There’s another plugin called Page Mashup that i haven’t used but I believe does the same thing…

More plugins:

The all-time best contact form plugin *ever*cFORMS
https://www.deliciousdays.com/cforms-plugin/

I am using multiple mini-loops (my term) that display one category, in the sidebar and on several pages that use page templates, such as this one for company awards:

<ul id="listAwards">
<?php
global $post;
$myposts = get_posts('numberposts=3&meta_key=announce-type&meta_value=awards');
foreach($myposts as $post) :
?>
<li style="margin-top:6px;"><?php the_time('M j y'); ?> – <a href="<?php the_permalink(); ?>"><?php the_title(); ?></a></li><?php endforeach; ?>
</ul>

For more help with customizing the loop, try this excellent post on Noupe:
https://www.noupe.com/wordpress/mastering-your-wordpress-theme-hacks-and-techniques.html

Some of the sidebar mini-loops are in widgets or applied in the page editing window, therefore I am using the plugin Exec-PHP.
https://bluesome.net/post/2005/08/18/50/
Again, there is another similar plugin. Note that using this plugin is a security door. Be careful if you open up editing the site to other users.

Have you made your own WordPress theme before? If not, try it… it’s not hard, just takes a bit of time.

Would highly recommend going from scratch, use this tutorial:
https://themeshaper.com/wordpress-themes-templates-tutorial/

I find it less work than taking an existing theme and editing it. Not every theme developer does a good job on the stylesheet, and this way you can build the CSS your way and around the needs of your site.

Hope this helps!

Wow. MODx is much more flexible, so a migration from WP to MODx is much easier on all fronts: templates, URLs, and custom PHP code. I would guess that you’d spend less time pimping out MODx to do whatever it is you need than you’ll spend trying to make WP emulate MODx.

Moodles,
That’s a big help – thanks

Fireproof, I LOVED MODx, however only one of the company sites was build with MODx and the rest WordPress. No one but me knew anything about MODx or was interested in learning it.

It made little sense for me to keep working with two systems.

I use both systems equally, and love them both. MODx Evo pretty much sucks for blogging, even though the default install has one, sort of. MODx Revo (2.0) does have instructions for making a better blog (if that’s what you’re looking for), but you’d need to get used to the Revo manager interface, which is different.

So whichever way you go, you’ve definitely got some work to do. I like theming WordPress, but MODx is definitely easier to theme.

I tend to agree with Fireproofsocks, too.

Cheers, Dave