For those of us who’ve been using and learning the MODx content management system, it’s exciting to know that MODx Revolution 2.0.0 beta 1 is now available for download and testing 🙂 There is no better time to jump in and get involved with MODx than right now!!
What is MODx Revolution?
MODx revolution is the new carnation of the MODx content management system. It features a completely new core code base and is supposed to be faster, more flexible, more powerful than the current MODx version (a.k.a Evolution)
Why the name Revolution?
Well, from what I can gather I believe the new name is to avoid confusion. Revolution is built on a whole new code base, and both versions of MODx will continue to be supported, both Evolution (the currently available version) and Revolution (the new one). Having two different names will help to keep things clear both for developers and end users.
What does this mean for Evolution users? Am I wasting my time learning the current MODx version?
Well, it means that there are new and exciting times ahead! 🙂 And no, you’re not wasting your time for several reasons:
- Revolution is currently in beta, which means that it’s not recommended to use it for production sites yet.
- Sites built on Evolution will be upgradeable to Revolution once it’s ready for production use.
- Your knowledge of Evolution will not be wasted. You may need to learn some new stuff, but constant learning is what makes us better at our craft.
Where can I find out more?
You can read more about MODx Revolution on the documentation page: http://svn.modxcms.com/docs/display/revolution/MODx+Revolution
If you want to take it on a test drive, which I highly recommend you do, you can download the beta version here (http://modxcms.com/download/), install it on your computer, and test it out. The MODx team is eager to have people test it and send in bug reports. The install instructions and more information are available on the documentation page linked to above.
I’m still playing with Revolution and will most likely be doing more writeups about it as I learn more about it. I will tag all posts clearly so that it will be clear whether I’m talking about Evolution or Revolution 🙂
And remember, Revolution is in beta testing, there will be bugs 🙂 If you find them, report them to the MODx team so they can squash them and make Revolution even better!
More Reading:
http://modxcms.com/forums/index.php/topic,36214.0.html
http://svn.modxcms.com/docs/display/revolution/MODx+Revolution