Udemy – Using MODX CMS to Build Websites: A Beginner's Guide

Content Management Systems (CMS's) help you create and manage your website on-line. This course will guide you through using MODX to build and maintain your website with total creative freedom.Why does MODX win out over other CMS's? Too often they get in the way. You want to add something but you have to add it as a "widget" or a "block". You want to change the layout of your site but you don't have access to the code. MODX changes all that, you have total control over the code.

You may be familiar with Drupal, Joomla and Wordpress, while these are good at what they do, they all have their limitations. MODX is different, you are unrestrained, you can design your website exactly how you want, to look like you want it to look and do what you want it to do.

This course introduces you to the basic concepts of the MODX content management system so you can get up and running with a website that is totally under your control in no time at all.

You will learn:

• how to download MODX
• how to host MODX
• how to create the required database
• how to install MODX
• what are the key concepts for using MODX
• finding and using a free website theme
• adapting a theme to your requirements
• collecting data from your users
• how to implement search engine optimisation best practices
• how to set up Google Analytics and Webmaster Tools to help optimise your site
• how to make your website social media friendly

The objectives are to:

• Use MODX with power, ease, and flexibility
• Build an attractive, functional, and responsive website step-by-step with MODX.

MODX is an open source CMS softwareproject which means it has been developed by a community of programmers around the world and is given away for free.
The course is made up of step-by-step video lessons in which a responsive website is built using the MODX system and a free template.
A basic understanding of HTML and CSS is all that is required to discover the power of MODX.
You can learn all you need to know to start using MODX in just two and a half hours.
You should take this course if:

• You have just completed one of the many HTML and CSS courses and want to check out the different CMS options open to you.

• You use another content management system such as Joomla, Drupal or Wordpress and you want to compare it to MODX.

The instructor will be available to answer any questions you have during the course.

What are the requirements?

• Knowledge of HTML
• Knowledge of CSS
• Familiarity using computers on-line

What am I going to get from this course?

• Over 20 lectures and 2 hours of content!
• An understanding of the versatility, power and ease of use of MODX
• The knowledge of how to build an attractive, functional, and responsive website step-by-step with MODX

What is the target audience?

• Those wanting to develop a website with complete creative control
• Web developers who use other content management systems
• Artist, designers, photogrophers who want control of their website
• Anyone who is ready to take the next steps after studying HTML and CSS
• Those wanting to earn money by building websites

Curriculum
Section 1: Introduction To The Course
Lecture 1 Course Goals 02:51
This lesson gives you a brief overview of the course and tells you what you will achieve by completing the course.

Section 2: Setting Up For Development
Lecture 2 Downloading MODX 00:49
You need to go to the MODX site and download the files you will need to install MODX. This lesson speedily goes through those steps.

Lecture 3 Hosting 06:09
In this lesson we go through a typical scenario getting set up in a standard hosting environment. Including uploading the MODX files to your chosen web host, and preparing for setup.

Lecture 4 Creating a Database 01:53
Setting up the database you will use for your website.

Lecture 5 Installing MODX 03:07
In this lesson we walk through of the installation process of MODX.

Lecture 6 Key Concepts 10:54
In this lesson you are introduced to the key concepts of MODX: pages in the resource tree; editing content, templates; MODX tags, system settings; and, packages/extras.

Section 3: Building Your Website
Lecture 7 Finding a Theme 03:40
We will build our website based on a free theme available on the internet, in this lesson we select a theme and download it to our hard drive.

Lecture 8 Your Web Page Templates 06:43
MODX has re-usable templates for its webpages. This lesson looks at how to set those up based on our free website theme.

Lecture 9 Website Assets 06:29
In this lesson we learn how to link the stylesheets, images and javascript files from our free template to our pages in the MODX manager.

Lecture 10 Creating Pages 06:09
In this lesson we learn how to set up our website's pages with human readable URL's

Lecture 11 Working With Reusable Code And Navigation 12:11
In this lesson we work with reusable code and learn how to create dynamic menus.

Lecture 12 Adapting Templates For Your Website 13:56
In this lesson we learn some more about MODX templates; specifically, how to adapt our free website templates to be efficient, neat and tidy MODX templates. We also learn how to add unique content to our pages.

Lecture 13 Getting User Data: The Contact Us Page 16:23
Every website needs some way for users to contact you or input the data you need from them. This lesson shows you how MODX handles input forms.

Lecture 14 Summary 01:16
In this lesson we review what we have learned in this section.

Section 4: Search Engine Optimisation
Lecture 15 SEO Settings And Best Practices 07:05
If you want your website to do well in the search engine rankings there are some options and settings you need from the start. This lesson tells you what they are and how to set them up.

Lecture 16 Improve Your Website's Crawlability With A Sitemap 03:48
Google and other search engines like to see a sitemap.xml file for your website. It helps search engines become aware of all the pages on your site. This lesson shows you how to create the file automatically

Lecture 17 Get Statistics With Google Analytics 07:53
Who's visiting your website? Where are they? What pages are they looking at? How long are they spending on those pages? Are they viewing your website from their desktop computer or a mobile device? These are some of the questions that will help you develop and promote your site, and they are all (and more) questions you can get answered by using Google Analytics.
This lesson shows you how to set-up Google Analytics for your site. Also how to view the analytics data in the back-end manager of your site by customising the dashboard.

Lecture 18 Webmaster Tools 05:00
Google's Webmaster Tools provides valuable insights into how our website is performing in the search engine results. The lesson shows you how to register your website with Webmaster Tools and how to add the appropriate code to your pages.

Section 5: Social Media
Lecture 19 Improve The Quality Of Shares By Social Media 14:04
In this lesson we look at how you can help your website's shareability on Facebook and Twitter. This lesson also introduces creating custom MODX template variables.

Section 6: Conclusion
Lecture 20 Conclusion 03:56
So now you have an attractive, well constructed website that is optimised to be found and do well in the search engine rankings, and you can take control over social media shares, what next?
The conclusion explores how you can take your website and business forward with the help of MODX.







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