If you needed another reason to love MODX, here's one: the Core Team is responsive to user feedback and the platform is rapidly getting better because of it. Below is just a couple of recent examples of this in action. NOTE: these are two very minor examples of what actually seems to be a prime philosophy of the folks at MODX. They have one of the strongest and most active online communities out there. Their fan/user base is emphatic about their love of the platform. And in return, the MODX Team listens and engages with the community to gain direction and drive innovation. It's really a beautiful thing :)
FirstChildRedirect HTTP Response Code
The popular MODX Addon FirstChildRedirect got a neat update recently that really comes from the right place, in my opinion. SEO has always been a priority for the MODX Team, but lately the competition for Search Engine Rankings has gone through the roof. Every little bit helps, and with FirstChildRedirect, one of my gripes has always been lack of control over the HTTP Response Codes it generates (I'm not the only one to have mentioned it in the Forums). Now, there's a new property that can be set in the snippet call, used like this:
[[!FirstChildRedirect? &responseCode=`301`]]
This sets the HTTP Response Code to a 301 Permanent Redirect. Easy, right?
It's possible this can be attributed to the work of Mark Hamstra, who is a prolific MODX Addon Developer and may be "in charge" of this snippet now.
Auto-Post to Twitter in Articles
Shaun McCormick, past Senior Developer at MODX, has been updating the Articles MODX Addon faster than I can install them! The most recent goodie to come out of the bag is auto-posting to Twitter and one-click authorization from within MODX (Articles works on MODX Revolution 2.2 only). Patrick, of Skytoaster (who by the way provides amazing MODX-capable hosting) submitted a feature request and a day later it was made available. Granted it may have been in the works already, but the point is: "Ask, and MODX will listen."
****UPDATE:** I asked the twitterverse about the Articles auto-post to Twitter template, and I mentioned Shaun in the tweet, and you know what? He responded with a useful tip: "Available placeholders are [[+title]] [[+url]] and [[+hashtags]]. Nice! See what I mean? Responsive. If MODX and the Core Team was a girl and I was single I'd marry her LOL.
