We've been working with MODX since version 0.9 and have made a lot of mistakes along the way. We'd like to share our biggest mistakes with you, so you can avoid making the same. These range from usability mistakes to coding mistakes.

1. MODXpo 2013 Köln
Fail compilation #@!#^#!%@

2. Gauke Pieter Sietzema
Lead developer, CTO at Sterc
!
twitter.com/gpsietzema
linkedin.com/in/gpsietzema
www.sterc.nl
MODXpo 2013 - Fail compilation Köln

3. Sterc - Internet & Marketing
MODX Founding Partner
MODXpo sponsor
Founded in 2005
MODX 0.9.3
MODXpo 2013 - Fail compilation Köln

4. Fail compilation
8 years of web development
8 years of MODX development
Hundreds of masterfully crafted websites
Hundreds of happy clients
Countless of challenges to keep ‘m happy
No regrets, but…
MODXpo 2013 - Fail compilation Köln

5. What to expect?
Numerous fails
Ideas to prevent ‘m in the future
A good laugh
Interaction
MODXpo 2013 - Fail compilation Köln

6. MODXHostingXL
Hosting from one of Holland’s best Magento hosting
companies
Powered by the latest hardware
SSD’s to boost performance
Optional Varnish
MODXpo 2013 - Fail compilation Köln

7. Meeting the client
Who are you?
Appointment
MODXpo 2013 - Fail compilation Köln

8. Communication
“oh, I’ll fix it in 5 mins!”
Playing dead
“are you sure? It ís working here”
Not telling the client something is way more expensive
Assumptions
MODXpo 2013 - Fail compilation Köln

9. Working for free #1
A broke client
Not creating expectations
Pleasing
Can you add this little thingy?
Hiring a third party
Standards and defaults
Assumptions
MODXpo 2013 - Fail compilation Köln

10. Working for free #2
Invoices
Agree to invoice when a site is finished
Reinventing the wheel
Assumptions
MODXpo 2013 - Fail compilation Köln

11. Testing
Not testing at all or just by yourself
Logging in with your own (sudo) user
Forms and email
Using new add ons
Not telling the client you tested something
Browsers, Windows, Tablets, internet connections
Assumptions
MODXpo 2013 - Fail compilation Köln

12. Search engines #1
Bad canonical
Noindex
Launching an IP-blocked site
Wrong UA-code
Forgetting 301 redirects
Sitemap with everything
Lorem ipsum
MODXpo 2013 - Fail compilation Köln

13. Search engines #2
Indexing developer sites
www and non-www
Non-cachable sites when going live
Domain-aliases and htaccess
Wrong Sitemap in Robots.txt when using a multi-domain
setting
MODXpo 2013 - Fail compilation Köln

14. Being funny
Putting meme’s in your clients site and not removing them
Funny classnames: .yellow p, .poop { color:brown; }
Funny stories as test content
Being funny on social media about clients
Creating funny passwords for the client
MODXpo 2013 - Fail compilation Köln

15. Wild wild west
Wild West coding
Russian roulette with no backups
Editing your local files and refreshing your live site
Working on a live site, but editing a different site
Updating a site when there is a huge amount of visitors
MODXpo 2013 - Fail compilation Köln

16. Updating MODX
Update contracts
Updating an Evo site and overwriting it with the demo content
2.1 > 2.2 and media sources
Client access policies
Updating with incompatible packages
Not testing after an update
Leaving the setup folder
MODXpo 2013 - Fail compilation Köln

17. Brain farts
DNS TTL
Delivering email locally, when you shouldn't
Working with hosting companies who update without telling
Sending test emails to funny non-existent domain names
Caching forms
Caching e-commerce checkout pages
No backup mails
MODXpo 2013 - Fail compilation Köln

18. Some good excuses, that buys
you time
“Did you try to reboot your PC?”
“Did you clear your browser cache?”
“Oooh, you are using Internet Explorer”
“It works on my computer, so it must be a local problem”
It’s a DNS problem
MODXpo 2013 - Fail compilation Köln

19. Seriously
Communicate
Be honest
Go for a long term relationship with your client
MODXpo 2013 - Fail compilation Köln

20. Any questions fails?
XL
MODXpo 2013 - Fail compilation Köln

21. That’s it folks, thanks!
!
twitter.com/gpsietzema
linkedin.com/in/gpsietzema
www.sterc.eu
MODXpo 2013 - Fail compilation Köln