Learning MODX Evolution from HTML Templates, Chunks, and Placeholders

One of the best old explanations of MODX Evolution for newcomers was not “which theme should I install?” but “start from plain HTML and learn the core building blocks.” This article belongs in the archive because it captures that mindset clearly.

The basic Evo model

• Templates hold the page structure.
• Chunks are reusable HTML fragments.
• Snippets provide dynamic behavior.
• Template Variables hold per-resource structured data.
• Modules and plugins extend manager and parser behavior.

Why this mattered

Evolution gained a lot of loyalty from developers who did not want a rigid theme system. The platform worked well when you already had HTML, CSS, and JavaScript and simply needed a flexible CMS layer around them. That is exactly what this article teaches, and that is why it still adds value to the timeline.

Why this belongs in the timeline

This post matters because it shows how Evolution CMS teams solved real project problems with small, explicit patterns instead of heavy abstractions. That practical, incremental style is one of the clearest through-lines in the old Evo ecosystem.