Articles - Page 122

The Top 10 AI Tools for Small Business: From Automation to a Coordinated Team of AI Agents

matt-garrepy

<a target="_blank" href="https://modxcloud.com/">MODX Cloud</a> has hit its users with another update, this time bringing in dashboard improvements, an improved backup and restore process and enhanced documentation.<img src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2023/08/modx-color.png" />MODX Cloud is the hosted version of MODX, which allows users to build websites using MODX servers, the most recent of which was unveiled in Frankfurt. MODX Cloud provides optimized infrastructure, automatic backup management, and other benefits.<h2>Better Backups &amp; Dashboard Vault Space Reports</h2>Users of MODX Cloud can now <a target="_blank" href="http://modx.com/modxcloud.com/userguide/using-modx-cloud/backups/restore-backup-to-another-cloud.html">r</a>estore backups to any Cloud instance. This is useful if you need to grab a file from a few days ago that accidentally was deleted, but you’ve made changes to the live site since then you’d rather not lose.Finally, the Vault space usage report has returned to the Dashboard. You can now see how much space you’re using for Snapshots and Backups. It appears at the top of the Vault page. One of the first plan upgrades we’ll offer is extra storage space, so there’s no need to worry about exceeding their plan limits.Here's a summary of all the other updates:<ul><li>Improved documentation, including additional nginx web rules examples to <a target="_blank" href="https://modxcloud.com/userguide/using-modx-cloud/tools-and-configuration/web-rules-rewrites-redirects-tweaks.html">lock down Manager access to specific IP addresses</a> (ex. 5), <a target="_blank" href="https://modxcloud.com/userguide/using-modx-cloud/tools-and-configuration/web-rules-rewrites-redirects-tweaks.html">use free testing certificates to always access the Manager via SSL</a> (ex. 6) and to further <a target="_blank" href="http://modx.com/">optimize performance of your sites</a>(ex. 4).</li><li>Updates to the latest PHP 5.6.x version, and added <a target="_blank" href="http://modx.com/blog/2015/08/19/revolution-2.4/">MODX Revolution 2.4</a> as the default version in Cloud alongside its previous latest 2.3.x patch release.</li><li>Improvements to the overall signup and trial process have been implemented.</li><li>Under the hood billing system updates have come into effect, including ways for customers to easily switch to newer plans (coming soon).</li><li>Dashboard improvements to make it faster.</li></ul><h2>Making CMS Accessible</h2>Previously, <a href="/modx-makes-noble-move-towards-true-accessibility/">I covered MODX's charitable project which aims to make the Internet more accessible for those who need it</a>.Most (if not, all) content management systems don't cater to those who require assistive technology or assistive features in order to build websites or apps, and that's what MODX is trying to change.The good news is, the company has raised just under $40,000 in the way of this cause. The not-so-good news, is that it needs at least another $10,000 in order to achieve the $50,000 goal.<a target="_blank" href="http://a11y.modx.com/">Click here to donate</a>.For more information on this MODX update, <a target="_blank" href="http://modx.com/blog/2015/09/10/modx-cloud-update-september-10-2015/">check out the official announcement</a>.

MODX Cloud Update: An Improved Backup Process, Dashboard Changes & More

mike-johnston

<a href="http://www.blackmonk.com/" target="_blank"> BlackMonk CMS</a> have this week released the latest version of their platform which enables users to build a range of different portal types. 
 Such portals can be in the form of online newspapers, magazine sites, business directories, city portals and community portals – all of which can be powered by BlackMonk. 
 With version 3.3, an inline editor has been introduced for rich static pages, along with business directory updates and the addition of Stripe as a payment gateway. 
 Let's now take a look at what's new with BlackMonk.
<h2>Snazzy Rich Static Pages &amp; Cover Images</h2>
In my <a href="/blackmonk-cms-review/" target="_blank">BlackMonk CMS review</a>, one of my criticisms of the platform was regarding the lack of editing and design options for BlackMonk's static pages. These include common and important websites pages like the “About” page.  
 Impressively, BlackMonk quickly reacted with the release of <a href="/blackmonk-v3.2-released/" target="_blank">version 3.2</a>, and have now completed their static page editing enhancements with version 3.3. Now, those same static pages can be designed freely with an inline editor. 
 BlackMonk have put together an informative video to showcase the feature:
<iframe src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/k8b7PxrY4cw?feature=oembed" frameborder="0" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture" allowfullscreen></iframe>
The inline editor enables you to edit and format text as well as add things like cover images and videos. Unlike the conventional WYSIWYG editor where content is edited within a small text area, the inline editor gives the experience of editing a live web page. This allows you to view the page as visitors would see it, even as you edit. 
 Also, as well as cover images being an option for static pages, they can no also be inserted into other content pages, like business directories or upcoming event pages. 
 <img src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2023/08/99eeee7b-b419-4773-a015-1586f08803c8.jpg" alt="BlackMonk Cover Images" />
<h2>Improved Business Directory &amp; Stripe Payments</h2>
BlackMonk 3.3 also brings about changes to the business directory app, which allows publishers and advertisers to create extensive business listings, complete with photo gallery and product catalog. 
 The app now benefits from the addition of photo and review widget, appearing on the index page of the directory. The widget displays recent photos and reviews, giving users instant access to updated listings and consumer opinion. 
 User's ability to charge fees for things such as sponsored articles, business directory subscription, event sponsoring and so forth, have also been enhanced.  Publishers who prefer to use the Stripe payment gateway now have the option to automate payments for business directory subscriptions. In previous BlackMonk versions, automated subscription payment option was only available for PayPal payment gateway.
To find out more about BlackMonk CMS, check out their <a href="http://www.blackmonk.com/" target="_blank">official website</a>.

BlackMonk 3.3 Released with Inline Editor for Rich Static Pages

<a href="https://www.kissmetrics.com/" target="_blank">Kissmetrics</a>, the renowned analytics and marketing platform, has rolled out some notable updates.
<a href="https://www.kissmetrics.com/" target="_blank"><img src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2023/08/8f3eflnz365x0-is.jpg" /></a>
The popular platform can segment audiences, configure behavioral triggers, provide detailed reports and much more, all for the sake of better customer journeys, and of course, better conversion rates.
Here's what's new with Kissmetrics.
<h2>Color Customization &amp; Date Filters</h2>
Marketing isn't black and white. In fact, color plays a big role when it comes to conversions.
In recognition of this fact, Kissmetrics users can now customize the color of their banners and engagement elements for greater effect.
<img src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2023/08/kissmetrics-engage-color-customization727x0-is.gif" />
Furthermore, marketers can now benefit from enhanced date filters when sifting through data. Previously, users only had the option to filter out viewing the pricing page in the entire history of a customer’s activity. Now, though, a custom date range can be set for any report filters.
<img src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2023/08/kissmetrics-filter-with-date-ranges813x0-is.gif" />
<h2>Multi-touch Attribution</h2>
Which campaign drove which sale? Did those same customers ever come back to my store?
Those are some common questions asked by merchants, and Kissmetrics is endeavoring to answer with this next update.
<img src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2023/08/kissmetrics-multi-touch-attribution-breakdown-overtime813x0-is.gif" />
For example, maybe one purchase was driven by a Facebook ad, the second was attributed to an email campaign, and the third purchase was attributed to a Twitter post. You used to be able to only see first or last touch, but now you can get a breakdown over time of how multiple touchpoints result in conversions.
Without this breakdown of attribution, you would have never known your email campaign had an influence in this customer’s purchase behavior. Now you can accurately give credit to channels that drove conversion–whether they’re the first, second or last.
Want more detail? <a href="https://blog.kissmetrics.com/kissmetrics-september-product-update/" target="_blank">Check out Kissmetrics' official blog announcement for these updates</a>.
To find out more about Kissmetrics, <a href="https://blog.kissmetrics.com/" target="_blank">visit their website</a>.

Kissmetrics Updated With Color Customization, Custom Date Filters & Multi-Touch Attribution

Postach.io is a blogging platform with a difference. The whole premise of Postach.io is to negate the need for users to use a separate blogging tool, and it works with the note management system – <a href="https://evernote.com/">Evernote</a> – to achieve this. Postach.io turns Evernote into a content management system, which allows users to sync notes directly to their Postach.io blog. My inside scoop on Postachio.io will show you how it works and to help you decide whether it could work for you. Read on for the full review.
<h2>Signing Up</h2>
To sign up to Postach.io, you’ll need to select your Postach.io domain name, and insert your full name, email address, and password. If you don’t have Evernote, you will also need to set up an Evernote account. 
<img src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2023/08/postachio-review-1_crfcpl.png" alt="postachio-review" /> <img src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2023/08/postachio-review-2_cr1wlc.png" alt="postachio-review" />
Once you have your Evernote account set up, you’ll be asked to log in and write a test post which you’ll tag with ‘published’. This post will then automatically sync with Postach.io.
<h2>Usability</h2>
Once you’ve signed up, you can access your blog in two ways. You can log in via Evernote to write blog posts or log in to Postach.io to manage the blog. This sounds a little awkward, but it’s actually fine because you’ll likely be using Evernote most of the time anyway. 
There are two main menus on Postach.io which are easily found. The first one is displayed when you log in, on the right hand side of the page. This menu offers navigation to the Sites, Account, and Help sections.
<img src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2021/07/postachio-review-3_xyytlo.png" alt="postachio-review-3" />
The Sites section allows you to manage your websites, the Help section offers some useful FAQs and the Accounts section allows you to control your billing. Evernote is a freemium service so you can only manage 1 account on the free option. If you need to add more than this, you’ll have to upgrade to a premium account. The pricing is quite reasonable and starts at $5 a month for 5 websites – with a 2 months free option if you sign up for a year. This package gets you your own domain, password protection, premium themes, source code access, and priority support. However, if you’re a premium Evernote user then you should be taking that cost into account too.
<img src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2023/08/postachio-review-4_sbknuu.png" alt="postachio-review-4" /> <img src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2023/08/postachio-review-5_q0w5ts.png" alt="postachio-review-5" />
The second menu on Postach.io will take you to a menu for managing Details, Themes, Add-ons, and Source Code. To view this menu simply click on the edit button on the Sites section and you’ll automatically be directed to the Details page, where you can select a customer domain, change your Evernote notebook title or author, add social links, and other extras such as adding a cover photo and bio.
<img src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2021/07/postachio-review-6_rgsniu.png" alt="postachio-review-6" />
<h2>Add-ons</h2>
There are now 5 add-ons available which is a big improvement from the 2 available when they first launched. These include Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Disqus, and Google Analytics. For some reason, Postach.io developers decided that you have to actively add Disqus to allow comments on your blog. It seems odd to me that this isn’t the default setting, but it’s simple to add it in this tab. 
<img src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2023/08/postachio-review-7_k8udov.png" alt="postachio-review-7" />
<h2>Themes</h2>
The themes available are all professional looking and quite sleek, but if you’re particular about your website design then you might not be too happy because there are only 15 to choose from, however you can customize these if you upgrade to a premium account. 
What you may not have known – if it weren’t for this blog post – is that you can also upload your own theme via <a href="https://github.com/postachio">GitHub</a>. So, that solves that issue. Or, if you’re of the tech savvy variety, then the Source Code section will allow you to customize your site to look exactly how you want it.
<h2>So, what’s the scoop?</h2>
If you’re already a regular Evernote user, then I highly recommend trying out Postach.io. It’s a great extension of Evernote and it’ll really streamline your content management process. However, I think it might feel like unnecessary hassle for anyone who isn’t already using Evernote on a daily basis. There are tons of blogging platforms out there, and it’s important to choose one that fits in well with your current content management process. 
To sum it up, this is a great platform for Evernote users and anyone thinking about adding Evernote to their workflow. If you love Evernote, you’ll love Postach.io.
Are you thinking about trying Postach.io, or have you already signed up? We’d love to hear from you in the comments section below.

Postachio Review

Have you ever wanted to publish a blog post without the hassle of actually starting a blog in the first place? Well, with <a target="_blank" href="http://pen.io/">Pen.io</a>, you can do just that. Pen.io is a remarkably simple yet brilliant blogging tool. You choose an available domain name, create the page in seconds with just one click, and start typing. You can even drag-and-drop images into place. It's that easy. What's more is, you can create as many pages as you like without signing up, handing over your email or paying a penny. That's a pretty sweet deal. <h2>How Pen.io Works</h2>The short journey to publishing a Pen.io blog post starts on the Pen.io <a target="_blank" href="http://pen.io/">home page</a>. There, you simply enter your domain name followed by a password before clicking “Create New Page”.<img src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2023/08/pen1700x0.png" alt="Pen.io" /> Seconds later, you'll be staring at your new Pen.io page. You get an editable page header and some standard text. Nothing fancy, but it's all you need.<img src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2023/08/pen2.png" alt="Pen.io Blog Post" />Thanks to Pen.io's inline editing feature, you only need to click the text boxes to start editing, right there on the page. Only the password holder can do this of course, but the page looks no different to those simply visiting. <img src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2023/08/pen4700x0.png" alt="Pen.io Blog Post" />You can also drag-and-drop images from your desktop or other file locations right into the Pen.io editor. In just a few minutes, your Pen.io blog post might look a little something like ours. <img src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2023/08/pen3.png" alt="Pen.io Blog Post" />You can re-edit your blog post at any time by clicking “Edit Page” in the footer and typing  in your password. <h2>The Blogging Middle-ground?</h2>When it comes to sharing thoughts and opinions online, Internet users seem to be torn. Do you stick to word-stifling microblogging websites like Twitter? Or do you go ahead and set up a free blog through one of the many <a href="/products/blogging-software">blogging platforms</a> on offer?Pen.io offers a middle-ground.With it, you can literally start typing up a blog post within seconds. It's as easy as writing out a tweet, minus the character limit. Yet, there's no actual set up or sign up needed to get going.Also, Pen.io can be used for more than just a personal thought diary. It can be used for online resumes, anonymous letters, ebooks, short stories, lecture notes <a target="_blank" href="http://youcanusepento.pen.io/">and more</a>. The only features I'd personally add to Pen.io is an optional comments system and perhaps some social sharing buttons. Other than that, Pen.io is a great blend of traditional blogging, modern microblogging and some good old fashioned anonymous publication. Get your blog post published in seconds with <a href="pen.io">Pen.io</a>.

Pen.io: Blogging Without a Blog

A truly good Document Management System will do more than just manage files and media assets. It will also play an active role in the regulatory system that's engrained into most office workflows.
Here's how a strong DMS achieves that.
<img src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2023/08/compliance_image507x0-is.jpg" />
<h2>1. It Unifies Authorities’ and Organizations’ Compliance Objectives</h2>
Since the beginning of the millennium, compliance and regulatory requirements have become a particularly difficult territory to navigate, especially in relation to the public use of the Internet, the mobile means of accessing the Internet, and the increasing specificity of compliance standards by industry.
As illustrated throughout this post, many document management system features, when considered in tandem with the laws relevant to industries that can benefit the most from use of this technology, share a symbiotic relationship—one where DMS upholds, simplifies, and ensures compliance inasmuch as the law is written to accommodate the proliferation of the document management system and similar enterprise technologies.
In analyzing this relationship, it becomes clear that various authorities overseeing an array of industries are advocates of document management system use because it generally simplifies, ensures the accuracy of, and expedites compliance processes. However, merely scanning and uploading content to a document management system will not always ensure compliance; sometimes it requires adaptation from either the DMS vendor or the organization using DMS itself.
<h2>2. It Automates Effective Content Retention &amp; Deletion Schedules</h2>
For content and other files needing retention schedules a decade in length or longer to ensure compliance, DMS becomes particularly imperative—especially for organizations worried that storing documents physically (in filing cabinets and folders) will result in damage and spotting to the documents over time, which is usually the case for <a href="http://www.efilecabinet.com/legal-document-management-software/">document management in the legal industry.</a>
For these organizations and content requiring lengthy document retention schedules, compliance becomes mission-critical yet is stymied without a document management system, because the risk of losing these mission-critical documents increases significantly, as does the time spent retrieving them. The individuals who store them are more likely to forget where they have been placed over time without using DMS, no matter how logical or coherent the traditional data and information storage system may be, especially since most file structures let their users name files in an arbitrary manner.
Given the increasing amount of legislation in many industries throughout 2016, including the increase in the rate of data breaches in organizations not using DMS within the past several years, DMS becomes the means by which increasing legislative demands can be met with poise, ease, and confidence.
<h2>3. The Document Management System Prevents Data Breaches Worldwide</h2>
Internal data breaches (ones conducted by employees who work for the organization) are becoming increasingly common, and now account for more than half of all data breaches.
Therefore, in order to ensure maximal use of DMS’s security features on an internal basis, it is important to remember (because many organizations forget) to apply appropriate user permissions within an DMS to ensure information security, as external auditors can penalize companies for merely letting certain employees within an organization view specific documents and content—especially if these documents and content contain sensitive client or customer information.
Using a <a href="http://www.efilecabinet.com/securedrawer/">document management system client portal</a> that transcends the breach-susceptible aspects of email via bank-grade, SSL encryption is usually the safest bet for file sharing.
<h2>4. Document Management System Metadata Simplifies and Expedites Compliance</h2>
Although metadata mostly pertains to content retrieving and content search-ability within a document management system, it has another application of legal relevance: classifying data for legal purposes in audits and making the data retrievable by those who are responsible for conducting audits—whether on an internal or external basis.
In order to classify and metatag files compliantly, the metatags must be traceable and contain accurate depicters of the content. Otherwise, an auditor may view incommensurate meta-tagging as an attempt to circumvent e-discovery associated with the auditing process.
Carl Wise of the <a href="http://www.aiim.org/wpfd">Association for Information and Image Management (AIIM)</a> elaborates on the issue:
<blockquote>
“Your content will be a stand-in for information regarding important transactions and internal processes from the auditors’ perspective.
So the metadata included in the taxonomical classification of your information should include the people involved in the activity or transaction, the nature of the activity or transaction itself, the outcome of the activity or transaction, and reference to any other important, and or related records.”
</blockquote>
Visit eFileCabinet’s website to <a href="http://www.efilecabinet.com/what-is-a-document-management-system/">learn more about its document management system.</a>

4 Ways a Document Management System Simplifies Compliance

Moodle 2.0 RC1 was released recently, and you can get daily builds from the <a href="http://download.moodle.org/">Moodle download</a> page. <img src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2023/08/smiley.gif" alt="smile" />
NOTE: this is not the final release yet!
This milestone reflects the fact that the 2.0 feature set is now completely implemented and available in the core code.
You can read more about 2.0 in the <a href="http://docs.moodle.org/en/Moodle_2.0_Release_Candidate_1_release_notes">Moodle 2.0 RC1 release notes</a>.
The final release should be in a month or so. Until then:
<ul>
<li>all the core developers will continue responding to your feedback and bug reports in the Moodle Tracker and the forums, fixing bugs and improving overall stability,</li>
<li>our testers will also continue working on Moodle 2.0 QA Cycle 2, to re-test all the features in that list, and</li>
<li>we'll be converting all the (rather customised) moodle.org sites to Moodle 2.0</li>
</ul>
More info: <a href="https://moodle.org/">https://moodle.org/</a>

Moodle 2.0 Release Candidate 1

Power your CMS on AWS

Manage your websites & apps in the most trusted cloud.

#ffffff

<a target="_blank" href="https://www.phpfox.com/">PHPFox</a>, the popular social network builder, has just released its latest version in the form of PHPFox 4.1.<img src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2023/08/phpfox-emblem_1.png" />The platform comes in two flavors; Nebula and Neutron, with the latter being their newer and more modern offering. Recently, <a href="/phpfox-appoints-sales-community-manager-scraps-developer-fee/#">PHPFox appointed a new Community Manager and scrapped their developer fees</a> in order to encourage third party app and theme development.As well as rolling out a new default theme and a couple of extra features, the PHPFox team have also announced a shift in focus for upcoming updates.<h2>Focusing on Features</h2>With this release, PHPFox have announced that they're moving away from maintenance builds, and are now shifting their development focus into the creation of new features. Sounds like good news to me.The biggest improvement that PHPFox 4.1 brings, is a new default theme using the <a target="_blank" href="http://getbootstrap.com/">Bootstrap Framework</a>. According to PHPFox, “this will allow designers to create many exciting new themes based on the already very large database of themes available to Bootstrap.”The new default theme looks to be based heavily on the latest Facebook design. Not necessarily a bad thing of course, considering that most online community users will appreciate the familiarity.<img src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2023/08/php.png" />In addition, PHPFox 4.1 introduces the feature to relocate cover photos for a users profile and a notification when there are new feeds on the dashboard, without the need of refreshing the page.Here's what PHPFox Lead Developer, Raymond Benc, had to say upon the release.<blockquote>This release not only marks our first wave of new features under development but also includes the coding skills of our new developers that will be taking our product to the next level over the next few months.We are currently working on 4.1.1, which will be a maintenance build that will include additional improvements to our new theming system. Simultaneously, we are starting the development of the 4.2, which will include a heap of new exciting features.</blockquote>Interestingly, PHPFox also announced that they will now close down their public <a target="_blank" href="https://github.com/moxi9/phpfox">Github</a> repositories in order to improve our internal quality control.So, new developers, and a renewed focus on features for upcoming versions, and a serious move to protect internal development. Exciting times seem to lie ahead for PHPFox users.To find out more about PHPFox 4.1, <a target="_blank" href="http://blog.phpfox.com/2015/11/27/phpfox-v4-1-0-released/">check out the official announcement</a>.

PHPFox 4.1 Released

<a href="https://www.optimizely.com" target="_blank">Optimizely</a>, one of the world's leading platforms for website optimization and customer experience refining, has just announced “Optimizely Personalization”.
Launched five years ago by two former Google product managers, Optimizely's goal has always been to make A/B testing and actionable data accessible to everyone in the business world.
<img src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2023/08/optimizely_logo_blue700x0-is-hidpi.png" />
Optimizely offers a totally free to use avenue into optimization, yet also caters for some of the world's biggest brands, including Sony and Microsoft.
With over 7,000 businesses already aided in that regard, Optimizely are now turning their focus towards the latest marketing trend; Personalization.
<h2>Introducing Optimizely Personalization</h2>
Built on Optimizely's Experience Optimization Platform, this new product is designed to help businesses deliver personalized experiences across their web and mobile presence.
<img src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2023/08/screenshot-of-optimizely-personalization-results-700x306_1.png" /> In a nutshell, Optimizely Personalization lets marketers:
<ul>
<li>Discover meaningful audiences to help generate hypotheses for personalizing.</li>
<li>Target visitors in real time based on the actions they take on your site as well as what you know about them from other data sources.</li>
<li>Create compelling experiences tailored to each audience that work on your web and mobile site with an elegant workflow.</li>
<li>Measure the impact of the changes you’re making for every audience, backed by Optimizely's impressive <a href="https://www.optimizely.com/statistics/">Stats Engine</a>.</li>
</ul>
Optimizely Personalization is now in private beta, and has been given a general release date for Fall 2015.
To learn more about Optimizely Personalization, check out their <a href="https://blog.optimizely.com/2015/06/17/introducing-optimizely-personalization/" target="_blank">official blog announcement</a>.
You can also get started on your own Optimizely experiments for free, <a href="http://optimizely.com" target="_blank">via their website</a>.

Optimizely Personalization Announced: General Release Set For Fall 2015

Day 2 of the Adobe Summit kicked off with the General sessions in which John Mellor, VP of Strategy for Digital Marketing was greeted on stage by the crazy space jumper, (and I say crazy because you have to be crazy to jump from space.. ) Felix Baumgartner (@itsFelixB),
<img src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2023/08/1day2.jpg" alt="Felix Baumgartner during Day 2 General Sessions" /> Felix Baumgartner with John Mellor during Day 2 General Sessions
<img src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2023/08/2day2.jpg" alt="Felix Baumgartner during Day 2 General Sessions" /> Felix Baumgartner during Day 2 General Sessions
It was an interesting session in which Mr. Baumgartner shared what he had to go through in order to pull off such a high profile event. It was especially interesting listening to his marketing mind and how it works. He is very appreciate of all of the hard work that the various team members put into making his jump happen. Mr. Baumgartner definitely did an amazing job of marketing himself for this jump and as a result, had a staggering amount of views on YouTube and broke the record for most live views.
Following Felix were representatives from Nascar and NBC Universal. They certainly had a tough act to follow with Felix taking the lead out of the gate but did an admirable job. You can catch a bit of what they said in our Twitter stream below.
The closing talk was given by Salman Khan, founder of the Khan Academy, a Not-for-profit organization aiming to provide free education to everyone, everywhere. I must admit, I didn't know what to expect from his talk but I would be surprised if there was anyone in the audience who wasn't completely engaged throughout his entire talk. Not only is this man an amazing inspiration, but his humor and humility easily stole the show.
<img src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2023/08/day2.jpg" alt="Salman Khan - Khan Academy" /> Salman Khan – Khan Academy
I will admit that there were a number of times during his talk when both my wife and I became choked up listening to how he has changed the lives of people who thought they were never going to succeed. He's an amazing man and you can tell from the Twitter stream below, I'm not the only one who was blown away. I feel privileged that I was able to hear his story.
For those who missed our tweets during the opening session, here’s a breakdown of the key items we, and some others, shared. Thanks for reading!
[[highlights2]]

Adobe Summit 2013 – Day 2 Highlights

LightCMS have made it a habit to significantly improve their platform on what could easily be described as a monthly basis.<img src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2023/08/lightcms.jpg" />Powering over 275,000 websites, LightCMS was chosen for coverage as one of the most relevant website builders <a target="_blank" href="https://www.websitebuilderscritic.com/website_builders/reviews/lightcms/">at Website Builders Critic</a>, It also picked up the <a href="/the-winner-of-the-2014-peoples-choice-cms-award-for-best-cloud-cms-for-smb/">People's Choice Award for Best Cloud CMS for SMB</a> during the 2014 CMS Awards.Now, as we move into September, LightCMS has revealed some updates relating to user registration and profiles. Let's take a deeper look.<h2>User Registration &amp; Better User Profiles</h2>LightCMS now allows for end users to register their own profiles. Custom roles can be confifured, and alos changed at a later time.<img src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2023/08/loginandregisterbutton.png" />Now that you can let users register on your site, LightCMs has also made it easy to gather more information about them with newly expanded user profile pages.Previously, these pages were host to only the most basic user information. Now though, users can input data regarding:<ul><li>Home and Cell Phone Numbers</li><li>Company/Organization</li><li>Twitter</li><li>Facebook</li><li>Home Address</li><li>Work Address</li></ul>Plus, developers can now style their user profile pages by creating a custom userprofile.html. No more bland, default templates for what is an important area of the end-user experience.For more information on this latest LightCMS release, check out their official blog announcement.You can also find out more about LightCMS throughout CMS Directory.

LightCMS Brings In User Registration & Enhanced User Profiles

KDE Neon, the newly popular distribution produced by KDE and Kubuntu developer Jonathan Riddell and based on Ubuntu is now available in version 5.8. The best part of this latest release? It includes the latest long term stable release of Plasma 5.8. You can get additional details about this release from <a href="http://jriddell.org/2016/10/04/plasma-5-8-lts-now-in-kde-neon-time-to-look-again-at-comprehensive-features-gwenview-plugins-install/" target="_blank">Jonathan Riddell's blog</a>.
Speaking of Plasma 5.8, for those who weren't aware of the release, the details are below.
Plasma 5.8 proves how far along the desktop environment is coming by further polishing the user experience from start to finish. Some changes in Plasma 5.8 include:
<ul>
<li>Unified Boot to Shutdown Artwork</li>
<li>Right-to-Left Language Support</li>
<li>Improved Applets</li>
<li>Simplified Global Shortcuts &amp; More.</li>
</ul>
<a href="http://www.kde.org/announcements/plasma-5.7.5-5.8.0-changelog.php" target="_blank">Read the full changelog for the Plasma 5.8 release</a>. Here's a screenshot below:
<img src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2023/08/plasma-5_8-wee.png" />
To get a more in-depth lowdown on what you can expect from Plasma 5.8, check out the video here:
<iframe src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/LgH1Clgr-uE?feature=oembed" frameborder="0" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture" allowfullscreen></iframe>
You can get the latest release by downloading the <a href="http://files.kde.org/neon/images/neon-useredition/current/" target="_blank">User Edition ISO</a>.

Plasma 5.8 LTS now available in KDE Neon

I recently published an <a href="/how-wordpress-needs-to-improve-itself/" target="_blank">article critiquing WordPress</a> – and it caused a stir.
WPTavern, a blog geared exclusively towards all things WordPress, picked up on it, and responded with an article titled, “How Not to Communicate Grievances with WordPress”.
<img src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2023/08/wordpress-589121_960_720618x0-is.jpg" />
The author, Jeff Chandler, is somebody whom I have respect for. He has commentated on some of my WordPress coverage in the past in a positive light.
However, in this instance, I think his WordPress fanaticism may have obscured any respect he may have had for me.
His article was abrupt, and the comments left on it by WordPress-crazed readers was, at times, aggressive.
<h2>The Accusations</h2>
Chandler made a few accusations in his article. On top of his offended tone, he wrote that I was “writing baseless assumptions”, and also that CMS Critic was “choosing not to be part of the solution.”
In the original article, a line read that, “[CMS Critic] generally publishes negative things about the WordPress project.” Thankfully, Chandler removed this line upon the delivery of proof otherwise.
The crux of Chandler's argument though, was that I didn't provide solutions for the problems I raised. In short then, his article was based on a lack of logic.
If a car manufacturer receives thousands of complaints about faulty brake lights, the public would naturally expect the manufacturer to take responsibility for those malfunctions. The public would expect them to come up with the solution, and they would expect them to either directly or in-directly implement them. Pretty standard stuff.
If somebody writes about those malfunctions in order to highlight them and bring them to the attention of the manufacturer, nobody would see anything wrong with that, either.
Certainly, nobody would accuse that writer of “”writing baseless assumptions” or accuse the publication of, “[choosing] not to be part of the solution.”
Yet, when it comes to WordPress, a (relatively small) section of the WordPress community seems to have a problem with applying that very same logic.
Instead, I am made to feel in the wrong for highlighting these issues, and also that I'm at fault for not providing the solutions for them, too.
<a href="/how-wordpress-needs-to-improve-itself/" target="_blank">As mentioned in my original article</a>, I don't believe I need to provide all the answers for WordPress' list of issues (despite doing so for a number of them). Just as the car buyer doesn't need to assist the manufacturer in fixing those brake lights.
<h2>WordPress Commentary: Stepping on Eggshells</h2>
This isn't the first time CMS Critic has written about WordPress in a way which isn't totally positive (although we have rightly praised WordPress many times), and thus we've come to expect somewhat of a backlash when our coverage isn't wholly favorable.
In this case, it was a totally unwarranted, over-protective, and sometimes ad hominem, backlash.
I feel that a section of the WordPress community makes it hard for journalists and bloggers such as myself to voice anything other than positivity. Thus, writing about WordPress feels a little like stepping on egg shells.
<h2>No Conspiracies</h2>
As for the attack on the integrity of CMS Critic; there is no conspiracy. No bias. No foul play.
Although Chandler retracted his statement that CMS Critic adopts a negative approach towards WordPress, I feel it's something that needs addressing.
I am paid to test, review, report and commentate on various content management systems.
Sometimes, that includes voicing my opinion on the shortcomings of WordPress. Not to victimise the world's most popular CMS, but to hopefully raise awareness for its aged shortcomings.
And if you aren't convinced, check out some of our more positive coverage of WordPress <a href="/wordpress-is-a-cms-whether-you-like-it-or-not/" target="_blank">here</a> and <a href="/the-incredible-growth-of-wordpress/" target="_blank">here</a>. Not to mention, WordPress used to power CMS Critic, and is the platform of choice for <a href="http://www.employtheinternet.com/" target="_blank">my very own blog</a>.
<h2>Don't Shoot the Messenger</h2>
All in all, my message here is simple. Don't shoot the messenger.
I haven't invented any of these WordPress issues. They're well known by the community, and are long standing.
The fact that I don't have all the answers to all the problems doesn't negate a single one of them. Neither does it entitle anybody to accuse me of “writing baseless assumptions,” nor CMS Critic of ” [choosing] not to be part of the solution.”
The real kicker, is that Jeff Chandler actually agrees that the onus is not upon me to come up with solutions:
<blockquote>
“The onus may not be on Ismail or any of us to come up with solutions, but he and others can help discover and be part of solutions by taking an active role in giving constructive feedback in <a href="http://hughlashbrooke.com/2015/11/03/a-non-developers-guide-to-getting-involved-in-wordpress-core-development/">the right place</a>.”
</blockquote>
So, instead of writing about these flaws on CMS Critic, Chandler wants me to provide such feedback in a more direct manner.
But these issues aren't new. WordPress is aware of them. My aim here is to apply a different type of pressure in the hope of actual improvement.
If we all continue to down the official channels with pleasant tones and heaps of praise, we'll continue to see shoddy default themes, weak updates, and constantly ignored issues.
It's time to abandon the fanatasicm and change the way we advise WordPress. Pressure needs to be applied in public, because they don't seem to be listening anywhere else.

How Not to Show Your Support for WordPress

CMS Summit 26

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