Articles - Page 126

Agentic AI for Agencies in 2026

bmckeiver

Let's be honest: there's nothing quite like Awards Season. Just ask Moira Rose.
<div style="height:auto;width:500px">
<div class="tenor-gif-embed"><a href="https://tenor.com/view/moira-rose-schitts-creek-awards-favorite-season-gif-16223893">Moira Rose Schitts Creek GIF</a>from <a href="https://tenor.com/search/moira+rose-gifs">Moira Rose GIFs</a></div>
</div>

And it's not because of the glitz, the glamour, or even the drama (although last year's Oscars did deliver the <a href="https://www.cnn.com/2023/02/23/entertainment/oscars-crisis-will-smith/index.html" target="_blank">slap heard 'round the world</a>).
No, we love Awards Season because it's a celebration. An opportunity to cheer for the things we love. From film to music, actors to performers. Heck, even our favorite technologies.
Each year, CMS Critic is proud to feature our People's Choice Awards: a unique, one-of-a-kind platform for celebrating our industry. Since 2012, the People's Choice Awards have provided an opportunity for you – our community of digital professionals and stack fanatics – to tell us which platforms you love the most.
The People's Choice Awards are always fun and engaging, and the results never fail to surprise us. We put the power in your hands to nominate and vote, so it reflects your community participation. No matter how you feel about the outcomes, this is a win for every platform involved and your passionate users and fans.
This year, we had record participation from around the globe for both the nominations and final voting, and we're thrilled to share the winners you selected!
<h2>And the Oscar goes to...</h2>
But first, a quick reminder about the contest and how it worked:
<ul>
<li>In <a href="/nominate-your-favorite-platforms-for-the-2022-cms-critic-peoples-choice-awards/">December 2022</a>, we invited readers to nominate platforms across a set of categories on our website.</li>
<li>Nominations closed at the end of January.</li>
<li>The top five nominees (in the case of a few ties, the top six) were selected for voting in each category.</li>
<li>General voting began in early February and closed on February 20.</li>
<li>Participants could vote only once, and companies that offered incentives of any kind were disqualified.</li>
</ul>
And that's it! Without further ado, here are the winners of the 2022 People’s Choice Award winners:
<h4>Best Enterprise CMS: Contensis</h4>
<a href="https://www.contensis.com/" target="_blank"><img style="width:300px" src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2023/03/contensis-logo.jpg" alt="Contensis Logo" /></a>
<hr />
<h4>Best DXP: Adobe Experience Cloud</h4>
<a href="https://business.adobe.com/" target="_blank"><img style="width:300px" src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2023/02/adobe-edited.jpg" alt="Adobe Experience Cloud Logo" /></a>
<hr />
<h4>Best Free CMS: Joomla!</h4>
<a href="https://www.joomla.org/" target="_blank"><img style="width:300px" src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2023/02/joomla-edited.png" alt="Joomla! Logo" /></a>
<hr />
<h4>Best Flat File CMS: Statamic</h4>
<a href="https://statamic.com/" target="_blank"><img style="width:300px" src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2023/02/statamic-edited.jpg" alt="Statamic Logo" /></a>
<hr />
<h4>Best Open Source CMS: Umbraco</h4>
<a href="https://umbraco.com/?gclid=CjwKCAiAr4GgBhBFEiwAgwORrRdPATQsqJ5M2tqVIMIHVlkjBnO2Cl29dGTXI9dhb9_BNa9pqdulIhoCK40QAvD_BwE" target="_blank"><img style="width:120px" src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2023/02/umbraco-edited.png" alt="Umbraco Logo" /></a>
<hr />
<h4>Best ECM (Enterprise Content Management): Microsoft SharePoint</h4>
<a href="https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/microsoft-365/sharepoint/collaboration" target="_blank"><img style="width:300px" src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2023/02/sharepoint-edited.png" alt="Microsoft SharePoint Logo" /></a>
<hr />
<h4>Best E-Commerce Solution: Shopify</h4>
<a href="https://www.shopify.com/free-trial?term=shopify&amp;adid=565872334073&amp;campaignid=15436644439&amp;branded_enterprise=1&amp;BOID=brand&amp;gclid=CjwKCAiAr4GgBhBFEiwAgwORrQTcMx9LwHQNvRFM6fN3NdS4GIn0wcvVgK3LdPDmBWiVFRhMOA64HxoCZEQQAvD_BwE&amp;cmadid=516586854;cmadvertiserid=10730501;cmcampaignid=26990768;cmplacementid=324494812;cmcreativeid=163722649;cmsiteid=5500011" target="_blank"><img style="width:250px" src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2023/02/shopify-edited.png" alt="Shopify Logo" /></a>
<hr />
<h4>Best Headless Commerce Solution: commercetools</h4>
<a href="https://commercetools.com/resources/booklet/microservices?utm_source=Paid%20Search&amp;utm_medium=Google%20Search&amp;utm_content=microservices-bookle-CA&amp;utm_campaign=MACH&amp;utm_term=commercetools&amp;utm_campaign=MACH%20retargeting%20AMER&amp;utm_source=adwords&amp;utm_medium=ppc&amp;hsa_acc=9131799125&amp;hsa_cam=19415290532&amp;hsa_grp=145609670540&amp;hsa_ad=643141341485&amp;hsa_src=g&amp;hsa_tgt=aud-1945381266863:kwd-366236213007&amp;hsa_kw=commercetools&amp;hsa_mt=p&amp;hsa_net=adwords&amp;hsa_ver=3&amp;gclid=CjwKCAiAr4GgBhBFEiwAgwORrbE7RUL47caWM3RyFkC6b649F5PR5Z6DHNnToZTeBOWkTjGjxOL6IBoCGAMQAvD_BwE" target="_blank"><img style="width:300px" src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2023/02/commercetools-edited.png" alt="Commercetools Logo" /></a>
<hr />
<h4>Best Headless CMS: Contentful </h4>
<a href="https://www.contentful.com/" target="_blank"><img style="width:260px" src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2023/02/contentful-edited.jpg" alt="Contentful Logo" /></a>
<hr />
<h4>Best Website Builder: YOOtheme</h4>
<a href="https://yootheme.com/" target="_blank"><img style="width:250px" src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2023/02/yootheme-edited.png" alt="YOOtheme Logo" /></a>
<hr />
<h4>Best Static Site Generator: Next.js</h4>
<a href="https://nextjs.org/" target="_blank"><img style="width:200px" src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2023/02/next-js-edited.png" alt="Next.js Logo" /></a>
<hr />
<h4>Best Composable System: Uniform</h4>
<a href="https://uniform.dev/" target="_blank"><img style="width:250px" src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2023/02/uniform-edited.jpg" alt="Uniform Logo" /></a>
<hr />
<h4>Best Digital Experience Composition (DXC): Occtoo</h4>
<a href="https://www.occtoo.com/" target="_blank"><img style="width:250px" src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2023/02/occtoo-edited.png" alt="Occtoo Logo" /></a>
<h2> </h2>
<h2>Congratulations to our People's Choice Winners!</h2>
There you have it, folks! Thank you again for participating in our Awards this year, and always, we welcome your feedback and your votes for next season!

Let's Celebrate the Winners of the 2022 CMS Critic People’s Choice Awards

cms-critic-staff

Joomla 3.5 is well and truly on the way. The first beta has been released, for developers to download and experiment with. Plus, a release date for the stable release has been revealed; which is December 8th 2015.<img src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2023/08/joomla_logo_slogan_700x0.png" />Joomla is flexible, extendable, open source and totally free, all of which has contributed to its wide usage across the globe.Here's what's new with Joomla 3.5.<h2>Email Alerts, Drag &amp; Drop Images &amp; More</h2>Some features to look out for include:<ul><li>Automated emails to alert super users of updates.</li><li>The ability to drag and drop images into the tinyMCE editor that comes with Joomla.</li><li>The number of published, unpublished and trashed articles in the Category Manager will be displayed for the articles, banners, contacts and newsfeeds.</li><li>Show/hide functionality for links to the frontend and backend of the site.</li><li>Ability to download system/environment information for support purposes</li><li>A number of <a target="_blank" href="https://github.com/joomla/joomla-cms/issues?q=milestone%3A%22Joomla!+3.5.0%22+">bug fixes and other extras</a>.</li></ul>Slightly underwhelmed? You should be.I think this is another example of a large CMS vendor pushing out a string of small enhancements in the guise of a relatively major update. I get that it's Joomla 3.5 and not Joomla 4, but automated emails to super-users to alert them to upgrades is hardly going to rock anybody's world.To me, it seems to be missing something to go along with the new ability to drag-and-drop images, which is the feature that most Joomla users will be taking notice of.The full announcement <a target="_blank" href="https://www.joomla.org/announcements/release-news/5637-joomla-3-5-beta-1-released.html">can be found here</a>.Also, be sure to explore more of <a href="/products/joomla">Joomla through our CMS Directory</a>.

First Beta Available for Joomla 3.5

mike-johnston

WordPress 3.9 is now out and brings with it a number of welcome changes including improved image editing, an updated visual editor has improved speed, accessibility, and mobile support, drag and drop images and more.
<h3>Improved visual editing</h3>
The updated visual editor has improved speed, accessibility, and mobile support. You can paste into the visual editor from your word processor without wasting time to clean up messy styling. (Yeah, we’re talking about you, Microsoft Word.)
<img src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2023/08/editor1.jpg" alt="wordpress 3.9 editor" />
<h3>Edit images easily</h3>
With quicker access to crop and rotation tools, it’s now much easier to edit your images while editing posts. You can also scale images directly in the editor to find just the right fit.
<img src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2023/08/image1.jpg" alt="wordpress 3.9" />
<h3>Drag and drop your images</h3>
Uploading your images is easier than ever. Just grab them from your desktop and drop them in the editor.
<img src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2023/08/dragdrop1.jpg" alt="wordpress 3.9" />
<h3>Gallery previews</h3>
Galleries display a beautiful grid of images right in the editor, just like they do in your published post.
<img src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2023/08/gallery1.jpg" alt="wordpress 3.9" />
This is only a small subset of the features in this release. For a full run down and a video showcasing the features, visit the announcement page: <a href="http://wordpress.org/news/2014/04/smith/">http://wordpress.org/news/2014/04/smith/</a>

WordPress 3.9 Brings Improved Image and Post Editing & More

I recently compiled a list of the <a href="/top-10-crm-systems/">Top 10 CRM Systems</a> suitable for enterprises, but many small businesses and entrepreneurs require something a little more simple, and a little less expensive.
<img src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2023/08/startup-photos-large511x0-is.jpg" />
Such companies don’t have the time or resources to commit to a larger CRM process – and there's nothing wrong with that.
<h2>Self Hosted vs Hosted: The Fork in The Road</h2>
Businesses essentially have two options when it comes to cutting costs with their choice of CRM.
If you go for something self hosted, that will involve you downloading the product (usually for free), leaving you with a ‘free for life’ kind of deal. However, you’ll need someone with a bit of technical know-how to get you set up.
The alternative ‘freemium’ hosted CRM systems can be set up in minutes online, which may seem like the easier option for some. These CRM systems also won’t charge you a dollar until your business starts taking off and you need a more comprehensive package. Sounds like fair deal, right?
Let's take a look at the options which I feel are best suited to the average startup or small business, all of which are online based.
<h2>1. SuiteCRM</h2>
Suite CRM is a free and open sourced system which is based on SugarCRM. It provides users with an experience to rival SugarCRM – by offering similar sales, marketing, and service tools to its premium counterpart.
The add-on modules for workflow and reporting also cement its position on this list. And if you don’t have the time to spend customizing it yourself, there’s also an on-demand option available to do that for you – from just $10 per user, per month.
Find out more about SuiteCRM <a href="https://suitecrm.com/">here.</a>
<h2>2. Really Simple Systems</h2>
Well, the clue is in the name with this one. Really Simple Systems is really simple to use. It’s definitely not the most feature-packed CRM, but if you don’t need the extras then why pay for them? The design is easy to navigate, fully responsive, and quite linear in its approach.
Really Simple Systems offers 3 modules in sales, marketing, service, and support. The home screen is easily customized, provides a summary of live tasks and opportunities, and also displays a sales funnel which illustrates all lead conversions. The two users system is free for up to 100 business accounts, and if you wish to add more users or features – prices start as low as $8 per user, per month.
Find out more about Really Simple Systems <a href="https://www.reallysimplesystems.com/">here.</a>
<h2>3. FreeCRM</h2>
The free version of FreeCRM is pretty impressive – with an allowance for up to 100 users and all basic features. But this is only available for one year. After the year is up, you’ll have to upgrade to CRMPRO and pay $24.95 per user, per month.
FreeCRM is a web based system so it’s pretty easy to use, which is something you’ll be grateful for when you realise there’s no technical support available! That said, the upgraded version is still one of the most affordable CRM apps around and it’s well worth checking out.
Find out more about FreeCRM <a href="http://www.freecrm.com">here</a>.
<h2>4. Odoo</h2>
Odoo offers much more than your standard CRM, and it might be just the ‘all on one’ solution your business needs. Odoo is a free open sourced platform that offers pretty much every kind of app your business could ask for.
This CRM connects your contacts with their social network info and allows you to track those leads right to conversion. The tailored charts and reporting functions will also keep track of your team’s performance overall. The real benefit of Odoo is that you can bring customers from Step 1 of the sales process all the way through to the close – and all in the one app.
Find out more about Odoo <a href="http://www.odoo.com">here</a>.
<h2>5. Zurmo</h2>
Zurmo is on a mission to gamify the CRM business. This open source CRM allows companies to reward employees based on their performance by offering rewards for achieving set targets. It also has all of the standard offerings from a CRM, such as workflows, marketing automation, workflows, and reports.
Zurmo also provides a live demo option, which gives users the chance to test it out before installing it. For users who don’t want the hassle of self-installation, Zurmo also offers a hosted version starting at $35 per user, per month.
Find out more about Zurmo <a href="http://www.zurmo.com">here.</a>
<h2>6. Bitrix24</h2>
Bitrix24 is an easy to use CRM System with a wide range of features available and it’s perfect for small companies. It offers all the basic features a small business might need, such as a virtual call center, email marketing, and invoice management. If you want to access it on the go, it’s also available on iOS and Android.
Bitrix24 will let you manage up to 12 users for free and throw in 5GB of storage to top it off – which sounds like a pretty good deal. You can also upgrade to unlimited users and 50GB of storage for just $99.
Find out more about Bitrix24 <a href="https://www.bitrix24.com/">here.</a>
<h2>7. SpreadsheetCRM</h2>
SpreadsheetCRM is a free template that runs on Google Drive and is designed to help small businesses to manage their sales and leads efficiently. It’s one of the least complicated CRM practices on the market, and it allows businesses to focus on selling rather than getting to grips with a new CRM process.
To sign up, users simply have to fill out the form to get access to the Beta Spreadsheet in Google Docs, then add the file, and share it with members of the team.
SpreadsheetCRM also runs in tandem with ToutApp – a tool which can track and add analytics reports to your Gmail or Outlook account. Prices for ToutApp start at just $30 a month.
Find out more about SpreadsheetCRM <a href="http://www.onesheetcrm.com/">here.</a>
<h2>Customer Relationship Management: More Accessible Than Ever</h2>
As I mentioned previously, it’s imperative for small business owners and entrepreneurs to save time and money where possible – and with these free CRMs, it’s very possible.
In fact, it's safe to say that customer relationship management has never before been so accessible.
What CRM system makes customer relationship management easier for your business? Let us know in the comments below.

7 Free CRM Systems That Prove Customer Relationship Management is Easy

grainne-logue

Earlier this year, CMS Critic attended Jahia's second ever international conference, <a href="/search/?q=jahia+one+2015">Jahia One 2015</a>.Mike and I soaked up the friendly atmosphere, enjoyed catching up with some of the Jahia team, and live-tweeted everything from the ground.And of course, the keynotes and presentations themselves were worth attending for all by themselves.<img src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2023/08/mosaic-web-800.jpg" /> Jahia have uploaded all the keynote and presentation slides and their videos right here, ready to be watched on demand. There's a wealth of informative (and entertaining) content there for those who missed out on the event in Paris.<h2>Jahia One 2015 In Pictures</h2>Apparently, a picture is worth a thousand words, which is terrible news for writers such as myself. But, I'm willing to take the risk with this montage below.Here's a light summary Jahia One 2015 from start to finish, in pictures.<img src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2023/08/11058762_854272848001031_5712146649284374933_n614x0-is.jpg" /> <img src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2023/08/10410622_854270824667900_2058882058368611653_n614x0-is.jpg" /><img src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2023/08/10354069_854270661334583_1866866880565907236_n614x0-is.jpg" /><img src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2023/08/13353_854283457999970_5391926636909378827_n663x0-is.jpg" /><img src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2023/08/11011123_854282874666695_2578160760772380734_n614x0-is.jpg" /><img src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2023/08/11406827_854273811334268_1927695764396603043_n273x0-is.jpg" /><img src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2023/08/1795646_854283038000012_1667108340805245201_n614x0-is.jpg" /><img src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2023/08/11401251_854276424667340_1997392010597740483_n614x0-is.jpg" /><img src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2023/08/11011787_854278611333788_5577484105093738333_n614x0-is.jpg" /> <img src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2023/08/11401205_854279564667026_6952399249721800327_n614x0-is.jpg" /><img src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2023/08/10458076_854284707999845_5389227834448868722_n614x0-is.jpg" /> <img src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2023/08/11537691_854285664666416_8718822586749716136_n614x0-is.jpg" /><img src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2023/08/11256554_854285677999748_3736041437440428944_n614x0-is.jpg" /> <img src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2023/08/11108246_854288097999506_8942091079844359353_n614x0-is.jpg" />Want more Jahia One snaps? <a target="_blank" href="https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.854269574668025.1073741828.100816510013339&amp;type=3">Jahia's Facebook album is where it's at</a>.To find out more about Jahia One 2015, you can check out my coverage for <a href="/jahia-one-2015-day-one/">Day One</a> and <a href="/jahia-one-2015-day-two-marketing-factory-commerce-factory-more/">Day Two</a>.

Looking Back on Jahia One 2015 (In Pictures)

To cap off another featured week here at CMS Critic, I’m taking a look at the vital day-to-day content management features of <a href="http://www.getmura.com/" target="_blank">Mura CMS</a>.
Previously, I explored the way in which <a href="/how-mura-cms-keeps-every-team-member-productive/" target="_blank">Mura CMS helps all modern team members to stay productive</a>. Before that, I looked at the <a href="/mura-experience-platform-market-with-relevance-automation-amplification/" target="_blank">benefits of the Mura Experience Platform</a>.
<img style="max-width:200px" src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2023/08/mura_cms_200x0.png" />
Mura CMS was recently made winner of the <a href="/2014-best-enterprise-cms-other-langs/" target="_blank">2014 People's Choice award for Best Enterprise CMS (Other Languages)</a>, and that had a lot to do with the platform’s core content management features.
Let’s take a closer look at some of those key features now.
<h2>Content Editing: Inline, In-context &amp; Staged</h2>
The content on your website is absolutely vital for converting customers, attracting subscribers and conveying beneficial information about your brand.
Thus, the most important aspect of any CMS, is the way in which it allows you to control and craft your content.
Mura CMS makes it easy.
All content can be directly edited right there on the page, simply by clicking on it.
<img style="max-width:289px" src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2023/08/ss-usability-inline-editing.png" />
There are no windows popping up to distract or slow you down, while pages can be saved as drafts, previewed and published just as easily.
To avoid any mistakes, Mura CMS's versioning system makes it easy to roll back to a previous version of the page in seconds. So, there’s no more worrying about saving over good copy, because it’s so easily reversible.
Furthermore, built-in content staging allows you need to make changes to multiple pages at once, and publish them all at the same time.
<img style="max-width:289px" src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2023/08/ss-usability-content-staging-2.png" />
The platform’s Change Set feature allows you to save as many edits as you want to a Change Set, and preview the site as if all your edits were live. Once you're done with your edits, a single button allows you to publish them all at once.
You can even stack Change Sets on top of each other, and preview the site as if they were all active. Now that’s neat.
<h2>Scheduled Publishing &amp; Powerful Permissions</h2>
Need a blog post or press release published first thing in the morning, but don’t feel like waking up early? No problem.
Mura CMS allows you to schedule times and dates for your content to go live, so you can organize yourself and your content accordingly.
<img style="max-width:280px" src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2023/08/4.png" />
Interestingly, you can also schedule when you want content to be removed from the site — so there’s no more outdated events or job postings cluttering up your website. Batch changes (via Mura CMS's Change Set feature) can also be scheduled for automatic publishing at a specified date and time.
Speaking of organization, Mura CMS also gives you the tools to organise a workforce made up of team members who require different website permissions and administrative access.
For example, you want Alan, your latest intern, to post job listings, but you aren’t not ready to give him access to the entire site just yet.
To deal with this issue, Mura CMS enables you to grant administrative users access to just the sections you want, even down to the page level.
<img style="max-width:289px" src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2023/08/ss-usability-permissions.png" />
Users can even have different administrative roles; some users can edit and publish, while others can only post draft content for others to approve and publish when they see fit.
These permissions can extend to every key module and functionality; your most trusted groups can have Super User access to the entire set of tools, while other groups are only allowed access to specific Modules and Plugins.
Organisation, security and productivity — all rolled into one excellent feature.
<h2>Drag-and-Drop Form Building, And A Lot, Lot More</h2>
Forms are a great way to gather information from visitors and customers. The only problem is, building useful forms is usually a technical task. But not with Mura CMS.
Mura lets you craft powerful web forms via a drag-and-drop interface, requiring absolutely no coding or technical know-how.
This frees up marketers and administrators to tackle form building, putting them in touch with their audience in a new and useful way.
<img style="max-width:289px" src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2023/08/ss-usability-form-builder.png" /> 
Form submissions are automatically stored for detailed reporting and retrieval with zero database modifications needed.
Further content management features include workflow and collaboration management, simplified mass copy-and-pasting, built-in help, and more.
Learn all about <a href="http://www.getmura.com/features/outstanding-usability/" target="_blank">everyday content management with Mura CMS</a>.
To find out more about Mura CMS, <a href="http://www.getmura.com/" target="_blank">visit their website</a> or check them out through our <a href="/products/mura-cms/" target="_blank">CMS Directory</a>.

Simple Everyday Content Management With Mura CMS

As we continue with our <a href="http://www.getmura.com/" target="_blank">Mura CMS</a> featured week, we’re taking a look at how the platform keeps its users as productive as possible.
Previously, we got to watch <a href="/cms-critic-interviews-sean-schroeder-matt-levine-of-mura-cms/" target="_blank">Mike Johnston interview Sean Schroeder &amp; Matt Levine</a>, before getting a <a href="/a-video-walkthrough-of-3-great-mura-cms-features/" target="_blank">tour of Mura CMS’ best features</a>.
<img style="max-width:200px" src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2023/08/mura_cms_200x0.png" /> 
According to the Mura CMS team:
<blockquote>“With Mura's pre-built content objects, starter templates and intuitive interface, your productivity will get turbo-charged.”</blockquote>
Furthermore, that turbo-charged productivity extends to every major department and job role within a modern enterprise.
Let’s take a look at exactly how.
<h2>Content Administrators</h2>
Content is the most important aspect of any website, application or marketing campaign. To make crafting and managing that content easier, Mura CMS has some usability-focused solutions.
Inline Editing
Making edits to content with Mura CMS is as simple as clicking into the page, and working with the content directly. Right there on the page.
Mura imposes no pop-ups or form fields to get in your way, so you can get on with honing your content without any distractions.
Local Content Indexes
As well as making every day page content easier to edit, Mura CMS also simplifies the more technical side of content management.
With Mura CMS, complicated SQL and programming is a thing of the past. Unlike other systems, Mura’s easy to use, intuitive Local Content Index tool allows you to do it quickly, with zero coding, even if you have complex rules and scenarios in place.
You can drag and drop to specify the fields you want to display, in any order you choose, and you can even assign custom CSS classes or IDs right in the configurator.
Form Builder
Mura makes more use of dragging and dropping when it comes to building forms.
Creating web forms is easy; just drag and drop the fields you need in the Form Builder, making it an extremely basic and non-technical process. This empowers marketing teams, because there’s no need to involve the IT team just to get a form build and deployed on the site.
Form submissions and data can also be customized to integrate with external systems like CRMs, Marketing Automation Systems, etc.
Multi-File Upload
When you need to add multiple files to your site — like when creating an image gallery or when adding a folder’s worth of documents to a section of your site — you can simply drag and drop them into Mura CMS, and you’re all done.
You can batch re-name them, and images get automatic creation of thumbnails and alternative size options (no need for external photo manipulation in Photoshop).
<h2>Front-end Developers</h2>
Mura CMS provides a lot of features and tools for developers looking to quickly build layouts and designs – there’s nothing in the way of getting your hands dirty with some code. In fact, it only makes it easier thanks to a number of features and capabilities.
Common Conventions for HTML, CSS, &amp; Javascript
Web Standards, HTML 5, CSS3, LESS, jQuery. All of those familiar languages are also standard practice in Mura CMS.
Mura ships with tons of built-in objects and features, all targetable with your own custom CSS or theme. So, designing and re-designing your website with Mura is as fast as it can be.
Direct Access to Markup
Need to add another container or even substantially change the markup of a built-in Mura object? No problem.
Mura CMS lets you easily override defaults at both the site and theme-level for complete control. You can create custom objects and stay on the upgrade path.
Mobile Support
Responsive or mobile-specific? Either one works with Mura CMS.
The platform ships with both Bootstrap 3 and jQuery Mobile, and offers several frameworks, wired up and available for download on the Mura CMS website.
<h2>Programmers</h2>
When the job requires a more technical touch, Mura CMS is able to flex its muscles accordingly. Here’s how the platform keeps programmers programming productively.
Events
Mura's front-end request lifecycle is fully event-driven.
So, developers are able to augment or override any of the default behaviors without needing to customize the Mura CMS core, which means you — the programmer — can customize Mura CMS as much as you want while staying fully update-safe.
ORM
To avoid unnecessary bloat, Mura CMS’ ORM provides a light-weight route towards quickly creating custom entities that seamlessly blend into Mura's object model, content versioning, and bundling.
As a result, you can quickly and easily craft custom apps and functionality all within Mura's default programming system.
Mura Scope
The Mura Scope provides a single point of access to everything that Mura provides. In turn, this allows code portability between execution contexts.
Mura Scope is similar to jQuery's syntax, so the average programmer can get up to speed quickly.
<h2>IT &amp; System Admins</h2>
The last thing you want from any CMS is for the complex stuff to be dealt with brilliantly, only for the most basic wants and needs to be left out. Here’s how Mura CMS takes care of the smaller, yet arguably most important stuff.
One-click updates
Updates to some CMS systems can be a pain, but thankfully your Mura CMS site only needs you to log into to the admin area as a super-admin before clicking the “update Mura Core” link.
Doing this simple task automatically updates Mura CMS to the latest stable release, with no need for lengthy downtime or compatibility testing. It’s supremely quick and easy.
Allow Customization &amp; Stay on the Upgrade Path
In almost every modern enterprising context, one size does not fit all. As a result, you and your team will need to make customizations on the fly that support your business in various ways.
The only problem is, many teams take steps to do this, only to find out years later that they have backed themselves into the corner on an old version.
Thankfully, Mura CMS allows teams to customize as needed and stay on the upgrade path without any hassle.
Multi-Site Support
Mura CMS empowers you to easily setup multiple sites in a single installation, and even share administrative rights between the sites.
Plugins, display objects, layout files and more can all be shared between the various sites, making development and maintenance much faster and more manageable.
So there you have it, productivity boosts for content managers, front-end developers, programmers and IT specialists alike — all under one Mura CMS roof.
Learn more about how <a href="http://www.getmura.com/features/serious-productivity" target="_blank">Mura CMS keeps everybody super productive</a>.
To find out more about Mura CMS, <a href="http://www.getmura.com/" target="_blank">visit their website</a> or check them out through our <a href="/products/mura-cms/" target="_blank">CMS Directory</a>.

How Mura CMS Keeps Every Team Member Productive

So far during this <a href="http://www.getmura.com/" target="_blank">Mura CMS</a> featured week, we have seen <a href="/a-video-walkthrough-of-3-great-mura-cms-features/" target="_blank">Mike Johnston interview Sean Schroeder &amp; Matt Levine</a>, as well as an insightful <a href="/a-video-walkthrough-of-3-great-mura-cms-features/" target="_blank">video walkthrough of some of Mura CMS’ best features</a>.
As the winner of the <a href="/2014-best-enterprise-cms-other-langs/" target="_blank">2014 People's Choice award for Best Enterprise CMS (Other Languages)</a>, Mura CMS is well positioned to be a solution for a wide range of projects, from public websites to intranets — and Mura Experience Platform (MXP) is one reason why.
<img style="max-width:200px" src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2023/08/mura_cms_200x0.png" />
Let’s take a look at how Mura Experience Platform empowers marketers by enabling them to present relevant, personalized website experiences for their visitors.
<h2>A Contextualized Approach</h2>
Because MXP can present custom experiences driven by an internal rules engine, which can be integrated with any external data source(s), Mura Experience Platform makes it easy for marketers to provide the right experience at the right time for all key audiences.
<img src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2023/08/persona-stage_2x.png" />
According to the Mura CMS team:
<blockquote>“The Mura Experience Platform takes personalization to a whole new level — far beyond widget-based approaches — allowing you to control every aspect of the web and mobile experience for your users, making your website your best salesperson and customer service rep.”</blockquote>
Here’s how that’s made possible.
Persona &amp; Stage-based Narratives
Content needs to intelligently shift emphasis according to who is reading it. An executive has a different set of concerns and interests than a developer, so it’s important to address their specific concerns to increase the relevance of your content.
Mura Experience Platform allows marketers to have conversations with different demographics and audiences in a simple way, by presenting relevant content that meets the needs of the visitor’s role and where the visitor is in the buying/evaluation stage.
Persona-driven Forms
As with every other part of the web &amp; mobile experience, Mura Experience Platform allows marketers to craft persona-driven forms, collecting the most relevant data in the process.
Marketers can also do this in stages via progressive profiling.
Custom Applications &amp; Multiple Data Points
Along with the ability to build custom applications, Mura Experience Platform empowers marketers to use any data point, from location to demographics to firmographics and more.
Learn more about <a href="http://mxp.getmura.com/relevant-experiences/">Mura Experience Platform’s relevant experience features</a>.
<h2>Marketing Automation</h2>
The single biggest benefit of using a Marketing Automation platform — like Marketo for example — is the ability to deliver a contextualized email-based nurture stream to convert leads into customers.
<img src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2023/08/landing-pages_2x.png" />
But when those same users get to the website in question, they’re back to one-size-fits-all content. And that’s an issue.
Here’s how Mura’s integration system fixes that.
Right Content, Right Time
When using Marketing Automation, marketers spend a lot of time defining users and the stages they pass through during the buying process.
Mura Experience Platform’s integration with Marketing Automation systems allows marketers to leverage this work and deliver web and mobile content that accelerates a users' path through the buying process.
Honed Landing Pages
Marketing Automation landing pages look great in demos, but they rarely work well in practise.
Mura Experience Platform produces the same benefits of rapid deployment, flexible authoring options, integrated forms, but with far better capabilities.
These include; robust mobile support, and a more intuitive authoring environment, along with built in collaboration features like flexible workflows, one-click version roll-back, and much more.
Automated Subscriber Content
Looking to save time on email marketing campaigns?
Mura’s Experience Platform lets marketers select the web content they want, before automatically formatting it into a responsive email, and then hands it off to the relevant marketing automation system for delivery to subscribers or segmented audiences.
Furthermore, all content can be contextualized for each audience segment. For example, if you had 3 personas and 5 buying stages you had content targeted for, Mura Experience Platform can create 15 different versions of the same email, all customized with relevant content for each.
Learn more about <a href="http://mxp.getmura.com/marketing-automation-integration/">Mura Experience Platform’s Marketing Automation integration features</a>.
<h2>Content Amplification</h2>
Content is still at the heart of every lead generation formula, and that’s not likely to change any time soon.
<img src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2023/08/content-marketing-hero_2x.png" />
Mura Experience Platform gives marketers tools that enable them to plan, create and track web and mobile content. It’s content — amplified.
Here’s how.
Publishing Content
Because Mura Experience Platform is a complete publishing platform, marketers have access to a full compliment of content creation, collaboration and workflow features.
These features include; drafts, versioning, content check-out, notifications for collaboration, track changes, permissions and approval chains.
With Mura Experience Platform, content can be published both to web &amp; mobile with one-off ad hoc revisions or additions, scheduled, and robust sets of batch content (either on the fly or scheduled).
Amplifying Content
After creating great content, it’s time to amplify it by broadcasting to your favorite channels.
To help marketers achieve this, Mura Experience Platform is designed to integrate with social tools like Buffer, Hootsuite, Sprout Social, Feedly, Oktopost and more.
Mura Experience Platform also creates custom RSS feeds (including by persona and stage) for posting on specific terms and for curation by influencers. Additionally, built-in integration with AddThis and ShareThis allow for easy on-site sharing.
Tracking Content
Pushing out great content is important, but being able track and measure it is just as vital. If not more so.
With Mura Experience Platform Content Campaigns, marketers can publish sets of content and track them as a group, helping them keep track of content-pillars and derived assets for easy measurement of content performance by channel.
Also, Mura Experience Platform's Content Campaigns allow for tacking updated content versions so marketers can compare performance levels with the previous versions.
Content scoring metrics allow marketers to measure content performance across all owned content channels; primary sites, blogs, articles, landing pages, microsites.
And perhaps most importantly, marketers can know which content is producing the best ROI by mapping their contribution to creating a new customer and the associated dollar amount of each sale.
Learn more about <a href="http://mxp.getmura.com/content-marketing/">Mura Experience Platform’s content marketing features</a>.
To find out more about Mura CMS, <a href="http://www.getmura.com/" target="_blank">visit their website</a> or check them out through our <a href="/products/mura-cms/" target="_blank">CMS Directory</a>.

Mura Experience Platform: Market With Relevance, Automation & Amplification

Shopify - The global commerce platform

Build your business with Shopify to sell online, offline, and everywhere in between.

The global commerce platform

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Making sales using Ecwid, but the eBay market keeps calling your name? I've got good news for you.<img src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2023/08/blog_ebay913x0-is.png" /> Ecwid has extended its multi-channel capabilities to include publishing products directly to eBay. Plus, users can now manage their eBay dealings through their Ecwid control panel.The platform's 800,000+ user base will likely be very pleased with the news, as the lure of eBay is still as strong as ever for online merchants.<h2>An Easy Entrance into eBay</h2>Ecwid's instructions are an easy read. To establish a presence on eBay, users just need to:<ol><li>Click “Promotions” and then <a target="_blank" href="https://my.ecwid.com/cp/CP.html#ebay-inventory">eBay</a></li><li>Connect an eBay account to your Ecwid store.</li><li>Select the products to be published on eBay.</li></ol>And that's it.<img src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2023/08/ecwid-control-panel696x0-is.png" /> The eBay integration doesn't stop there, though. Ecwid sellers can also manage eBay sales from Ecwid.Plus, as eBay sales occur, Ecwid automatically syncs and adjusts inventory levels. Effectively, Ecwid has turned eBay into a new arm of itself for merchants to benefit from.To find out more about this new eBay integration, <a target="_blank" href="https://www.ecwid.com/sell-on-ebay">visit the Ecwid blog</a>.

Ecwid Embraces eBay Selling

LightCMS has empowered users to customize checkout pages, and has also partnered up with <a target="_blank" href="https://www.crayon.co/">Crayon.co</a> to organize over 300,000 website designs built using LightCMS.<img src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2023/08/lightcms.jpg" />The website builder powers well over 275,000 websites worldwide, picking up the <a href="/the-winner-of-the-2014-peoples-choice-cms-award-for-best-cloud-cms-for-smb/">2014 People's Choice Award for Best Cloud CMS for SMB</a>.<h2>Custom Checkout</h2>First up, let's check out the new checkout.The update focuses on allowing LightCMS users to customize the appearance of their checkout pages, bringing them in line with the rest of the website.<img src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2023/08/customcheckoutpage_thumb.png" />Design changes can be made to the following elements on the LightCMS checkout page:<ul><li>Logo</li><li>Background image/color</li><li>Headings</li><li>Buttons</li></ul>Those changes include sizing, colors, fonts and more.<h2>LightCMS &amp; Crayon</h2>Crayon organizes thousands of web design examples from a range of different platforms, a range which now includes LightCMS.<img src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2023/08/crayon_home_thumb.png" /> LightCMS users now have free access to over 300,000 designs hosted on Crayon, where they can be browsed through for inspiration and collaboration purposes.I don't think this is going to mean too much to the average LightCMS user, to be honest, but it's an interesting avenue to explore for them nonetheless.

LightCMS Partners With Crayon & Reveals Custom Checkout

By the end of May 2014, WordPress will be an 11 year old platform. And what a platform it is.
Out of all the websites across the world using content management systems, <a href="http://trends.builtwith.com/cms" target="_blank"> over 47% of them are using WordPress</a>. No other platform even comes close, leaving WordPress to dominate the market.
Traditionally, WordPress has always been seen as a blogging platform. However, in recent years and months, WordPress has been evolving somewhat.
The evolution has been gradual, but as time passes, it only becomes more evident. The world of blogging is no longer its core concern. WordPress is seeing new people.
<h2>Pushy Plugins</h2>
Jack O'Nolan, founder of <a href="https://ghost.org/" target="_blank"> Ghost</a> and former Deputy Head of the WordPress User Interface team, said it best:
<blockquote>
“WordPress has grown up. It's not really about blogging any more. It's moved on to be about websites, content management and all sorts of other amazing things. WordPress, by all rights, is no longer just a blogging platform.”
</blockquote>
But the questions is, in what way has WordPress moved on? After all, it's still a hugely popular option for people who simply want to create a blog.
The primary change has come about through plugins. <a href="https://wordpress.org/plugins/" target="_blank"> WordPress Plugins</a> have played a massive part in pushing WordPress beyond blogging and into new digital realms.
Third-party plugins like <a href="http://www.woothemes.com/woocommerce/" target="_blank"> WooCommerce </a> , <a href="https://premium.wpmudev.org/project/membership/" target="_blank"> WPMU Membership </a> , Events Calendar Pro and many more, make it possible to use WordPress to offer things like shopping experiences, software as a service (SaaS), corporate communication, social networking and so forth. 
 Here are just a few examples of what I'm talking about.
<h3>WP Mingle</h3>
<img src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2023/08/wpmingle700x0.png" alt="WP Mingle" />
WP Mingle
One example of WordPress' many uses comes in the form of online forum software. Plugins like <a href="http://wpmingle.com/" target="_blank"> WP Mingle</a> (and many other like it) enable you to set up and manage a fully functioning online discussion forum. 
<h3>Simple Intranet</h3>
<img src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2023/08/simpleintranet700x0.png" alt="Simple Intranet" />
Simple Intranet
WordPress is also capable of hosting an Intranet. <a href="http://www.simpleintranet.org/" target="_blank"> Simple Intranet</a> is one plugin which lets you create a simple Intranet solution quickly and easily, giving WordPress a whole new dimension. 
 Also, <a href="http://blog.teamtreehouse.com/a-new-way-to-use-wordpress-to-kill-your-competition" target="_blank">TreeHouse recently put together a guide on how to create an Intranet through WordPress</a>. It's not as easy as installing a plugin of course, but it works. 
<h3>HelloBar</h3>
<img src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2023/08/hb-1-website.jpg" alt="HelloBar" />
HelloBar
Perhaps the most interesting example is that of HelloBar. <a href="http://www.dtelepathy.com/blog/filament/wordpress-saas-application-platform" target="_blank"> Dave Shepherd recently described how he and his team built, monetized and scaled HelloBar</a> using, “the power of WordPress and the community around it.” 
 HelloBar is a prime example of how WordPress is indeed capable of being a SaaS application platform – which is quite exciting if you think about it.
<h2>One Size Fits All</h2>
Many of these Plugins – despite not being directly sanctioned or built by WordPress – have diluted the concentrated blogging experience which WordPress used to serve up. Instead, the platform is now a cocktail of functionality – and I don't think it's an accident either.
After all, Matt Mullenweg, the man behind WordPress, sees the platform's future accordingly:
<blockquote>
“I see the future of WordPress as a web operating system.”
</blockquote>
So, the pieces of the puzzle are now starting to make a little more sense. WordPress seems to be on track to become a “One-size-fits-all” web operating system. 
 I know what you're thinking. All of this evolving functionality – along with Matt Mullenweg's words – seem very bold. However, it's important to point out that as of right now, WordPress isn't the top dog in any of the niches it's expanding into. 
 Many dedicated social networking platforms, Intranets, and eCommerce solutions have all been honing their services for years, and it's going to take more than a few third-party WordPress plugins to truly thwart them all overnight.  
 Naturally though, there is nothing to indicate that WordPress can't conquer these services over time, but until it does, being the Jack of all trades is something which WordPress might have to get used to.
<h2>But What About the Blog?</h2>
WordPress may well be undergoing a plugin-driven evolution, but it hasn't impacted it's blogging capabilities. Not even a little bit.  
 The recent <a href="/the-beauty-and-potential-of-ghost/" target="_blank"> emergence of Ghost</a> for example, has asked questions of WordPress. Ghost has branded itself as a platform which is just about blogging, and nothing else. They have opted for the purist approach, leaving WordPress bloggers to wonder just how focused their platform is on their area of expertise.  
 <img src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2023/08/ghost700x0.png" alt="Ghost" />
Ghost – Just a Blogging Platform
But let's be frank about this. 
 Sure, Ghost is all about the blog – and their approach is truly intriguing. However, WordPress was the blogging daddy this time last year, and when it comes to functionality, absolutely nothing has been removed or drastically changed. 
 In fact, you could even argue that third-party plugins like those mentioned above simply help to garnish what is already a stellar blogging platform. The more the merrier, some might say.
So, WordPress is indeed becoming the Jack of pretty much every other online trade going – but its mastery of the blog cannot yet be denied.
All in all, WordPress has long been the reigning champion of blogging platforms everywhere, and if competitors want a piece of the blogging pie, they will need to do more than simply point out WordPress' broadening horizons.

WordPress: Jack of All Trades, Master of None?

Following 3 years of development, <a href="http://www.artisteer.com">Artisteer Ltd</a>, a WYSIWYG website building solution provider, has launched a new product, called <a href="http://themler.com/" target="_blank">Themler</a>.
<a href="http://themler.com/" target="_blank"><img src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2023/08/logo_new.png" /></a>
Themler is built to produce responsive web designs for existing content management systems, including; WordPress, Joomla, Ebay’s Magento, Drupal and PrestaShop. The product also supports template design for e-commerce plug-ins like wooCommerce and VirtueMart that work with WordPress and Joomla.
Here's an introductory video to give you a taste of what Themler can do.
https://vimeo.com/133549765
<h2>Integrated Web Design, 4,000 Templates &amp; 200,000 Stock Images</h2>
Themler claims to be the first and only web design product that supports a variety of content management systems at once, as well as allowing developers to produce themes and templates they can own and sell to third parties.
At the same time Themler is simple enough to be installed by any WordPress, Joomla and Magento users, and used to customize their website while previewing the design changes with their live content. With these unique capabilities, Themler is the world’s first integrated visual web design environment for content management systems.
Themler also comes with access to a library of 4,000 web templates for WordPress, Joomla, Magento, Drupal and other CMS and e-commerce systems.
Furthermore, Themler boasts an extensive library of 200,000 modern stock photos and graphics, which Themler users can use in their designs.
For enhanced accessibility, Themler can be installed on a Windows desktop, or used in a web browser with any environment where WordPress, Joomla or Magento is installed.
Desktop versions for Mac and Linux are scheduled for release at a later date.
<h2>Easier &amp; More Beautiful</h2>
A Themler beta user, who documented his experience on the Themler user forums, made the following comment:
<blockquote>
“Magento themes are unbelievably difficult to make while Themler makes them easy to create and more beautiful than commercial Magento themes. Magento itself is not known as easy for theming.”
</blockquote>
Themler is currently available at <a href="http://www.themler.com">www.themler.com</a> at prices starting from $49.

Introducing Themler: The World’s First Visual Web Design Environment for WordPress, Magento, Joomla & Drupal

Today, we're excited to announce that we have launched our new eCommerce website to cover everything in the ever expanding eCommerce industry. What will you find on this new website? We've brought on some talented new writers to provide you with exceptional, easy to understand yet thorough eCommerce Reviews, Roundups, Comparisons and Editorials. 
Right now we've only got a few articles up but we've got tons of great stuff in the queue over the next week and ongoing. We couldn't be more pleased to bring you this new site as we think it fits beautifully with what we've been doing on CMS Critic since 2008.
Ladies and gentlemen, meet <a href="http://www.ecommercecritic.com">eCommerce Critic</a>.
<img src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2023/08/ecommercecritic837x0.png" alt="ecommerce critic" />
Check it out, let us know what you think and spread the word if you don't mind ? Click the tweet button below to share the news:
[[ecommercecritic]]

Our new site, eCommerce Critic is now live!

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