Articles - Page 127

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

matt-garrepy

<a target="_blank" href="https://flodesk.com/c/2FQH39">Flodesk</a> says they’re “the world’s most intuitive email builder,” and they’re not exaggerating. With Flodesk, you can create beautiful emails that match the overall style of your brand in minutes, even if you have no technical, design, or marketing skills. But because Flodesk is still so new, it can’t quite match its competitors in terms of power. Read our full Flodesk Review below.<h2>Getting Started</h2>Setting up an account with Flodesk is easy. Every new user gets a 30-day free trial, which is available via the homepage. Once you fill out the sign-up form, Flodesk sends you an email verification link. Click on the link — and you’re in!<img src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2023/08/screenshot1_b0gn4a.png" />The dashboard is clean and extremely easy to navigate. However, you still might not necessarily know where to start, especially if you’re new to email marketing.Luckily, Flodesk understands that mastering a new site takes time, which is why it sends you a helpful email telling you how to make the most of your account. The email comes with instructions on how to:<ul><li>Set up your logo and brand.</li><li>Design a welcome email.</li><li>Embed a form.</li><li>Put it all together with a workflow (a series of automated emails).</li></ul><h2>Design</h2>Flodesk uses a visual builder, so you don’t need to know HTML code to craft an eye-catching email. In fact, the best thing about Flodesk is the variety of stunning email templates available. You can choose a pre-formatted template based on your “goal,” such as “Share News” or “Make Money.”<img src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2023/08/screenshot2_il3ujd.png" />Customizing your chosen template is a breeze. Simply click on any part of the email to duplicate and delete blocks and tweak things such as:<ul><li>Email layout</li><li>Backdrop and canvas color</li><li>Font type, size, and color</li><li>Line height and letter spacing</li><li>Link color</li><li>Border color and thickness</li><li>Padding thickness.</li></ul>You can save your brand’s logo and colors, further simplifying the process of adjusting templates to suit your needs. You can also upload PDFs, as long as they’re under 10 MB, and include your real-time Instagram feed at the bottom of your emails.<img src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2023/08/screenshot3_m7cnrp.png" />If none of the templates do it for you, you can start your email from scratch, adding text (Flodesk has more than 100 fonts available, but doesn’t let you upload your own) and images as you see fit. Flodesk integrates photos seamlessly, without asking you to compress or resize them.Before you send an email, you can preview it on desktop and mobile, ensuring that it displays smoothly across all devices.<h2>Usability and Support</h2>Flodesk has a minimalist user interface. At the top of the page, you have four categories: “Emails,” “Audience,” “Forms,” and “Workflows.” These are the four features that you’re most likely to use daily.More functions, including domain authentication and brand preferences, can be found under your username icon on the top right-hand corner of the page.Flodesk has an extensive Help Center with detailed answers to commonly asked questions as well as technical how-to’s. A search button ensures that you don’t have to sift through countless articles to find a solution to your problem.<img src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2023/08/screenshot4_lvl9op.png" />If you can’t find an answer to your question using the Help Center, you can message Flodesk on Facebook. I got a response to my query in less than three hours on a Sunday. Alternatively, you can join the Flodesk Insiders Facebook page to start a discussion with other users or email the customer support team, which promises to respond within 48 hours.<h2>Key Features</h2>In addition to pre-made emails, Flodesk is also great for making forms. Flodesk offers its users a range of form templates, from pop-ups to inline forms to full-page landing pages. Embedding the code into your website is straightforward, but you can also publish the form URL directly to the web.<img src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2023/08/screenshot5_jyszuc.png" />Flodesk’s “Workflows” feature lets you send a series of emails to your subscribers automatically. You can set a “Time Delay” specifying the amount of time (whether minutes or hours) that should pass before Flodesk sends the next email, but there’s no option to choose a specific date or time.You can also set a “Condition.” In this case, Flodesk will only send an email if a subscriber opens a previously sent email.<img src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2023/08/screenshot6_fdlrvy.png" />Segmenting your email list is simple, perfect for those who have several sign-up lists.Flodesk has a comprehensive statistics area, with details on each subscriber, including when and how you acquired them and their device preference. You can also see how many emails they opened, but not which ones. Also, you can’t resend an email to a subscriber that didn’t open it the first time. (Editors note: I reached out to Flodesk via Facebook to comment on this as it seemed like an odd thing to restrict. Here's their response:We do offer workflows that allow you to send to unopens after a period of time you specify—so we do offer it, just not in the one-off campaign area.)<img src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2023/08/screenshot7_nu5rob.png" />Email statistics are available via the “Email” section. Here, you can see the open rate, click-through rate, and the number of email addresses that bounced among other things.One big feature that Flodesk is currently missing is A/B testing. There’s no way that I could find to test several subject lines or email types. Other email marketing services, such as ConvertKit, Mailchimp, and Mailerlite, include this function.Another negative is Flodesk’s lack of integrations. At the moment, it only supports <a target="_blank" href="https://www.cmscritic.com/shopify">Shopify</a> integration, although <a target="_blank" href="https://zapier.com/">Zapier</a> should be added within a month as well.<h2>Pricing – This is where Flodesk Shines</h2>Flodesk’s pricing is simple. There’s just one plan which costs $38 per month. It gets you unlimited emails and subscribers, as well as access to every feature. This is unusual as most email marketing platforms increase your bill as soon as you grow your subscriber list. The ability to scale up without extra cost makes Flodesk great value for fast-growing businesses.Editor's Note:<blockquote>“As you no doubt know, email marketing can get incredibly expensive as you grow in subscribers. Flodesk's model of one flat (and reasonable) price regardless of how many subscribers you have is not only excellent, it's the best value out there in my opinion.” ~ Mike Johnston</blockquote><h2>Pros</h2><ul><li>Price doesn’t change even if your subscriber list grows</li><li>30-day free trial</li><li>Gorgeous templates for emails, pop-ups, inline forms, and landing pages.</li><li>User-friendly interface.</li><li>Great customer support.</li><li>Email automation.</li><li>Email segmentation.</li><li>In-depth statistics.</li><li>Coding knowledge isn’t necessary.</li><li>Easy Instagram integration.</li></ul><h2>Cons</h2><ul><li>No way to perform A/B testing.</li><li>You can’t resend an email to a subscriber that didn’t open.</li><li>Lacking in integrations (although Zapier is due within a month) but this can be attributed to how new the platform is.</li></ul><h2>Final Verdict</h2>Flodesk has a lot going for it. It has an intuitive user interface, a vast range of stunning templates, and friendly customer service. While it’s a little behind its competitors in terms of features — it doesn’t have A/B testing and integrates with Shopify only — it’s still in the early stages of development. If you’re a small business owner with growing ambitions but no coding knowledge, then using Flodesk is a no brainer.<a target="_blank" href="https://flodesk.com/c/2FQH39">Try Flodesk for yourself.</a>

Flodesk Review - Email Marketing at an Unbeatable Price

laura-martisiute

<a href="/products/craft-cms/">Craft CMS</a>, one of the winners of our CMS awards for Best Small to Midsize Business PHP CMS, has announced a slew of new updates with their 2.4 release. Here is a quick breakdown of some of the changes and additions you can expect from this great CMS.
<h2>Customizable Selection Buttons</h2>
Assets, Categories, Entries, Tags, and Users fields now make it possible to customize their selection button/input labels.
<img src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2023/08/craft24.png" alt="craft 2.4" />
<h2>Redesigned User Permissions</h2>
Each section of user permissions now has a “Select All” button which will immediately select all of the permissions in that group.
<img src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2023/08/permissions_2x.png" alt="craft 2.4" />
<h2>Two New Languages</h2>
The Control Panel has been translated into two new languages: Czech and Slovak. That brings the grand total up to <a href="http://buildwithcraft.com/help/cp-languages">18 supported languages!</a>
<img src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2023/08/slovak_2x.png" />
<h2>And More!</h2>
Check out the <a href="http://buildwithcraft.com/updates/2.4">release notes</a> for a complete list of all that’s changed!

Craft CMS 2.4 - Chock full of Improvements and Additions

mike-johnston

MotoCMS is a WYSIWYG (What You See Is What You Get) <a target="_blank" href="https://www.motocms.com/">website builder</a>, capable of building professional-looking responsive websites.The latest major release, MotoCMS 3.0, brought about enhancements to speed, user experience and mobile responsiveness.<img src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2023/08/untitled-3.jpg" />MotoCMS is equipped to handle eCommerce sites, portfolio sites and businesses sites alike, boasting an array of well designed templates to give users plenty to work with from the get go.In short, it’s a website builder, and like all website builders, it's designed to be beautiful on the outside, and simple on the inside.The plan is, you use it to modify and tweak existing MotoCMS templates, before purchasing your finished website and hosting it yourself, however you see fit. It's a model designed to get you crafting a website quickly and professionally, without any ongoing expenses.Let’s see how well MotoCMS lives up to its website builder label.<h2>First Impressions</h2>The MotoCMS website is sleek.<img src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2023/08/sshot-1807x0-is.png" />Vibrant purples dominate the design, information is plentiful and a range of languages can be switched between to appeal to a worldwide market.Clicking the “Get started” button on the homepage gets you into the action. After selecting my template, I was asked to type in my email, my name and my phone number, although only the email field was mandatory.<img src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2023/08/sshot-2723x0-is.png" />I was able to try out the optional phone-activation feature though, only to find out that it doesn't replace the email verification feature. You'll need to verify your phone number first, and then verify yourself again via email in order to log in to MotoCMS. Long winded stuff.As usual, I'd recommend sticking to email verification only.<h2>Getting Started</h2>Thankfully, things got better when I was eventually granted access.<img src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2023/08/sshot-51050x0-is.png" /> “Welcome to the Future”.It may sound a little cheesy but that’s totally okay with me. Cheesy, in this environment, can definitely be a good thing. Especially when the platform actually delivers on its futuristic promise.The dashboard page itself though, is empty.It simply gives you that “Welcome to the Future” message, and then forces you into clicking away to other areas of the admin panel. Perhaps here would be a good place to have a short instructional step-by-step guide, or perhaps a video? Anything would be better than the emptiness it currently boasts.<h3>Pages</h3>After heading over to “Pages” on the navigation bar, a help window pops up explaining how to use the interface.The window is useful and easy to digest. It’s good that it’s there, but it’s not so good that it isn’t centered on the screen, nor is it small enough to comfortably fit on the screen. A minor issue, but an issue it is.<img src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2023/08/sshot-6621x0-is.png" />The options down the right-hand side allow you to edit page names, URLs and assign parent pages. Switching over to “Design” section provides you with page-specific design options that enable you to hide sections of the page, like the header or footer.Pointing and clicking at any section of the page though, brings up new options.<img src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2023/08/sshot-12743x0-is.png" />You can edit text and insert widgets like sliders, galleries, images, contact forms, iframes, videos and maps, all right there on the page. It's WYSIWYG technology at its traditional best. It works just as you'd expect it too, which is precisely how it should be.Adding a new page is simple, too. You just click “Add New” button on the top left corner, and insert your page name and URL (or slug).You can then proceed to edit and tweak as you would with an existing page.MotoCMS also lets you instantly preview your website through the screen or a desktop, tablet or smartphone. A handy feature.<img src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2023/08/sshot-9940x0-is.png" /><h3>Design</h3>The “Design” section within the admin panel controls, well, the design.<img src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2023/08/sshot-2-1936x0-is.png" />MotoCMS gives you a lot of ways to edit their existing template, and it's quite simple to do as well. Settings relating to the theme, font, text sizes and widgets can all be configured. It's pretty detailed.<img src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2023/08/sshot-1-2936x0-is.png" /> Elements like social media links, page dividers, buttons and so forth can all be configured.No doubt this is where a website builder earns its stripes for being, well, a website builder. For me, MotoCMS does enough to make life simple for inexperienced web designers looking to re-brand and re-jig a template.<h3>Media Library</h3>Another option within the admin panel is Media Library.<img src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2023/08/sshot-3-1745x0-is.png" />As the name of the section suggests, here is where you can manage media files for your website.MotoCMS throws in quite a few images that come bundled with the theme. Plus, there are categorized sections for videos, sound files, documents and more.Clicking “Upload” is how you add your own files to the mix.<h3>Extras</h3>I'd like to take a moment here to focus on MotoCMS's templates. Because they're excellently crafted.You can choose between six upon signing up (not sure why the number is limited in this regard), although more can be found at their <a target="_blank" href="http://www.motocms.com/website-templates/">template marketplace</a>.<img src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2023/08/sshot-4-1611x0-is.png" /> Each one looks highly professional, and thanks to some detailed customization options within the MotoCMS admin panel, you can quite easily make your chosen theme unique to your brand. Starting templates are important for website builders, and MotoCMS has excelled in this area.Unfortunately though, other than templates, MotoCMS is lacking severely in the extras department.It does an awesome job of actually building highly professional websites, but that's pretty much all it does, unfortunately.There is a “Settings” page on the admin panel, which governs general website settings, basic SEO options, code injections and so forth. Blogging doesn't seem to be something that comes easy with MotoCMS either, as there aren't any settings to configure an actual blog.<img src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2023/08/sshot-5-1738x0-is.png" /> As for eCommerce features, you'll need to dish out an additional $99. Yet for blogging, there's not even a purchasable add-on available.The only other extra functionality is the ability to configure Google Analytics and Webmaster Tools codes. It's bare minimum, to say the least.<h2>Getting Help</h2>MotoCMS does well when it comes to providing support.Every page on the admin panel has a “?” icon that leads to their Help Centre. That help centre, is home to a searchable knowledge base, and can also be used to submit a support request.<img src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2023/08/sshot-6-1725x0-is.png" /> Furthermore, the MotoCMS community can be accessed from here, where users ask and answer questions in order to help eachother out. There's also live chat available for sorting out smaller issues.<h2>Pricing</h2>As far as pricing goes, MotoCMS gives you a free 7-day trial to get your website together. You can tinker away for that first week, but thereafter, you'll need to purchase your (modified) template in order to keep it and use it.Templates advertised on the MotoCMS <a target="_blank" href="http://www.motocms.com/website-templates/">template marketplace</a> start from $139. However, when I went to purhase my own modified template, I was asked for $199. Although this is probably down to the template I selected.Extras like the eCommerce plugin and an installation service can also be purchased at the time of checkout.<img src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2023/08/sshot-7-1524x0-is.png" />For me, the pricing is probably about right. The templates are awesome as they are, so after a week of editing, it's worth the relatively reasonable price tag.<h2>The Verdict</h2>To describe MotoCMS, one word springs to my mind again and again; crisp.Their website, their interface and their templates are all delicately refined. I'm a big, big fan of the MotoCMS visual user experience across the admin panel, too.However, a CMS needs to be more than just a pretty face.With no blogging features, and eCommerce coming at an added price, the average startup might pass on this attractive platform. Plus, despite being WYSIWG, I wouldn't say it's the easiest website builder to use, as you're never too far away from some technical options.Would I recommend MotoCMS to first-time website builders looking to start a business? Probably not. But I would recommend it to a web developer who wants to churn out classy websites for clients who need static websites. Because that's where MotoCMS really shines.<h3>Pros</h3><ul><li>MotoCMS is a very sleek and beautiful platform. That makes it a joy to use.</li><li>Templates are plentiful, and expertly designed.</li><li>It's fast. 40% faster than WordPress, according to MotoCMS.</li><li>Editing as you preview your website on desktop, tablet and smartphone is simple and slick, just like a website builder should be.</li><li>Widgets like galleries, contact forms, maps, iframes, sliders and so forth help kit out the feature set.</li><li>General editing is easy, with point-and-click interfaces and extra menus for more sophisticated tinkering.</li><li>Live chat, a knowledge base and an online community make up the decent support system in place for MotoCMS users.</li></ul><h3>Cons</h3><ul><li>MotoCMS is not hosted. You'll need to source your own web host.</li><li>There are some (slight) display issues when it comes to help windows.</li><li>The eCommerce Plugin requires an extra $99 payment.</li><li>MotoCMS doesn't really offer much as a blogging solution.</li></ul><h2>Final Remarks</h2><a href="/products/motocms">MotoCMS</a> prides itself on offering awesome looking templates, and rightly so.A quick look at their template selection tells you that you can build a pretty slick looking website. They're beautifully crafted, and the website builder itself makes it quite easy to build on what's already there.However, it just feels like a slight technical step above the most basic website builders on the market. For web design newbies, that spells trouble. But for experienced web developers with clients on hand? It's a platform worth exploring, for sure.MotoCMS needs some touching up, but it seems to be coming along nicely. I personally like its charm, and I'll be keeping a close eye on its progress in the coming months and years.

MotoCMS Review

phpFox is one of the most popular social networking software on the market but is the latest iteration of the software worth using for your social network? In this phpFox review, we'll let you know.With pricing ranging from $299 – $599, phpFox is definitely not a cheap investment so you'll want to make sure it's 100% the right tool for you before you get started.<img src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2023/08/phpfox_review_-_1542x0-is.png" alt="phpfox review" />Fortunately, there's a demo you can use to mess around with the software. The drawback, however, is that the demo does not allow you into the AdminCP (the back end of phpFox) to see what it's like to administer the software, something I find a bit odd.Luckily, I was given a test account so I could write this review, so let's take a look and see what the admin interface looks like. Once logged in, you'll be presented with the menu for a logged in user (top right) where you can select the small gear icon to enter the AdminCP.<img src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2023/08/phpfox_review_-_2889x0-is.png" alt="phpfox review" />Once you've entered the admin interface, you'll be greeted with the following screen:<img src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2023/08/phpfox_review_-_3879x0-is.png" alt="phpfox review" />From here, you can administer your phpFox instance. The dashboard link on the left menu gives you the screen you see above, which shows basic information about who is using your site, who is logged in, etc.Under the Apps menu, you can add new Apps to your phpFox instance, allowing you to expand the functionality for your members.<img src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2023/08/phpfox_review_-_4687x0-is.png" alt="phpfox review" />Keep in mind, of course, that a lot of these apps will have costs associated with them as most are commercial plugins and not free.On the Themes tab, you can choose to apply a free theme or purchase a new premium one from those available. <img src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2023/08/phpfox_review_-_5765x0-is.png" alt="phpfox review" />From the languages link you can change the language of your installation to one of the many available translations. Unfortunately, I'm not versed in anything more than English so I'm not able to tell you how accurate the translations are but perhaps someone can leave a comment and let us know their experiences. Available languages include French, Dutch, Russian, Romanian and Polish.The user editor allows you to modify user profiles. One thing that I found slightly annoying (from an aesthetics point of view) is that everything is single column all the way down. I would think it would be easier (and make things look cleaner and more professional) if the fields weren't full width for everything like Zip Code, Gender, etc. It just makes it look a bit sloppy and I think some basic work to clean these up would make it look more professional as it currently does not.<img src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2023/08/phpfox_review_-_6-1753x0-is.png" alt="phpfox review" />I'm on a 1440×900 screen so seeing these fields stretched the whole width just looks sloppy. I realize this is a minor gripe but still something I felt necessary to point out.While on the topic of gripes, one thing I found rather distressing was the complete lack of help throughout the AdminCP. Not only are there no tooltips or even a “?” icon to click on for help with an area of the admin but there isn't even a help link in the menu system on the left, which I found rather disheartening. For a system this far along in the development cycle (phpFox has been around for many years) this simply is not acceptable.Moving on to the Pages component of the Admin, we're greeted with an editor that, sadly, only allows you to enter in HTML code.<img src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2023/08/phpfox_review_-_7894x0-is.png" alt="phpfox review" /> I was personally hoping for something a bit more useful like a WYSIWYG (what you see is what you get) editor akin to WordPress or other CMS but that was not the case. I'm also a bit take aback by the way the interface seems to scale on my Macbook Pro. I'm at a screen resolution of 1440×900 as mentioned before and as you can see from the screenshot, things like even the “save” button seem cut off and not scaled appropriately. Even if I attempt to scroll, the button for Save still does not show fully which I consider unacceptable. (Note: phpFox claims that a proper editor will be present in the upcoming 4.5 release, so perhaps this will change)The Blocks interface within phpFox lets you control which components you wish to show on specific areas of the site. For instance, you can create custom HTML or PHP blocks and show them based on specific pages or to only specific user IDs or groups.<img src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2023/08/phpfox_review_-_8772x0-is.png" alt="phpfox review" />The Phrases area within the admin appears to be a place where you can rename or provide friendly names for specific phrases within your social network. I'm not 100% clear as to how it works because, as mentioned before, there's absolutely no help or even description telling you what this area is for so I'm stating this based on guesswork and common sense.The bulk of the settings for your installation can be found under, wait for it, the Settings link. Here you can configure everything from server settings to SEO settings and more.<img src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2023/08/phpfox_review_-_9496x0-is.png" alt="phpfox review" />To their credit, there are a lot of settings exposed here and everything from module configuration to payment gateways and more is all listed here and easy to configure. I still, however, am frustrated by the lack of any kind of help while within any of these areas. In most cases, there aren't even descriptors to help enlighten you as to what each of the areas within the Settings are for.The Modules, Announcements and Newsletter sections are all similar in look and feel. Within the Announcements and Newsletter dialog, you can configure and set announcements and newsletters to go out at certain times.Under the Status menu, there is a Site Statistics link. Within here, one would expect to see reports or graphs showing statistics for your website. Instead, this is what you are shown:<img src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2023/08/phpfox_review_-_101179x0-is.png" alt="phpfox review" />I'm not sure about you but I'd have expected that if I clicked on a menu called Site Statistics, I'd want to see some nice, pretty graphs and a decent spread of analytics. This type of stuff is not hard to provide, even if just embedding some basic Google Analytics reporting. All in all, my whole experience with the software seems to echo this frustration.I'm going to conclude this review here as there's not much else to cover and I think I need to explain why I'm being as picky as I am about the design, implementation and issues I'm encountering here. You see, this software is not just marketed as the best solution for social networking but it's also priced at a level that should reflect well coded, beautifully crafted software. All of these niggling issues and poor design choices I'm encountering make me think that if I had purchased this software, I'd feel upset and like I had not received enough value for my dollar. Furthermore, I'd expect things to be intuitive, come with excellent help and generally be more useful. I find it very difficult to be lenient in instances such as this and rightly so.When a company is asking for hundreds of dollars of my money for their software, I expect quality of a high level. You don't buy Adobe Photoshop for several hundred and expect it to be sloppy and not scale properly to your screen size nor should you expect the same here. Is comparing phpFox to Adobe Photoshop or any level of similar priced software fair? I think it is. We're talking about software that has been around for over a decade and the level of quality you'd expect from software that has been around for this long simply isn't reflected here.When it comes to help, nothing is present within the adminCP. There are no quick links to available help resources, no help within any of the sections of the site and no live chat or anything to warrant the cost associated with this software. Even more annoying, support links are buried within the footer on their main website as opposed to being easily accessible and visible.Note: this isn't to say that support resources don't exist, there are tons of them: <a target="_blank" href="https://docs.phpfox.com/">https://docs.phpfox.com/</a> &amp; <a target="_blank" href="https://community.phpfox.com/">https://community.phpfox.com</a> for instance but the fact that they are not linked to or highlighted within the AdminCP is still a big miss. Why have no links or method to access any of these great resources evident when using the software? Hiding them away somewhere else without making it easy to find or use them means you miss the “ease of use” mark.When you look at the pricing, the lack of support is even more evident. Even with the most expensive package ($599 for the Pro edition) you only get help via the community forums and for two months through support tickets. To get support for a longer period, you have to pay a quarterly amount depending on the package you select (screenshot below).<img src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2023/08/phpfox_review_-_11906x0-is.png" alt="phpfox review" />Even with the support packages, you are only allowed to submit one ticket at a time. Overall, I'm generally disappointed with the way support for this software is handled.I don't mean to be Mr. Negative here but I'm just generally not very impressed. In 2012 when I wrote my first phpFox Review, I was impressed with the way things were put into place because there frankly wasn't much else out there. 4 years later, however, I'd have expected the software to have evolved far further than it has. I'd also have expected support to be far more advanced and complete. Sadly, that's simply not the case.Would I recommend phpFox?If you are comfortable doing things yourself and need a leg up, perhaps, but overall, no I would not. This software simply just doesn't feel worth the price they are asking for it. <a target="_blank" href="https://www.phpfox.com/">Check it out for yourself at phpFox.com</a>

phpFox Review - Is This The Right Software For Your Social Network?

“Finally!”, will be the word on the lips of most Pinterest users this week. Buyable Pins are now becoming a reality, with Shopify becoming the first avenue for small and medium-sized businesses to sell using Buyable Pins on Pinterest.
Shopify is one of the world's leading eCommerce solutions, powering thousands of online stores across the world. The platform is known for its excellent level of integration with a wide range of popular third-party apps and platforms — which now includes Pinterest.
Here's how Shopify users can now profit from Pinterest.
<h2>Blue Means Buy</h2>
<a href="https://business.pinterest.com/en/buyable-pins" target="_blank">As Pinterest announced</a>, Buyable Pins will start appearing across desktop, iOS and Android devices within coming weeks. To spot them, just look out for Blue.
<img src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2023/08/pinterest-buy-button.png" />
The Blue “Buy it” button lets consumers checkout and pay for products they discover on Pinterest. Currently, Apple Pay and credit cards make up the only two payment gateways.
To sell products on Pinterest as a Shopify users, all you need to do is add the new Pinterest sales channel to your Shopify account. This will automatically enable Buyable Pins for all of your products found on Pinterest. All of your Pinterest orders, products and customers will automatically be synchronized with Shopify, just like any other sales channel.
Also, there’s no additional cost to list or sell products using this new Shopify channel.
The setup process sounds very Shopify-like, by being remarkably simple.
To find out more about this new Shopify and Pinterest feature, check out <a href="https://www.shopify.com/blog/27719428-you-can-now-sell-on-pinterest-with-buyable-pins-and-shopify" target="_blank">Shopify's blog coverage</a>.
Also, be sure to explore more of <a href="/products/shopify/" target="_blank">Shopify via our CMS Directory</a>.

Buyable Pins: Shopify Teams Up With Pinterest

This week, <a href="https://hygraph.com/?utm_term=hygraph&amp;utm_campaign=EN_GL_Brand&amp;utm_source=adwords&amp;utm_medium=ppc&amp;hsa_acc=2816788452&amp;hsa_cam=17743993835&amp;hsa_grp=141602476209&amp;hsa_ad=610084431591&amp;hsa_src=g&amp;hsa_tgt=kwd-1681477926128&amp;hsa_kw=hygraph&amp;hsa_mt=p&amp;hsa_net=adwords&amp;hsa_ver=3&amp;gclid=Cj0KCQjww4-hBhCtARIsAC9gR3YU9uocJkJ2l80xEp1BlGTD-17eTEyFU6i_A1B0oVIDPhzZxjfOz7AaAtL0EALw_wcB" target="_blank">Hygraph</a>, an enterprise-level federated content platform, announced a closing round of Series B funding for $30 million, led by the investment firm <a href="https://onepeak.tech/">One Peak</a>. Other existing VC firms <a href="https://openocean.vc/" target="_blank">OpenOcean</a>, <a href="https://peak.capital/" target="_blank">Peak</a>, <a href="https://squareone.vc/" target="_blank">SquareOne</a>, and a new angel investor, <a href="https://www.linkedin.com/in/boris-lokschin-aba53013/?locale=en_US" target="_blank">Boris Lokschin</a>, co-founder and CEO of Spryker Systems, completed the funding round.
“The demand for connected digital services shows no sign of slowing down, but building everything custom is costly and an innovation bottleneck. Today, organizations not only need to distribute content to multiple devices, but they also need to access and serve up content from a myriad of sources,” said <a href="https://www.linkedin.com/in/michael-lukaszczyk/" target="_blank">Michael Lukaszczyk</a>, Hygraph CEO and co-founder. “In the same way the headless CMS changed content distribution, Hygraph is disrupting the integration of content and data to enable the creation of new digital services and business models in the content economy. Our new funding round will allow us to further scale our business, as we aim to do for content management what the likes of MuleSoft did for integration.”
<h2>Hello, Hygraph</h2>
Last year, GraphCMS – the first GraphQL-native headless CMS – <a href="https://www.cmscritic.com/graphcms-rebrands-to-hygraph-launches-new-federated-content-platform/">rebranded itself to Hygraph</a> and focused on a new federated content delivery platform. Since its rebrand, the Berlin-based company currently employs 70 people globally, and boasts more than 400 customers, including Dr. Oetker, Shure, Samsung, and Philips.
<h2>What is a federated content platform?</h2>
Hygraph calls it the “next generation of content management,” particularly in the next step beyond the <a href="https://www.cmscritic.com/top-free-headless-cms-platforms/">headless CMS</a>. The focus of Hygraph has been to replace “middleware development,” which has naturally occurred since the rise of headless and composable architecture. Through Hygraph’s product, users can connect siloed content across the entire software stack via a single API. Through this approach, content teams can compose content, distribute it and scale it more quickly than by using a traditionally headless system.
<img src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2023/03/hygraph.png" />
<h2>Hygraph = high growth</h2>
With this new round of funding, investors are anticipating Hygraph to grow their business and expand the reach toward implementing their innovative federated content platform, particularly in North America.
“Despite the rise of the composable enterprise, many organizations are unable to unlock full value from their content,” said David Klein, co-founder and managing partner, and Tatjana Kast, director at One Peak. “Hygraph solves the customization and integration challenges that continue to slow the creation of new or complex digital services at scale. We have been hugely impressed with Hygraph’s strong and capital-efficient growth trajectory and believe that its federated content platform presents a sizeable market opportunity. One Peak is incredibly excited to back the excellent Hygraph team and its founders in their next phase of explosive growth.”
“We are honoured to be able to continue to support Hygraph’s journey,” said Ekaterina Almasque, general partner, OpenOcean. “The Series B validates the company’s unique position as an emerging leader in the next-generation enterprise content management stack. Its powerful GraphQL-native federated platform enables customers to build products like streaming services or fast-moving catalogs with unprecedented speed and ease, without relying on large engineering teams. We’re delighted to be involved in the strides that Hygraph has made since our early-stage investment to reposition the company, rebrand, and show their unique proposition to the enterprise market.”
<h3>About Hygraph</h3>
Hygraph is the enterprise-grade federated content platform that enables content creators to rapidly build and deliver tomorrow’s connected digital experiences at scale. As the next generation of CMS, Hygraph powers a many-to-many relationship between different content sources and devices. Hygraph’s modern API approach allows organisations to innovate faster and at lower cost, whether it’s building content-rich applications, or managing large product catalogues or internal knowledge management systems. Hygraph is headquartered in Berlin, Germany, and currently works with 400+ customers globally including Dr. Oetker, Shure, Samsung and Philips.
For more information, visit <a href="http://www.hygraph.com" target="_blank">www.hygraph.com</a>.
<h3>About One Peak</h3>
One Peak is a leading growth equity investment firm with approx. $2 billion in assets under management that invests in technology companies in the scale-up phase. One Peak provides growth capital, operating expertise and access to its extensive network to exceptional entrepreneurs, with a view to help transform innovative and rapidly growing businesses into lasting, category-defining leaders. In addition to Hygraph, One Peak’s investments include Ardoq, Brightflag, Coople, Cymulate, DataGuard, Deepki, DocPlanner, Emnify, HighQ, Infermedica, Keepit, Lucca, Neo4j, Orgvue, PandaDoc, Paysend, Quentic, Spryker Systems, and many more.
For more information, visit <a href="http://www.onepeak.tech" target="_blank">www.onepeak.tech</a>.

Hygraph Secures $30 Million in Series B Funding

mk-patterson

Image of new Hygraph logo against a dark background with a graph pattern

Power your CMS on AWS

Manage your websites & apps in the most trusted cloud.

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Your company needs a developer – or maybe a team of developers – to build your online presence. Whether it’s a website, an app, or both, the developers will be at the forefront. As new channels like smart watches and in-store screens emerge, your development team needs to be as unrestricted as possible.
That’s where <a href="https://www.contentful.com/" target="_blank">Contentful</a> comes in.
<img src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2023/08/contentful.png" /> During this past week, we’ve looked at the general features of Contentful and its response to emerging trends. We’ve also spoken with their CMO, Chris Schagen, and examined its approach to content strategy,
Now it’s time to take a look at how Contentful helps developers.
<h2>Finally, a Developer-friendly CMS</h2>
Developers are at the front and center as far as Contentful is concerned.
Contentful is an API-first platform, which endeavours to make content as accessible and as flexible as possible in the hands of a developer. By isolating content, instead of imposing it in the form of a traditional template, developers are totally free to present content in any way, and through any channel.
It’s called being headless, which means Contentful doesn’t care about the front-end of your operation. You can structure and style your content to look precisely as you imagine it, because your content is raw and ready to be moulded to any device, any screen, any channel.
Furthermore, Contentful provides SDKs for major platforms along with comprehensive documentation. So, instead of building apps from scratch, developers can make use of open-source sample apps that offer templates as a starting point
Plus, preview apps enable developers to test their work before it goes live, in a controlled environment.
<h2>APIs Come First</h2>
With Contentful, APIs come first. Well, four of them do, actually.
<ul>
<li>
Management API to import and programmatically create and updates content – perfect for importing or for building custom editors on top of Contentful
</li>
<li>
Delivery API to deliver content. The API is built on RESTful principles, and responds in the JSON format, so popular nowadays. The content is delivered through global CDNs for ultra-low latency.
</li>
<li>
Preview API to implement staging and review possibilities for editors
</li>
<li>
Images API to replace whole different asset manipulation issues (instead editor uploads one master image, and the front end/app client decides on resolution, compression, size depending on device and networking conditions)
</li>
</ul>
<h2>Smarter Mobile Delivery</h2>
Mobile content delivery is hard. Spotty bandwidth when consumers are using subways or traversing the countryside for example can hinder their experiences.
Further to those example, expensive (and vastly varying) data charges from around the world greatly impacts the end user, especially when you have a global audience. Think London reader vs Nairobi reader, and the cost of a 5MB video file.
Thankfully, Contentful native API features are built to tackle these issues. Here’s how:
<ul>
<li>
API Request Bundlings: Instead of multiple HTTP requests with 100ms latency tax each, you can have just one “big” bundled HTTP request and pay the tax only once
</li>
<li>
Sync API: Only update incremental changes, and do so when there is non-spotty bandwidth or WLAN connectivity
</li>
<li>
Images API: Allows the client to configure the best file size depending on mobile networking situation. For example, progressive JPEGs while on the subway, and low-res images in small bandwidth environments).
</li>
</ul>
So, with Contentful, it’s easier to keep the user experience smooth, no matter where the content is being delivered to.
<h2>Backend-as-a-Service</h2>
On top of all these technical capabilities, Contentful describes itself as a “Backend-as-a-Service”. That means that developers (as well as the rest of the team) don’t need to worry about servers, scaling, or security. Because Contentful takes care of it all.
This is paired with ultra-low delivery timings, with different specialized CDNs for JSON docs, images, and videos, bringing about a smooth and fast user experience.
To conclude, Contentful works from a variety of angles to rapidly speed up development and maintenance for development teams.
To find out more about Contentful, <a href="https://www.contentful.com/" target="_blank">visit their website</a>.

How Contentful Helps Developers

It’s hard to avoid the rocket allusions, but with a product called “Launch,” it’s almost a requirement.
For <a href="https://www.cmscritic.com/contentstack-launches-new-marketplace-to-accelerate-composable-digital-experience-innovation/">Contentstack</a>, a leading <a href="https://www.cmscritic.com/top-free-headless-cms-platforms/">headless CMS</a> and <a href="https://www.contentstack.com/cms-guides/building-digital-experience-platform-dxp/" target="_blank">composable DXP</a>, the liftoff of its new front-end hosting solution comes at a perfect time. As the market’s focus on composable accelerates at warp speed, organizations are looking for more complete ecosystems to simplify the challenges of building, deploying, and scaling their experiences.
This is where <a href="https://www.contentstack.com/launch/" target="_blank">Contentstack Launch</a> can take businesses orbital. The new solution, which is currently pre-GA, promises a MACH-compliant, low latency hosting solution with fully automated functionality from back-end to front-end.
I had a chance to connect with <a href="https://www.linkedin.com/in/dean-haddock-24697870/" target="_blank">Dean Haddock</a>, the Senior Product Manager at Contentstack who’s helping to pilot the Launch mission. We talked about the new offering and how it completes a vision to deliver everything needed for building composable experiences.
Dean is a fellow CMS journeyman. His story began in open source, working on the early frontier of APIs before they became native to platforms. That eventually led him to Contentstack, where he’s spent the last year focusing on cutting-edge products in the company’s evolving portfolio – which is now reaching beyond its core headless CMS and into middle layer tools like Contentstack’s <a href="https://www.cmscritic.com/contentstack-launches-new-marketplace-to-accelerate-composable-digital-experience-innovation/">Automation Hub and Marketplace</a>.
“Contentstack is now a multi-product platform,” he said. “So a lot of my work is stitching together the fundamental and foundational parts of that architecture and infrastructure.”
This might sound like rocket science, but Dean and the team at Contentstack have been executing on a clear vision for quite some time. That’s led to some stellar investments – including an <a href="https://www.cmscritic.com/contentstack-raises-80-million-series-c-focuses-on-accelerating-the-path-to-composable-for-enterprises/">$80 million Series C</a> that closed in November of 2022. To date, the company has raised $169 million.
Is it enough to reach the moon? Even in a highly competitive market, that’s one giant leap for a headless CMS. Compound it with the gravity of a softening economy – particularly in tech – and the escape velocity shifts.
But this is where Contentstack has a distinct advantage: they’re market leaders. The company is solid and expanding globally from its San Francisco headquarters. They’ve also cultivated a dynamic culture under <a href="https://www.cmscritic.com/contentstack-raises-57-5-million-in-series-b-round-qa-with-ceo-neha-sampat/">CEO Neha Sampet</a> and consistently demonstrated a commitment to innovation.
Couple all that with a solid multi-product strategy and you have the rocket fuel to blast off.
<h2>Bringing content creators and developers together</h2>
From the get-go, Dean wanted to focus our conversation on the critical relationship between content creators and developers, which he believes is the most interesting story around Launch. He was very enthusiastic about it, and I asked him what’s driving his passion. 
“I couldn't be more excited about [Launch],” he said. “Because it's the front-end, putting the head on the headless with CMS and providing this end-to-end digital experience where we have the CMS, the automations, integrations, extensions. Things you can do in the middle layer of your content delivery. And now the front-end, where you can deliver to all to your audiences in a super-efficient, very delightful, easy breezy way.”
“Easy breezy” might be the operative terminology, and what Dean proceeded to share in his demo was exactly that: Launch is helping to eliminate the friction around completing the composable puzzle when building and deploying websites – making the entire process seamless and, well, easy breezy.  
<h3>Deploying Launch with Next.js</h3>
Dean took me through a typical deployment example, and as billed, it all felt smooth. He used a starter stack for Next.js, for which they provide tutorials and documentation. You can do this on your own, but Contentstack offers these flexible “launchpads” that use common rendering methods and auto-populate environment variables.
In seconds, we were able to deploy a staging and production environment with all the essentials – and this is where he notes the connective tissue between content creators and developers.
<img src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2023/03/create-new-project.jpg" alt="Contentstack Create New Project" />
“You'll be able to see the opportunities to bring folks together on the same sides of a ‘walled garden’ instead of tossing things over the fence from content manager to developer using other platforms – and where we can get some efficiencies and scale,” Dean said.
The staging and production environments use Contentstack’s CDN, which automatically triggers rebuilds. You can also schedule rebuilds to help reduce routine DevOps tasks, and there’s a nice Slack integration that allows you to message team members around your workflows.
What was really slick was the degree of visibility across the environments. With Launch, you can always see what’s deploying, what’s live, and what might have failed in the build process.
<img src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2023/03/environments.jpg" alt="Environments" />
Launch is also framework agnostic, so developers have their choice of any common JavaScript front-end frameworks like <a href="https://www.cmscritic.com/top-jamstack-static-site-generators-for-2021/">Next.js</a> and <a href="https://www.cmscritic.com/netlify-acquires-gatsby-aims-to-accelerate-adoption-of-composable-web-architectures/">Gatsby</a>. This fits squarely with the composable promise of enabling developers to work in the language they prefer.
<img src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2023/03/portfolio-overview.jpg" alt="Portfolio Overview" />
<a href="https://www.contentstack.com/launch/?creative=651180332057&amp;keyword=contentstack%20launch&amp;matchtype=p&amp;network=g&amp;device=c&amp;campaign=19806932844&amp;adgroup=146548710469&amp;placement=&amp;utm_campaign=fy24-glob-dg-launch-us-ca&amp;utm_medium=paid_search&amp;utm_source=google&amp;gclid=CjwKCAjwzuqgBhAcEiwAdj5dRrCGvcWB6oY89DiyAitLebtNklaEF5zT2t22x2RXcJYxcqSUG8ZZSBoCx64QAvD_BwE" target="_blank">According to a video</a> Dean hosted, Launch was originally conceived as a tool that developers would use. To that end, it’s effectively an active CI/CD system that builds and deploys your code immediately after pushing it. This reduces the cumbersome challenges with building CI/CD from scratch.
After our environment was in place, Dean brought us back to Github, where we selected the Next.js starter and gave it a name (aptly, “CMS Critic Demo”). Going back to the prod environment, we were able to pick a delivery token and import the variables. From there, it was as simple as clicking “Deploy” to start building the front-end site.
“So what [Launch] is doing here is going to Github, grabbing my code, downloading it onto our platform, running the build commands, and compiling the application,” he said, describing the automagical process. “When folks start accessing my content, it's going to be caching it on the CDN for super low latency, as you would expect for a front-end, headless hosting solution.”
<h3>Powering content creators </h3>
Deployment took a few minutes to complete, which included the SSL provisioning – yet another headache that Launch resolves. From there, we shifted to the content publisher’s realm and walked through the experience of our new homepage. With everything running off the same codebase, it was a snap to preview changes to any aspect of the page and then push to production in seconds.
"So I could say, ‘here's a production publishing environment where all my production content is going to go,’’ Dean said, narrating the use case. “I can also create lower-level environments, if I want to try out content or maybe write content that then needs to be approved by legal before it goes to publish on the web. The legal team can look quickly for any changes, hit approve, and then content could be delivered to environments as it’s promoted all the way up to production for a final approval.”
It's clear that this use case around governance and compliance is crucial for modern enterprises. While Contentstack’s CMS can certainly handle organizational permissions, the addition of Launch further simplifies vital workflows while accelerating the entire process – allowing content to be published faster and with greater control.
We played a little more with the staging and production sides of the flow, changing colors in headers and updating content elements – and it all felt easy breezy and lightning fast. As Dean explained, with this particular front-end, updates in the CMS were being automatically delivered to the presentation layer. With other packages that use SSG (such as Gatsby) it would require a quick rebuild.
The promise of Launch is greater freedom to build with clicks, not code. Modeling exists on both sides of the “walled garden,” where dev, staging, and prod are all handled in once place like cream cheese – so developers can focus on building while marketers push content and new experiences faster than ever.
“You could also create front-end templates, sites, and microsites that can be deployed from the content management side without ever really needing to engage the developer,” Dean said, codifying that promise of freedom. “So your developers set you up with a handful of different templates and you can just deploy front-ends for any kind of marketing purposes with a really quick turnaround time.”
<h2>Stacked for composable success</h2>
I asked Dean what the roadmap looks like for Contentstack in 2023. They’re now a multi-product vendor – so what does that mean in terms of market strategy?
“You should expect to see more products in the future, more innovations,” he eluded. “I got off a demo today and my mind is blown. I can just tell you that the product team, engineering team, design team – all the folks over here on our side – are doing some very, very cool stuff that will hopefully hit the market in the near future.”
I inquired about the expanding landscape of JS frameworks and how that might influence the Launch vector. “Right now, [Launch] has auto-detection for Gatsby and Next.js because those are two very, very popular frameworks that a lot of our customers and community work with. And there’s also the option to put your own custom build commands in the workflow. But you know, there are a couple dozen plus really popular frameworks out there and new ones every single day. So we'll be adding support for more of those.”
I also probed a bit more about the composable nature of their new multi-product approach and how this all fits with Contentstack’s commitment to MACH. It's worth noting that the company is a founding member of the <a href="https://www.cmscritic.com/the-future-is-composable-a-conversation-with-new-mach-alliance-president-casper-rasmussen/">MACH Alliance</a>.
“Fundamentally, we are staying in the composable space, and it is extremely important for us. It’s a core value of Contentstack that you want to use our CMS and go omnichannel across lots of different screens and ways of delivering your content. This [Launch] is just one new tool in a toolbox to deliver your end-to-end digital experience. So if you don't want to use Launch, that's totally fine. You can bring your own front-end hosting service, build custom in AWS, or however you want to do it.”
With so much DIY in the equation, it's also good to see the presence of human service in the digital DNA. Case in point: Contentstack's <a href="https://www.contentstack.com/customer-success/" target="_blank">Care Without Compromise Program,</a> which establishes an agreement to work with other vendors with like-minded technologies to provide solutions to customers. 
One thing Dean said that really resonated with me was how Contentstack’s multiple offerings represent a “supply chain” for your digital experiences. He mentioned it several times, and it really spoke to the idea of interdependence on the parts to deliver the whole. At the same time, the pieces can be interchanged in a composable way. But Launch – and its other products – are built with Contentstack in mind, which provides more features and flexibility.
“You can plug and play with other tools as you need them – or as you want to,” he said. “The fact of the matter is there are lots of different front-end hosting services out there, including the ones that you could build yourself. This one is designed to play very, very well with Contentstack specifically.”
And that’s what makes a composable DXP.
<h3>The countdown to Launch</h3>
If you’re interested in joining the mission, Contentstack Launch is in pre-GA and should be generally available in the next few months. According to Dean, they’re in an early adopter phase, and interested parties can request a demo or apply for early access on the <a href="https://www.contentstack.com/launch/?creative=651180332057&amp;keyword=contentstack%20launch&amp;matchtype=p&amp;network=g&amp;device=c&amp;campaign=19806932844&amp;adgroup=146548710469&amp;placement=&amp;utm_campaign=fy24-glob-dg-launch-us-ca&amp;utm_medium=paid_search&amp;utm_source=google&amp;gclid=CjwKCAjwzuqgBhAcEiwAdj5dRrCGvcWB6oY89DiyAitLebtNklaEF5zT2t22x2RXcJYxcqSUG8ZZSBoCx64QAvD_BwE" target="_blank">Contentstack Launch product page</a>.
“If you’re a good candidate for our program, we’ll bring you in, give you a nice bear hug of support, and make sure you have a really good experience.”
Sounds a bit like astronaut training. With "bear hug" service to boot.

Contentstack Launch Aims to Simplify Front-End Hosting: Interview with Dean Haddock, Senior Product Manager

<a href="https://ghost.org/" target="_blank">Ghost</a> users can now preview their posts within their chosen theme before publication.
The free and cloud-hosted blogging solution was crowned winner of the <a href="/2014-most-promising-cms/" target="_blank">2014 Critics' Choice Award for Most Promising CMS</a>.
As one of the most exciting blogging platforms on the market, Ghost already does a lot of things right. But post previewing was certainly a missing feature, and will no doubt be welcomed by Ghost users.
<h2>See It &amp; Share It</h2>
Now, Ghost users can open the post settings menu and hit the post preview link to see exactly what the post is going to look like before it goes live. Users will see the post in the context of their active theme — exactly as any visitor would see it.
<img src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2023/08/preview-ui.jpg" />
Interestingly, users can also send a preview link to others for proof-reading or feedback purposes.
Ghost Pro users already have access to this new feature. Self-hosted Ghost users will need to upgrade to <a href="https://ghost.org/download/">Ghost 0.6.3</a> in order to benefit.
You can see the <a href="http://blog.ghost.org/post-previews/" target="_blank">official announcement right here</a>.
Otherwise, be sure to explore more of <a href="/products/ghost/" target="_blank">Ghost via our CMS Directory</a>.

Ghost Introduces Post Previews

<a href="https://adobe.com/" target="_blank">Adobe</a> has launched Shoppable Video authoring and publishing, which now comes bundled as part of <a href="http://www.adobe.com/marketing-cloud/enterprise-content-management.html" target="_blank">Adobe Experience Manager</a> Assets.
<a href="https://adobe.com/" target="_blank"><img src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2023/08/adobe_200x0.jpg" /></a>
The goal here, is to help marketers make any video shoppable across any device. This new out of the box tool lets consumers click on products shown in these videos and purchase them – making purchases quicker and more effective than ever before.
This update is catered to non-technical marketers, making it supremely simple to monetize video content across all screen sizes.
<h2>A Slice of The Future</h2>
Clicking to purchase while viewing a video sounds futuristic enough, but Adobe has gone a step further to help marketers drive conversions – and help customers get where they need to go.
<img src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2023/08/shoppable-e1439480174195-1200x674728x0-is.jpg" />In addition to enabling purchase directly from the video, marketers can also add links to lead generation forms, quickview product details, landing page microsites, and other campaign activities at cue points in the video, all from a simple drag-and-drop interface.
Furthermore, all video events (including click-through rates, of course) can be tracked via <a href="http://www.adobe.com/marketing-cloud/web-analytics.html" target="_blank">Adobe Analytics</a>.
And last but not least, end customers get a truly high-quality viewing experience, including a scrolling side panel that features the products or services shown in the video. This allows customers to check out products or services at their leisure, without disrupting the video playback experience or making the video feel too much like a moving advertisement.
In other words, Adobe has thought of everything with this one.
Want a more visual presentation of how this all works? You may want to <a href="http://aodproductna.assetsadobe.com/etc/dam/viewers/s7viewers/html5/VideoViewer.html?asset=/content/dam/mac/aodproductna/video/interactive-video-public%20(1).mp4&amp;config=/etc/dam/presets/viewer/Video_social&amp;serverUrl=http%3A%2F%2Faodproductna.assetsadobe.com%2Fis%2Fimage%2F&amp;contentRoot=%2F&amp;config2=/etc/dam/tenants/aodproductna/presets/analytics&amp;videoserverurl=https://gateway-na.assetsadobe.com/DMGateway/public/aodproductna&amp;posterimage=/content/dam/mac/aodproductna/video/interactive-video-public%20(1).mp4" target="_blank">check out Adobe's demonstration video</a>.
For more information on this release, <a href="http://blogs.adobe.com/digitalmarketing/web-experience/watch-look-shop-look/" target="_blank">check out Adobe's official blog announcement</a>.

Adobe Launches Multi-device Shoppable Video Tool

<a href="http://liferay.com/" target="_blank">Liferay, Inc.</a>, has rolled out its latest project – Liferay Screens – in order to aid companies develop native apps for iOS and Android platforms.
Liferay is a vendor for <a href="http://liferay.com/">open source portals</a> designed for enterprising companies and organizations. Their clients include Fortune 500 companies such as Allianz, Siemens, Toyota and the United Nations to name but a few.
According to Liferay, Liferay Screens is a, “collection of fully native mobile components, using all the power of your Liferay Portal as an enterprise grade mobile back-end.”
<h2>Responding to the Mobile Explosion</h2>
In case you haven't heard, mobile is pretty darn big nowadays.
<img src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2023/08/liferay.png" />
This release is part of Liferay’s larger push to provide a mobile platform for companies developing several native apps across business units. Through Liferay Screens, the company hopes to save its customers time and money by making it easier for mobile apps to reuse core data and services.
Here are some of the benefits that Liferay Screens brings to the table.
<ul>
<li>Liferay Screens comes fully compatible with standard development tools for iOS and Android</li>
<li>Lowers learning curve for developing apps backed by reusable back end services</li>
<li>Helps developers comply with UX and Brand requirements using Screens Themes, which follow Apple and Google’s design languages and allow for custom colors</li>
<li>Adaptive layouts automatically ensure apps function and appear correctly on phones and tablets of any form factor</li>
<li>Reusable services like registration, user management, localization, and authentication help developers focus on more important business logic</li>
</ul>
Juan Fernandez, Liferay's Product Manager, had this to say upon the release of Liferay Screens:
<blockquote>“The problem we’re trying to solve for companies is, ‘how do we quickly build great mobile apps that integrate with the overall customer experience, while keeping development costs to a minimum?
Companies have to respond to the mobile explosion, but they need to do so with a strategy. With Liferay Screens, you can develop high-quality, elegant mobile apps quickly without compromising on these long-term considerations.”</blockquote>
Find out more about Liferay Screens.
Also, be sure to check out <a href="/products/liferay/" target="_blank">Liferay through our CMS Directory</a>.

Liferay Speeds Up Mobile App Development With Liferay Screens Release

Advertising on social media is a great way to attract traffic. In recognition of this, <a href="/products/bigcommerce">Bigcommerce</a> has released a new app to enable US users to leverage Facebook and Twitter ads far easier than ever before.<img src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2023/08/logo-1.png" />With the announcement of <a target="_blank" href="https://www.bigcommerce.com/apps/advertising/">Product Ads</a>, which comes thanks to a partnership with Boostable, users will have their ads automatically optimized for the highest ROI.<h2>Increased ROI, Decreased Costs &amp; Detailed Reporting</h2><img src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2023/08/dashboard-01492x0-is.jpg" />Here are some of the benefits of this new app, outlined by Bigcommerce:<ul><li>Increased ROI through automatic optimization that continually improves targeting</li><li>Decreased costs with affordable, transparent pricing and no monthly fees</li><li>Detailed reporting that shows sales, orders, reach and clicks for each of your ads</li></ul>To set up product ads, user will need to download the app, and then follow the instructions below from their Bigcommerce control panel:<ol><li>Select your advertising networks and choose the products you’d like to promote</li><li>We’ll automatically create ads using your product names, descriptions and photos</li><li>Edit anything you’d like, then submit</li><li>Once approved by the network, your ads will start running immediately</li></ol>It seems like a pretty straightforward feature, and will certainly save users time when it comes to spreading the word on social media.For now, the app is available to US users only, and covers Facebook and Twitter. However, Bigcommerce have announced plans for an international release, as well as additional social media platforms.The app can be <a target="_blank" href="https://www.bigcommerce.com/apps/advertising/">downloaded from the Bigcommerce Marketplace</a>.For more information on this release, check out the <a target="_blank" href="http://blog.bigcommerce.com/product-ads/">Bigcommerce blog</a>.Additionally, be sure to explore more of <a href="/products/bigcommerce">Bigcommerce through our CMS Directory</a>.

Bigcommerce Introduces Automated Social Media Product Ads

Hippo 10 has been released, and it brings a new focus on content performance along with it.
Last year's CMS Awards saw Hippo CMS win in two categories; the <a href="/2014-critics-choice-award-winner-best-free-java-cms/" target="_blank">2014 Critics' Choice Award for Best Free Java CMS</a> and the <a href="/2014-best-enterprise-java-cms/" target="_blank">2014 People's Choice CMS Award for Best Enterprise Java CMS</a>. Those victories were no mean feat, considering the competition in the two respective niches.
Touted now as a Content Performance Platform, Hippo 10 enables a data-driven omni-channel content strategy which aims to bring a more personable digital experience for every visitor. It is designed to help businesses understand their visitors – both known and anonymous – before helping them to deliver their content in any context and on any device.
<img src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2023/08/login.png" />
<h2>A Change in Direction</h2>
Content has always been the priority, and it probably always will be. Hippo 10 in changing the direction of the platform's focus to reflect the personalization-centric times.
Here's how.
A Move Towards Being A Content Performance Platform
Whereas traditional web analytics have focused on the majority and average visitor, Content Performance metrics tailor content delivery to the individual, based on that individual’s real time engagement with content.
Built on the power of the existing Hippo’s relevance engine, the Content Performance Platform adds further precision to real-time personalized content delivery. By providing a continuous feedback loop, Hippo CMS 10 offers actionable insights on content's success in supporting business goals.
A Refreshed User Interface
What good is a software update without a facelift?
Hippo 10 users will benefit from a revamped user interface, offering a new visual style alongside improvements to user interaction, making it more efficient and intuitive for end users.
Personalization, Testing and Continuous Optimization Combined
Given the dynamic nature of personalized onsite content, traditional A/B testing isn't as effective as it once was. During the period that an A/B test reaches statistical significance, the enterprise risks repeatedly delivering the wrong content to the wrong audience. By testing of content (rather than pages) per persona, and dynamically optimizing that content, Hippo CMS 10 avoids the pitfalls of standard A/B testing and drives better user experience for more visitors.
Hippo's multi-pronged bandit algorithm optimises while testing is going on. The algorithm initially tests content versions delivered in equal proportion— adjusting the proportion of content delivered in favour of the well performing content, wasting no time to continuously optimise the digital experience. This approach makes content performance metrics actionable even with a limited number of users in a test group.
Developer Agility
Hippo 10 also offers a major step towards the company’s SaaS and PaaS product vision, enabling developers to truly focus on what’s important: rapid development and continuous deployments.
Thanks to Live Reload functionality, developers utilize their preferred IDE to create code, templates, CSS and JavaScript, which then automatically synchronizes with the Hippo CMS repository. Changes are instantly visible without the need for publication or refresh. All this makes for a tight and optimized loop between code development and deployment.
<img src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2023/08/running_experiments.png" />
Upon the release of Hippo 10, the company's CEO Jeroen Verberg made the following comments.
“By learning about and responding to the individual visitor’s preferences, interests and intent in- real time, Hippo CMS 10 takes the guesswork out of content strategy.
This release transforms the CMS into a data-driven intelligent marketing technology that measures real-time content performance against the online goals of the enterprise – attracting visitors, improving engagement and increasing conversion.”
For more information on Hippo 10, check out the <a href="http://www.onehippo.org/" target="_blank">Hippo Community Website</a>.
Additionally, be sure to explore more of Hippo via our CMS Directory.

Hippo 10 Release "Transforms" Hippo Into Content Performance Platform

Call Tracking + AI 

Call Tracking + AI that Turns Calls into Leads

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