Articles - Page 131

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

matt-garrepy

<a target="_blank" href="http://bit.ly/cc-sitejet">Sitejet</a> is a comprehensive website builder that combines web design, content management, and project management into one complete platform. The brains behind the operation are a group of friends from Germany who initially developed the product as an in-house tool to support their own web design agency before deciding to launch it to the public in 2018.In this review, we will give you an overview of how Sitejet actually works so you can decide if it’s the right fit for you.<h2>Getting Started</h2>Setting up your Sitejet account is a simple process of filling in a few fields with your name, email, and company details. It’s as easy as that. You’ll start off with a 14 day free trial which gives you full access to “try before you buy”.<h2>Usability</h2>As soon as you log into Sitejet you’ll notice that it appears much more advanced than the standard website builder. This indicative of its primary market of designers and agencies.There are an extensive range of customization options available which could be overwhelming for newbies and the WYSIWYG editor uses some technical terms that may initially confuse the less experienced user. However this shouldn’t be an issue for the professional market that Sitejet is targeting.For the web design pros who aren’t interested in the drag-and-drop feature, manual coding is also available with HTML, CSS, or Javascript coding options.It’s also worth noting that new users are presented with a checklist guide to help navigate the website creation process step-by-step, so the learning curve is manageable regardless of your level of experience.<img src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2023/08/screen-shot-2019-02-11-at-12.png" />Editing the website is pretty intuitive once you get started and everything is very cleanly laid out. When you’ve chosen your template (see next section below), its added to a list in your dashboard where you select the “edit” button to view your site. At this point you can add/replace images and/or text blocks, move elements, change backgrounds, and more, in just one click.<img src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2023/08/screen-shot-2019-02-11-at-13.png" />I did notice one particular issue with usability which was the menu font size. The font is very small and might be difficult to read for some users.<h2>Templates</h2>To begin building your site, you can select a template out of the selection available or choose a blank template to work from. I’ve heard people say that the range of templates isn’t great, but I thought there was a good selection of high quality options. Personally, I’d rather be given the option of 70+ top-notch templates than have to navigate through 1000s of often dubious options on WordPress.<img src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2023/08/sitejet-review---5.png" />If you’re not happy with the selection available or need help with building your own custom site, you can work with one of the Sitejet design team by contacting them directly.<h2>Dashboard</h2>The Sitejet dashboard will take you from start to finish on each of your website design projects. This is an impressive system that facilitates collaboration, project management, and site maintenance all in the same place.You can work with multiple websites at once, manage the status of each project, create a to-do list that checks off each stage of development, and monitor the progress of each project you’re working on.<img src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2023/08/sitejet-review---3.png" /><h2>Collaboration Features</h2>Sitejet makes client management a breeze for web designers. There are three collaboration options available depending on your requirements:Collaborate With Colleagues: This function is allows design teams to work together on projects by leaving notes for each other, etc. without the need for individual logins.Collaborate With Customers: With this function, customers can follow your workflow through each stage and leave project feedback as needed during construction.Customer Self-Service Portal: Using the self-service portal, designers can hand the website off to the client whilst retaining control of the account and limiting any potential damage by restricting the access the client has to site elements.<h2>Customer Support</h2>The customer support available to users is better than I’ve seen in many other website builders. The Sitejet support system includes a wide range of tutorials (including video), a comprehensive FAQ section, and a step-by-step onboarding system. The support team is also on hand 24/7 on live chat.<h2>Pricing</h2>There are three plans to choose from after your 14 day free trial has ended: Professional, Team, and Agency.Professional: Manage 1 website with free hosting and an automatic website generator. $5 p/mTeam: White label tools, all professional features, and multi-user permissions for up to 3 users. $19 p/mAgency: White label tools, all professional features, multi-user permissions for up to 10 users, and an additional website export option. $89 p/mThe Professional plan is a good starting point but you’ll need to upgrade to the Team or Agency plan if you want to avail of the collaborative features available.<img src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2023/08/sitejet-review---4.png" /><h2>The Final Verdict</h2>Score: 4/5<a target="_blank" href="http://bit.ly/cc-sitejet">Sitejet</a> is a refreshing alternative to WordPress and an excellent tool for any designer or agency to have in their kit. The interface is clearly designed with its target market in mind and offers powerful customization tools that really set it apart from the rest. The high quality templates also demonstrate that this product was developed by designers for designers.Sure, there’s a bit of a learning curve in comparison to less comprehensive website builders on the market. But this is more than just a website builder. It’s a CMS, website builder, and project management system combined. So the extra bit of time it takes to get used to navigating the platform is definitely worth it.I highly recommend <a target="_blank" href="http://bit.ly/cc-sitejet">checking out Sitejet</a> if you’re in the web design game. Have you tried it out yet? Let us know in the comments section below.

Sitejet Review - A Website Builder for Designers

mike-johnston

Founded in Paris in 2012, <a href="http://www.pikock.com/" target="_blank"> Pikock</a> is a user friendly drag-and-drop website building tool, built to make website creation as easy as possible.  
 Today, Pikock have launched their “Layout Slider” – a website editing tool which allows administrators and publishers to instantly slide their way through pages, changing the look and feel of their website. 
 Intrigued by the feature, I personally signed up with Pikock to get a feel for how their new Layout Slider works, as well as how Pikock works as a website builder.
<h2>Instant Carousel Changes</h2>
Pikock's Layout Slider first struck me as a bit of a redundant tool. However, the more I used it, the more impressed I became. Essentially, the carousel interface enables you to instantly change the entire look of a web page by simply sliding new page templates into place.  
 <img src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2023/08/pikock1700x0.png" alt="Pikock Layout Slider" /> Using the slider, you can browse through your website pages, select the one you want to change, and then simply flick through templates using the “Next” and “Previous” buttons. The page design is then replaced before your eyes. 
 Once you come to a suitable template, you can revert back to the editor, where you can adapt the pages by inserting text, images, videos and a range of other widgets via a drag-and-drop system. 
 <img src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2023/08/p3700x0.png" alt="Pikock Editor" />
Pikock comes with a small, but very well designed template selection, all of which are customizable using the drag-and-drop editor. With Pikock, your website will also be automatically optimized for mobile devices. Administrators can even preview Pikock websites on tablets and smartphones via the admin panel. 
 <img src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2023/08/pikock700x0.png" alt="Pikock Smartphone Preview" /> I also managed to ask Pikock Co-Founder Tsifei Chan a few questions about the Layout Slider, and where he and his team intend to steer the platform next:
<blockquote>
“Some of our users had some difficulties creating nice layouts. Entrepreneurs are not web designers, but they can differentiate between what is beautiful and what is not. It is easier in general to adapt [an existing page] rather than to start from a blank page. We decided then, to create some ready-to-start layouts in different categories. And in terms of UX design, the best deal in terms of simplicity was a slider.  
 For future ideas, Pikock is working in a different approach of the Drag and Drop builder.And we are thinking about also a new approach to upload images. We'd [also] love the slider move on to the iPad.”
</blockquote>
To find out more about Pikock and to sign up for a free trial, visit their <a href="http://www.pikock.com/" target="_blank">official website</a>. 
You can also watch an <a href="http://vimeo.com/91726951" target="_blank">introductory video on the new Layout Slider</a>.

The First of Its Kind: Pikock Launch Layout Slider to Simplify Website Building

<img src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2023/08/sshot-19-1898x0-is.png" />
Last year, <a href="https://thegrid.io/" target="_blank">The Grid</a> burst on to the scene as the world’s first artificially intelligent website builder. Back then, <a href="/the-grid-artificial-intelligence-meets-web-design-or-does-it/" target="_blank">I was skeptical</a> – and I still am.
Don’t get me wrong, I love the idea behind The Grid; a website builder that can build websites on autopilot sounds great. I just wasn’t convinced that they would be able to execute it properly.
The Grid then entered a long period of beta testing, which ended this week. Here's their launch video to introduce you to The Grid.
<iframe src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/aEfpARsP8Fg?feature=oembed" frameborder="0" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture" allowfullscreen></iframe>
<h2>A Stuttered Launch &amp; A Pricey Pro Plan</h2>
Because I signed up to their newsletter, I received an email with the big news.
They used their email to link to their only plan (which I will discuss later), but when I visited their website's homepage, nothing had changed. It was the same pre-launch website I explored last year. Which was odd.
However this stuttered launch only lasted for a few days, as <a href="https://thegrid.io/" target="_blank">The Grid's new-look website is now in full flow</a>.
Currently, there's only one way to use The Grid, and that's by signing up to their Pro Plan.
You pay $249 per year ($20.75 per month) for:
<ul>
<li>1 year pre-paid subscription to The Grid</li>
<li>7 different sites with hosting</li>
<li>Custom domain support</li>
<li>Hosting, storage, and bandwidth included</li>
<li>Multiple collaborators when available</li>
<li>Commerce engine (not yet available)</li>
</ul>
Weirdly, The Grid team hasn't specified just how much storage and bandwidth you're entitled to on this rather pricey plan. To accomodate seven websites, you'd hope it to be a substantial amount.
Furthermore, I'm not a fan of having to pay for a yearly subscription up front. The lack of a monthly contract and a free trial just makes The Grid seem unapproachable. 
<h2>My Gripe With The Grid</h2>
A self-building and self-evolving website sounds like just what the doctor ordered. It is 2016, after all.
But I can't help but see long term issues with this method of web design. No matter how many “Filters” (otherwise known as templates) The Grid uses, it surely won't be long until it start churning out websites that look similar to each other.
If two separate food bloggers want to use The Grid to build a cake recipe website, will their websites look the same if they select the same filter? These are questions that time (and a large user base) will answer.
I'm hoping to get my hands on <a href="https://thegrid.io/" target="_blank">The Grid</a> very soon for a hands on session, so stay tuned for more coverage on the world's first artificially intelligent website builder.

The Grid Is Finally Here

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

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

Power your CMS on AWS

Manage your websites & apps in the most trusted cloud.

#ffffff

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!

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

<a href="http://www.joomla.org">Joomla</a> , one of the world’s most popular open-source content management systems, has today announced the election of Sarah Watz as the President of Open Source Matters (OSM).
More than 3 percent of the web runs on Joomla, with the platform being used for everything from websites to blogs to custom apps to Intranets.
Open Source Matters is a non-profit, providing organizational, legal and financial support to the Joomla project.
<img src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2023/08/joomla_logo_slogan700x0.png" alt="joomla" />
Members of Open Source Matters elected Sarah Watz as the new president on April 8, 2014. Further elected members who join Watz on the OSM board include Victor Drover as treasurer and Marijke Stuivenberg as secretary.
Sarah Watz is the first-ever internationally based president of OSM, and had some comments to make upon the news:
<blockquote>“Joomla’s success hinges on its large network of global contributors, who have enabled the CMS to grow to power more than 3 percent of the Web. Although Joomla has witnessed unprecedented growth recently, there are even bigger things to come largely driven by its massive international community and availability in 64 languages—the most of any content management system.”</blockquote>
Watz has been implementing Joomla professionally since it launched in 2005 as CEO and owner of Pixpro Stockholm AB, a Stockholm-based digital communications agency. Among many Joomla leadership positions, Watz has been an OSM board member since 2012 and was president of the Joomla User Association Sweden for four years.
In her new role, Watz will leverage her years of leadership within Joomla to further expand the project—specifically its international footing.
Outgoing OSM President Paul Orwig also commented on Watz’s appointment:
<blockquote>“As I exit my current role as president, I am humbled by how far the platform has come driven by our global community of more than a half million contributors. The past two years I have witnessed some amazing milestones with Joomla, like the CMS surpassing 50 million downloads and the launch of numerous Joomla products. I have full confidence Sarah will build on these accomplishments and take Joomla to another level.”</blockquote>
To find out more about Open Source Matters, check out their <a href="http://opensourcematters.org/">official website</a>. Additionally, be sure to explore more of <a href="/products/joomla/">Joomla</a> via our CMS Directory.

Sarah Watz Elected by Open Source Matters to Guide Joomla

Following an interesting interview with <a href="/cms-critic-interviews-sean-schroeder-matt-levine-of-mura-cms/" target="_blank">Sean Schroeder &amp; Matt Levine</a> to kick off our latest featured week, the <a href="http://www.getmura.com/" target="_blank">Mura CMS</a> team gave us a walkthrough of their platform's top three features.
Built to be easier and faster for people to build and maintain even the most ambitious websites, Mura CMS is a platform growing in popularity.
<img style="max-width:200px" src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2023/08/mura_cms_200x0.png" />
Whether you need to do something as simple as adding a news release or as complex as integrating website data with an enterprise CRM system, Mura CMS provides a clear and complete toolkit. Mura CMS was also crowned 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>.
Here is Mura CMS in action.
<iframe src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/6vDExDkPaoM?feature=oembed" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen="allowfullscreen"></iframe>
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>.
Also, be sure to stick around for more Mura CMS coverage as this featured week continues.

A Video Walkthrough of 3 Great Mura CMS Features

<a href="http://www.pardot.com/" target="_blank">Pardot</a>, the B2B marketing automation system from Salesforce, has just received a noteworthy update aimed primarily at helping sales reps.
<img src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2023/08/login-logo-2014-1.png" />
The popular marketing platform made it on to our list of <a href="/8-enterprise-marketing-automation-softwares-to-complement-your-cms/" target="_blank">top eight enterprise marketing automation systems</a>. It encompasses email marketing, lead generation, lead management, ROI reporting, sales intelligence, and more.
<h2>Salesforce Engage for Gmail &amp; Faster Data Syncing</h2>
Extended Gmail functionality has come to Salesforce Engage, with the aim of empowering sales reps.
<img src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2023/08/pardot1155x0-is.png" />
Engage for Gmail is the first marketing automation plug-in built specifically for sales reps, empowering them to send emails directly from Gmail. In addition, the side panel, shown above, displays detailed lead information directly within Gmail.
Here's a further summary of what's new:
<ul>
<li>
Gain a holistic view of prospects, including name, company, title, address, phone number, whether the a record is a lead, contact, or prospect and their corresponding Pardot lead score and grade directly within Gmail.
</li>
<li>
Add and remove the prospect to and from Pardot lead nurturing campaigns with one click using the “Add to Nurture” button. If a sales rep clicks to add a recipient to a nurture campaign and that prospect does not exist in Pardot, a prospect record will be automatically created and assigned to the user.
</li>
<li>
Send and monitor one-to-one sales emails from Gmail in one click.
</li>
<li>
Log all Gmail email interactions–including clicks and opens within Salesforce.
</li>
</ul>
<img src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2023/08/pardot3.png" />Salesforce has also addressed data syncing's need for speed.
With the Pardot update, they claim that the platform now boasts the fastest data sync with Salesforce out of any marketing automation tool on the market. Impressively, it can automatically checks for changes every two minutes.
<h2>Data Visualizations &amp; Report Customizations</h2>
A deeper integration with Salesforce is also gives users new ways to visualize data on a variety of different reports.
<img src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2023/08/pardot2764x0-is.png" />
For example, the new visitors report displays reporting of anonymous visitors and identified prospects to the website. And new multi-score lead scoring, shown above, allows marketers and sales reps to discover which products a prospect is most likely to buy at any moment.
These revamped reporting capabilities extent the existing functionality of Pardot's reporting features, empowering marketers to:
<ul>
<li>
Tie each closed deal back to its original source with closed-loop reporting.
</li>
<li>
Match website visitor behavior and Pardot prospect data using the Google Analytics Connector.
</li>
<li>
Get a high-level view of sales cycle health.
</li>
<li>
Monitor the performance of paid search campaigns.
</li>
<li>
Gain greater insight into email open rates, deliverability rates, email client and browser usage, read rates and more.
</li>
</ul>
So, all in all, it's a pretty robust update for Pardot.
More information about this Pardot update can be found on the Salesforce blog.

Salesforce Unveils New Gmail Integration, Reporting Dashboards & Faster Data-Sync for Pardot

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