Articles - Page 133

What I Mean to Say: A Practitioner Perspective on AI, Semantics, and Content Evolution

msalvatierra

WordPress 4.0 is finally here, and it goes by the name of “Benny”.
As per usual, WordPress has named this major release after a famous Jazz artist. This time, it's Clarinetist, Benny Goodman. But that's not what we're really interested in here (Sorry, Jazz fans).
There are four key parts to WordPress 4.0, all of which work together to make life a little easier for WordPress website owners, admins and authors across the world. Here's a rather charming video which explains it all.

<h2>Manage Media, Edit &amp; Embed Easier</h2>
WordPress 4.0 is all about streamlining those everyday publishing and website improving tasks. The changes are subtle, but powerful.
First of all, WordPress' media manager has been polished up. Now, you can explore your uploads in a neat, infinitely scrolling grid. Plus, the new preview mode makes viewing and editing any amount of media simple, thanks to live previewing and handy navigation buttons, which enable you to quickly scroll through your uploads.
<img src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2023/08/media.jpg" alt="WordPRess 4.0" /> 
Writing, editing and publishing is now also smoother than ever. WordPress' editor now expands to fit your content as you write, and keeps the formatting tools available at all times. You scroll, they scroll.
Embedding things into your posts is also now easier than ever before.
Instead of having to preview your post to see embedded objects, those objects now appear in the editor as they would on your website. You can paste in a YouTube URL on a new line, and watch it instantly become an embedded video. The same rule applies to Tweets.
So, embedding with WordPress is now a visual experience. You paste some code in, and watch it come to life – right there in front of you.
To make embedding even sweeter, WordPress have also expanded the default supported services. You can now embed CollegeHumor, YouTube playlists, TED talks, an <a href="http://codex.wordpress.org/Embeds" target="_blank"> much more </a> .
Finally, WordPress 4.0 brings about another cosmetic revamp for the plugins library.
<img src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2023/08/add-plugin1.png" alt="WordPRess 4.0" /> 
It's now easier to find the right plugin for your needs, with new metrics, improved search, and a more visual, grid-based browsing experience.
WordPress 4.0 is still hot off the presses, but if one thing is for sure, it's made WordPress prettier. Grid style presentation of media and plugins, along with visually pleasing embedding, has turned WordPress into a bit of a looker.
For more information on WordPress 4.0 Benny, <a href="http://wordpress.org/news/2014/09/benny/" target="_blank"> check out the official annoncement </a> .

WordPress 4.0 "Benny" Released With Editing & Interface Improvements

mike-johnston

<a href="http://dotcms.com/">DotCMS</a>, a renowned open-source Enterprise Content Management System, has <a href="http://www.azulsystems.com/press-2014/dotcms-and-azul-systems-partner-to-enhance-online-experience-of-web-scale-content-management-systems" target="_blank">partnered up</a> with <a href="http://www.azulsystems.com/"> Azul Systems</a> an award-winning Java runtime solution.
<a href="http://www.azulsystems.com/products/zing/whatisit"> Azul Zing </a> ® is the Azul Systems product in question. Zing is now certified with DotCMS, enabling DotCMS users to benefit from vastly improved scalability, consistent response times and improved reliability.
DotCMS has been <a href="/announcing-this-years-nominees-for-the-2014-peoples-choice-cms-awards/" target="_blank">nominated in two categories in the 2014 CMS Awards</a>; Best Free Java CMS and Best Open Source Java CMS.
<img src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2023/08/400.png" alt="DotCMS" />
<h2>Speed Behind the Scenes</h2>
DotCMS and Azul Systems made this partnership official following a successful Proof of Concept (POC) at a leading healthcare provider.
The healthcare provider was hosting more than 1,000 websites on a cluster of dotCMS servers running with 40 GB heaps, but was experiencing application pauses of up to 170 seconds. That's a problem.
Now, thanks to the introduction of Azul Zing, the healthcare company is experiencing dramatically improved throughput performance, higher availability and increased reliability. Problem solved.
Regarding the newly formed alliance, Will Ezell, CTO of dotCMS, had this to say:
<blockquote>“Our enterprise customers implement demanding use cases with dotCMS and depend on it to run their business. Deploying on Azul’s Zing enhances the scalability, responsiveness and reliability of dotCMS and assures deployments can deliver consistent, low latency response times regardless of user load.”</blockquote>
The CEO of Azul Systems, Scott Sellers, also chimed in:
<blockquote>“Companies depend on their online presence for revenue and customer service. One of Zing’s design goals was better performance for interactive web-scale applications like dotCMS, particularly those implementing rich, engaging features. By deploying dotCMS on Zing, enterprises can deliver the best possible customer experience, grow online usage without worry, and take advantage of all the advanced capabilities of dotCMS.”</blockquote>
To test Zing with dotCMS, you can request a <a href="http://www.azul.com/trial" target="_blank">free evaluation copy right here</a>.
Plus, be sure to explore more of <a href="/products/dotcms/" target="_blank"> DotCMSvia our CMS Directory</a>.

DotCMS Partners With Azul Systems to Improve Scalability & Reliability

We are now accepting nominations for the Critics' Choice portion of the CMS Awards. These awards will be selected by our panel of judges however, we are allowing everyone to submit products for consideration as well.
Remember, this is the second half of our awards. We have the People's Choice awards which are selected by YOU and are currently in the voting stage (you can vote <a href="https://www.cmscritic.com/cms-critic-awards/">here</a>) and this is the Critics' Choice portion which is selected by our panel of judges (to be announced soon).
<img style="display:block;margin-left:auto;margin-right:auto" src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2023/08/awards-logo.png" />
To be considered, you must enter a complete and full answer including a several paragraph mini essay describing why you feel the product you are nominating is worth consideration for the specific award.
To begin submitting products for nomination, go to <a href="https://www.cmscritic.com/cms-critic-awards/">https://www.cmscritic.com/cms-critic-awards/</a>

Nominations are open for the Critics' Choice CMS Awards

<a href="http://www.sitecore.net/Events/SymposiumNA2014/Home.aspx" target="_blank"> Sitecore Symposium 2014 Las Vegas </a>  is right around the corner.
Scheduled to be held in the Aria Resort, Las Vegas from September 8th – 10th, Sitecore's latest symposium is promising to offer plenty in the way of best practises and customer experience insights. Not to mention, the thoughts of industry leading experts concerning the latest customer engagement trends will also be present.
<a href="http://www.sitecore.net/Learn/Blogs/Business-Blogs/James-Smith/Posts/2014/08/Symposium-preview.aspx" target="_blank"> According to James Smith</a>, Sitecore's VP of Marketing in North America, “Symposium is our most important event of the year, and we’ve designed it to help marketers and developers deliver personalized and measurable experiences that build customers for life.”
Let's take a closer look at what will be on offer.
<a href="http://www.sitecore.net/registersymna"><img src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2023/08/symposium_las_vegas_2014_bannerjpg.jpg" alt="Sitecore Symposium 2014" /></a>
<h2>Sitecore Symposium 2014: What's to See?</h2>
With 1,200 expected attendees, Sitecore's 2014 Symposium is aiming to provide each and every guest with information about breakthrough technologies, along with the chance to learn about how to make the most out of their customer experience management investments.
To achieve this, Sitecore have <a href="http://www.sitecore.net/Events/SymposiumNA2014/Sessions.aspx" target="_blank">packed out their sessions with three tracks</a> – offering something for everyone:
<ul>
<li>The Business Track: Building lifetime customers. 
Attendees of this track will learn how to get the most value out of the Sitecore Experience Platform through how-to sessions from Sitecore business optimization experts and customers.</li>
<li>The Developer Track: Harnessing big data to own the experience. 
This track will give attendees the chance to lisen in on tips from Sitecore developers about how to implement solutions across the Sitecore Experience Platform. Also, attendees will have the opportunity to receive hands-on assistance with their projects.</li>
<li>The Product Track: Know every customer. Own every experience. 
During this track, attendees will learn how to use the Sitecore Experience Platform “right out of the box,” hear the most compelling customer success stories and be the first to learn about what’s coming next from Sitecore’s product team.</li>
</ul>
Furthermore, Sitecore has <a href="http://www.sitecore.net/About/Press-and-Media/Press-Releases/2014/08/Symposium-keynotes.aspx" target="_blank"> just announced a number of keynote speakers</a> scheduled for appearance at their Las Vegas symposium.
The keynote speakers will include the likes of Sitecore CEO Michael Seifert and David Meerman Scott, a world-renowned marketing and sales strategist.
To get a feel for how all three days of the even will pass, check out the <a href="http://www.sitecore.net/Events/SymposiumNA2014/Agenda.aspx" target="_blank">Sitecore Symposium 2014 Las Vegas Agenda</a>.
<h2>We'll Be There</h2>
CMS Critic has been on the ground at a number of major events this year already. But we aren't finished yet.
Mike Johnston, the founder and Editor-in-Chief here at CMS Critic, will be attending Sitecore Symposium 2014 Las Vegas. You can follow his live coverage via the <a href="https://twitter.com/cmscritic" target="_blank">CMS Critic Twitter page</a>. Mike will also publish coverage via the blog, so make sure you check back both during and after the event.
For more information on Sitecore Symposium 2014 Las Vegas, <a href="http://www.sitecore.net/Events/SymposiumNA2014/Home.aspx" target="_blank"> check out the event's website</a>. To register now, <a href="http://www.sitecore.net/Events/SymposiumNA2014/Registration.aspx" target="_blank"> click here</a>.
Also, be sure to explore more of <a href="/products/sitecore/" target="_blank">Sitecore via our CMS Directory</a>.

Event Preview: Sitecore Symposium 2014 Las Vegas

I had a hard time finding good articles that guide you through this process so to help save anyone who may be looking to use the awesome Foundation Framework from Zurb and need to create a super simple <a href="http://www.mailchimp.com/monkey-rewards/?utm_source=freemium_newsletter&amp;utm_medium=email&amp;utm_campaign=monkey_rewards&amp;aid=f192bbc03638ab99433d2efbd&amp;afl=1">MailChimp</a> signup or subscription form with it, I thought I'd share the process.
This process will work with almost any newsletter provider including Aweber but for the sake of this tutorial, I'm only going to show you how to do it with Mailchimp since that happens to be what I use for our sites.
To get started, determine where you are going to place your signup form within your website. As you know, with Foundation, using the grid system, it's very easy to scale content to fit into almost anywhere. For the purposes of this tutorial, you'll want enough space to allow the form fields to be wide enough. If you look at the bottom of this very article, you'll see an implementation of the exact form I'm going to teach you how to make.
First, log into your <a href="http://www.mailchimp.com/monkey-rewards/?utm_source=freemium_newsletter&amp;utm_medium=email&amp;utm_campaign=monkey_rewards&amp;aid=f192bbc03638ab99433d2efbd&amp;afl=1">Mailchimp</a> account and go to your list. Click the dropdown beside  Stats and choose  Signup Forms 
<img src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2023/08/mailchimp_sign_up_form901x0.png" alt="signup form foundation" />
Now you'll see this screen, click  Embedded Forms. 
<img src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2023/08/mailchimp_sign_up_form_2.png" alt="foundation signup form" />
Now click on the tab labeled  Naked  and copy the code from the  Copy/Paste Onto Your Site section. It should look like this:
&lt;!– Begin MailChimp Signup Form –&gt; &lt;div id=”mc_embed_signup”&gt; &lt;form action=” //myawesomewebsite.us8.list-manage.com/subscribe/post?u=a1b2c3d4ef5g67891hij1234&amp;id=a123b45cd6 ” method=”post” id=”mc-embedded-subscribe-form” name=”mc-embedded-subscribe-form” class=”validate” target=”_blank” novalidate&gt; &lt;h2&gt;Subscribe to our mailing list&lt;/h2&gt; &lt;div class=”indicates-required”&gt;&lt;span class=”asterisk”&gt;*&lt;/span&gt; indicates required&lt;/div&gt; &lt;div class=”mc-field-group”&gt; &lt;label for=”mce-EMAIL”&gt;Email Address &lt;span class=”asterisk”&gt;*&lt;/span&gt; &lt;/label&gt; &lt;input type=”email” value=”” name=”EMAIL” class=”required email” id=”mce-EMAIL”&gt; &lt;/div&gt; &lt;div class=”mc-field-group”&gt; &lt;label for=”mce-FNAME”&gt;First Name &lt;/label&gt; &lt;input type=”text” value=”” name=”FNAME” class=”” id=”mce-FNAME”&gt; &lt;/div&gt; &lt;div class=”mc-field-group”&gt; &lt;label for=”mce-LNAME”&gt;Last Name &lt;/label&gt; &lt;input type=”text” value=”” name=”LNAME” class=”” id=”mce-LNAME”&gt; &lt;/div&gt; &lt;div id=”mce-responses” class=”clear”&gt; &lt;div class=”response” id=”mce-error-response” style=”display:none”&gt;&lt;/div&gt; &lt;div class=”response” id=”mce-success-response” style=”display:none”&gt;&lt;/div&gt; &lt;/div&gt; &lt;!– real people should not fill this in and expect good things – do not remove this or risk form bot signups–&gt; &lt;div style=”position: absolute; left: -5000px;”&gt;&lt;input type=”text” name=”b_d6c7b9e3bb5b63272adf08873_b544c97fe8″ tabindex=”-1″ value=””&gt;&lt;/div&gt; &lt;div class=”clear”&gt;&lt;input type=”submit” value=”Subscribe” name=”subscribe” id=”mc-embedded-subscribe” class=”button”&gt;&lt;/div&gt; &lt;/form&gt; &lt;/div&gt; &lt;!–End mc_embed_signup–&gt;
The only piece of this code you'll need is the form action piece, which I've made bold in the above code. Copy this and put it into notepad or something similar.
Now to create your form, simply take the following code and insert your copied form action as shown below:
&lt;h5&gt;Get free exclusive content and contests in our weekly email!&lt;/h5&gt; &lt;div id=”mailchimp_form”&gt; &lt;div class=”row signup”&gt; &lt;div class=”small 12 columns end”&gt; &lt;form action=” //myawesomewebsite.us8.list-manage.com/subscribe/post?u=a1b2c3d4ef5g67891hij1234&amp;id=a123b45cd6 ” method=”post” id=”mc-embedded-subscribe-form” name=”mc-embedded-subscribe-form” class=”validate” target=”_blank” novalidate&gt; &lt;div class=”row panel radius”&gt; &lt;div class=”medium-4 columns”&gt; &lt;label for=”mce-FNAME” class=”mce-labels”&gt;First Name&lt;/label&gt; &lt;input type=”text” value=”” name=”FNAME” class=”required radius” id=”mce-FNAME” placeholder=”First Name” required pattern=”[a-zA-Z]+”&gt; &lt;/div&gt; &lt;div class=”medium-5 columns”&gt; &lt;label for=”mce-EMAIL” class=”mce-labels”&gt;Email Address&lt;/label&gt; &lt;input type=”email” value=”” name=”EMAIL” class=”required email radius” id=”mce-EMAIL” placeholder=”Email” required&gt; &lt;/div&gt; &lt;div class=”medium-3 columns”&gt; &lt;label for=”mc-embedded-subscribe” class=”mce-labels”&gt;Subscribe&lt;/label&gt; &lt;input type=”submit” value=”Yes, please!” name=”subscribe” id=”mc-embedded-subscribe” class=”button tiny radius signup-btn”&gt; &lt;/div&gt; &lt;div id=”mce-responses” class=”clear”&gt; &lt;div class=”response” id=”mce-error-response” style=”display:none”&gt;&lt;/div&gt; &lt;div class=”response” id=”mce-success-response” style=”display:none”&gt;&lt;/div&gt; &lt;/div&gt; &lt;div style=”position: absolute; left: -5000px;”&gt; &lt;input type=”text” name=”mailchimp-number” tabindex=”-1″ value=””&gt; &lt;/div&gt; &lt;/div&gt; &lt;!– /row panel radius inputs –&gt; &lt;/form&gt; &lt;/div&gt; &lt;/div&gt; &lt;!– / row signup –&gt; &lt;/div&gt;
Place this code snippet where you want the form to appear and you are done. Of course, feel free to style as needed. Here's what your form will look like:
<img src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2023/08/capture.png" />
I hope you found this tutorial useful, if you did, please share. Thanks for reading.

Creating a Simple MailChimp Newsletter Signup Form for Foundation 5 Framework

<a href="https://www.edicy.com/" target="_blank">Edicy</a>, a popular website builder, is in the <a href="http://www.edicy.com/new" target="_blank">process of re-branding</a>. Soon, Edicy will be known as “Voog”.
Founded in 2008, Edicy powers over 500,000 websites across 150 different websites. Edicy offers both free and pro options that can fit the needs of most users.
Voog means “Flow” in Estonian, and is pronounced like “Vouge”  in English. The Edicy team are touting Voog as, “a modern publishing tool for creatives.”
<h2>Introducing Voog</h2>
According to the Edicy team, Voog is more feature-rich than Edicy.
Voog is being designed to give users more control over text formatting, more types of content blocks and more options to adjust the overall look and feel of their websites.
Plus, thanks to a full API, developers now have more room to play.
<img src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2023/08/shot-retina700x0.jpg" alt="Voog" /> 
The pricing for Voog will remain the same as the current Edicy prices, while the user experience is similar to that of Edicy. In other words, existing users merely have to adapt to Voog, not completely re-learn it.
Voog's interface is rolling out as of right now, so Edicy users can expect to see their sites updated over the coming weeks.
For more information on Edicy and Voog, <a href="http://www.edicy.com/" target="_blank">check out their website.</a>

Introducing Voog: the Heir of Edicy

For years, <a href="http://www.prestashop.com/" target="_blank">PrestaShop</a> has been well-known for its free and open-source eCommerce solution.
So well-known in fact, that the Miami based company has just been <a href="https://www.cmscritic.com/cms-critic-awards/" target="_blank">nominated in two categories for the 2014 CMS Awards</a>; Best eCommerce Solution for SMB and Best eCommerce Solution for Enterprise.
Not to mention, the platform currently boasts well over 4 million downloads to date.
Since the <a href="/hands-on-with-prestashop-1.6/" target="_blank">release of Prestashop 1.6</a>, the platform has been presenting itself in a new, more merchant-friendly light. For example, along with a slick new interface, the newly introduced <a href="http://www.prestashop.com/blog/en/prestashop-v-1-6-back-office-whats-new-and-improved/" target="_blank">Intelligent Merchant KPI</a> has given PrestaShop merchants a statistical edge in their ever-evolving battle for conversions.
Now, although these recent improvements are important, Prestashop has another dimension which is all too often missed by those from the outside looking in.
That dimension, is a thriving global community.
<a href="http://www.prestashop.com/" target="_blank"><img src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2023/08/download.jpg" alt="PrestaShop" /></a>
<h2>PrestaShop Worldwide</h2>
Thanks to the work of their excellent community management team, headed by Benjamin Utterback, PrestaShop has a lofty reputation in almost every world continent.
They have stores based in 163 countries, a global network of certified agencies and have recently expanded their empire by <a href="http://www.prestashop.com/en/press-releases/2014/07/17/prestashop-announces-plans-to-expand-throughout-europe/" target="_blank">appointing a new community manager</a> to operate in Belgium, Luxembourg and The Netherlands.
As a result of this global presence, there aren't many eCommerce platforms with user bases as diverse as PrestaShop's.
The Prestashop online forum for example has dedicated sections for a myriad of languages, including French, Spanish, Italian, German, Bahasa, Polish and Turkish. Plus, a host of mini-communities exist within the wider forum community, accomodating Japanese, Lithuanian, Arabic and Urdu speakers. Now that's diversity.
And yet, the PrestaShop forum isn't just a multi-ligual chat room. It is much, much more.
<h2>The Headquarters</h2>
PrestaShop's online forum acts as the headquarters for PrestaShop users everywhere.
With over 670,000 registered users and 1,700,000 posts, the forum is constantly alive with activity. Questions are being answered, solutions are being found and breakthroughs are being made.
As previously mentioned, the multi-lingual inclusively of the forum makes it a pretty welcoming place – no matter which part of the world you happen to be from. That kind of online hospitality is precisely why PresaShop's community has grown so organically and successfully.
The forum is designed to allow users to discuss general PrestaShop issues, customizations, search engine optimization, third-party modules, themes, and even job offers.
Putting practical usage aside though, when things get tough, it's nice to have such a large community to rely on. PrestaShop users have exactly that.
<h2>A Community Bearing Fruits</h2>
The PrestaShop community wasn't created by accident, nor was it cultivated without reason. It was grown to not only bring users together, but also to improve PrestaShop itself.
Alongside a dedicated <a href="https://www.prestashop.com/en/support" target="_blank">PrestaShop support system</a>, users can naturally refer the the highly experienced community to help solve problems, and that in itself is a highly valuable asset for both PrestaShop as a vendor, as well as for the everyday PrestaShop user.
Also, PrestaShop showcases the “Shop of the Week” on its homepage, giving PrestaShop users an added incentive to hone their stores and make the most of the tools available. Not to mention, a bit of friendly competition is healthy for any community.
The fruits of the PrestaShop community don't stop there though.
PrestaShop doesn't confine the voice of its users to the forum and website alone. They interact and listen to their community members – and then act on their advice.
In July 2014 for example, <a href="/prestashop-1.6.0.9-brings-about-long-list-of-tweaks-enhancements/" target="_blank">PrestaShop released version 1.6.0.9</a>, citing that 69 different users helped them make improvements. Not to mention, <a href="/prestashop-1.6-released/" target="_blank">PrestaShop 1.6</a>, which was a major release, was filled with tweaks and enhancements suggested by community members.
In fact, after repeated requests from the community, a number of previously premium features were integrated into the final release of PrestaShop 1.6, making them completely free. Now that's a community with a strong voice.
The PrestaShop community is one of the most powerful, cohesive and diverse weapons in PrestaShop's arsenal. It gives users a real voice, a sense of belonging and a free, helpful resource.
Personally, I can't wait to see what the PrestaShop community can achieve next.

A Closer Look at PrestaShop's Global Community

Kontent.ai - Agentic CMS

Meet the world's first Agentic CMS

#ffffff

We've had a massive response to the People's Choice awards and the voting has been going crazy since we released the nominee list. Today, I thought I'd help spur on the activity by sharing the results so far.
Here is the percentage of votes being cast for each product:
<h3> Best Cloud CMS for SMB </h3>
<ol>
<li><a href="https://www.cmscritic.com/out/lightcms"> LightCMS </a> – 47%</li>
<li><a href="http://www.surrealcms.com/"> Surreal CMS </a>  – 29%</li>
<li><a href="http://www.acquia.com/products-services/acquia-cloud"> Acquia Cloud </a>  – 24%</li>
</ol>
 Best Cloud CMS for Enterprise 
<ol>
<li><a href="http://www.acquia.com/products-services/acquia-cloud"> Acquia Cloud </a>  – 48%</li>
<li><a href="http://www.clickability.com/"> Clickability </a>   – 30%</li>
<li><a href="http://www.crownpeak.com/"> CrownPeak </a>  – 22%</li>
</ol>
<h3>Best CMS for Corporate Intranets</h3>
<ol>
<li><a href="http://www.liferay.com/"> Liferay </a>  – 49%</li>
<li><a href="http://www.entando.com/portal/"> Entando </a>  –  30%</li>
<li><a href="http://www.ocportal.com/"> ocPortal </a>  –  21%</li>
</ol>
<h3>Best eCommerce Solution for SMB</h3>
<ol>
<li><a href="https://www.cmscritic.com/shopify/"> Shopify </a>  – 48%</li>
<li><a href="http://www.prestashop.com/en/"> Prestashop </a>  – 35%</li>
<li><a href="http://aspxcommerce.com/"> ASPx Commerce </a>  – 17%</li>
</ol>
<h3>Best eCommerce Solution for Enterprise</h3>
<ol>
<li><a href="https://www.cmscritic.com/shopify/"> Shopify </a>  – 40%</li>
<li><a href="http://www.prestashop.com/en"> Prestashop </a>  – 34%</li>
<li><a href="https://www.cmscritic.com/out/bigcommerce"> BigCommerce </a>  – 25%</li>
</ol>
<h3>Best Free Forum Solution</h3>
<ol>
<li><a href="http://vanillaforums.org/"> Vanilla Forums </a>  – 41%</li>
<li><a href="http://www.mybb.com/"> MyBB </a>  – 31%</li>
<li><a href="https://nodebb.org/"> NodeBB </a>  – 28%</li>
</ol>
<h3>Best Commercial Forum Solution</h3>
<ol>
<li><a href="http://vanillaforums.com/"> Vanilla Forums </a>  – 41%</li>
<li><a href="http://www.ninjapost.com/"> Ninja Post </a>  – 36%</li>
<li><a href="http://www.invisionpower.com/apps/board/"> IP.Board </a>  – 24%</li>
</ol>
<h3>Best Enterprise PHP CMS</h3>
<ol>
<li><a href="http://drupal.org/"> Drupal </a>  – 54%</li>
<li><a href="http://typo3.org/"> Typo 3 </a>  – 24%</li>
<li><a href="http://ez.no/Products/The-eZ-Publish-Platform"> eZ Publish </a>  – 21%</li>
</ol>
<h3>Best Enterprise Java CMS</h3>
<ol>
<li><a href="http://www.onehippo.com/en"> Hippo </a>  – 55%</li>
<li><a href="http://www.adobe.com/solutions/web-experience-management.html"> Adobe AEM </a>  – 29%</li>
<li><a href="http://www.jahia.com/products"> Jahia </a>  – 16%</li>
</ol>
<h3>Best Enterprise .NET CMS</h3>
<ol>
<li><a href="http://www.sitecore.net/"> Sitecore </a>  – 43%</li>
<li><a href="http://www.kentico.com/"> Kentico </a>  – 31%</li>
<li><a href="http://www.sitefinity.com/"> Sitefinity </a>  – 26%</li>
</ol>
<h3>Best Enterprise CMS (Other Langs)</h3>
<ol>
<li><a href="http://plone.org/"> Plone </a>  – 43%</li>
<li><a href="http://www.getmura.com/"> Mura CMS </a>  – 40%</li>
<li><a href="http://www.paperthin.com/"> Paperthin Commonspot </a>  – 18%</li>
</ol>
<h3>Best Free PHP CMS</h3>
<ol>
<li><a href="http://www.joomla.org/"> Joomla </a>  – 64%</li>
<li><a href="http://www.concrete5.org/"> Concrete5 </a>  – 22%</li>
<li><a href="http://www.processwire.com/"> ProcessWire </a>  – 15%</li>
</ol>
<h3>Best Free Java CMS</h3>
<ol>
<li><a href="http://www.magnolia-cms.com/"> Magnolia </a>  – 44%</li>
<li><a href="http://www.dotcms.com/"> dotCMS </a>  – 28%</li>
<li><a href="http://www.liferay.com/"> Liferay </a>  – 28%</li>
</ol>
<h3>Best Free .NET CMS</h3>
<ol>
<li><a href="http://umbraco.com/"> Umbraco </a>  – 47%</li>
<li><a href="http://sageframe.com/"> Sageframe </a>  – 30%</li>
<li><a href="http://www.dnnsoftware.com/"> DNN Platform </a>  – 23%</li>
</ol>
<h3>Best Free CMS (Other Langs)</h3>
<ol>
<li><a href="http://plone.org/"> Plone </a>  – 51%</li>
<li><a href="http://www.getmura.com/"> Mura CMS </a>  – 49%</li>
</ol>
<h3>Best Open Source PHP CMS</h3>
<ol>
<li><a href="http://www.joomla.org/"> Joomla! </a>  – 65%</li>
<li><a href="http://modx.com/"> MODx </a>  – 18%</li>
<li><a href="http://ez.no/Products/The-eZ-Publish-Platform"> eZ Publish </a>  – 17%</li>
</ol>
<h3>Best Open Source Java CMS</h3>
<ol>
<li><a href="http://www.magnolia-cms.com/"> Magnolia </a>  – 40%</li>
<li><a href="http://www.liferay.com/"> Liferay </a>  – 36%</li>
<li><a href="http://dotcms.com/"> dotCMS </a>  – 23%</li>
</ol>
<h3>Best Open Source .NET CMS</h3>
<ol>
<li><a href="http://umbraco.com/"> Umbraco </a>  – 50%</li>
<li><a href="http://sageframe.com/"> Sageframe </a>  – 30%</li>
<li><a href="http://www.dnnsoftware.com/"> DNN Platform </a>  – 20%</li>
</ol>
<h3>Best Open Source CMS (Other Langs)</h3>
<ol>
<li><a href="http://plone.org/"> Plone  </a>  – 51%</li>
<li><a href="http://www.getmura.com/"> Mura CMS  </a>  – 49%</li>
</ol>
<h3>Best Small to Midsize Business PHP CMS</h3>
<ol>
<li><a href="http://www.cmsmadesimple.org/"> CMS Made Simple </a>  – 46%</li>
<li><a href="http://buildwithcraft.com/"> Craft CMS </a>  – 28%</li>
<li><a href="http://www.impresspages.org/"> ImpressPages </a>  – 27%</li>
</ol>
<h3>Best Small to Midsize Business Java CMS</h3>
<ol>
<li><a href="http://www.liferay.com/"> Liferay </a>  – 67%</li>
<li><a href="http://www.percussion.com/"> Percussion CM1 </a>  – 33%</li>
</ol>
<h3>Best Small to Midsize Business .NET CMS</h3>
<ol>
<li><a href="http://www.orchardproject.net/"> Orchard </a>  – 42%</li>
<li><a href="http://www.envisagecms.co.uk/"> Envisage CMS </a>  – 33%</li>
<li><a href="http://www.dnnsoftware.com/"> DNN Evoq Content </a>  – 25%</li>
</ol>
<h3>Best Small to Midsize Business CMS (Other Langs)</h3>
<ul>
<li><a href="https://www.django-cms.org/en/"> Django CMS </a>  – 47%</li>
<li><a href="http://www.surrealcms.com/"> Surreal CMS </a>  – 33%</li>
<li><a href="http://www.movabletype.com/"> Movable Type </a>  – 20%</li>
</ul>
<h3>Best Website Builder</h3>
<ol>
<li><a href="http://www.wix.com/"> Wix </a>  – 38%</li>
<li><a href="http://www.squarespace.com"> Squarespace </a>  – 36%</li>
<li><a href="https://www.cmscritic.com/weebly"> Weebly </a>  – 26%</li>
</ol>
There are some tight races going on for sure and some clear favorites as well. Of course, any of this can change and quickly so make sure you get your say heard and head on over to the voting form to get your votes cast.
<a href="https://www.cmscritic.com/cms-critic-awards/">Vote Now</a>

People's Choice CMS Awards - The Results So Far

Dropbox, the darling of the online storage industry (and my personal choice for online storage), has announced some significant changes to it's online storage service. Pro members ($9.99 / month for those of you who are unaware) are now being upgraded from 100 GB of storage to 1 Terabyte (1,000 GB) of storage for the same cost.Dropbox is also introducing some additional features such as:<h3>New and improved sharing controls</h3>The ability to collaborate easily  is one of the reasons people choose Dropbox Pro, but there's always been room for improvement and Dropbox has listened to their customers by implementing more control over sharing with the following new capabilities:<ul><li>Passwords for shared links create an additional layer of security so only people with the password can access your link.</li><li><a target="_blank" href="https://www.dropbox.com/help/5888">Expirations for shared links</a> safeguard your sensitive files by letting you set how long your links stay up.</li><li>View-only permissions for shared folders let you pick whether recipients can edit or just view files within your shared folder.</li></ul><img src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2023/08/password-protected-links963x0.png" /><h3>Lost your device? Now you can safeguard your Dropbox data.</h3><a target="_blank" href="https://www.dropbox.com/help/4227">Remote wipe</a> lets you delete your Dropbox files from a lost or stolen device without damaging your Dropbox data. This is handy for those occassions where you lose a laptop or device that has synced data via Dropbox and you want to ensure it's not compromised.<img src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2023/08/remote-wipe963x0.png" />So, in addition to the awesome 10x the extra space upgrade that they are giving pro users, you now get these other awesome features as well. For those of you wondering where your additional space is, according to the email from Dropbox, it will update automatically to reflect the space increase in the next couple days. You don’t have to do a thing.Visit <a target="_blank" href="http://www.dropbox.com/pro">www.dropbox.com/pro</a> to sign up.

Dropbox Boosts Pro Plan to 1TB Storage

There's no doubt that the website builder market is a hot one of late, there are plenty of great contenders such as <a href="https://www.weebly.com/">Weebly</a>, Squarespace and Wix.
Today, SiteSupra has announced that they are making a play for piece of the pie with the launch of their own website builder / hosted CMS.
For those unfamiliar with SiteSupra, here's a quick video highlighting some of the functionality of the CMS.
<iframe src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/cmpVj8mkQIU?feature=oembed" frameborder="0" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture" allowfullscreen></iframe>
According to the release announcement, SiteSupra's goal is to target those users who think a five minute website results in a quality website by offering them a more powerful solution that is also easy to use.
According to SiteSupra CEO, Anton Sulsky;
<blockquote>
“SiteSupra’s strength comes from its focus on the fundamentals of elegant design, powerful website features and modern mobile screen-ready, responsive implemenation. There are various creative design options out there, but we concentrate on what is most important, as the website is the most effective marketing tool a company can have.”
</blockquote>
Here are some of the key features their website builder offers:
<ol>
<li>Responsive themes. As smartphone and tablet usage grows, it is becoming even more important to have a responsive website that adapts to any screen in a professional manner. Every aspect of content, design and functionality that you add to the desktop version of the site is seamlessly and automatically scaled down for other devices, so there are no additional expenses for the mobile version. <img src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2023/08/aira-web-and-mobile600x0.png" /></li>
<li>Form builder. Get to know the questions and concerns of your customers. Create forms for feedback, bookings or other purposes simply by dragging and dropping the required fields on to the page. <img src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2023/08/sitesupra-form-builder600x0.png" /></li>
<li>Slideshow manager. If you have ever wanted to create an animated slideshow, but have struggled to find a reliable programmer, now you can manage animated and layered slideshows yourself – with background images and animated overlay text, videos and masks – that are fully responsive as well. <img src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2023/08/sitesupra-slideshow-manager600x0.png" /></li>
<li>Parallax animation. One of the trendiest styles currently available, this allows you to create a cool one-page scrolling site by adding a storytelling detail to an otherwise static page – available in Drava template. </li>
</ol>
Interested in giving it  a try? Check out their website at <a href="http://www.sitesupra.com/">http://www.sitesupra.com/</a>

SiteSupra Makes a Play for the Website Builder Market

When hunting for a new web content management system, exploring your options can feel exhilarating. After all, with new software, comes new possibilities.
However, things take a serious turn when it comes to assessing the flexibility of your short-listed platforms in terms of integration options.
Most businesses will be looking at a long list of tools that need to be integrated with their new CMS. This includes databases, third-party or legacy apps, a CRM, an eCommerce system – and sometimes all of the above.
Not to mention, future technologies will also need to work seamlessly with the new CMS as and when they release.
In other words, the CMS needs to be compatible with what is already in place, and future-proof at the same time.
No platform can truly offer such flexibility right out of the box. Unless of course, it comes without a box.
<h2> Why Open Suite? </h2>
Magnolia has recognized that a one-size-fits-all solution is unrealistic. So instead, they ship their CMS without the confines of a conventional “box”, taking the Open Suite approach instead.
Magnolia’s Open Suite approach, along with its totally open source nature, gives users the power to choose their own tools and applications, and to decide for themselves exactly how they are integrated.
Users can combine the best available tools without any vendor restrictions, and with all the benefits of Magnolia’s enterprise-grade Java foundation.
Here’s a quick summary of the benefits brought about by Magnolia’s open suite approach:
<ul>
<li> Tool Freedom: Maximize choice by using best-of-breed tools.</li>
<li> Cost Effectiveness: Pay only for components you need and will use.</li>
<li> Seamless Integration: Reduce disruption by integrating with existing business know-how and processes.</li>
<li> Intelligence &amp; Flexibility: Upgrade parts of the suite at different speeds, depending on current needs.</li>
<li> Risk Reduction: Lowering costs and adding flexibility means less risk.</li>
</ul>
For further details on what Magnolia’s open suite approach brings, you can check out my previous coverage: <a href="https://www.cmscritic.com/magnolias-open-suite-approach-maximizing-choice-future-proofing-digital-investments/"> Magnolia's Open Suite Approach: Maximizing Choice &amp; Future-proofing Digital Investments </a> .
Development teams however, will want to dig a little deeper into the technicalities of Magnolia’s open suite approach. So, let’s take a look at exactly how it works.
<h2>Getting Technical</h2>
Magnolia’s open suite approach is all about integration – on a whole new and ultra-inclusive level.
Magnolia's Open Suite approach is based on an enterprise-grade stack, best-of-breed open source tools and a framework that balances best practices for content, configuration and templates.
Complete freedom can be exercised with every aspect of the CMS, from which templating engine you choose to which analytics provider you integrate. It’s entirely under your control.
Magnolia’s combination of open APIs, open standards and open source code allow developers to swap out components or build custom components as needed. In fact, <a href="https://app.magnolia-cms.com/"> Magnolia's App repository is growing all the time </a> .
This complete openness makes Magnolia a highly adaptable and interoperable CMS. It simplifies the building of custom suites, all of which can be specific to your organization’s needs.
Below is a handy developer transit map that gives you a birds-eye view of the integration options available, illustrating which technologies are best suited for your requirements.
<h2> Combating Common Obstacles </h2>
Magnolia’s open suite approach is as practical as it is intelligent. Here are some common obstacles faced by enterprises, along with Magnolia’s solutions.
<h3> Access your website content from other applications </h3>
 JCR: Magnolia CMS stores all content (web pages, images, documents, configuration, data) in a Java Content Repository (JCR). JCR is an open standard. This makes custom development of content-based applications easier.
<a href="http://documentation.magnolia-cms.com/display/DOCS/Content%2Bstorage%2Band%2Bstructure"> Read more about how Magnolia stores and structures content </a> .
 REST: Magnolia CMS also offers a REST API, which allows you to read and modify website content over HTTP. The content can be pages, components, contacts or anything else that is stored in Magnolia’s content repository. You can also execute commands to activate, export and import content.
<a href="http://documentation.magnolia-cms.com/display/DOCS/My%2Bfirst%2BREST%2Brequest"> Read more about Magnolia’s REST API </a> .
 PHPCR and WebDAV: Coming to Magnolia CMS from the world of PHP? No problem. You can also access JCR content with PHPCR, the DavEx module and the PHP Jackalope implementation. And you can use Magnolia's built-in WebDAV support to let users easily create, edit and manage templates on the Magnolia CMS server.
Check out Magnolia’s <a href="http://www.magnolia-cms.com/home/resources-directory/webinar-recordings/phpcr.html"> PHPCR webinar </a> and <a href="http://www.magnolia-cms.com/resources-directory/screencasts/webdav.html"> WebDAV screencast </a> . 

<h3>Create workflows that reflect real-world business processes</h3>
 Apps: Magnolia CMS Apps are browser-based applications that run inside Magnolia CMS and help enterprises integrate content authoring with business process workflows.
With Apps, users can control and manipulate data stored in the CMS. Magnolia's Apps work equally well on mobile and desktop devices, and can therefore be used on the move. Apps can be connected with databases, Web services, workflows and notifications.
Magnolia provides an App framework to quickly bootstrap new Apps, and you can use Vaadin and GWT to build the user interface for your Apps.
<a href="https://www.cmscritic.com/the-best-practices-for-designing-a-magnolia-app/"> Read more on Magnolia apps </a> .
 jBPM: jBPM workflows can be used to connect common Magnolia CMS actions, such as content activation or versioning, with your business processes.
Out of the box, Magnolia CMS comes with a <a href="http://documentation.magnolia-cms.com/display/DOCU/Workflow+configuration"> “four-eye” workflow </a> , and you can also create your own custom workflows. Workflows can also be integrated with Magnolia’s messaging hub, <a href="http://www.magnolia-cms.com/product/features/interface/the-pulse.html"> “The Pulse” </a> , for real-time notifications and messaging.
<a href="http://documentation.magnolia-cms.com/display/DOCS/Workflow"> Read more about Magnolia’s workflow functionality </a> .
 Observation: Using Magnolia's content observation mechanism, you can trigger customized actions in response to content changes.
Event listeners can monitor changes in content and trigger pre-defined responses when changes are detected. Common examples include automatic publishing or deactivation of content and sending emails.
<a href="http://documentation.magnolia-cms.com/display/DOCS/Observation%2Bmodule"> Read more about Magnolia’s Observation module </a> .
<h3>Give your website a consistent look and feel, even on mobile devices.</h3>
 Templating: Magnolia CMS uses templates to give structure to rendered content. Out of the box, Magnolia CMS understands Freemarker and JSP templates, but you can also plug in your own custom engine. Microformats and JSTL tags are supported as well.
<a href="http://documentation.magnolia-cms.com/display/DOCS/Templates"> Read more about Magnolia templates </a> . 
 
STK: Magnolia's <a href="http://www.magnolia-cms.com/product/features/development/stk.html"> Standard Templating Kit (STK) </a>  is a production-ready collection of templates for common use cases. It implements the principles of RESS: Responsive Web Design + Server-Side Components.
Web pages rendered with the system are compliant with HTML5 and CSS3, as well as modern accessibility guidelines.
<a href="http://www.magnolia-cms.com/stk"> Read more about Magnolia’s STK </a> .
For even more information on the technical workings and benefits of Magnolia’s open suite approach, check out this white paper.
The white paper also holds Magnolia's solutions to other common obstacles, including security, performance, using external documents and assets, and adding custom functionality via Spring or Grails.
Also, be sure to check out <a href="https://www.cmscritic.com/products/magnolia-cms/"> Magnolia CMS via our CMS Directory </a> .

A Deeper Look at Magnolia's Open Suite Approach

<a href="http://www.kentico.com/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Kentico Software </a> , the Web Content and Customer Experience Management provider, today announced the release of Kentico 8.1, featuring a variety of new enhancements that bring greater website performance and ease of use to the digital marketing activities of today’s digital agencies and professional marketers. With new “Buy X, get Y” discount capabilities, Kentico 8.1 also offers customers new ways to maximize their online sales.
<blockquote>“Successful digital marketing often comes down to speed and performance, and Kentico 8.1’s new features and capabilities allow both digital marketers and their websites to work faster and better than ever before,” said Kentico CEO and Founder Petr Palas. “With Kentico 8.1 also comes greater flexibility that allows our customers to promote and cross-sell their products with even more granularity and personalization for more revenue-generating sales.”</blockquote>
Kentico 8.1 allows anyone to quickly deliver the right marketing message at the right time on any digital channel—it’s easy to use, affordable, and quick to set up. With sophisticated personalization, segmentation and other capabilities, Kentico allows users to manage all their digital marketing efforts in a unified way across all their marketing tools from a single environment that can easily integrate with real-time CRM and ERP data for the highest level of personalization. Kentico 8.1 includes all the components for integrated marketing efforts online, including Web Content Management, E-commerce, Online Marketing, Online Communities, Intranet, and Collaboration.
The latest enhancements include:
<ul>
<li><a href="http://devnet.kentico.com/articles/sell-more-with-new-buy-x,-get-y-discounts" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer"> ‘Buy X, Get Y’ discount capabilities </a> : Allows store managers to configure their cross-selling promotions in a more sophisticated way, e.g. “Buy any 3 blouses, get the cheapest for free!”</li>
<li><a href="http://devnet.kentico.com/articles/live-tiles-and-dashboard-customization" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Live tiles and dashboard improvements </a> : Allows Kentico users to easily populate their dashboard with frequently used applications. Many will display such real-time data as “number of running order discounts.”</li>
<li><a href="http://devnet.kentico.com/articles/linkedin-integration-in-kentico-8-1" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">LinkedIn integration </a> : Allows marketers to manage their LinkedIn company profiles directly from Kentico. Includes the ability to use automated workflow for content publishing on LinkedIn.</li>
<li><a href="http://devnet.kentico.com/articles/sharepoint-integration-in-kentico-8-1" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">SharePoint integration improvements </a> : Brings support for the latest SharePoint versions including SharePoint Online and other improvements, such as the ability to set up multiple SharePoint connections for the same Kentico site.</li>
<li><a href="http://devnet.kentico.com/articles/online-marketing-performance-improvements" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Online Marketing performance improvements </a> : Lowers the performance footprint of Kentico Online Marketing modules, such as Contact Groups and Scoring, to bring higher website performance, including faster response times and ability to handle more peak traffic. </li>
</ul>
Kentico supports all the latest Microsoft technologies, including Visual Studio 2013, Microsoft .NET Framework 4.5, Windows Server 2012, Windows 8.1 and Windows Azure SDK 2.2.
More on Kentico 8.1’s new features and capabilities can be found on  <a href="http://www.kentico.com/kentico8-1" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer"> Kentico’s website </a> .

Kentico 8.1 Combines Greater Ease and Performance with New LinkedIn and SharePoint Integration

LightCMS have once again taken some tools to their user interface, giving their Element UI new functionality and a sleeker look.This interface update comes just weeks after LightCMS revealed a new <a href="/lightcms-announces-wysiwyg-editor-enhancements/">WYSIWYG editor</a>. It's also the latest in a flurry of updates the website builder has been releasing for the last few months.The Element UI interface has been enhanced, added to and beautified. Plus, displaying elements in multiple locations is now easier than ever. As usual, LightCMS have given their users a heads up, opting to implement these changes on September 2nd, 2014. So, let's take a look at what's coming.<img src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2023/08/lightcms.jpg" alt="LightCMS" /><h2>Elements Everywhere</h2>First of all, the LightCMS Element Toolbars have been redesigned.Instead of seeing black bars at the top of each element, the new toolbars are more modern and sleek. They're designed to blend into your site while still serving their main purpose of marking your elements and providing access to the element menus.The element menus themselves have also been revamped, sporting fresh new custom icons.<img src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2023/08/2014_9-elementbars.jpg" alt="LightCMS" />The LightCMS team have also updated the Add Element bar found at the bottom of each editable region.Previously, the Add Element bar was a thick, black bar with the same weight as the Element Toolbars, making it difficult to distinguish between the top and bottom regions.To solve that issue, the add element button sits inside a thin line to mark the location of where you can add elements when in edit mode. It's a small design tweak, but the difference is significant. It's more natural, and makes editing a little less stressful.<img src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2023/08/2014_9-addbutton.jpg" alt="LightCMS" />Perhaps the most notable change though, is the new Add Element modal.Clicking the Add Element button now brings up a beautifully-designed, responsive modal with fresh, custom icons representing each of the available elements. All you need to do is click (or touch) the desired element, and it will immediately be placed into your page.<img src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2023/08/2014_9-modal.jpg" alt="LightCMS" />The modal is responsive across all devices, and if you're a click counter, you'll notice that the new modal requires two fewer clicks for every element you add. Now that's helpful.<h2>Sharing is Caring</h2>Furthermore, LightCMS has also produced an update for their Copy Element functionality.For starters, they're now calling it “Share” instead of “Copy” – but they've also made some functionality changes too.Previously, when you copied an element, you had to select the element you wanted from a drop-down list that included every single element on your site. This list of elements could get very long, making it gradually inefficient time-wise.The solution comes in the form of a new “Is Shareable” property on the advanced settings of every element.<img src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2023/08/isshareable.jpg" alt="LightCMS" />Now, only those elements that are marked as shareable are included in the share element list. By default, new elements will not be marked as shareable. although when this release lands on September 2nd, all elements will be marked as sharable, for convenience purposes.All you have to do to share an element is to select the “Share an Element from Another Part of Your Site” drop-down list on the Add Element modal.<h2>And That's Not All</h2>Also bundled in this release, users will find that adding elements on mobile devices looks and works better, and no less than seven user-flagged issues have been resolved.You can read all the details, as well as the full release notes for this release via the LightCMS Blog.To find out more about LightCMS, check out their website.Additionally, make sure you explore more of LightCMS via our CMS Directory.

LightCMS Unveils New Element UI

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Spot what confuses your users with Hotjar & AI

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