Articles - Page 134

Agentic AI for Agencies in 2026

bmckeiver

This year's winner of the People's Choice Award for Best Free CMS goes to the ever popular open-source CMS, Tiki Wiki CMS Groupware!
<img style="max-width:235px" src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2023/08/tiki_wcg.png" />
Congratulations to Marc Laporte and the rest of the team for their awesome work. It was a hard fought battle with Xoops for first place but Tiki took over in the end and won this year with the most votes.
Tiki is a powerful all-in-one web-based application, offering collaboration, publishing, commerce, social networking, CRM, and office productivity tools.
Tiki is the ideal tool for you to build and maintain your Website / Wiki / Groupware / CMS / Forum / Blog / Bug Tracker / Online Office Suite or any other project you can imagine running in your browser window.
Tiki is free, both Free Software (as in “Free Speech”) and Free of Charge (as in “Free Beer”), and for everyone! It has all the features you need “out-of-the-box”:
<ul>
<li>Wikis (like Wikipedia)</li>
<li>Forums (like phpBB)</li>
<li>Blogs (like WordPress)</li>
<li>Articles (like Yahoo News)</li>
<li>Image Gallery (like Flickr)</li>
<li>Map Server (like Google Maps)</li>
<li>Link Directory (like DMOZ)</li>
<li>Multilingual (like Babel Fish)</li>
<li>Bug Tracker (like Bugzilla)</li>
<li>RSS Feeds (like Digg)</li>
<li>Payments (via PayPal)</li>
<li>Spreadsheet, Slideshow, Drawings, etc.</li>
<li>Free Open Source software (LGPL)</li>
</ul>
And much more… <a href="http://tiki.org">Check out this Tiki Wiki CMS Groupware today</a>
Our runner up for this year was Xoops, which fought a hard battle and did a commendable job of making Tiki work for their win.
This isn't the end of the awards, however, as the Critic's Choice portion of the awards which will be selected by CMS Critic will be announced soon.
<ol>
<li>Tiki Wiki CMS Groupware</li>
<li>XOOPS</li>
<li>Symphony CMS</li>
<li>ocPortal</li>
<li>Impress CMS</li>
</ol>
Thanks to all for really driving hard for the votes and don't forget to stay tuned to our site to find out which of our five shortlisted competitors below takes the <a href="/cms-critic-awards/">Critic's Choice Award</a>, to be announced soon.

People's Choice Winner for Best Free CMS is...

mike-johnston

This year’s winner of the People’s Choice Award for Best Enterprise CMS is <a href="http://www.liferay.com">Liferay</a>!
<img src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2023/08/liferay-250x156.jpg" />
Congratulations to everyone at Liferay for their awesome work and on this win. It certainly is an excellent option for enterprise users.
Liferay is an open-source enterprise portal solution. Some of the key advantages that the system offers is its ability to be deeply integrated with various web technologies (.NET, PHP, Java &amp; More). Liferay Portal  includes document management enhancements and the company has introduced the Liferay Marketplace, a new app store for its growing community of customers, developers and partners.
Liferay also offers Liferay Social Office, a social collaboration suite for enterprises. Their customers often select it for its lean qualities, although the company is building out a more comprehensive UXP with content management capabilities and its Liferay Social Office product. Liferay is very easy to adapt and customize to suit a variety of needs.
This isn’t the end of the awards, however, as the Critic’s Choice portion of the awards which will be selected by CMS Critic will be announced soon.
<ol>
<li>Liferay</li>
<li>Adobe CQ</li>
<li>Sitecore</li>
<li>Drupal</li>
<li>Typo3</li>
</ol>
Thanks to all for really driving hard for the votes and don’t forget to stay tuned to our site to find out which of our five shortlisted competitors below takes the <a href="/cms-critic-awards/">Critic’s Choice Award</a>, to be announced soon.

People’s Choice Winner for Best Enterprise CMS is…

<a href="http://writercrate.com/" target="_blank">Writer Crate</a> is a monthly crate of quality items for Writers, Bloggers, Poets and Wordsmiths of all kinds.
<a href="http://writercrate.com/" target="_blank"><img src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2023/08/cratecover-1868x0-is.jpg" /></a> Founded by none other than myself, I thought I'd take the time to share my latest venture with the CMS Critic community, seeing as much of our audience is made up of content marketers and publishers.
Currently, Writer Crate ships for free in the UK. We also ship to the US, Canada and mainland Europe. The October Crate is now in stock, and you can <a href="http://writercrate.com/blogs/news/62423107-whats-in-the-october-writer-crate" target="_blank">find out what's inside it right here</a>.
<h2>“So, Which CMS Did You Use?”</h2>
Ah, yes, the inevitable question.
Essentially, Writer Crate is just another eCommerce project, and thus, I needed to opt for an eCommerce solution.
Many capable platforms crossed my mind, and after some trial and error, I chose to stick it out with Shopify.
I fell in love with a template, I was impressed by the fast set up process, and the pricing fit the bill, so to speak. <a href="/shopify-review-ecommerce-only-simpler/" target="_blank">With my existing knowledge of Shopify as a stellar eCommerce solution</a>, I took the plunge. So far, so good.
<a href="http://writercrate.com/" target="_blank">Show Me Writer Crate</a>.

Writer Crate Launched

This year’s winner of the People’s Choice Award for Best CMS for SMB (Small to Midsize Business) is <a href="http://dotnetnuke.com">DotNetNuke</a>!
<img style="max-width:360px" src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2023/08/squarespace_-_best_website_builder_for_2013_vvidjh.png" alt="dotnetnuke" />
Congratulations to everyone at DotNetNuke for their awesome work. It was a hard fought battle with Liferay for first place but DotNetNuke took over in the end and won this year with the most votes.
DotNetNuke is an open-source project and one of the most widely adopted Web Content Management Platforms for building websites and web applications on Microsoft .NET.
Organizations use DotNetNuke to quickly develop and deploy interactive and dynamic websites, intranets, extranets and web applications.
The DotNetNuke platform is available in a free Community Edition and the subscription-based Professional Edition and Enterprise Edition with an Elite Support option. DotNetNuke Corp. also operates the DotNetNuke Store where users purchase third-party software apps for the platform. Founded in 2006 and funded by Sierra Ventures, August Capital and Pelion Venture Partners, DotNetNuke Corp. is headquartered in San Mateo, Calif.
Our runner up for this year was <a href="http://liferay.com">Liferay</a>, which fought a hard battle and did a commendable job of making Oxwall work for their win.
This isn’t the end of the awards, however, as the Critic’s Choice portion of the awards which will be selected by CMS Critic will be announced soon.
<ol>
<li>DotNetNuke</li>
<li>Liferay</li>
<li>Umbraco</li>
<li>Composite C1</li>
<li>Kentico</li>
</ol>
Thanks to all for really driving hard for the votes and don’t forget to stay tuned to our site to find out which of our five shortlisted competitors below takes the <a href="https://www.cmscritic.com/cms-critic-awards/">Critic’s Choice Award</a>, to be announced soon.

People's Choice Winner for Best CMS for SMB (Small to Midsize Business) is...

Are you looking to modernize your tech stack but feel hamstrung by your legacy systems? If so, you're not alone. Many organizations are in the same boat—stuck with old, outdated systems that are holding them back from taking advantage of newer, more innovative technologies.
<a href="https://www.gartner.com/en/articles/you-ll-be-breaking-up-with-bad-customers-and-9-other-predictions-for-2022-and-beyond" target="_blank">According to Gartner</a>, by 2024, 80% of CIOs surveyed will list modular business redesign, through composability, as a top five reason for accelerated business performance.   

So, what exactly is the problem with legacy architectures:
<ul>
<li>They are not composable; they don't have APIs to interact with other platforms</li>
<li>They are not scalable or stable and often have performance issues</li>
<li>They are difficult to maintain or update, increasing IT costs in both time and resources</li>
<li>Extensively customized and third-party elements of the application may no longer be supported</li>
<li>The system is no longer agile to emerging customer needs</li>
</ul>
Organizations are sitting on age-old infrastructure and applications, built over many years to meet the needs of their business. For that reason, these applications are not easy to replace. So, what options do organizations have to modernize?
<h2>Migration</h2>
Even though on the surface this sounds like the ideal solution, practically speaking, it's often very disruptive. The primary reason for this is the reliance on these applications and mission-critical workflows tied to them. They're powering many external or internal touchpoints and experiences, and you can’t afford to destabilize the backend these touchpoints so heavily rely upon.  
Integrations with various upstream and downstream systems and customizations have been made to the core capabilities of these systems to meet evolving business needs over the years. This means it’s not easy to find one system that can do everything that your legacy system does, even though it’s been put together with glue and duct tape.  
Finally, no one wants to spend the time and money needed for a migration project. Most organizations only invest in projects that will bring them immediate ROI. Complete system overhauls just don't fit into this model of business thinking because they take too long-term of an investment without any tangible benefits at first glance (and many end up costing more).
<h2>Re-Architect / Re-Build</h2>
This involves rewriting the legacy application from scratch. Similar to the migration option, this is also highly disruptive, time-consuming, and costly. If you do decide to go forward with a rebuild, you'll want to employ a composable strategy. However, chances are you will have a hard time justifying this approach to your steering committee.
<h2>Retain / Encapsulate</h2>
What if you could encapsulate your existing legacy system with a modernization layer? The idea here is to create a modern facade on top of your legacy systems to interface with modern applications while replacing pieces of the legacy system one small step at a time.
The “Strangler Pattern” is a technique for slowly replacing legacy systems with new ones. As the name suggests, the idea is to "strangle" the old system by gradually adding new features and functionalities on top until the legacy system is eventually replaced. This approach has several advantages, including that it doesn't require a complete rip-and-replace of the old system.
<h2>How the “Strangler Pattern” Works</h2>
There are two main ways to implement the <a href="https://www.techtarget.com/searchapparchitecture/tip/A-detailed-intro-to-the-strangler-pattern" target="_blank">Strangler Pattern</a>: top-down and bottom-up. 
With top-down strangulation, you start by creating a new system that mimics the functionality of the old one. Once this new system is up and running, you slowly start routing traffic away from the old system and towards the new one. Eventually, all traffic will be directed to the new system, at which point you can decommission the old one altogether. 
Bottom-up strangulation takes a different approach. Instead of starting with a brand-new system, you begin by identifying pieces of functionality that can be migrated from the legacy system to a new one without disrupting business operations. These migrated pieces are then wrapped in an API that exposes them to other parts of the system. This process is repeated until all functionality has been relocated to the new system and the legacy system can be decommissioned. 
This is the most practical approach organizations can employ to charge ahead toward digital transformation while maintaining stable operations. For instance, if you have a homegrown CMS, you create an API layer that encapsulates the legacy system and exposes only the content and functions that are required by the new customer experiences that you'd like to launch.
<h2>Legacy Systems Need More Than APIs </h2>
Okay, so you’ve added APIs to your legacy applications, so we should be good to go, right?  
Well, not quite. Legacy systems were never built to support today's traffic loads from modern touchpoints, and their infrastructure is weak—they can't keep up with the demand of your modern apps or websites. This means if you want these old apps running smoothly on an <a href="https://www.cmscritic.com/top-jamstack-static-site-generators-for-2021/">API-driven</a> front end, they need something more: a fast-performing data layer that indexes what would have been stored locally in legacy applications.
What if you have multiple legacy systems that hold onto related data and you need these relationships to be exposed for the front-end experience? An example of this in an e-commerce domain would be a grocery brand with a product catalog, ingredients, and recipes that may all be stored in separate homegrown, proprietary, or legacy applications. This content from multiple systems may need to be connected before exposing it to an experience such as a product details page on an e-commerce website. 
Now, you can argue that we should be able to modernize each individual system with an API and then simply call the APIs from the front end and connect the data on the client side. This is theoretically possible, but it’s not sustainable. 
If you want to build multiple front-end applications relying on the same underlying data and business logic, especially if the frontends are built on several different frameworks, you have to repeat the same work every time, creating redundancies and inconsistent experiences. To make matters worse, what if the data in each of these legacy systems have gaps, inconsistencies, and inaccuracies? 
Adding APIs on top of bad data and content doesn’t solve this problem. After all, garbage-in means garbage-out.  
<h2>So, What’s the Best Way Forward?</h2>
I hope it is evident that a rip-and-replace or full rebuild are not practical solutions for legacy modernization. Piecemeal, step-by-step, replacement of functional components using the Strangler Pattern is definitely a more viable option. However, when you implement this pattern, you have to be aware that the system performance, scalability, and data unification are real concerns that must be addressed. 
What you need is a way to create a scalable, persistent, and API-enabled data layer that syncs with your legacy backends and is able to unify, normalize, and optimize the data before it is consumed by the front end. This data layer should be able to model the complexity of your data sources without shoehorning you into a pre-built schema of any sort. This not only removes the need to perform gymnastics on the front end, but it also ensures a separation of concerns in your experience stack.
At Conscia.ai, we provide an elegant solution to this problem with the DX Graph – and I invite you to learn more about our innovation at <a href="https://conscia.ai/" target="_blank">www.conscia.ai</a>.
<h2>About Conscia.ai</h2>
<a href="https://conscia.ai/" target="_blank">Conscia.ai</a> is an Experience Orchestration Platform that empowers digital teams to create personalized, omnichannel experiences in a composable tech stack. Conscia.ai offers two standalone products, the DX Graph and the DX Engine.
<h2>About the DX Graph™</h2>
One of the biggest roadblocks in the journey toward composability is legacy systems and data silos. If your data is trapped in one or more data sources that are not accessible via APIs, the DX Graph allows you to create an API-first modernization layer on top of your existing systems of record. Secondly, the DX Graph allows your digital teams to sync with these systems of record to create a 360 view of all your siloed content and data, where you can relate, search, enrich and distribute your data to downstream applications and touchpoints.
<h2>About the DX Engine™</h2>
With the shift towards headless and composable architectures, marketers have lost the ability to intuitively manage experiences; the control over who sees what content when, and where now falls squarely into the hands of the developer. The DX Engine puts marketers back in control to activate personalized and intelligent experiences on all channels from a centralized, intuitive interface. The DX Engine connects to all of the backend content and data sources (including the DX Graph) through real-time APIs and abstracts out the complexity of these integrations for business and marketing teams. 
<a href="https://www.boye-co.com/conferences/cmskickoff23/program" target="_blank"><img src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2022/12/cms-kickoff-2023-banner-1024x151.jpg" alt="CMS Kickoff 2023 banner" /></a>
<h2>Join Sana at CMS Kickoff 2023</h2>
January 17-18 in St. Petersburg, FL
Don't miss the only conference tailored for everyone working with content management systems, from beginners to experts! Featuring two packed days with a carefully curated mixture of talks, workshops, activities, world-class facilitators, thought provokers, speakers, and session leads – including Sana Remekie's presentation, "The Journey from Monolith to Composable."
Register today at the <a href="https://www.boye-co.com/conferences/cmskickoff23/program" target="_blank">CMS Kickoff 2023 website</a>.

From Legacy to Composable: What’s The Best Way Forward?

sana-remekie

Composite image of Sana Remekie in front of arrow leading from "legacy" to "composable" with the Conscia.ai logo in the bottom right corner.

This year’s winner of the People’s Choice Award for Best Open Source CMS goes to the ever popular Concrete5!
<img style="max-width:200px" src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2023/08/koken-620x361_muxhsx.png" />
Congratulations to everyone at Concrete5 for their awesome work. It was a hard fought battle with CMS Made Simple for first place but Concrete5 took over in the end and won this year with the most votes.
Concrete5 makes running a website easy.
Go to any page in your site, and an editing toolbar gives you all the controls you need to update your website. No intimidating manuals, no complicated administration interfaces – just point and click.
What can you build with concrete5?
<ul>
<li>Online magazines and newspapers.</li>
<li>eCommerce sites.</li>
<li>Extranets and Intranets.</li>
<li>Government websites.</li>
<li>Small business websites.</li>
<li>Non-profit and organization websites.</li>
<li>Community-based portals.</li>
<li>Church, club, and team websites.</li>
<li>Personal or family homepages.</li>
<li>Marketing-focused sites for a corporation.</li>
<li>Any school, college, or university website.</li>
<li>Many online communities.</li>
<li>Anything else you can dream up!</li>
</ul>
Check out Concrete5 on <a href="http://www.concrete5.org">their website</a> to learn more about this great CMS.
Our runner up for this year was CMS Made Simple, which fought a hard battle and did a commendable job of making Concrete5 work for their win.
This isn’t the end of the awards, however, as the Critic’s Choice portion of the awards which will be selected by CMS Critic will be announced soon.
<ol>
<li>Concrete5</li>
<li>CMS Made Simple</li>
<li>Liferay</li>
<li>ProcessWire</li>
<li>Textpattern</li>
</ol>
Thanks to all for really driving hard for the votes and don’t forget to stay tuned to our site to find out which of our five shortlisted competitors below takes the <a href="/cms-critic-awards/">Critic’s Choice Award</a>, to be announced soon.

People's Choice Winner for Best Open Source CMS is...

CMS Summit 26

Find out at CMS Summit 26, May 12 - 13 in Frankfurt, Germany

What's ahead for CMS in the agentic era?

#ffffff

One of the biggest challenges with adopting <a href="https://machalliance.org/mach-technology" target="_blank">MACH</a> (Microservices, API-First, Cloud-Native SaaS, Headless) is understanding what you’re in for. After all, going composable and embracing MACH patterns and architectures is not for the faint of heart.
So if you’re seriously considering MACH, is your company prepared for what’s ahead? What resources will you require? And what does success look like?
To help answer some of these foundational questions, the <a href="https://www.cmscritic.com/mach-alliance-expands-advisory-board-launches-new-mach-book-resource/">MACH Alliance</a> – a not-for-profit group that advocates for open and best-of-breed enterprise technology ecosystems – has developed a new <a href="https://machalliance.org/mach-maturity-assessment" target="_blank">MACH Maturity Assessment Tool</a>. This five-minute "quiz" focuses on high-level business considerations instead of just the technical landscape, giving you a quick snapshot of your organization’s MACH readiness.
The online self-assessment provides a step-by-step Q&amp;A that scores your overall readiness to make the MACH shift. The questions focus on six key pillars: Strategy and Transformation, Organization and Governance, Process and Metrics, People and Culture, Technology and Architecture, and Business Intelligence.
I previously chatted with <a href="https://www.cmscritic.com/the-future-is-composable-a-conversation-with-new-mach-alliance-president-casper-rasmussen/">Casper Rasmussen</a>, President of the MACH Alliance, to ask why this assessment tool is so important.
“What we set as an objective for 2023 is to help buyers make the right decisions,” he said. “We want to clarify the role of MACH and whom it’s for – and this tool plays a vital role in doing that. It allows an organization to gauge its readiness to adopt MACH, but it’s not a technology evaluation. This is a 360-degree view of the actual organizational aspects.”
It’s worth noting that MACH Alliance member Deloitte Digital led the development of this tool, along with a group of Alliance member volunteers and SI reps. The consortium included professionals from commercetools, Capgemini, Apply Digital, Orium, Vuestorefront, Big Commerce, Scaleflex, Vercel, talon.one, Cloudinary, Intive, Bold Commerce, Epam, and Valtech.
<h2>The six dimensions of a MACH-ready business</h2>
The Maturity Assessment questions align with what Casper described as six dimensions of a MACH-ready business – the same dimensions the Alliance has been consistently focused on.
But, as he points out, there’s always a journey element to MACH. Part of that transition is evaluating readiness, but it’s also identifying the gaps to help improve it.
“We’re not expecting companies to be perfect,” he clarified. “Not only do we score based on the answers that brands provide us, but we help them figure out, rectify, and actually improve across the dimensions that might be troublesome or problematic for them. This helps them navigate the journey they are about to embark on.”
The MACH Alliance also released a <a href="https://machalliance.org/thought-leadership/mach-maturity-assessment-whitepaper">white paper</a> covering the six pillars, which pair up to each self-assessment stage. Here’s a brief summary of each dimension:
<img src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2023/07/mach-maturity-diagram-pillars-1024x757.png" alt="MACH Maturity Assessment Diagram" />
<ul>
<li>Strategy and Transformation: As an organization considers a MACH transformation, clearly understanding its business objectives is essential. This initial step of the assessment highlights where a MACH approach may be applicable based on an organization’s current view of transformation across domains and as a whole.</li>
<li>Organization and Governance: This assessment step focuses on the decision-making process and how organizations support rapid change cycles and integrate with multiple external suppliers. MACH may require a business to adapt its operating model or delegate governance around an agreed-upon set of principles. These practices are foundational to supporting an effective MACH transition.</li>
<li>Process and Metrics: As noted in the white paper, any approach to MACH will have “knock-on” effects to process and metrics to support a distributed system of smaller components. Organizations may need to adopt an Agile project management framework, new reporting to span multiple business domains, and business processes for procuring, provisioning, and onboarding external systems.</li>
<li>People and Culture: Having the right distribution of people and frictionless communication between teams is key to a successful MACH transition. These questions focus on an organization’s culture and dynamics, where empowering greater autonomy, collaboration, and personal ownership of decisions can drive success – along with the development of new digital skills.</li>
<li>Technology and Architecture: While the assessment focuses more on business considerations, technology is a cornerstone of MACH and plays a big role in the transition. These questions focus on the shift from large, multi-function systems to more granular components, assessing whether an organization’s engineers and architects are prepared for microservices, APIs, cloud-based systems, and decoupled services.</li>
<li>Business Intelligence: The final stage of the assessment is concerned with optics and KPIs. To achieve and maintain MACH, organizations require tools for analysis and visualization that enable data-driven decisions at technical, operational, and business levels. Also, business intelligence best practices encompass the role of advanced analytics, AI and machine learning, and near-real-time data transparency.</li>
</ul>
<h2>Taking the MACH Maturity Assessment</h2>
Like any objective knowledge-seeker, I took the MACH Maturity Assessment myself.
As billed, I spent just a few minutes from start to finish and found the experience clear, frictionless, and kind of fun. Each question was multiple choice (A/B/C), peppered with intuitive options that use words like “firepower” and “big bang.” This makes the flow easy and highly accessible to business users.
A few questions did meander into techspeak (CI/CD processes, APIs, etc.). As a cloud guy, I easily understood the concepts, but you can pause the assessment and even back up if there are any specific details you need to hunt down. Once completed, you can enter your email address and have the assessment sent to you (not a requirement, BTW).
The final report generates a slick performance chart that maps your maturity as Weak, Immature, Moderate, or Mature. I included mine below:
<img src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2023/07/mach-maturity-performance-chart-1024x1018.png" alt="MACH Maturity Assessment diagam" />
I pulled a “Moderate” based on some of my answers, and was given a set of suggestions for improving my performance in the areas that required the most attention. For example, I was stronger in People and Culture but weaker in Business Intelligence – so the tool suggested I invest in improving my ability to track metrics across applications and experiences.
Again, this is a high-level snapshot, so not enough detail to prescribe specific solutions. But certainly enough to plan next steps.
Reviewing my results reminded me of how Casper framed success in our discussion. “The more we can emphasize the potential areas that will end up being problematic and really improve, the better,” he said. “Because it means brands are walking into it eyes wide open.”
<h2>MACHinating the journey ahead</h2>
If you’re considering a transition to MACH – and want an eye-opening experience – I would wholeheartedly recommend the MACH Maturity Assessment. It takes just a few minutes, but it’s a great place to start your journey.
You can access the tool online at <a href="https://machalliance.org/mach-maturity-assessment">https://machalliance.org/mach-maturity-assessment</a>

New MACH Alliance Maturity Assessment Tool Helps Organizations Evaluate Their MACH Readiness

matt-garrepy

<img src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2023/08/backup_pro_review_-_1-1.png" /> Backup Pro is a CMS agnostic data backup tool that forgoes the cloud to put your website data in your hands.
Launched back in 2011 by the programmer and entrepreneur <a href="http://blog.ericlamb.net/">Eric Lamb</a>, Backup Pro has built a reputation for being feature-rich and flexible in the face of disaster recovery.
At the time of writing, it supports the following five content management systems:
<ul>
<li>WordPress</li>
<li><a href="/concrete5-marketplace-gets-backup-pro/">Concrete5</a></li>
<li>Prestashop</li>
<li>Craft</li>
<li>ExpressEngine (2 &amp; 3)</li>
</ul>
However, support for other content management systems is coming.
Backup Pro allows for abstract storage of website backups through any combination of local storage, Amazon S3, Rackspace, Google Cloud Storage, Dropbox, FTP (with SSL), SFTP, and even an email inbox. Plus, you can create your own storage engines for complete control over your backups.
A command line interface also allows you to take backups with Backup Pro without involving Apache into the process. And since Apache applies limits to PHP, using the command line interface for Backup Pro ensures your backups never fail due to time and/or memory issues.
Another handy feature is the ‘Integrity Agent’, which is an automatic system that inspects your backups looking for errors and missing data – so you don’t have to.
What’s more is, thanks to the REST API support, Backup Pro users don’t just have total access to their data, they have absolute control over it, too.
In this review, I’ll be focusing on how Backup Pro handles itself with WordPress – which I feel is the most relevant platform to focus on, considering <a href="https://w3techs.com/technologies/overview/content_management/all">26% of the known internet runs on WordPress</a>.
Plus, there’s no difference in functionality between the different “versions” of Backup Pro.
<h2>First Impressions</h2>
I always start my reviews on the vendor website, and this review is no different.
Backup Pro was crafted by Eric Lamb, and he has decided to host the product on his personally branded Mithra62 website, where it can be purchased and downloaded.
It’s sold alongside Mithra62’s other products, which include <a href="https://mithra62.com/projects/view/automat-ee">Automat:ee</a>, <a href="https://mithra62.com/projects/view/securit-ee">Securit:ee</a>, and <a href="https://mithra62.com/projects/view/export-it">Export It</a>.
<img src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2023/08/backup_pro_review_-_2.png" />
The website itself is clean and professional, with a dark color scheme. There’s nothing wrong with it in terms of design, but it certainly doesn’t feel prestige, either. And on that note, I think it’s fair to say that a re-branding project wouldn’t go amiss.
Nevertheless, let’s get down to business.
<h2>Getting Started</h2>
After downloading Backup Pro, I uploaded it to my WordPress test site like any other plugin, to test out the functionality.
<img src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2023/08/backup_pro_review_-_3.png" /> After installation and activation, I checked out the Backup Pro interface. To access Backup Pro, you’ll find it on the sidebar, consisting of four sections:
<ul>
<li>Dashboard</li>
<li>Backup Database</li>
<li>Backup Files</li>
<li>Settings</li>
</ul>
Here’s a close look at all of them.
<h2>Dashboard</h2>
<img src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2023/08/backup_pro_review_-_4.png" />
The Backup Pro dashboard is very easy on the eyes, and doesn’t try to do anything fancy to take up your WordPress menu or screen space – like many other plugins try to do.
It gives you an overview of the backups you have already created by showing you how many backups you have taken, the total space taken, the total space available, as well as the date of the most recent backup.
This overview is also segmented to show database backups and file backups individually. Beneath all of that, is a list of your most recent backups. It gives you everything you need at a quick glance, and does nothing too fancy – just the way I like it.
<h3>Backup Database</h3>
<img src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2023/08/backup_pro_review_-_5.png" />
To backup my site’s database, I only needed to head over to the Backup Database section and click Start Backup.
The resulting backup took a matter of seconds, leaving me with.
I was able to see all my recent backups listed, and I could also leave a note on each one, to help me remember exactly when and why I made that backup – if necessary.
<h3>Backup Files</h3>
<img src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2023/08/backup_pro_review_-_6.png" />
As with the database backup, a file backup can be done via one click of a button, and it all worked just as fast. Of course, the speed will largely depend on how large your website is.
Once backed up, I was able to see the backup in my list, restore it, or download it to my computer. The download conveniently came as a .zip file.
As with the database backups, I was also able to leave notes for each of my listed backup.
I took multiple backups, downloaded them, restored them, and tinkered as much as I could. It all worked seamlessly.
So far, so good!
<h3>Settings</h3>
<img src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2023/08/backup_pro_review_-_7.png" />
The settings page is where things take a more technical turn.
From here, you can configure things to do with:
<ul>
<li>Database backups</li>
<li>File backups</li>
<li>Cron backup</li>
<li>Storage locations</li>
<li>Integrity alerts</li>
<li>Rest API</li>
<li>Additional SQL commands</li>
</ul>
Generally speaking, you won’t need to touch these settings, but it’s good to know that you can change things like the maximum amount of locally stored file backups and the file format of database backups – should you ever need to.
<h2>Getting Help</h2>
<img src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2023/08/backup_pro_review_-_8.png" />
If you run into any trouble, Backup Pro offers some decent support options on its Support page.
There’s a searchable knowledge based with a decent amount of FAQs, along with a small support forum to pose questions if needed. Neither are extensively detailed, but they are there.
There’s also a trackable ticketing system if you need some more hands-on assistance.
As for <a href="https://mithra62.com/docs">documentation</a>, there’s a whole lot of it that can be found on the Mitha62 website, which details everything from configuration to automation.
Plus, Eric Lamb’s personal approach will come in handy if you need help. He personally runs the Backup Pro twitter account for example, so you can reach him there.
In fact, during the course of this review, I actually uncovered a minor bug and reported it back to Eric Lamb. He fixed it almost immediately.
<h2>Pricing</h2>
Backup Pro currently sells for $99.99, which is a great price when you compare it to the long term costs of cloud-based competitors.
If we compare that one-off fee to some worthy competitors, we’ll see why Backup Pro makes more sense financially.
CodeGuard’s cloud service charges you $5 per month, while DropMySite charges $2.50 per month. Even if you go for the latter option, Backup Pro becomes the cheaper option before the two year mark.
<h2>The Verdict</h2>
Backup Pro does what it says on the tin.
It poses solutions for the problems brought about by cloud-based backup services, and makes it easy to keep all your data safely offline as well as online (across a wide range of storage options).
I’m not a huge fan of the branding that surrounds the product, but that’s a minor issue with no bearing on the product itself, which is nothing short of great.
Furthermore, the fact that is works with a good range of popular CMS – and promises to work with more soon – is something that I have to commend it on. However, in order to really push Backup Pros’ USP as a CMS agnostic tool, more content management systems need to be on the list. Particularly Joomla and Drupal.
To find out more about Backup Pro <a href="https://mithra62.com/projects/view/backup-pro">visit the Mithra62 website</a>.

Backup Pro Review

Ecommerce features have only recently been available to <a href="https://www.weebly.com/" target="_blank"> Weebly</a> users, but this week, Weebly have introduced yet more ecommerce improvements, along with an updated Stock Photo library.
Early in 2014, <a href="/weebly-introduces-ecommerce-and-ssl-features/#.UzP8Wvl_vvU" target="_blank"> Weebly released an integrated shopping cart</a> along with a myriad of ecommerce features, enabling its user base to sell physical and digital goods.
Now, after listening to user requests and suggestions, <a href="https://www.weebly.com/">Weebly</a> have added further ecommerce enhancements. So, let's have a look at what's new.
<h2>Order Notes, Quickbooks &amp; CSV Exporting</h2>
Giving customers a voice when they make an order is important, and Weebly have recognized this. Now, all of your customers have the option to leave an optional “Note to Seller” during checkout, letting you know if they want you to handle any other specifics.
This new feature can be configured via the Store tab under Settings &gt; General.
<img src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2023/08/6273065_orig700x0.png" alt="Weebly Order Note" />
What's also new for Weebly merchants, is the ability to export orders directly from your store dashboard. One-click data conversion and collection makes it easy to sync store order information with your Quickbooks software.
CSV exporting is available for free on all Weebly plans, whilst only Business Plan users can enjoy the Quickbooks exporting feature.
<img src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2023/08/3892806_orig700x0.png" alt="Weebly Exporting" />
<h2>Google Analytics, Pixel Tracking &amp; Stock Photos</h2>
Knowing how your customers and visitors behave when they visit your store is vital to knowing where to improve.
To help you out with that, you can now add Google Analytics to your store and tracking pixels to your Cart, Payment, or Receipt pages from the advanced settings interface.
<img src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2023/08/431380_orig700x0.png" alt="Weebly Analytics" />
Finally, Weebly have also made improvements to their Stock Photo library, which offers 12 million professional and free stock photos. The professional photos can even be purchased directly from the Weebly interface.
<img src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2023/08/6784022_orig700x0.png" alt="Weebly" />
Photos taken from the library can not only be used in pages and blog posts, but also within backgrounds to help give your store a more personalised look and feel.
For more information on Weebly and its newly introduced online store features, check out their <a href="https://www.weebly.com/" target="_blank">official website</a>.
Additionally, you can explore more of  <a href="/products/weebly/" target="_blank"> Weebly via our CMS Directory</a>.

Weebly Introduce Further Ecommerce & Stock Photo Updates

<a href="/boonex" target="_blank">Boonex Dolphin.Pro</a> has been updated with a flurry of features, and it's looking as sleek as ever on all fronts.
<a href="/boonex" target="_blank"><img src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2023/08/sshot-1.png" /></a> 
Considered to be one of the leading products in the social networking space, Boonex Dolphin is packed out with lots of different features to help users build online communities.
Here's a look at what Dolphin.Pro 7.2 brings to the table.
<h2>More Mobile Friendliness, Emojis &amp; More</h2>
Version 7.2 of Dolphin.Pro comes with a new mobile-friendly design template; support of “retina” content and interface images; new file-manager integration; Homepage Timeline; TinyMCE 4 and plenty more. It's a hefty update indeed.
<img src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2023/08/hvknm5t818x0-is.jpg" /> 
Recurring payments have also been introduced, along with PayPal Pro and payments on Join Form.
Boonex has also unveiled an updated Admin Panel, improved Pages Builder, new anti-SPAM lists, easier module installation, better image resizing and admin action in user interface. There's even Emoji support for the product's Shoutbox feature, which can be placed on any page.
<img src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2023/08/s81pelg818x0-is.jpg" />
To find out more about Dolphin.Pro 7.2, check out the official announcement, or <a href="http://demo.boonex.com/" target="_blank">try out the demo</a>.
You can also explore more of <a href="http://demo.boonex.com/" target="_blank">Boonex Dolphin through our CMS Directory</a>.

Dolphin.Pro 7.2 Released

<img src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2023/08/telephone-586268_1280-e1470917206500.jpg" alt="CMS mobile apps" />
A CMS (Content Management System) is used to create and maintain digital content – typically in the form of a website. That management of content is still primarily done from a desktop of sorts, but with the business world becoming ever more flexible, the need for mobile content management is growing. 
If you're looking for a CMS that will enable you to produce and edit your website's content from the road, here are five platforms ranked based on the quality of their mobile application.
<h2>1. WordPress</h2>
<a href="https://wordpress.org">WordPress</a> is perhaps the most well known self hosted content management system on the web. Countless websites from <a href="http://fourhourworkweek.com/2014/06/19/drawing-a-penny/?utm_content=bufferfc567&amp;utm_medium=social&amp;utm_source=twitter.com&amp;utm_campaign=buffer">The Blog of Author Tim Ferriss</a>  to <a href="https://thewaltdisneycompany.com/about/">The Walt Disney Company</a> are ran using either the .com or .org versions of WordPress so it should come as no surprise that their app is number one.
The WordPress app for iOS allows its users to publish content from within the app, edit pre-existing posts, and view their site statistics. The application also acts as a way for people who just want to consume content to use the app as a reader for the most popular WordPress blogs and sites. The ability to do pretty much anything you need to from the app paired with its blog browsing capability edges out the not so steep competition.
Download (Free): <a href="https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/wordpress/id335703880?mt=8">iOS</a> &amp; <a href="https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=org.wordpress.android&amp;hl=en_GB">Android</a>
<h2>2. Drupal</h2>
<a href="https://www.drupal.org">Drupal</a> is a widely popular content management system with a ton of useful features that boasts flexibility. Several notable websites use Drupal including the <a href="http://www.bbc.com">BBC Homepage</a>. Drupal’s standard features come free.
Drupal’s mobile application, <a href="https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/drupad-drupal-on-the-go/id378485000?mt=8">Drupad</a> includes features like the ability to manage any number of websites, create and edit content, as well as the option to read posts and moderate comments. However the app feels terribly dated and for it’s price that’s unacceptable. 
Download ($4.99): <a href="https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/drupad-drupal-on-the-go/id378485000?mt=8">iOS</a>
<h2>3. Joomla</h2>
<a href="https://www.joomla.org">Joomla</a> is an award winning, open source, and free to use content management system so trusted that <a href="http://www.ebay.com">eBay</a> uses them. 
<a href="https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/joomla-admin/id435607955?mt=8">Joomla Admin</a> for iOS allows its users to monitor all of their Joomla websites. It also offers the ability to block ip addresses of people using their site from within the application. Unfortunately this app is another example of an overpriced and outdated piece of software. It gets this spot on the list simply because it was updated more recently, although not recently enough. 
Download ($4.99): <a href="https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/joomla-admin/id435607955?mt=8">iOS</a>
<h2>4. Movable Type</h2>
<a href="https://www.movabletype.com/?__utma=239423775.1493377145.1470801874.1470847148.1470851143.4&amp;__utmb=239423775.10.10.1470851143&amp;__utmc=239423775&amp;__utmx=-&amp;__utmz=239423775.1470847148.3.2.utmcsr=google%7Cutmccn=(organic)%7Cutmcmd=organic%7Cutmctr=(not%20provided)&amp;__utmv=-&amp;__utmk=226467545">Movable Type </a> was launched in 2001 as a scalable and flexible publishing and blogging software. Widely used in Japan it now serves as the backend for large media and fortune 100 companies.
<a href="https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/movable-type/id1016788124?mt=8">Movable Type</a> for iOS includes an easy to use HTML text editor along with features that enable you to add, edit, and delete entries or web pages. You can then preview mobile and desktop versions of your content. Seriously, four spots in and finally there’s an app that I don't wince at the thought of suggesting. Useful features that are clearly defined and at no cost to the consumer, this one is all upside. 
Download (Free): <a href="https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/movable-type/id1016788124?mt=8">iOS</a>
<h2>5. Umbraco</h2>
<a href="https://umbraco.com">Umbraco</a> is another feature packed content management system that is free to use. However you can sign up for Umbraco as a service for 25 euros (about 28 dollars U.S.) One example of their platform at work is <a href="http://www.vanityfair.it">Vanity Fair Italy</a>.
Umbraco does have an app and it’s called <a href="https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/umobile-for-ios/id699889313?mt=8">uMobile for iOS</a> . However it appears to be in beta with its latest version being 0.9.6.1. The features that this app enables are unclear, but if you’re already using Umbraco you might as well give it a shot. It won't cost you anything.
Download (Free): <a href="https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/umobile-for-ios/id699889313?mt=8">iOS</a>
<h2>Weirdly, That's All Folks</h2>
 When I sat out to write this post, I imagined I would really have to fight to narrow it down to the final five. 
With the increasing popularity of smartphones, tablets, and workers on-the-move, I was shocked to find that only a select few CMS offer solid mobile apps.
So, the main takeaway here is that CMS vendors should really consider making a useful mobile app for their consumers.
Is there a Content Management System that you wish had an app? What does a good CMS app need to do for you to spend money on it? Let me know in the comments below!

5 CMS With Awesome Smartphone Apps

feindura has released version 2.0 of their CMS. feindura is a flat file based CMS, which is made for small websites and web-designers which want to give their clients a neat and simple interface to edit their web site.
This is a major update and brings a complete new interface and features like plugins and add-ons to feindura.
<img src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2023/08/img1-620x346.png" />
feindura is a pure content deliver CMS, which means it is not possible to edit the web sites layout in the feindura backend. This way the web-designer is able to determine the layout, give his clients as much freedom as they need (to add pages and categories), without overwhelming them with too much options. Often CMS add more and more options, which make them very flexible for the user but hard to grasp for non-tech beginners.
Implementation
The pages created in feindura are solely add to the web site through an PHP class, which makes it on the one hand very flexible in how the layout can look like, but on the other hand prevent feindura to mess with the layout itself.
This way its easy to convert any static HTML/CSS website with a few lines of code by adding for example:
<blockquote>
foreach($feindura-&gt;createMenu(‘cat',1,'ul') as $item) echo $item[‘item']
to create a &lt;ul&gt; menu or:
$content = $feindura-&gt;showPage(); echo ‘&lt;h1&gt;'.$content[”title].'&lt;/h1&gt;'; echo $content[‘content']; to show the content of any selected page.
</blockquote>
Plugins
The new feindura version comes also with a plugin feature which allows the user to add additional functionality like an image gallery or a contact form to its pages where ever he wants (using drag'n'drop to place it). And gives developers an easy way to extend functionality of their clients web sites.
<img src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2023/08/img2-620x370.png" />
Add-ons
The feature allows web developers to built complete applications which run inside the feindura backend. This could be a newsletter management system or other website related add-ons. Currently there are no public add-ons available, but you can download an example add-on to get started building your own.
<img src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2023/08/img3-620x239.png" />
Interested in checking it out or getting the latest release? Hit their website: <a href="http://feindura.org/">http://feindura.org/</a>

feindura CMS 2.0 has been Released

The 2014 Adobe Digital Marketing Summit is underway and the two opening keynotes have come to completion. With over 5,500 guests in attendance this year, this has to be one of the biggest conferences we've attended in 2014.
These conferences aren't just about Adobe, however, even though the name would imply as much. They are more about how companies and marketers are having to work together to stay on top of the ever growing digital marketplace. With technology advancing at such a rapid pace nowadays, entire teams have to be dedicated to marketing and the development of strong digital strategies in order to stay competitive.
What we find at these annual summits is that more and more marketers are looking for ways to bring their organizations into the digital world and merge the many silos that exist within their organizations (IT, Marketing, Executive Office, Sales, etc). These conferences help give insight into what some large successful companies are doing and, more importantly, how they are doing it. Sure, the organizations and individuals that are often brought to the stage are in relationships with Adobe but this doesn't make the information any less useful or interesting for marketers using other platforms. There is inspiration in their words and we often leave these sessions feeling energized and ready to tackle new challenges.
There is no doubt that Adobe is at the forefront of innovation when it comes to digital marketing. They are investing enormous amounts of money and time developing their product to suit the needs of massive enterprises such as FedEx, Audi, Condé Nast, SAP to name a few and they are certainly doing a good job at it. Their interface is easy to use, visually attractive and works relatively seamlessly and they are tireless in their desire to continue to advance their product, something that is quite evident year over year.
At this year's summit, we had the pleasure of hearing from a number of innovators and key people that understand the power of marketing such as:
<img src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2023/08/adobesummi5t.jpg" alt="Robert Redford Adobe Summit" />
Actor / Director, Robert Redford
<img src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2023/08/adobesummit6.jpg" alt="Richard Sherman Adobe Summit" />
NFL star, Richard Sherman
<img src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2023/08/yancey_strickler700x0.jpg" alt="Yancey Strickler, Adobe Summit" />
Yancey Strickler, CEO and Co-Founder of <a href="http://kickstarter.com"> Kickstarter </a>
<img src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2023/08/adobesummit2.jpg" alt="Julie Bornstein, CMO Sephora" />
Julie Bornstein, CMO of Sephora
<img src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2023/08/adobesummit4.jpg" alt="Mike Rude Fedex Adobe Summit" />
Mike Rude, Director – Customer Experience Marketing, Fedex
Adobe never fails to impress with the amazing production value and the quality of their speakers. Even as a non-Adobe customer, we can see the incredible value in attending their conference just to stay in tune with the industry and where it's headed.
For those who missed our live tweets during the event, we've put together the highlights from Day 1 of 2 of the General Sessions in the form of a Storify story for your enjoyment featuring some of the best Tweets:
<code>[[storify-adobesummit2014]]</code>
We'll also be sharing some live tweets from the upcoming Adobe Bash featuring a concert by Vampire Weekend! Be sure to stay tuned to our site and <a href="http://twitter.com/cmscritic">follow us on Twitter</a> for the latest CMS Reviews, News and Views on a daily basis. You can also <a href="https://www.cmscritic.com/">subscribe to our newsletter</a> to make sure you don't miss any important stories.

Adobe Digital Marketing Summit 2014 - Keynotes

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