Articles - Page 136

<a target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://cmscritic.com/critics/andycohen">Andy Cohen</a><a target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://cmscritic.com/critics/deane"> </a>is the founding architect of Sitecore XM Cloud. He is VP/Chief Architect at <a target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://www.altudo.co/">Altudo</a>, and a CMS Critic contributor. <hr /> When people talk about personalization, they often mean “the right content to the right person at the right time.” That idea is now past tense.I have watched this shift play out up close, from <a target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://cmscritic.com/products/sitecore">Sitecore’s</a> early rules-based personalization, through <a target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://cmscritic.com/products/contentstack">Contentstack’s</a> use of edge-based personalization in a composable architecture, to <a target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://cmscritic.com/products/optimizely">Optimizely’s</a> launch of Opal, a system of marketing AI agents. Personalization no longer stops at swapping content on a page. It now reaches into the interaction itself, and soon, into the relationships agents form with one another.<h3 id="when-agents-adapt-to-us">When Agents Adapt to Us</h3>That shift, from “what” to “how,” is where the major CMS players are already moving, and you can see it in the different bets they're making:<ul><li>Contentstack has put its weight behind <a target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://cmscritic.com/livin-on-the-edge-contentstacks-new-adaptive-dxp-might-just-rock-your-world">EDGE</a>, which they call a hyper-personalization platform. It blends their headless CMS with a real-time CDP, AI, and automation. The goal is simple but ambitious: deliver one-to-one experiences in the moment and at scale. Because it is composable, brands can adapt interactions without locking themselves into rigid patterns. What strikes me about EDGE is that it reframes personalization as something continuous, not a campaign you set and forget.</li><li>Optimizely has taken another route with <a target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://cmscritic.com/optimizely-opal-gets-supercharged-for-agentic-ai-powering-infinite-use-cases-for-marketers">Opal</a>. Instead of a single assistant, Opal is built as a collection of agents that act like members of a marketing team. There is a campaign manager agent, a personalization advisor, a market researcher, and more. With the 2.0 release, Optimizely put the emphasis on letting these agents collaborate and run multi-step workflows across content, data, and experimentation. I have seen teams spend weeks coordinating those same steps manually. Opal hints at a world where marketing execution is handled by an ensemble of digital teammates who can plan, act, and adjust together.</li><li>Sitecore has focused on bringing assistance directly into daily work. Through <a target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://www.sitecore.com/products/sitecore-stream">Stream</a>, they have introduced AI copilots that support authors and marketers in real time as they draft and optimize campaigns. On top of that, Sitecore’s partnership with <a target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://cmscritic.com/sitecore-sharpens-ai-focus-with-strategic-partnership-and-new-leadership-appointments">Gradial</a> shows how agentic workflows can extend into campaign execution. It is not just about smarter editors or quicker drafts. It is about agents that can carry intent through to delivery and adapt along the way. For a company that has lived for years in the world of static content publishing, that is a meaningful step forward.</li></ul>None of these approaches feels like a gimmick.They are different answers to the same problem: personalization is no longer about what content you are shown, it is about how the interaction unfolds. Whether that happens through hyper-personalization at the edge, through orchestrated marketing agents, or via copilots and execution partners, the shift is real and already in motion.<h3 id="what-nondeterminism-really-means">What Nondeterminism Really Means</h3>Most software behaves like math: 2 + 2 always equals 4. Generative AI does not. Ask it to draft a thank-you note and you will get three different answers, all plausible, none identical. That variability is what we call nondeterminism.It is the very thing that makes AI feel creative, but also the reason it needs personalization to stay useful. As <a target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://parivedasolutions.com/perspectives/managing-the-non-deterministic-nature-of-generative-ai/">Pariveda Solutions points out</a>, nondeterminism is what makes AI flexible and creative, but it also introduces governance challenges that remain unresolved. In my own work with <a target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://cmscritic.com/getting-loud-with-xm-cloud-sitecore-reports-100-growth-of-its-ai-powered-cloud-based-cms">XM Cloud,</a> I have seen how unpredictable outcomes can be a feature if the system adapts well – and a liability if it does not.<h3 id="when-agents-adapt-to-each-other">When Agents Adapt to Each Other</h3>The next frontier is agents adapting not just to us but to each other. Nondeterminism multiplies when two autonomous systems interact. They need ways to converge on workable outcomes.Sometimes that looks like adjusting communication style, where one agent is structured and terse, another free-form and verbose. Sometimes, it means learning to accept differences in task style, such as fast approximation versus cautious step-by-step reasoning. Other times it's about role negotiation: who leads, who validates, who escalates.And sometimes it is memory. Agents do not just adapt in the moment; they remember. That memory can look like a grudge. A search agent that hallucinated last time will get fact-checked the next. A procurement agent that botched a deal may face stricter oversight. Even first impressions stick. If an agent’s very first hand-off is sloppy, the other agent may never fully trust it, no matter how good the later work becomes.Humans behave the same way. In corporate life, one bad kickoff meeting can color a partnership for months. Agents will carry those patterns too.<a target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://www.deepset.ai/blog/ai-agents-and-deterministic-workflows-a-spectrum"> Deepset calls this the “spectrum of determinism to nondeterminism</a>.” I call it relationship management.<h3 id="everyday-illustrations">Everyday Illustrations</h3>Picture a grocery agent told to buy apples if they are $0.99 a pound. A deterministic system comes back empty because they are $1.09. An adaptive one checks with you, “They are a little higher today. Should I buy anyway?” That is useful, until the store’s own agent learns to nudge yours into paying even more.Or ride-hailing. You set a $20 target. The price surges to $23. Do you want your agent to decline, wait, or decide on its own? What happens when the ride-share’s agent starts upselling yours into priority pickup at $28?Or travel. You say, “Book me a flight under $500.” The system finds none. A flexible agent returns with, “There is one at $525 with better times. Should I grab it?” Helpful, but it shows how quickly rules can bend.In the enterprise, this gets thornier. Procurement policies might cap software licenses at $50 per seat. A deterministic agent halts the deal. A personalized one negotiates to $55 and closes it. That looks like a win until you realize the vendor’s agent deliberately anchored higher, knowing yours would flex upward.Healthcare raises the stakes even more. You ask for an appointment with your doctor next week. A rigid agent says none available. A personalized one offers a nurse practitioner tomorrow or a specialist in two weeks. That looks like a better experience, but it could also push you toward higher-margin services instead of the care you really wanted.<a target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://www.salesforce.com/blog/deterministic-ai/">Salesforce has written about this exact problem</a> of when to script agents tightly and when to let them roam. I see it every day in delivery projects. Too rigid and you frustrate users. Too loose and you open the door to manipulation.<h3 id="agents-that-carry-“you”-with-them">Agents That Carry “You” With Them</h3>Now push it further. Imagine your agent not only executes tasks but carries your personality footprint into every interaction. If you are cost-sensitive, it pushes harder. If you are time-poor, it pays more for speed. If you are detail-driven, it double-checks everything.What if you could swap personas entirely?<ul><li>"Frugal Andy" does the grocery shopping</li><li>"Executive Andy" books the flights</li><li>"Playful Andy" explores games and hobbies.</li></ul>Your agent would not only personalize to you. It would personalize as you.But there is risk in this. If the other agent knows who you are or which persona you are using, it can adapt back. That can be powerful when aligned with your goals, but it can also be exploited. Imagine a vendor agent that recognizes executive mode and steers you toward premium packages.This is not hypothetical. Optimizely’s Opal agents already act like different team members depending on context. Contentstack’s Brand Kit lets you define voice profiles and store guidelines so that every AI-generated artifact reflects your identity. Sitecore’s Stream copilots are designed to guide content creators in real time, aligning their work with brand and role expectations.These are early signals of a future where agents carry pieces of us, including quirks, preferences, and even biases, into every exchange.<h3 id="why-this-matters">Why This Matters</h3>This is why nondeterminism is not a flaw but the feature. Deterministic systems did not need personalization. There was only one output. Nondeterministic systems can go in many directions, and personalization is what prevents chaos.The best metaphor I know is jazz. Musicians improvising do not know exactly where the others will go. They adapt, they respond, they personalize their playing to the group. The music works not because it is scripted but because the players trust each other enough to bend and flex.<a target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://www.mckinsey.com/capabilities/quantumblack/our-insights/seizing-the-agentic-ai-advantage">McKinsey has argued</a> that this adaptability is the defining advantage of agentic AI. From what I have seen in publishing systems, SaaS cost optimization, and large-scale CMS migrations, I agree. The resilience comes not from rigid plans but from the ability to adapt in context.<h3 id="what-leaders-should-prepare-for">What Leaders Should Prepare For</h3>Leaders should focus on their readiness in key areas. For example, trust frameworks must extend beyond human-agent interactions into agent-to-agent ecosystems. Standards cannot stay as fixed APIs; they need flexibility built in. Identity management has to protect personality profiles and alter egos from misuse. And agents must be able to remember not just what they did for us, but how they worked with others.<h3 id="the-future-of-personalization">The Future of Personalization</h3>Personalization started with content. It evolved into experiences. Now, it is moving into interactions – first with humans and then with other agents.If we get this right, nondeterminism will not be something to suppress. It will be the source of resilience, adaptability, and creativity. The companies that thrive will not just personalize their websites. They will personalize their agents. Those agents will adapt to us, and to each other, in ways that reflect who we are or even who we choose to be.And like humans, they will remember. First impressions will matter. Grudges may form. And relationships between agents will start to look a lot like relationships between people. <hr /><h3 id="upcoming-events">Upcoming Events</h3> <img style="width:31.61%" src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2025/08/storyblok-joyconf-2025-logo.jpg" /><h4 id="storyblok-joyconf-2025"><a target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://joyconf.storyblok.com/">Storyblok JoyConf 2025</a></h4>October 14-15, 2025 – Amsterdam, Netherlands November 4, 2025 – New York, NY November 6, 2025 – Los Angeles, CAJoin us at JoyConf 2025, where the future of content meets the people shaping it. Built for developers, marketers, and digital innovators, this free conference goes way beyond product updates or yet another strategy playbook. It’s where you’ll get inspired, get real, and get connected – to ideas, to the community, and to what’s possible when you build joyfully. Whether you're building lightning-fast frontends or launching cross-channel campaigns, this is where content becomes connection and collaboration becomes second nature. Come for the talks. Stay for the community. Leave with joy. <a target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://joyconf.storyblok.com/">Save your spot.</a> <img style="width:28.9%" src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2025/08/sitecore-symposium-2025.jpg" /><h4 id="sitecore-symposium-2025"><a target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://symposium.sitecore.com/">Sitecore Symposium 2025</a></h4>November 3-5, 2025 – Orlando, FLAt Sitecore Symposium, you’ll learn how to meet your customers where they are – across channels, moments, and touchpoints that didn’t exist a year ago. You’ll hear how the boldest brands in the world are transforming content into outcomes and creating experiences that are fast, relevant, and human. Join 1,500 marketers, digital leaders, and technologists in Orlando to see what’s possible when personalization scales, AI accelerates creativity, and trust becomes your competitive edge. This is the Third Wave of the Internet. And this is your moment to lead in it. <a target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://symposium.sitecore.com/">Get your tickets today.</a> <img style="width:31.44%" src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2025/08/cms-kickoff-2026-logo.png" alt="" /><h4 id="cms-kickoff-2026"><a target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://www.boye-co.com/conferences/cmskickoff26">CMS Kickoff 2026</a></h4>January 13-14, 2026 – St. Petersburg, FLMeet industry leaders at our fourth annual CMS Kickoff – the industry's premier global CMS event. Similar to a traditional kickoff, we reflect on recent trends and share stories from the frontlines. Additionally, we will delve into the current happenings and shed light on the future. Prepare for an unparalleled in-person CMS conference experience that will equip you to move things forward. This is an exclusive event – space is limited, <a target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://www.boye-co.com/conferences/cmskickoff26">so secure your tickets today.</a>

Agent-to-Agent Personalization: Trust, First Impressions, and the 'Grudge' Factor

andycohen

What does open source software mean to you?
For some, the term open source simply means the difference between publicly accessible, shareable and customizable software, and legally protected property. To many, it's a technical term more than anything else.
But open source software means so much more. It has the power to transform institutions, change public perception and even save lives.
Don’t believe me? Then you haven’t heard the story behind <a href="http://www.politie.nl/" target="_blank"> Netherlands’ national police force</a>.
<h2>Disbanded Beginnings</h2>
In 2012, the Dutch police force – which consists of over 63,000 workers – came to the realization that their disunity was directly impacting their role in Dutch society.
Instead of one, central police presence, 26 separate branches of the police were responsible for their own sections of the country. Digitally, this segmentation was even worse, as citizens had to go through one of 300 localized police websites in order to find the help they needed in particular locations. Talk about confusing.
Reporting crime and contacting authorities was a constant struggle, whilst keeping tabs on the police force as a whole was almost impossible.
So, despite their motto of, “Openness, Transparency and Citizen Involvement.”, the Dutch police force's, lack of unity only served to alienate the people it was trying to serve.
That is, until they were introduced to some stellar open source software. <a href="http://www.onehippo.org/" target="_blank"> Hippo CMS</a> to be precise.
<h2>Digitally United</h2>
Using Hippo CMS, the Dutch national police force were able to consolidate their 300 local websites, into one single <a href="http://www.politie.nl/" target="_blank">Dutch Police website</a>. In addition, it enabled them to offer a unified experience across web, mobile and social channels. 
 Their new mobile site utilizes the GPS functionality of mobile phones to serve locally relevant content to the mobile citizen, giving them local news and showing them their nearest police station.
Officers have also been able to bond with their local communities organically through social media, as citizens are now even able to tweet local officers asking for help, or simply to report something suspicious.
<img src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2023/08/hippopolice700x0.png" alt="Hippo CMS" /> Using the desktop or mobile site, citizens can identify their local officers, their phone numbers, and their working hours. There is even a feature which allows them to quickly send specific officers a message through the website.  
 Further features like crime maps have been implemented, showing citizens the latest crime reports by location. 
 <img src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2023/08/hippopolice2700x0.png" alt="Hippo CMS" />
What's more is, the Dutch police introduced a revolutionary mobile app for their press officers who work on the ground, usually around high-profile incidents. Equipped with a secure device, they can each create news via a micro-version of Hippo CMS.
They can create news items and photos directly on the street before publishing them to the police website and sharing them automatically through RSS Feeds. In fact, this new method of news publishing was so useful, the police force have since got rid of email and printed press releases altogether. So, their news is now faster and greener.  
 As Ruud Paulusse from the Dutch police is quoted to have said, it's thanks to Hippo's open source contribution that citizens across the Netherlands can; access local information, quickly find crime reports, and even contact on-duty police officers in their vicinity:
<blockquote>
“With Hippo, we rolled out the mobile site together with the desktop site. That’s the advantage of having a central Content Management System that serve content to all channels.”
</blockquote>
<h2>The Power of Open Source</h2>
Without a shadow of a doubt, Hippo CMS – under the banner of open source software – has carried out a tremendous service to the Dutch people. Never before have the public of Netherlands been so well aquainted with their police force.
 The transformation of the Dutch police force has also led to them being ranked <a href="http://www.mt.nl/494/mt500-van-2013" target="_blank">#70 in the MT500</a> – which compiles the 500 most admired institutions in the Netherlands. Tellingly, in previous years, the Dutch police had not been ranked at all.
<img src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2023/08/hippo1-1700x0.png" alt="Hippo CMS" /> Ron de Milde, Program Director of Media Policy and Digital Media for the Police, had this to say about the Dutch police's new, friendlier stance:
<blockquote>
“I am convinced that our innovations in how we inform citizens via www.politie.nl and internally via our new country-wide intranet, also thanks to using Hippo CMS, have contributed to our entering the list of the 500 “most admired” companies” 
</blockquote>
Hippo's open source platform helped the Netherlands' police to evolve. Their services were once scattered and and ineffective, yet they are now concentrated and inclusive. 
Since taking their open source plunge, the Dutch police haven't just served their people, they have integrated with them, creating a crime-fighting community. And that's a real victory – not just for any police force, but also for any open source software user. 
 After all, community is what makes open source software so great.   
 To find out more about open source software as a whole, visit the <a href="http://opensource.org/" target="_blank">Open Source Initiative</a>, where you can discover open source standards, licenses, implementations and much more.  
 And of course, be sure to check out <a href="http://www.onehippo.com/" target="_blank"> Hippo CMS</a> to explore just how they managed to transform an entire nation's police force. You can also access Hippo's blog post and case study on their police force project <a href="http://www.onehippo.com/en/resources/blogs/2014/04/can-the-police-use-software-to-deliver-better-customer-experience.html" target="_blank"> right here</a>.

How Open Source Software Transformed a Nation's Police Force

mike-johnston

Founded in 2008, <a href="http://www.dudamobile.com/" target="_blank"> Duda</a> is a platform which enables you to build optimized multi-screen websites. 
 Initially, <a href="/duda-website-builder">Duda</a> was a white label product, but in 2011 the company made its services publicly available on its website, swiftly moving to launch DudaMobile – a user-friendly and mobile-friendly website builder. <a href="/duda-website-builder">Duda</a> has partnered with some of the world's leading companies, including Google, Yahoo and AT&amp;T. 
 I recently had the pleasure of asking Duda's Co-founder and CEO Itai Sadan a few questions about the history of Duda, what the platform is capable of, and where he sees the website building industry heading. 
<h2>Itai Sadan</h2>
Itai Sadan founded Duda to help small businesses connect with potential customers anywhere, anytime and anyplace. Itai started the company from his garage in Mountain View, CA, with his high school friend, Amir Glatt, who is now CTO. In 2008 they both noticed how the Internet was shifting towards mobile and the need for small businesses to create mobile optimized sites to attract customers on the go.
<img src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2023/08/itai-headshot200x0.jpg" alt="Itai Sadan" />
Itai's mobile web expertise has been cited by USA Today, Website Magazine, The Huffington Post, Mobile Entertainment and more. 
He speaks regularly on the local, mobile and social space, at industry events hosted by such organizations as BIA Kelsey, Constant Contact, Local Search Association and the Israeli Conference. 
Prior to founding Duda, Itai was a director at SAP where he managed the SAP Discovery System program and was in charge of relationships with IBM, HP and Fujitsu. At age 21, he also founded InterSight, a start-up for data storage. Itai has a BSc in Computer Science and Mathematics from the University of Ben Gurion in Israel.
<h2>The Interview</h2>
<h3>Can you tell us about yourself, your background, and how you came to be a part of Duda?</h3>
My name is Itai Sadan, I'm the CEO and Co-Founder of Duda. Duda helps small business get online. We have over 5 million customers that have built mobile sites and full responsive websites on our platform. 
I was originally born in Israel, moved to the US nine years ago, live in Mountain View CA and have a wife and two kids. I have had the entrepreneurial disease since I can remember myself. I started my first company at the age of 21 selling software to small businesses. 
Today, eighteen years later, I'm still building and selling software to small businesses. I love the space, I love being able to connect directly with the customer, being able to see how what you do helps them grow their business and better connect with customers. Prior to Duda, I worked for SAP for six years. I left SAP to start Duda together with my long time high school friend Amir who is the other co-founder and CTO.
<h3> When did Duda come about, and what was the original objective of the Duda team? </h3>
I started Duda in late 2008. With the proliferation of mobile devices and the growing amount of web traffic originating from mobile phones, I wanted to find a way to help small businesses take advantage of this growing opportunity. To help them better connect and engage with their mobile customers by optimizing their websites to be more mobile-friendly. 
I was still working at SAP at the time and Duda was a side project I worked on during nights and weekends for quite a while. Then in the beginning of 2010 as a deal with AT&amp;T started becoming more imminent, I left SAP and started focusing on Duda full time.
<h3> Duda is a leader within the website builder industry, particularly when it comes to mobile websites. At this moment in time, where do you see the industry heading? </h3>
I see everything moving towards multi-screen. We can no longer look at mobile as only phones. There's tablets, the GPS's in our cars are getting connected to the Internet like in the Tesla, there's wearables like Google Glass that have a browser built-in. When developing websites, we need to consider all these different screen sizes. 
It is becoming a daunting task to build a website for each of these devices, hence Duda has created a truly unique site builder which we just launched earlier this year called DudaOne. DudaOne was built from the ground up to enable small businesses and web professional to simply create a responsive site that works on all screens, currently focused on desktop, tablet and mobile.
<h3> What would you say Duda's greatest achievement is? </h3>
Our biggest milestone is recently crossing the mark of five million sites hosted on our platform. Yet, we don't really focus much on that metric, our focus is on making the product simple to use for the average user and powerful enough for the more advanced user. 
We think that if we can get that formula right, all the other metrics will take care of themselves including getting to the the next five million customers.
<h3> What is the biggest advantage to using Duda over its rival products? Which features stand out the most? </h3>
Duda has a few extremely unique capabilities that no other website builder has:
1. Auto Creation – Duda has developed unique algorithms that scour the web for relevant content a business
already has on the Internet, be it on an existing website, Facebook, Yelp, Twitter, Google Places, etc. We are able to collect all this content (images, text, videos, etc.), make sense of it, and automatically place it into our beautiful templates – and just with a click of a button.
This means our users not only get an amazing head start, as we do all the heavy lifting for them, but also save a lot of time, effort and money. Our competitors require their users to start from scratch. All their users begin from the exact same starting point, a blank template. They expect a plumber or a dentist to put on the hat of a marketing guy and build a site with great content that converts well. We on the other hand, do it all for them.
2. Multi Screen – Duda was built from the ground up as a multi-screen platform. All sites built on Duda are
optimized for desktop, tablet and mobile. We go beyond responsive design by allowing users to modify the content per each device. This means you can hide content, add content, change navigation and more per device. As a long time mobile player, we understand that visitors coming to your site from different devices have different needs.
Our competitors think desktop first and all the other devices are treated as an afterthought. They do not allow you to customize the content per device.
3. Duda Sites Work for You – The content on Duda sites, from our effective template designs to business-driving widgets, were all built to help small businesses grow. Through features like click-to-call,
click-to-map, coupons and reservations widget, we prove to our customers that we can help them convert their visitors into customers.
Last month we generated over 1,000,000 calls to businesses via our click-to-call widget, over 400,000 people clicked on our maps widget looking for directions to a business, and over 170,000 clicked on the open table reservation widget. We are constantly thinking of how we can make the perfect site for our customer's customer.
<h3> Duda offers an interesting partner program. Can you tell us a little more about that? </h3>
Our Duda Partner program is a key focus of the company. It is targeted at web professionals, agencies, marketers and web designers. It enables them to build websites or mobile sites in a very quick and easy way. 
In addition, the program provides discounted pricing on a per site basis, it gives partners access to specific features that they need. For example, white label access to their clients, branded preview tools, priority support, training material and more.
<h3> What is Duda's next goal? What can we expect to see coming down the road in future releases? </h3>
There is something very exciting that we are working on and is currently in beta. It's called Duda inSite and it provides the ability to automatically personalize a website based on different aspects like time of day, location of the user, device type etc. 
It's pretty exciting and I think it will be a very big hit. No other company has brought these type of capabilities to small businesses before.
<h3> Beyond tablets and smartphones, is Duda keeping tabs on emerging technology, such as wearable technology? In the future, what new areas could we see the website builder industry as a whole move into? </h3>
We had a Hackathon at Duda earlier in the year and one of the teams built a prototype of how a website would look like on Google Glass. It was pretty cool to develop that functionality as navigating a website on Google Glass is not very intuitive and with some modifications that can be done via the Duda platform, the experience could be much improved. We did things like making call to actions much bigger and more prominent on the page, so it is easier for a Google Glass user to click on them. 
I can't commit at this point as to if and when this functionality will be available publicly, but we are all the time thinking about the future of web design and wearables are definitely part of it.
 Thank you for your time Mr. Sadan. 
 Are you interested in what Duda are offering? <a href="http://www.dudamobile.com/" target="_blank"> Check out their website builder</a>.

Interview with Itai Sadan, Co-founder & CEO of Duda

LightCMS have announced yet more enhancements related to blogging, giving users greater control of when blog posts are published, customization ability, and additional search engine optimization related enhancements.
The popular platform allows you to have a website ready in just a few clicks, along with a suite of tools and features including eCommerce, blogging, stats, and more.
Team members over at LightCMS have certainly been busy recently. This is the third notable update in just over a month, with <a href="/lightcms-announce-new-social-features-interface-changes/" target="_blank">interface changes</a> and <a href="/lightcms-improve-website-security-through-ftps/" target="_blank">security improvements</a> being recently unveiled.
<img src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2023/08/lightcms.jpg" alt="LightCMS" /> 
For today's news though, let's take a look at what's new for LightCMS bloggers.
<h2>Publish Time, Meta Tags Description &amp; More</h2>
LightCMS have introduced four new blogging features with this update, and here they are below:
<ul>
<li>Publish Time: Makes it possible to write posts in advance and schedule them for publication at a future date and time.</li>
<li>Meta Tag Description: Each blog post now automatically uses the post summary for the Meta tag description by default.</li>
<li>HTML Head Fields: You can now you to enter custom header content such as JavaScript, CSS, or additional meta tags for each blog post. This functionality was previously available for pages only.</li>
<li>“Read More” Links: This user-customizable text displays at the end of the blog summary. Clicking the link displays the full blog post.</li>
</ul>
Also, LightCMS have thrown in some extra fixes and enhancements to go with these new blogging features. For example, files with SVG extensions are now supported by the file uploader, whilst copying a website now automatically creates it as a trial.
You can read about each of these new features and fixes in greater detail over at LightCMS' blog announcement.
Interestingly, LightCMS have also seized this opportunity to begin displaying their release notes. Release notes for this update, as well as all future LightCMS updates, can be found here.
To find out more about LightCMS, check out their website.
Also, be sure to explore more of  LightCMS via our CMS Directory.

LightCMS Rolls Out Blogging Enhancements

The first time I ever got my hands dirty with a content management system, was back at the very beginning of 2011.  
 I was feeling entrepreneurial, and so I decided to launch an online store. To cut a long story short, I opted to use <a href="http://virtuemart.net/" target="_blank">VirtueMart</a> – an eCommerce extension for Joomla. Not my wisest move, but such was my inexperience.  
 Using my initials and some brilliant creativity, I came up with the name, “KI Electronics”. I bet you can't guess what I was selling.  
 It took me months of sleeping through Joomla and Virtuemart tutorials on YouTube before I was ready to launch my online store. When I finally did, I thought my days of dealing with the complicated “set up phase” were behind me. But boy was I wrong.
<img src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2023/08/sos.png" /> From the day my store launched, until the day I laid it to rest at some stage in 2012, I wasted time, money and energy in a number of different ways. To be frank, it was a disaster. And here's why.
<h2>Pining for Plugins</h2>
Perhaps my biggest failure was my dependence and eagerness to use plugins/extensions.  
 If I had a problem with an image slider or gallery module, I'd trawl Joomla's huge extensions library for replacements. 
If I had security issues (which I very much did), I'd spend hours and hours researching different Joomla security solutions before spending days setting them up. Time wasn't really the issue though – it was expense. 
 I must have spent hundreds of dollars on a range of different plugins, many of which I ended up trashing. It was like an addiction.
 In hindsight, I should have spent my time learning how to delve into code in order to fix issues and improve my store for myself. Instead, I relied completely on the Joomla community to fix my problems. And it cost me dearly. 
<h2>Staying Stubborn</h2>
There were many points in my venture where I knew I needed to change things, but I was simply too stubborn to do so. 
 My Virtuemart template for example, wasn't the greatest. I knew I could switch to a different template, but because I had spent so long honing my original theme, I didn't want to change it.  
 More tellingly, I had also began to hear of Joomla alternatives. The world of CMS was opening up to me at the time, and my mind wandered. After all, even back in 2011, content management systems weren't hard to come by, no matter what type of project you had in mind. 
 But still, I remained stubborn. In my mind, I'd spent far too long learning about Joomla and Virtuemart to switch now. Months had gone by, and I didn't want my work to go to waste. So I stayed put.
 As you might have guessed, this stubborn avoidance of change (which in today's digitally evolving world is tantamount to suicide), paired with my reliance on Joomla extensions to keep my venture alive, eventually killed it once and for all.  
 It got to a point where I was throwing both money and time at extensions to secure and beautify my store, all whilst putting off a much needed migration to a more user-friendly eCommerce solution. 
<h2>The Silver Lining</h2>
Although my first encounter with a content management system was a disaster, I do see a silver lining.  
 Through my months of inexperienced tinkering with Joomla and Virtuemart, I learned a lot about eCommerce, setting up and maintaining websites, search engine optimization, and so forth. 
 Sure, every lesson I learned was the direct result of a mistake, but that's neither here nor there. It's thanks to the disaster of KI Electronics that led me to understand the Internet better. Not to mention, it gave me my first taste of running a website using a CMS.  
 Those same lessons helped me set up my current ventures, and even gave me the confidence to apply for a role here at CMS Critic. KI Electronics may be dead, but the lessons it taught me are still alive and kicking.  
 So, no matter which CMS you're using, the moral of this story is; don't rely totally on plugins, don't be stubborn when it comes to change, and never choose a project name as bad as KI Elecronics.

Why My First Experience With a CMS Was a Disaster

DesignModo's latest product comes in the form of Startup Design Framework, otherwise known as <a href="http://designmodo.com/startup/?u=1182" target="_blank"> Startup Framework </a> .
Based on Bootstrap3, Startup Framework makes use of a block model system, aimed to give developers and designers the freedom to use over 100 customizable content blocks in different combinations, creating unique websites in the process.
The platform's intended purpose – as quoted from the <a href="http://designmodo.com/?u=1182" target="_blank"> DesignModo </a>  website – is simple:
<blockquote>
“We have created a new product that will help designers, developers and companies create websites for their startups quickly and easily.”
</blockquote>
Now, it's my turn to figure out whether Startup Framework succeeds of fails at serving that purpose.
To kick things off, take a look at the Startup Framework introductory video below.
<iframe src="https://player.vimeo.com/video/81676731?dnt=1&amp;app_id=122963" frameborder="0" allow="autoplay; fullscreen" allowfullscreen></iframe>
<h2>Initial Thoughts</h2>
DesignModo's intention to please designers, developers and companies struck me as interesting. After all, those are three diverse groups, each with different needs and wants.
Nonetheless, my first impressions were good. Their website was sleek and modern, and was giving me plenty of information about how Startup Framework functions.
<img src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2023/08/sshot-1700x0.png" alt="Startup Framework" />
As previously mentioned, Startup Framework provides uses with over 100 content blocks that can be customized to no end by anybody handy with HTML and CSS. You can mix and match the blocks as you see fit, building a website along the way.
Now, this isn't a particularly new way of building websites. One-page sites have been around for a while, and the block-model isn't something unique to the Startup framework.
However, Startup Framework also pushes the beauty of its product right from the start, and rightly so. In fact, just a brief look at the DesignModo website will tell you that they're big on presentation, and that's always a good sign.  
 <img src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2023/08/2700x0.png" alt="Startup Framework" /> Not to mention, being responsive and retina ready out of the box makes Startup Framework a platform which is in line with how Internet users are experiencing websites today. And that's important.
<h2>Getting Started</h2>
After I signed up with DesignModo and, I made my way to my account to find the downloadable Startup Framework zip file – which the DesignModo team generously gave me access to for the sake of this review.
<img src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2023/08/sshot-2700x0.png" alt="Startup Framework" />
The file is split into two main sections; the “Developer” folder, and the “Designer” folder. Each contain different file types and components to help both developers and designers build websites quickly.
<img src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2023/08/sshot-6.png" alt="Startup Framework" /> Naturally, both folders are filled with useful files including multitudes of images, icons, and plenty of code to go along with it. Instead of taking you through every single file, let's take a look at the meat of what you'll generally need to kick start a Startup Framework project.
<h3>Flat UI &amp; Other Componenets</h3>
Weighing in at over 500MB, the zip file that houses Startup Framework is reasonably hefty. 
 Within the Startup Framework, DesignModo have included all their files from their <a href="http://designmodo.com/flat-free/" target="_blank"> Flat UI Free package </a> . This includes user interface elements such as buttons, menus, alerts, forms, and tables, all of which have been designed with Flat UI (or Flat Design) in mind. 
 <img src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2023/08/1700x0.png" alt="Startup Framework" /> Startup Framework is filled to the brim with such CSS and LESS files, most of which relate to the 100 blocks used to quickly build websites. 
 These blocks fall into nine different categories:
<ul>
<li> Header Blocks: The first block visitors will see, typically contains logo area and menu navigation.</li>
<li> Content 1: Standard content area for text, images, banners, buttons, and icons.</li>
<li> Content 2: Another content area which includes videos, signup forms, grids, and sliders.</li>
<li> Footer: The last block on the page, typically for contact information. Can include maps, links, banners, and signup forms.</li>
<li> Projects: Ideal for displaying portfolio items and other images.</li>
<li> Price Tables: Varied pricing table options.</li>
<li> Blog: Varied layouts of blog posts and other blog features.</li>
<li> Crew: Meant for a “meet the team” section, including photos, bio and social links.</li>
<li> Contact: Varied layouts to show contact details with options forms and maps.</li>
</ul>
Now, if you want to rely entirely on your coding skills to get your Startup Framework project going, then the tools are certainly there.
On the other hand, if starting from scratch doesn't sound too appealing, there is an alternative way to give a Startup Framework project life.
<h3>Generator</h3>
At first glance, it appears that the Startup Framework is for code junkies alone. However, <a href="http://designmodo.com/generator/" target="_blank"> Generator </a>  provides a helping hand for those who don't know their header tags from their footer tags.
Generator is a drag-and-drop tool which contains all of Startup Framework's 100 ready-to-use building blocks. 
<img src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2023/08/4700x0.png" alt="Startup Framework" /> You can build website mockups using the drag-and-drop system by grabbing them from the sidebar, dropping them into place, before shuffling them around and deleting the blocks you don't like. 
 Generator is super easy to use, and is perfect for thinking up design ideas. 
 <img src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2023/08/2-1700x0.png" alt="Startup Framework" /> More importantly though, it's also an awesome collaboration tool. 
 At the bottom of Generator, you'll notice a “Share” Project” button. Pressing this gives you a permalink which you can send to clients and other members of your team. There are even social sharing links available. 
<img src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2023/08/5.png" alt="Startup Framework" />
However, the biggest advantage of using Generator, is the export function. Right next to the “Share Project” button, you'll see “Export as HTML/CSS”. 
 <img src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2023/08/6.png" alt="Startup Framework" />
That's right. 
 Any mock up you build using the drag-and-drop interface can be quickly exported, ready to be customized and built upon if necessary. Now that's awesome. 
 Essentially, this means that Generator isn't just a neat design idea tool – it's also a genuinely easy way to start actual projects from scratch. 
 Now, as impressed as I am with Generator, the more I experimented with it, the more I wanted more from it. And more importantly, the more I felt that less tech-savvy users (like clients for example) would want more from it.
<img src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2023/08/3700x0.png" alt="Startup Framework" />
Sure, it’s an extremely useful tool for getting started with a project, giving you the foundations of a website to export before you dig into the code for yourself.
However, I’m sure that some of those “companies” DesignModo want to help out will consist of people who want to do more than just drag-and-drop blocks into place. They will want a little more creative license, especially if they're relying on somebody else for their coding skills.
For example, simply giving the user a colour selector and perhaps even an inline text editor would really help bring less-technical users into the fray a little more. 
<h3>Putting it Together</h3>
With help from Generator, a small amount of coding, and perhaps less than half-an-hour from start to finish, I was able to construct a admittedly rough one-page website that had all the nuts and bolts in place, ready to be tweaked to perfection.  
 <img src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2023/08/cmsstartup700x0.png" alt="CMS Critic Startup Framework" />
Notice I said only a small amount of coding. 
 Thanks to Startup Framework's excellent block model, which comesfurnished with over 100 brilliantly designed blocks, you don't actually need to do much coding to make it look professional and personal. Sure, the above website is far from perfect – but for half an hours work? It's great. If I do say so myself.
<h2>Templates &amp; Design</h2>
DesignModo give away 25 free “Samples” with every copy of Startup Framework. Well, they call them samples, but they're really templates.  
 <img src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2023/08/1-1700x0.png" alt="Startup Framework" /> Each template is unique, boasting diferent colour palattes, parallax effects, sliders, block configurations and so forth. They're all neatly presented in their very own folder inside Startup Framework, allowing you to quickly browse through them. 
 If you're looking to get a project started super fast – or you're simply not that confident starting from scratch, then choosing a template to use as a foundation will really help you out. It's also a great way to think up ideas to throw together on Generator. 
 <img src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2023/08/2-2700x0.png" alt="Startup Framework" /> In fact, the bundled templates are a pretty decent alternative to using Generator as a starting point altogether. After all, Generator is only capable of dragging blocks into place, leaving the heavier work to you and your coding skills. However, by using a template to kick start a project will give you plenty of extra visual effects, text areas, images and so forth right out of the box.  
For me, the 25 samples/templates all look stunning, and will be a welcome inspiration source for code-junkies, and a much needed foundation for code-junkie-wannabes. 
<h2>Add Ons &amp; Extras</h2>
The  <a href="http://designmodo.com/?u=1182" target="_blank"> DesignModo Shop </a>  hosts a small number of digital goodies to help enhance the already sleek look of the Startup Frameworks building blocks.
Aside from the Startup Framework itself, the shop is home to; Flat UI Pro, Square UI and The Bricks UI Bundle Pack.
<img src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2023/08/shop700x0.png" alt="Startup Framework" />
All of these products are collections of PSD files which come ready to implement into your Startup Frame work website.
Just like with Startup Framework, the focus of the store is on Flat UI, otherwise known as Flat Design. The collections consist of buttons, forms, menus, sliders and so on, all tastefully designed in way which is modern, minimalist and, well, flat.
Pricing is fair, and each package would compliment what you already get with Startup Framework nicely
<h2>Getting Help</h2>
The support system DesignModo offer for Startup Framework isn't bad, but it isn't great either.
Extensive documentation can be found within Startup Framework itself, but the most useful type of help offered is through <a href="https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCLOJhs8F2y2iYthajewsE3w"> DesignModo’s YouTube page </a> , where over 40 tutorial videos are located.
<img src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2023/08/tutorial.png" alt="Startup Framework" />
There is also a <a href="http://designmodo.com/tutorials/" target="_blank"> tutorial section on the DesignModo website </a> , which in fairness is laden with a range of walk-throughs relating to HTML, CSS, LESS and so forth. However, it isn't organised very well, nor is there a search function. So, if you're looking for something specific, be prepared to trawl through every page.
What seems to be missing though, is a community.
With over <a href="https://twitter.com/designmodo" target="_blank"> 225,000 Twitter followers </a>  and <a href="https://www.facebook.com/designmodo" target="_blank"> 115,000 likes on Facebook </a> , it’s a pity that DesignModo haven’t yet set up an online community related to Startup Framework. Not to mention, the Startup Framework website itself is full of comments, the vast majority of which are from users and potential users asking questions. 
 Not only would a community of some kind be a way of delivering help and support, but users of Startup Framework would be able to support each other, too.
<h2>Pricing</h2>
To download the Startup Framework, you will need to pay a fee of $249. However, this fee only suffices for one license. Further licences must be purchased for a fee of $149.
That means that you will need to pay an additional $149 for every additional project you want to build using the Startup Framework. For me, that's a little steep if web development is your profession, and you aim to use Startup Framework as your primary framework.
<img src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2023/08/price.png" alt="Startup Framework" /> Furthermore, there are plenty of extremely popular and completely free frameworks on the market which many will argue rival Startup Framework. Such solutions include Brick by Mozilla and <a href="http://semantic-ui.com/"> Semantic UI </a> .
On the other hand, Startup Framework comes bundled with a very large range of ready-to-go blocks, 25 pre-designed templates and Generator to boot. Hardly daylight robbery. 
 So, you get what you pay for, but perhaps DesignModo should consider reforming their re-licensing fee.
<h2>The Verdict</h2>
DesignModo's Startup Framework provides a beautiful foundation for one-page websites. It gives you the palette, the brush and the canvas, giving you the power to create a responsive, retina ready masterpiece.
Every single one of the 100 pre-designed content blocks are sleek and professional right out of the box. With these building blocks ready to go, paired with Generator, even those with limited coding skills can construct stunning webpages.
What I loved most was DesignModo's ability to cater to designers, developers and companies – just as they promised. This range of friendliness is down to the hands-off approach of the Startup Framework. 
 It just seems to say, “Here are the ready-made content blocks, there's Generator, and over there you'll find every HTML, CSS, LESS and PSD file you'll need to change absolutely everything. Enjoy.”
It can be extremely simple, or extremely complex. It's your choice.
<h3>Pros</h3>
<ul>
<li>Over 100 beautifully designed and customizable content blocks that can be used to immediately peice together a website.</li>
<li>Lots of focus on modern &amp; flat design right out of the box and throughout addons.</li>
<li>With Bootstrap3, HTML5 and LESS, Startup Framework is technologically sound.</li>
<li>25 samples (templates) along with 14 highly professional images come free.</li>
<li>Generator opens the door to a whole new method of website development with Startup Framework. Huge potential if DesignModo keep adding to it.</li>
<li>Fully responsive and retina ready.</li>
<li>As a one-off purchase, $249 is good value for money when you look at the totality of what you get.</li>
</ul>
<h3>Cons</h3>
<ul>
<li>The help and support system could definitely be improved with FAQs, forums and perhaps a ticketing system.</li>
<li>Generator – although extremely useful – could do with some extra functionality.</li>
<li>The $249 pricetag is fair, but all additional licenses for other projects cost a further $149 each, which is steep.</li>
</ul>
<h2>Final Remarks</h2>
Although Startup Framework is geared towards startups, it isn't for newbies looking for a spoon-feeding website builder. But then again, it never claimed to be.
If you know your way around code, need a beautiful website and solid framework to work with, then I have no qualms in recommending Startup Framework. 
The framework’s focus on <a href="/strikingly-websitebuilder">strikingly</a> simple flat UI makes it a perfect fit for tech and software startups, and thanks to the bundled building blocks, UI kits and templates, there’s already a great deal of genuinely good looking groundwork waiting for you to build upon.
Generator also gives Startup Framework an exciting edge over its rivals. On its own, it’s a humble drag-and-drop block builder purely for design idea purposes, but paired with the Startup Framework, it acts as the starting point for all projects large and small.
Plus, if you ask me, if DesignModo decide to focus on adding more functionality to Generator, they could have one of the most powerful and accessible frameworks for one-page websites on the market. In fact, they may even begin to rival mainstream website builders.
Don’t just take my word for it though, try out the <a href="http://designmodo.com/startup/?u=1182" target="_blank"> Startup Framework Demo </a>  for yourself.
<a href="http://designmodo.com/?u=1182"> Buy Startup Framework </a>

Startup Framework Review

Ektron has put out a solid whitepaper that's worth a read if you are looking for a content management system.
It's aptly named “The Essential Guide to Selecting Your Web Content Management Solution” and is available for free download (link below).
<img style="max-width:200px" src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2023/08/w_ektr15c4.gif" />
Some of the topics covered include:
<ul>
<li>The key features to compare for a WCMS</li>
<li>Which WCM Solution will deliver the best visitor experience</li>
<li>How to select the right solution for your business needs</li>
</ul>
Even though this is written by a vendor, there's a ton of great content in it and if you are looking for some tips and advice, I recommend giving it a read. The whitepaper itself is free, you simply need to fill out a quick form to get the download.
You can grab the whitepaper here: <a href="https://www.tradepub.com/form/the-essential-guide-to-selecting-your-web-content-management-solution/w_aaaa3149/prgm.cgi?sr=adv&amp;_t=adv:Ektron,%20Inc.">The Essential Guide to Selecting Your Web Content Management Solution</a>

The Essential Guide to Selecting Your Web Content Management Solution

Power your CMS on AWS

Manage your websites & apps in the most trusted cloud.

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Consumers today don’t just expect relevant and contextual experiences and interactions with brands; they demand it. With the amount of data brands are collecting from consumers across various touchpoints, marketers are being pressed more than ever to leverage that data and consistently deliver meaningful, relevant experiences. At a time when consumers use multiple devices during their customer journeys, brands are often challenged with understanding each customer’s current needs specifically in context, in order to anticipate their next steps.
When it comes to the Web, data-driven insights are generated when consumers visit a brand’s Web and mobile sites. Marketers must be able to apply these insights and integrate them with valuable customer data from other interaction channels. Often times, organizations rely on multiple technologies that lack seamless integration to provide the relevant data points needed to drive the customer experience. The result tends to be a disjointed brand experience in the form of sporadic, ineffective campaigns.
To provide hyper-relevant Web experiences to consumers, brands need access to the full context of every customer interaction in one place. Helping brands achieve this, my company, SDL, recently <a href="http://www.sdl.com/aboutus/news/pressreleases/2014/SDL-empowers-marketers-to-create-contextual-hyper-relevant-customer-experiences-for-the-always-connected-generation.html"> announced </a> a new release of SDL Web, the Web pillar of the Customer Experience Cloud (CXC). With this release, SDL CXC now offers context brokering, which enables businesses to provide personal and contextualized interactive brand experiences for customers across all channels and devices.
Regardless of the technology a brand utilizes, there are four main solution areas brands should adopt to drive online presence and engagement:
<ul>
<li>
 Global web content management – A global web presence is much more than simply translating websites; marketers must ensure local relevance and responsiveness to an individual customer’s context, addressing the various elements that are dependent on culture and language.
</li>
<li>
 Multi-channel experiences – The customer journey spans multiple touches across several devices at different times and places. Brands must ensure consistency, regardless how complex a customer’s path may be.
</li>
<li>
 Targeting and personalization – It’s time for organizations to move beyond personalization toward contextualized experiences. By taking an outside-in approach, marketers can provide each and every visitor with an experience that matches his or her preferences, stage in the customer journey and unique context.
</li>
<li>
 Rich media &amp; video – Video and rich media marketing is a vitally important way to engage target audiences. Visual impact transforms imparting information into creating an experience, conveying emotion and, most importantly, desire to act
</li>
</ul>
To summarize, Web plays a critical role in the customer experience and must be seamlessly integrated with other touchpoints. Otherwise, customers are presented with disjointed campaigns, negatively impacting customer satisfaction, brand loyalty and the brand’s bottom line. In my view as a CMO, context cannot be ignored, as it will play an increasingly significant role in customer experience as consumer demands grow and attention spans dwindle.

Beyond Personalization: Providing Contextual Web Experiences to In-Demand Consumers

Being able to monitor and study the behaviour of your website visitors is vital – and with Squarespace analytics, you can do just that.
In short, analytics help you to understand your visitors, allowing you to cater to their needs. By knowing where your visitors came from, which pages they’re visiting, and which devices they’re using, you can make better informed marketing decisions.
So, let’s take a look at just how well “Squarespace Activity” – Squarespace's built-in analytics tool – presents you with the data you need.
<h2>Squarespace Analytics: Just How Useful Is It?</h2>
To access Squarespace analytics, you only need to head over to the Activity section , which is located on the left-hand sidebar on the Squarespace admin panel.
<img src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2023/08/1700x0.png" alt="Squarespace Analytics" />
The Activity section holds all of the Squarespace analytics options, and the best part is, there’s nothing extra to configure or install. Squarespace does everything for you.
Within the Activity section is seven further sections which give you a break down of your websites stats. Let’s take a look at these sections individually.
<h3>Traffic Overview</h3>
One of the most important sections of Squarespace analytics is Traffic Overview. Within it is an easy to follow graph, which enables you to monitor the amount of visitors your website has been receiving over hourly, daily weekly and monthly periods.
<img src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2023/08/2700x0.png" alt="Squarespace Analytics" />
Further figures indicate Page Views and Visitor Counts, which include both unique and robot hits. Squarespace compute these statistics every few minutes to give you a real-time view of your numbers.
<h3>Mobile Usage</h3>
It’s important to know which devices your visitors are using, so you can ensure that your website is looking as it should for those who frequent it. To help out, Squarespace enables you to check the number of visitors using either desktops or mobile devices via a graph.
<img src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2023/08/3700x0.png" alt="Squarespace Analytics" />
Once again, Squarespace gives you a very useful hourly, daily, weekly and monthly breakdown of which devices your visitors are using.
<h3>Subscribers</h3>
Squarespace also provides accurate RSS subscriber figures as well as a breakdown of where your RSS subscribers are coming from. The figures displayed are estimates of the number of unique active subscribers you have from each RSS feed on your website.
<img src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2023/08/4700x0.png" alt="Squarespace Analytics" />
These figures are presented on a daily, weekly and monthly basis, helping you to keep track of your subscribers over both long and short periods of time. Once again, a simple graphs is used to illustrate the figures.
<h3>Referrers</h3>
Knowing where visitors are coming from is important, and Squarespace recognizes this by providing detailed referral metrics. Using this section of Squarespace analytics, you can see how many visitors came to your website directly, as well as how many came through Google, Facebook, Twitter and so forth.
<img src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2023/08/5700x0.png" alt="Squarespace Analytics" />
These metrics can be viewed on a daily basis, two daily basis, three daily basis as well as on a weekly and monthly basis. This time, an easy to understand coloured pie chart helps keep things simple.
<h3>Popular Content</h3>
Using Squarespace analytics, you can also check which pages on your website are receiving most traffic.
<img src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2023/08/6700x0.png" alt="Squarespace Analytics" />
Once again, these stats are presented on a daily basis, two daily basis, three daily basis as well as on a weekly and monthly basis. A coloured pie chart is used again also, giving you a concise overview of the popularity of each page on your website.
<h3>Search Queries</h3>
You can also monitor search engine queries via the search queries section on the Activity page. This allows you to see how your content is being found in search engines such as Google, Yahoo and Bing.
<img src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2023/08/7700x0.png" alt="Squarespace Analytics" />
The coloured pie chart makes another appearance, along with options to view the stats on a daily, two daily and three daily basis, as well as on a weekly and monthly basis. The same list of keywords are then displayed in a list below the chart for further analysis.
<h3>Detailed Activity</h3>
Finally, Detailed Activity allows you to view specific visitor and visit details.These details include the IP address of each visitor, the pages they visited, and the exact time in which their visit began.
<img src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2023/08/8700x0.png" alt="Squarespace Analytics" />
These detailed activity facts are ideal for tracking and monitoring individual visitors. A handy search bar even enables you to locate certain IP addresses. Unfortunately though – unlike the other Squarespace analytics sections – there are no time-based filtering options.
<h2>The Verdict</h2>
To give you an overview of the good and bad which 3dcart has to offer, check out the pros and cons below.
<h4>Pros</h4>
<ul>
<li>No configuration needed, Squarespace Analytics just works.</li>
<li>Graphs, charts and lists keep stats and facts neat, tidy and easy to understand.</li>
<li>Nice range of time filtering options within most sections which help you analyse data better.</li>
<li>Seven different sections dedicated to certain statistical data sets makes it easier to focus on certain stats.</li>
</ul>
<h4>Cons</h4>
<ul>
<li>Mobile Usage section doesn’t tell you which mobile devices in particular are being used.</li>
<li>Detailed Activity section isn’t as detailed as it could be, with no time filtering options.</li>
</ul>
Overall, Squarespace analytics gives you a highly impressive overview of your website’s statistics.
Because Squarespace have laid these facts and figures out so neatly throughout every section, you can come to a wide range of conclusions regarding your visitors extremely easily.
It could be argued that the lack of a time-based filter on the Detailed Activity page is a possible flaw – although the sheer usefulness and user friendliness of the other sections far outweigh this minor issue. So, the Squarespace analytics section definitely gets a thumbs up from us.
For further detail on Squarespace, check out our full <a href="/squarespace-review-the-long-awaited-commerce-solution/" target="_blank">Squarespace Review</a>. Also, you can explore more of <a href="/products/squarespace/" target="_blank">Squarespace via our CMS Directory</a>.
You can also start your <a href="https://www.squarespace.com/templates">14-day free trial of Squarespace</a> today.

How Useful is Squarespace as an Analytics Tool?

It is with great pleasure that we announce the Third Annual Critics' Choice Awards will begin on June 15, 2014!  We have a host of new categories this year that will be announced on our awards site, <a href="https://www.cmscritic.com/cms-critic-awards/">cmscritic.com/cms-critic-awards/</a> early next week so be sure to stay tuned for more details on that.
For those who are interested in trying to get nominations once they open on the 15th, use this handy badge and point your users to <a href="https://www.cmscritic.com/cms-critic-awards/">https://www.cmscritic.com/cms-critic-awards/</a> which is where the nomination forms will be posted on launch date (again, this is June 15).
Here are two versions of the nomination badge for you to use on your site if you wish to do so:
<img src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2023/08/nominate_us.png" /><img src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2023/08/nominate-us.png" />
Thanks and good luck to all!

Preparing for the Nomination stage - Critics' Choice CMS Awards

Zikula's Content page editing module has been updated to version 4.1.0, bringing about a number of fixes and improvements.
<a href="http://zikula.org/" target="_blank"> Zikula</a> is a free and open-source web application framework released under the GNU General Public License. It can be used to develop robust, interactive, and customizable websites, portals, and web based applications.
This new Zikula Content module release is targeted for the latest Zikula Core 1.3.7. It comes bearing a range of bug fixes, several code tweaks, UI improvements, and works together with Scribite 5. Since it is now fully hook-based it should also work with Scribite4.
<img style="max-width:253px" src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2023/08/zikula-1.png" alt="Zikula" /> 
Zikula's content module is one of the platform's most vital content creation arms, and so this news like likely impact a vast majority of Zikula users.
<h3>Here's a quick overview of what's new and improved:</h3>
<ul>
<li>Fully hook based, so the module will work far smoother with Scribite (fully tested with Scribite 5)</li>
<li>Bug fixes on several points; Search fixed, drag-and-drop fixed, upgrading from 3 should work better now, subfolder install fixed, category selection improvements, ToC fixes</li>
<li>You can enable/disable content item on the fly with Ajax in edit page</li>
<li>The edit page icon can be placed on top or below page</li>
<li>Graphical trail for breadcrumbs</li>
<li>Page title option accessible via header plugin</li>
<li>You can now insert blocks with the drop-down list</li>
<li>Translating HTML is now easier</li>
<li>HTML plugin cleaned up from legacy</li>
<li>Extra free field per page to be used as you wish</li>
<li>Extra plugin styles added</li>
</ul>
Zikula Content 4.1.0 can be <a href="https://github.com/zikula-modules/Content/releases/tag/4.1.0" target="_blank">downloaded here</a>. Find out more about Zikula by <a href="https://ziku.la/" target="_blank">visiting their website</a>.
Also, be sure to check out <a href="/products/zikula/" target="_blank"> Zikula via our CMS Directory</a>.

Zikula Content 4.1.0 released

As you may have heard, Acquia recently picked up a Toronto based company named focused on personalization for websites / commerce sites called TruCentric.
We took this opportunity to chat with Acquia about this acquisition and find out their motivations behind the purchase.
What spurred the acquisition of TruCentric over other players in the industry?
Digital marketers need to gain a deep understanding of all site visitors, including those that are anonymous, in order to grow their audience and drive conversions. Acquia is acquiring TruCentric, because it provides high resolution, real-time customer profiling for every site visitor based on their online behavior and preferences. With that information, digital marketers can deliver engaging, hyper-personalized experiences that appeal to site visitors and compel them to take a desired action.
Will the employees of TruCentric be taking on similar roles within Acquia now?
All TruCentric employees will join Acquia.  
What are the long term plans for Acquia now that this acquisition has been announced?
Acquia helps businesses build and support digital properties, so they can out-compete their rivals among a the rapidly changing digital landscape. Personalized engagement and commerce are important revenue drivers for today’s digital-first businesses, so with this acquisition, Acquia is expanding the digital engagement and commerce segment of the business. TruCentric will extend the capabilities of Acquia Lift. TruCentric’s analytical insights, paired with Acquia Lift’s testing and personalization capabilities, will allow digital marketers to transform digital interactions into hyper-personalized experiences.
Can we expect to see a form of marketing suite integration into the Acquia platform?
Digital is disrupting every all modern business processes, not just marketing. In order for businesses to win against competitors, they need to drive digital transformation across their entire company, including commerce, customer support, employe engagement and more. We’re not building out a marketing suite, we’re building out a platform for digital business optimization — one that unifies content, community and commerce, offering much more than traditional marketing suites.
What type of competitive advantage does Acquia hope to gain from this new acquisition?
This acquisition will accelerate Acquia’s leadership in website personalization. The combination of  Acquia Lift and TruCentric will provide marketers with deep insight, and the ability to automate changes to Drupal-based sites accordingly. The joint solution will seamlessly integrate known data with anonymous data, building the level of understanding across customer segments necessary to increase conversions.
To learn more about this acquisition and the companies involved, visit <a href="http://www.acquia.com/products-services/trucentric">http://www.acquia.com/products-services/trucentric</a>

A chat with Acquia about their recent TruCentric Acquisition

As I'm sure most of you are aware, I'm a designer / developer who spends quite a bit of time building and managing WordPress websites.Now with the newly launched Open Source Critic, eCommerce Critic and PlayStation Critic, not to mention my wife's website (easily the most complex of the bunch) <a target="_blank" href="http://www.thekitchenmagpie.com">The Kitchen Magpie</a>, I spend an inordinate amount of time tweaking and modify plugins and themes to meet both her requirements and mine.While there are certainly lots of things that are great about WordPress, today, there are also plenty of things that drive me nuts about it. Today, I thought I'd share with you the 5 WordPress plugins that drive me nuts.Let's start with the one that almost everyone installs by default…<h3>Jetpack</h3>Jetpack is one of those love it or hate it plugins. Personally, I hate it. Here's why. My wife is absolutely obsessed with looking at her stats and why wouldn't she be? We both spend out time at home nowadays making our money through our websites so stats are definitely important but there are several things about Jetpack that make it one of my least favorite plugins.<h4>Here's something you may not know: It slows down your website</h4>You would think that something designed for the WordPress community by the very company that produces WordPress would be streamlined and efficient and not adversely affect your site wouldn't you? You'd be wrong. Jetpack, by default, slows websites down and here's why.<ul><li>When there's a new feature added to Jetpack it's activated by default, whether you want it or not.</li><li>When you first install it, it activates all kinds of ridiculously useless plugins such as Gravatar Hovercards (really? Who wants these ugly things on their site) that bog you down with extra javascript.</li></ul>Don't believe me? On a base WordPress install with Jetpack installed by default my average load time was 1.7 seconds. As soon as I removed Jetpack and deleted the plugin, that load time dropped to 510ms. I'd consider that a fairly significant savings of speed but that's only on a base install. When you are operating a huge website like my wife's, every second counts. Especially when it's so graphic heavy. On her site the difference is larger because she was using more of Jetpack's functionality. The problem we have, however, is that we use the related posts plugin from Jetpack to make a nice image grid on her site and if we disable it, it means more coding for me so for now, it stays but I have my sights set on you Jetpack. You will fall.Why do people install it? Mostly due to lack of knowing any better. People assume (like I did initially) that because it's provided by Automattic, it's something that should help your site and that's true to some degree. 90% of the people who install Jetpack install it for WordPress.com stats (such as my wife for instance). The problem is that there are plenty of analytics out there that do a far more accurate job of capturing far more data than Jetpack does. While I know lots of people use Google Analytics, I personally dislike it and find it to be far too complex for the average user. My personal favorite is the one and only <a target="_blank" href="http://clicky.com/66435163">Clicky Analytics</a> which gives you way more information in a much nicer presentation and includes the ability to see heat maps of your pages and see who's online real time via the Spy feature.<h3>WordPress SEO</h3>I love WordPress SEO. I truly do. In fact, it's the only SEO plugin I rely on when it comes to my sites. What drives me nuts about it is this:<h4>It updates constantly.</h4>More so than any other plugin I have installed ever. Sometimes it feels like there's a new update every day for this plugin which is extremely discouraging when you've just updated all of your sites and tested the changes and then the next day, there's yet another update to test before going live. Is it good that it's updated? Absolutely. Is it necessary to update it so frequently? No. Simply take your time and plan out a release schedule that's less annoying and stick with it.  Don't get me wrong. I don't pay for the plugin and it's not that I don't appreciate the hard work that goes into it but do you really need to release a new update every day? Make it monthly unless it's a bug, you will eliminate so many headaches.The other issue I have with it is that it sucks at getting Google Authorship working easily. Yes, I know, several of you I'm sure think it does a great job and it may be working for you but the fact of the matter is it does not load the authorship code into the header and as a result, with some themes, it just doesn't work properly. I've had to install yet another plugin specifically for Authorship in order to prevent myself from punching the screen with frustration trying to make the Rich Snippets Tool confirm that authorship is working properly.This may sound whiney and unappreciative but as an administrator of several WP sites, I feel I have a right to complain. And it's my blog, so you can't stop me ?The issue with alot of plugins is that they are not vetted out by anyone. A random person can submit a plugin for inclusion to the directory and it could be the absolute most horribly coded thing in the world but if named correctly and you include pretty screenshots, people will install it not knowing any better. There are tons of absolute crap plugins in the WP directory (some with 2 ratings, both of which are friends of the author) that lead people to believe they are good when in the end, they actually cause tons of headaches and issues.This is one of the reasons why website owners really should have someone managing their WordPress installs for them. People who know what they are doing and can prevent these types of headaches from happening in the first place. For those of you out there who are fed up with trying to figure this stuff out for yourself, <a href="/contact">drop me a line</a>.

WordPress Plugins that Drive me Nuts

<a href="http://www.wix.com/" target="_blank">Wix</a> users have been spoilt for choice this month, thanks to the popular website builder unveiling a whopping 50 new features.
As one of the world's leading website builders, Wix offers a user-friendly interface and a huge range of templates to help individuals and companies create simple, good-looking, and functional websites.
These 50 new features have been, “specially developed to help grow your business”, and so I'm sure Wix's 46 million-strong user base will want to get to grips with what's new.
<a href="http://www.wix.com/" target="_blank"><img src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2023/08/wix700x0.png" alt="Wix Update" /></a>
<h2>From ShoutOut Newsletters to Mobile HTML Editing</h2>
From amongst the long list of tools, apps and templates listed by Wix, you'll find the following new Apps:
<ul>
<li> ShoutOut Newsletters: Send beautiful newsletters to your audience and increase customer engagement. You can also share eye-catching updates, news items, promotions and more.</li>
<li> Visit Virtual Tour: Give your website visitors a tour of any location with an interactive, 360° view.</li>
<li> Poll Generator: Add a fully customizable, mobile-responsive Poll to any webpage in seconds.</li>
<li> POWr Mailing List: Manage your email subscribers, collect user information, and grow your audience with this easy-to-use, fully-customizable Mailing List signup app.</li>
<li>Google Events Calendar: Organize your schedule and share important events with visitors directly on your site.</li>
</ul>
And those are just the tip of the iceburg. Further new features include mobile HTML editing to resize and reorder elements in your mobile site, store product image zooming, mobile page hiding, new button designs and much more.
Not to mention, Wix users can enjoy browsing through a over 30 new templates relating to business, sports, entertainment and food.
The full list of 50 tools, apps, and templates <a href="http://www.wix.com/lphtml/june-features?" target="_blank">can be found here</a>.
Sign up to create your <a href="http://www.wix.com/" target="_blank">free Wix website today</a>.
Also, you can explore more of  <a href="/products/wix/" target="_blank"> Wix via our CMS Directory</a>.

Wix Reveals 50 New Tools, Apps & Templates

Weglot - The easiest way to translate a website

The easiest way to translate a website

#18164c

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