Articles - Page 137

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

msalvatierra

<a href="http://www.wix.com/" target="_blank">Wix</a> is a popular, cloud-based website builder which powers millions of websites worldwide. 
 With Wix, individual users and business owners can create a beautiful, professional web presence – with no coding skills required.  
 Founded in 2006, Wix has over 550 employees, boasting five offices across the globe. Recently, I got the chance to chat with the Director of Communications at Wix, Eric Mason. We spoke about what Wix offers, how it stands out in a competitive market, and even managed to find out some of Eric's favourite Wix-powered websites.
<h2>The Interview</h2>
<h3>1. Please tell us a bit about yourself and your background as well as how you came to be at Wix.</h3>
I came to Wix from my own small business, Wigdawg Marketing and Communications, where I helped organizations, small businesses and non-profits shape their message and brand, and then get online to launch their companies, drive sales, build community, motivate and educate. 
During that time I was lucky enough to build and design sites on nearly every major platform as well as coding sites from scratch too. 
<img src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2023/08/eric_mason_color350x0.jpg" alt="Eric Mason" />
In March of 2012 Wix launched the industry’s first HTML5 editor, a true WYSIWYG drag-and-drop web canvas that allowed for maximum flexibility without the need for coding. I knew immediately it was going to be a game changer. I’d spent years watching first-hand as frustrated entrepreneurs and small businesses had to be satisfied with either limited blocky template style builders, or forced to spend significant resources in money, time or technical education (and often all three) to truly launch their vision on the web.    
I had a real desire to continue to work with, and provide meaningful solutions for entrepreneurs, non-profits, small businesses, students, etc… who aspire to share their vision and dreams. Wix provides me that opportunity each and every day. 
<h3>2.What is Wix?</h3>
Wix.com is a leading cloud-based web development platform with over 50 million registered users worldwide. Built around our industry leading HTML5 drag-and-drop editor, Wix offers a true What-You-See-Is-What-You-Get (WYSIWYG) creative environment where users can create their unique web presence all without need for coding or technical expertise. 
Because Wix is built in layers it’s something more powerful than a “template” site builder (though we’ve 100’s of beautifully designed templates) and is increasingly becoming a one-stop shop small businesses with integrated ecommerce, business management tools, marketing and contact management capabilities, and a vibrant app market eco-system.  
 Wix was founded on the belief that the Internet should be accessible to everyone to develop, create and contribute. Through free and premium subscriptions, Wix empowers millions of businesses, organizations, professionals and individuals to take their businesses, brands and workflow online. The Wix Editor and highly curated App Market enable users to build and manage a fully integrated and dynamic online presence. Wix's headquarters are in Tel Aviv with offices in San Francisco, New York, Vilnius and Dnepropetrovsk.
<h3>3.What is your personal favorite feature of Wix?</h3>
I get really excited about new features. Like, little kid excited. Part of this is because I know how difficult they are to build and execute. This experience is magnified when, for example in the case of our recently announced animations or anchors feature, I see how fun and easy our developers and engineers have made the process for users. Drag, drop, click, customize, go! The delight factor for me is really high because I know it’s going to be off the charts for our users.  
 My favorite feature recently was the launch of our new “beyond responsive” mobile solution. Everyone is considering mobile these days as more and more of our screen time is spent on our phones and on the go devices. Our team developed an algorithm that converts the full sized version of your HTML5 website into a mobile optimized version in a single click. We then allow you to enter a mobile editor and hide and manipulate elements of the mobile version customizing it even further for your mobile visitors. Your full size site remains unchanged in this process. 
 We do all this while maintaining a single source code making it great for SEO too.  It’s a unique and nuanced solution. While lots of platforms give you responsive sites by simply re-stacking blocks of content, the Wix mobile solution allows true flexibility and freedom to shape the mobile experience for your users. That’s powerful and is directly in line with our overarching goals for any product or feature we release. 
<h3>4.What differentiates Wix from the other website builders on the market?</h3>
Wix is a significantly different product and company than anything else on the market for several reasons. We’re a product and technology driven company, and were also user and customer focused in everything we do. As I mentioned earlier Wix is the only real fully flexible drag-and-drop editor on the market. Wix has hundreds of beautifully designed templates but we’re unlike any template site builder. 
 While all the others are built in blocks limiting creative expression, or needing extensive code, time, resources to customize, Wix and the Wix Editor are built in layers, fully flexible, and fully customizable. It’s more than just a technical difference but a philosophy of giving users the most robust tools without the need for coding. You see this cascade throughout the organization and right into the sites that are designed by our users too. People build amazingly unique, beautiful and functional websites when given the tools to do so.  
 As a technology company Wix has a rapid and ambitious continuous development methodology and roadmap. This is supported by an R&amp;D methodology where developers, who represent 50% of the total employee base, have complete ownership and ongoing responsibility for monitoring and improving the new features they create. This enables Wix to stay on top of a constantly changing technological landscape and quickly commoditize the continuous innovation in web design and interaction into new features offered to users.  
 As a customer focused company, this continuous development cycle is tied closely to our users feedback, support infrastructure and community. Our constant advancement and improvements to the platform are a direct reflection of listening and interacting closely and continually with our users. 
<h3>5.What kind of customers choose Wix as their website builder of choice?</h3>
We see all types of small businesses, artists, photographer, students, solo-preneurs, etc… gravitate towards Wix. Of course we fit a real need for those looking to do-it-themselves, but need to have a fully functional, scalable, beautiful and professional web presence. 
Ecommerce is critical for many of these businesses and in addition to our easy to use native Ecommerce engine; Wix has several other options through the app market. What this means is any business can design their site and then pick a suite of apps, Ecommerce to social and more that fit their specific needs.  
 We’re also seeing an increasing number of more experienced and tech-savvy web folks migrating to Wix as they come to discover the power of our drag-and-drop editor to build quickly and easily. That’s exciting to see. Website designers and developers are showing up too. If I’d had Wix’s HTML5 editor back when I was running my own businesses building sites for clients I could have easily tripled or quadrupled my business overnight. Others are figuring this out as well and we’re seeing more and more web professionals leveraging our tools for their clients.   
<h3>6. What are some examples of the best Wix built websites out there? Please share links.</h3>
As mentioned above, all sorts of people build websites and manage their businesses with Wix. We just crossed the 50 million-user milestone and highlighted 50 great websites to celebrate.  Check those out <a href="http://www.wix.com/blog/2014/06/flaunting-50m-users-with-50-kick-ass-wix-sites/" target="_blank">here</a>. 
 On our Explore Page you’ll also find examples of great Wix built site.
 Finally, we publish an ongoing series called “<a href="http://www.wix.com/blog/?s=Own+it!" target="_blank">Own it!</a> Our Template Your Website” where we show the amazing flexibility of the Wix editor by highlighting a variety of websites all created from a single template. As the evidence shows, Wix users were able to use any single template to design individual and powerful sites with a distinct vibe. 
<h3>7. What types of integrations does Wix provide with other platforms (ecommerce, analytics, etc.)?</h3>
Wix launched its <a href="http://www.wix.com/app-market/" target="_blank">App Market</a>, just a few months after the HTML5 editor in 2012. The Wix third party SDK – see dev.wix.com – allows any developer to seamlessly integrate their HTML5 apps into Wix platform via the Wix App Market. Once integrated, our users can add these third party apps to their personal websites. 
 To date we have more than 200 curated native and third party apps that greatly expand the capacity of Wix built sites. Some of the more popular apps include, Google Apps, 123Contact, Search, Instagram, Google analytics, Shopify and Ecwid Ecommerce packages, chat and social apps, business management apps, and many more.  
 With more than 50 new apps in the pipeline, expanded functionality is coming online all the time. And of course, we insist all apps in the market are easy to use and integrate seamlessly into Wix built sites. We recently announced the WixHive API which captures a variety of actions or “activities” taken by a user's website visitors such as contact information, messages, purchases, bookings and more. 
 The activity data for each site is stored and managed in a centralized database dedicated to that site, and can be accessed by installed apps and the site's owner through a dashboard.  Formerly stand-alone apps will now share the gathered data, giving site owners the ability to make business decisions, manage customer relationships and take other actions based on the strength of the integrated insights.
<h3>8. What type of support do you offer your customers? Phone, email, live chat, 24/7? Please share the details.</h3>
Wix support begins directly inside the editor. Throughout, we’ve got links to helpful videos and tutorials to assist at any stage of a users web creation process. Our continuous development cycles means that we are always monitoring where there might be issues and work diligently to address those quickly and efficiently.  
 In addition Wix offers online support through our Answers area, forum support, <a href="https://www.youtube.com/user/wixmypage" target="_blank">video tutorials</a>, <a href="http://www.wix.com/about/contact-us" target="_blank">phone support</a>, and finally email support via support@wix.com.
Sign up to create your <a href="http://www.wix.com/" target="_blank">free Wix website today</a>.

Interview with Eric Mason, Director of Communications at Wix

mike-johnston

WordPress is, without a doubt, one of the most popular open source blog / CMS on the market but it suffers from several issues that make it less than ideal for complex or high traffic websites. For years, CMS Critic ran on WordPress and today, I'm going to pit our current CMS, <a target="_blank" href="http://www.processwire.com">ProcessWire </a>vs WordPress and explain why we made the switch and how things have changed.Before I get into this, however, I think its important to point out that a number of popular websites that previously used WordPress to help establish themselves as major brands, have since made the switch to different CMS. Take <a target="_blank" href="http://www.mashable.com">Mashable </a>for instance, one of the most popular websites in the world dropped WordPress in favor of a more custom solution.In a post over on Quora when asked if Mashable still ran on the WP platform, Chris Heald, Chief Architect @ Mashable stated:<blockquote>Mashable is now running on a custom technology stack. The public-facing bits are a Ruby on Rails backend, with a lot of the templating work pushed to the front-end with Handlebars and Backbone. We'll be doing a full writeup on the build in the near future.</blockquote>Now, this is just one example but there are many. Having said that, there are also plenty that are successfully making use of WordPress as their platform of choice and likely have no plans to switch. Each situation is unique. This isn't intended to be an “abandon ship for the end is nigh” post but rather to show another side of things. Sometimes the “WordPress is the best 3ver !!!?!?!” posts we see all over the Internet get a bit old and it becomes necessary to point out that it's not always the best option out there.Since our first site back in 2006, we ran on WordPress. I selected it for a number of reasons; it was easy to get up and running quickly with little effort, there were plenty of themes available for it and it was gaining in popularity which meant it would be easier to find support if needed. WordPress served us well for a number of years but we began to run into issues with the CMS that still plague it to this day. I'm going to break down the issues and address the differences in how things are handled between ProcessWire vs WordPress and why we prefer the former.<h2>Plugins – Getting rid of Bloat</h2>The #1 reason why we switched to ProcessWire from WordPress was bloat. Sadly, WordPress suffers from massive bloat issues that plague the CMS and cause countless headaches for those using the platform.What do I mean by bloat?WordPress; like a lot of CMS platforms; relies heavily on plugins for extra functionality over and above the core services. The main issue, however, is that these plugins are not actively vetted out (or tested) by core team members to ensure they use optimized code and are safe for your site. This means that by installing a plugin, you can bring down your whole site and cause yourself mountains of headaches all because you wanted to add some extra functionality.Sure, you can have an extra instance of your CMS in a development state (and you should) in order to work on it but the average joe isn't going to go install two instances of WordPress for their blog. They most likely will simply choose to install and assume everything will continue to work as it should. An assumption that should be realistic.Countless times when we were running on WP, we would have no idea that a plugin we installed broke some other functionality within our site until a user let us know. Let me tell you how embarassing it is to get an email from a user telling you your RSS feed is broken (and all because you wanted to add some fancy new widget to your sidebar).<img src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2023/08/processwire_vs_wordpress_-_overwhelmed.jpg" alt="processwire_vs_wordpress" />With ProcessWire, most of the capability we require is already present within the system and anything over and above this can be added quickly and easily. We took the approach of having the author of ProcessWire (the amazing <a target="_blank" href="http://www.linkedin.com/pub/ryan-cramer/0/414/292">Ryan Cramer </a>) adapt the system by modifying templates and teaching us how to best utilize the platform to function better than what we had with WordPress.What did we get by doing this?A sleek system that works as intended with code that works alongside the core and does not compromise anything along the way. Yes, it cost to have this developed but this is not something you can do with WordPress. You cannot go to Automattic and ask them to build in some new capabilities for your site. Their platform is developed for a huge user base and unless that whole user base wants something, it won't be built into the core CMS.Other frequent issues we encountered when running WP as our CMS was downtime thanks to our web hosts. We initially ran on HostGator when we first started but another frequent occurrence we would run into would be some rogue plugin causing a huge spike in memory usage which would then result in an email from HostGator support stating that due to memory or CPU load issues they've taken the site offline until I can figure out what is causing the spike. Picture yourself getting this email while trying to take your kids to the local Science Center. This happened to me quite frequently.Since moving from WordPress, I've never received this email again.Raise your hands if you are sick of updating your CMS and your plugins / themes every 2 days?I'm guessing a lot of you have your hands up and rightfully so. Nothing is more annoying than the constant need to update plugins daily (I'm talking to your WordPress SEO!). While it's great that the authors are constantly updating to resolve issues and add functionality, it distracts from the sole purpose of your site in the first place, to publish content .Furthermore, every time you update you are at risk of something breaking or causing a conflict with another plugin you have installed. Do you want to spend all of your time just trying to keep your site from breaking or do you want to get that article you've been thinking about and planning published for the world to see?Me, I'm for the latter.Don't get me wrong, it's great that there are people that work hard to constantly improve their product offerings by updating to resolve bugs and add features but do we need to update daily? The problem with the way things work here is that the end user typically has no idea if they need to update right away or if it can wait so they tend to update everything every time they see that there's a need. This simply compounds the opportunity for something to go wrong with a crash or conflict.Believe me when I tell you that the plugin developers don't work together to ensure their plugins don't conflict with one another. With ProcessWire, I know that when something hits the modules directory, Ryan has had a look at it (90% of the time) and made suggestions on improvements. This doesn't mean that crashes can't and won't happen but they are far less likely (and haven't happened yet since switching in May 2013 to ProcessWire).Caching for SpeedThe next issue is with caching, WordPress has lots of great caching plugins such as WP Super Cache, W3 Total Cache and many others and while they work great to a point, they suffer from the same issues that I spoke about earlier. They simply aren't vetted out to work reliably and they overwhelm users with options and prompts to buy upgrades.With ProcessWire, we have one plugin called ProcessWire ProCache that is installed, automatically enabled and simply does its job without annoying me with options or prompts to clear the cache. If I need to do so, I can turn it off or on and clear the cache with a simple checkbox but rarely do I ever need to touch it. Furthermore, our site loads far faster than it did in the past with a huge difference in response time over anything we had built with WordPress.Making the move to <a target="_blank" href="http://www.processwire.com">ProcessWire</a> was the best thing we've ever done. We have an amazingly good <a href="/products/">CMS directory </a>that was built specifically for our needs, our system is rarely down and if it is, it's because I broke something playing with code and not because of the CMS itself.As our writer, Kaya, will attest;<blockquote>“When CMS Critic made the switch to ProcessWire, it was the sheer speed of the system which struck me hardest. Whether you're creating, editing or deleting a post, ProcessWire just seems to snap into action a lot faster than any WordPress setup I've ever used – and I have used many.Furthermore, I've grown to prefer Processwire's interface over WordPress'. Post creation features like summary text, featured images, tags, etc, are all presented in a linear fashion, via toggle menus. It's all very clean and tidy. Paired together, the speed of Processwire along with its sleek interface makes the “ProcessWire vs WordPress” question well worth asking.”</blockquote>That's not to say that WordPress doesn't have its own place. It most certainly is the top blog platform out there and if you are looking for a quick way to put together a site based off of a host of themes that exist on the market, then WP is the way to go. When it comes to the requirements of a full fledged CMS (speed, simplicity, stability) then I would quickly dismiss WordPress as a viable option.I know for a fact that there are plenty of you who will disagree and that's great that you are experiencing success running WP in different environments but I will say that when I need something I can rely on, I will, in every instance, turn to <a target="_blank" href="http://www.processwire.com">ProcessWire</a> as my CMS of choice.What's your CMS of choice? Is it different than these? Do you have differing experiences? Feel free to let us know in the comments below.** Update 7/30/14 **I've noticed a few WP based bloggers have misinterpreted this article to mean that all publishers and bloggers should switch to Processwire because it's better at blogging. I'm not sure how this happened or why anyone would get that from this article but apparently a few people have so let me clarify a few things.<ol><li>I am not saying that Processwire is better for blogging than WordPress. That's ridiculous.</li><li>I am saying that WordPress has a number of inherent issues such as bloat and problems with the plugin directory (I've recently expanded on this <a href="/wordpress-joomla-and-drupal-are-not-the-best-cms/">here</a>) Anyone who disagrees with this point is simply arguing for the sake of doing so. There is no question that there are better alternatives and I've seen plenty of them. I can guarantee you I've tested more CMS than anyone out there and better options exist that do a better job of vetting out their plugins.</li><li>There are plenty of other great platforms out there for just writing. I'm sorry, WP may be the most popular but for straight up blogging, I am more of a fan of the more minimalistic options. I've provided a huge list of alternatives here: <a href="/minimalist-blogging-platforms/">Simple Blogging Platforms</a></li></ol>~ Mike

ProcessWire vs WordPress

The CMS Critic team –  otherwise known as Mike Johnston and myself – were recently in Basel, Switzerland for the <a href="http://www.magnolia-cms.com/conference.html" target="_blank">Magnolia Conference 2014</a>.
It was set to be Magnolia’s fifth annual conference, and as <a href="/magnolia-5.3-blends-cxm-with-cms-to-deliver-best-of-breed-software/" target="_blank">Magnolia 5.3</a> had just been unveiled, we were quite excited to see how things panned out.
Mike and I covered both days of the conference in detail. <a href="/day-one-of-magnolia-conference-2014-personalization-apps-a-roundtable/" target="_blank"> Day one</a> was focused on personalization, apps and a roundtable discussion, whilst <a href="/day-two-of-magnolia-conference-2014-the-unconference/" target="_blank"> day two</a> was all about the unconference.
On top of blog coverage, we also <a href="https://twitter.com/cmscritic" target="_blank">live-tweeted</a> the event from the ground.
Now though, I’d like to delve into the finer details of Magnolia Conference 2014. 
<h2>A Cutting-edge Reception &amp; Some Fine Food</h2>
On day one, attendees were welcomed to the conference by receiving their name tags, before being offered some food and drink, and an impressive Magnolia goody pack. 
 <img src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2023/08/magnolia.png" alt="Magnolia Conference 2014" /> Included within the pack was everything from conference programs, to three-way USB cables to <a href="/day-two-of-magnolia-conference-2014-the-unconference/" target="_blank"> unconference cards</a>.  
 What got everybody excited though, was the Magnolia-branded Swiss Army Knife, which were also handed out at the reception. It was a cool, unique and memorable conference freebie which got everybody talking. 
 Somehow, the concept of an all-in-one gadget seemed to suit Magnolia's brand, especially when you consider their <a href="/magnolias-open-suite-approach-maximizing-choice-future-proofing-digital-investments/" target="_blank">open suite approach</a>.
<blockquote>
You can get cool stuff at conferences, but <a href="https://twitter.com/magnolia_cms"> @magnolia_cms </a> takes it to another level. Swiss Army Knife anyone? <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/mconf14?src=hash"> #mconf14 </a> <a href="http://t.co/ZirGz6XbdG"> pic.twitter.com/ZirGz6XbdG </a>
— Kaya Ismail (@EmployTheNet) <a href="https://twitter.com/EmployTheNet/statuses/481695871210639360"> June 25, 2014 </a>
</blockquote>
There was a friendly and bubbly vibe coming from both attendees and Magnolia officials throughout both days. It was a homely atmosphere, which definitely helped encourage attendees to move between tracks freely. 
<img src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2023/08/14541403134_1cd2b18455_b700x0.jpg" alt="Magnolia Conference 2014" /> The online environment was great too. Attendees were joining in with the <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/mconf14?src=hash" target="_blank">#MConf14</a> hashtag, retweeting eachother, posting pictures and so forth. Activity on the hashtag was displayed on screens around the venue.
Now, Swiss Army Knife or no Swiss Army Knife, conference food can be a deal breaker. Thankfully though, Magnolia kept everybody well fed. 
 For lunch, a buffet was held in a separate location, not too far from the Pathe Theatre. Pasta, fish, lamb, potatoes and a wide range of desserts lined the buffet table. I certainly had no complaints. Later, at the Magnolia after-party, equally delicious finger foods were offered. 
 <img src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2023/08/food.png" alt="Magnolia" /> Speaking of the after party, that too held up a pleasant atmosphere.  
Granted, the Church setting was – for lack of a better word – unorthodox. However, the presence of a bar along with a projector showing a live World Cup 2014 fixture quickly made everybody feel cosy. 
<h2>A Third Day of Activities</h2>
Many were under the impression that Magnolia Conference 2014 was a two-day event. Not so.
There was actually a third day of activities on offer for all who attended, completely free of charge.
<img src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2023/08/14356290189_78bbb8235c_b700x0.jpg" alt="Magnolia Conference 2014" /> Attendees could engage in Yoga, mountain biking, hiking and even a Basel scavenger hunt. Once again, this was a rather unique offering, and one I felt rounded off the entire event very nicely indeed. 
 Overall, I can only speak positively of what I saw from the Magnolia Conference 2014. The company's representatives were friendly, the venue was comfortable and the freebies on offer – including all the free activities – were nothing short of fantastic. 
Here's hoping Magnolia Conference 2015 is even better!

Magnolia Conference 2014: Reflections of an Attendee

Ecommerce is growing more rapidly by the day. In fact, by 2016, U.S. consumers alone are <a href="http://www.internetretailer.com/2012/02/27/e-retail-spending-increase-45-2016" target="_blank">predicted to spend $327 billion</a> online.
With the e-commerce industry producing such vast figures, more and more e-commerce startups are looking for their first venture – and <a href="https://www.squarespace.com/" target="_blank">Squarespace</a> is a platform primed for the task.
But just how easy is it to start selling on Squarespace? If you’re interested in selling with Squarespace, you’ll need to know if it can handle your business ideas and product types.
So, join me in taking a look at just how functional Squarespace Commerce is.
<h2>Selling on Squarespace: Good Enough for Your Online Store?</h2>
Selling with SquareSpace Commerce enables you to sell physical products, digital products, and even services. The platform does a very solid job of it too.
To get started, you only need to navigate to the “Commerce” section, located on the left-hand sidebar.
Once you get into the Commerce section, Squarespace leads you through the process of setting up your store with a three-step guide.
<img src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2023/08/selling700x0.png" alt="Squarespace eCommerce" />
To carry out all the steps, you only need to click on them, configure your products and settings, and move on. So, let’s take a look at just how easy those three steps are to take.
<h3>Adding Products</h3>
Adding products naturally makes or breaks an online selling platform, and it’s no surprise that adding products on SquareSpace is a breeze. Although, in order to add a product, you’ll need to navigate back over to the “Content Manager” section.
Once there, you simply have to click “Add Page” and then select “Products”.
<img src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2023/08/selling2700x0.png" alt="Squarespace eCommerce" />
Next, a window will be presented to you, allowing you to configure your product.
<img src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2023/08/8-1700x0.png" alt="Squarespace eCommerce" />
Product images can be uploaded via a drag-and-drop system, while titles, descriptions, pricing and additional information can all be quickly added via the product upload window. If your products aren’t in need of any technical specifications, you can have a whole catalog uploaded in a matter of minutes.
<h3>Create a Shipping Option</h3>
The second step requires you to set up a shipping option. All you have to do is navigate over to the “Shipping” tab back over in the “Commerce” section, before clicking “Add Shipping Method”.
<img src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2023/08/shipp700x0.png" alt="Squarespace eCommerce" />
A window will then prompt you to select either flat rate shipping, weight dependent shipping or UPS calculated shipping – which is reserved for Squarespace Business users.
<img src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2023/08/shipp2.png" alt="Squarespace eCommerce" />
Once you have made your selection, you can configure the resulting options, and then hit “Save”. It’s that easy.
<img src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2023/08/ship_3.png" alt="Squarespace eCommerce" />
<h3>Connect to Stripe</h3>
Squarespace only allows you to use <a href="https://stripe.com/" target="_blank">Stripe</a> as a payment gateway, which is quite disappointing. However, Stripe is a respected payment method, and setting up an account with them is easy.
To configure your Stripe account with Squarespace, you only need to navigate over to the “Store Settings” page within the “Commerce” section, where you will find the option to connect with Stripe.
<img src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2023/08/stripe700x0.png" alt="Squarespace eCommerce" />
Once you connect your Stripe account, you have effectively flipped the switch, meaning that your Squarespace store is now live.
<h2>Squarespace Selling Extras</h2>
Some handy extra options are also available for selling on Squarespace, including:
<ul>
<li>Coupon Codes</li>
<li>Sales</li>
<li>Shipping Options</li>
<li>Taxing Options</li>
<li>Mailchimp integration</li>
<li>Donations</li>
<li>And More</li>
</ul>
These additional options, along with the straightforward store setup guide, make Squarespace ideal for budding online merchants.
<h2>The Verdict</h2>
To give you an overview of the good and bad which Squarespace Commerce has to offer, check out the pros and cons below.
<h3>Pros</h3>
<ul>
<li>Friendly setup guide makes it easy to build a store.</li>
<li>Product creation is extremely quick and easy.</li>
<li>Much like with page and blog post creation, Squarespace enables you to apply plenty of detail to your products and services if you wish to.</li>
<li>Good range of additional extras including Mailchimp integration and donations.</li>
</ul>
<h3>Cons</h3>
<ul>
<li>Squarespace only allows you to accept payments through Stripe – which is very limiting.</li>
<li>Adding products requires you to navigate away from the Commerce section.</li>
</ul>
Aside from its extensive design features – which is widely known as Squarespace’s forte – I’d say that Commerce is Squarespace’s biggest strength. Setting up the store and adding products takes just minutes, thanks to the user friendly walk-through guide.
Although, there are flaws to be found. I find it strange how adding products requires you to leave the “Commerce” section, as well as the limitation to using Stripe as the only payment gateway. But apart from these two relatively minor issues, everything else related to setting up a store on Squarespace flows quite nicely indeed.
For further detail on Squarespace, check out our full <a href="/squarespace-review-the-long-awaited-commerce-solution/" target="_blank">Squarespace Review</a>.
You can also get started with your Squarespace website today, via the <a href="https://www.squarespace.com/templates">Squarespace 14-day free trial</a>.

How Effective is Squarespace as an eCommerce Platform?

Concrete5 has finally slapped a <a href="http://www.concrete5.org/about/blog/core-releases/5-7-beta-release-date/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer"> date on the beta release of version 5.7</a> of their open-source CMS. That date, is July 21st, 2014.
Users of Concrete5 have been waiting a long time to get their hands on version 5.7, particularly because <a href="http://www.concrete5.org/about/blog/core-releases/concrete5-5-6-0-now-available/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">version 5.6 was released way back in August 2012</a>.
Concrete5 is a CMS that helps users manage websites easily, via a simple point-and-click interface and editing toolbar.
This announcement also comes a couple of months after Concrete5 gave users a <a href="/concrete5-offer-up-developer-sneak-peak-of-version-5.7/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer"> developer sneak peek of version 5.7</a>.
<h2>What's on Offer?</h2>
Concrete5 have revealed that version 5.7 will contain the following:
<ul>
<li>New editing UI design.</li>
<li>General code cleanup.</li>
<li>Composer 2.0.</li>
<li>Twitter &amp; Facebook Single Sign On (SSO).</li>
<li>New image editor.</li>
<li>Mobile responsive toolbar.</li>
<li>Multi-file uploading.</li>
<li>Calendar &amp; content scheduling.</li>
<li>iOS /Android App.</li>
<li>New core themes.</li>
</ul>
More updates and further detail on the updates listed above can be <a href="http://www.concrete5.org/about/blog/core-releases/5-7-developer-snapshot-available/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">found here</a>.
You can find out more about Concrete5 via their <a href="http://www.concrete5.org/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">official website</a>.
Also, be sure to explore more of <a href="/products/concrete5/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Concrete5 via our CMS Directory</a>.

Concrete5 5.7 Beta Release Date Announced

Choosing a content management system for your project is paramount to the success of your venture. The primary reason CMS Critic exists is to help our readership stay informed about which CMS are to be trusted and used.
However, choosing a content management system is only half the battle to getting a project up and running. The other half is all about selecting the best web host.
As a result of this realization, CMS Critic has selected <a href="https://www.bluehost.com/" target="_blank"> Bluehost</a> as their web host of choice – and we recommend them to all our readers.
<h2>Why Bluehost?</h2>
There are countless web hosting solutions on the market, but we believe Bluehost is the best all-around solution for startups, seasoned web property developers, and everybody in between.
Founded in 1996, Bluehost is an award-winning web host that powers over 2 million websites across the globe. Bluehost offers shared hosting, WordPress hosting, VPS hosting, dedicated hosting, and reseller hosting.
<img src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2023/08/bluehost700x0.png" alt="Bluehost " /> 
Bluehost's price plans are second to none when the quality of the control panel and support system are both taken into account. They offer a one-click install for WordPress, automated backups, unlimited domains, unlimited storage space, a free domain name, and 24/7 support – all of which is included in their shared hosting plan, starting from just $4.95 per month.
Their VPS and dedicated hosting plans are equally impressive and offer great value for money. So impressive in fact, that preparations are now being made for CMS Critic to migrate to the Bluehost.
<h2>4th July Discount</h2>
Bluehost is about to roll out a 4th July special discount, coming down on their already impressive monthly price of $4.95 per month. Details of the offer are as follows:
<ul>
<li>Special 3.95/mo Promotional Pricing</li>
<li>Starts Friday, July 4, 2014 @ 12:01 a.m. MDT</li>
<li>Ends Monday, July 7, 2014, @ 9 a.m. MDT</li>
</ul>
So, be sure to grab your Bluehost discount this Friday, 4th July 2014.

Bluehost: CMS Critic's Web Host of Choice (Plus a Special 4th July Bluehost Discount)

So you are looking to create a social network. Whether it be for a local organization or a specific interest group, there are many ways to go about getting started.As with any successful website, it requires the right combination of software, planning and implementation.Today, I'm going to guide you through the process and help get you started by explaining how to create a social network.<h2>Clarify your idea and concept</h2>The most important step before you get started is to make sure your idea is sound and will actually be successful.Some questions you should be asking yourself to help you clarify your idea should include:<h3>What niche am I looking to fill?</h3>This is the single most important question you need to ask yourself when thinking about how to create a social network. Attempting to take on something like Facebook simply isn't realistic but there may very well be a specific niche that you have a passion for and that could benefit from some kind of community / network.<img src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2023/08/how_to_create_a_social_network_-_2-1.jpg" alt="How to Create a Social Network" />Since you've already found this article I would assume you already have an idea in mind but it's important to make sure you are realistic with your expectations. Don't expect to be the next Facebook or Myspace easily. It doesn't mean it can't be done but it's not an overnight achievement.Make sure you have a clear understanding of the niche (or specific topic) your social network will be about. Perhaps it's for musicians or animal lovers or something similar.<h3>Are there any existing social networks out there that fill the niche I'm considering?</h3>As with any good business, it's important to do your research and investigate whom you will be competing against. Are there already social networks out there that fill the niche you are looking to enter? If so, what are they doing correctly? Is there anything you would change to make it better? Make notes about what you like and don't like so you know what you need to do to gain an advantage.I'd also recommend trying something like <a target="_blank" href="https://www.semrush.com/">SEM Rush</a> to perform research into the markets, analyze your competition, and more.<h3>What services or functionality do I want to be able to offer my audience?</h3>This is partly covered in the question above but I want to make sure you truly think hard about this. What are you going to offer your audience that will make them want to be part of your community?Perhaps if you are thinking of starting an animal lovers social network you can consider looking into a partnership with a manufacturer to offer some kind of discounts to your audience or perhaps you will offer specialized services like training for pets or videos.Think things through carefully and make sure that whatever you choose to offer, it's unique and something that would convince YOU to sign up if you came across a site like it.—– Cost Considerations<h3>How much do I want to spend at the most?</h3><h4>(be reasonable here, don't expect to put one together for $100, these things cost money in order to be successful).</h4>Obviously spending the least amount of money for the highest return is everyone's goal but it's not always a realistic one. Social networks (like any website) involve a financial investment of some kind. This can range from a few hundred dollars to several thousand. Think about what you are willing to invest to get things going.For those of you who are not sure where to start, here are some typical costs websites such as this typically incur (note these are all conservative estimates, don't hold me to them):Logo creation or developmentIf you don't know where to start, check out the amazing Jessica Watts (she did all of our logos throughout our network and is reasonable priced and incredibly talented). Cost – $300-500Website hostingThis only applies if you decide to use purchased software that requires you to set it up on your own web host. If you want an inexpensive and reasonable hosting company with a good reputation, <a target="_blank" href="https://www.bluehost.com/">check out Bluehost </a>, they are highly recommended and they will give you a 38% discount on hosting if you visit from <a target="_blank" href="https://www.bluehost.com/">our link </a>. You will typically want to start with VPS hosting for a new site so you can have extra control. There are lower cost options but upgrading packages down the road can cause outages. I'd recommend starting with a VPS solution but you can of course choose whichever package suits you best.  Bluehost is hard to beat price wise. Cost – $30 – 100Social Network SoftwareThere are numerous options available for purchase whether it be prepackaged software that includes almost everything you could need or an online solution that offers numerous options. Typically, these are the best bet as they eliminate the huge costs involved in creating something from scratch. Cost – $99 +Custom DevelopmentPerhaps after investigating, you discover that existing software solutions don't fit with your requirements and choose to go the custom development route. Don't expect to get anything up and running reasonably with anything less than a few thousand. To put things in context, a typical blog design and development runs around $3-6k for a good one so a social network which is far more involved is going to cost well in excess of that. Cost – $10k+PromotionYou will need to get your name out there and you'll need someone who can help do this for you. I'd recommend checking out sites like Elance.com and others such as Fiverr.com for inexpensive options that you can buy to help spread the word. Cost – $100+SEO (Search Engine OptimizationAs much as I'm sure you don't want to hear the dreaded SEO term, search engine optimization is critical to getting traffic to your site. Consider joining a network like <a target="_blank" href="http://www.seobook.com/">SEO Book</a> where you can learn how to do this yourself rather than end up spending hundreds on fake or illegitimate SEO companies. There are too many scams out there and you can waste thousands trying to find someone with the right skills when it's far easier and more advantageous to invest in your own knowledge.  Cost – $300 / month through SEO Book or thousands more through other SEO companies  <h3>Do I want to do the work myself or have someone do it for me? Who is going to run it once it's live?</h3>What is my expected volume? How many people could potentially visit and use my social network? (This is important as you need to have a good estimate of sizing in order to be able to help select the right software).There are more questions of course and the list goes on and on but this is a good starting point. I'd recommend grabbing a pen and paper and jotting down your responses to these so you have them readily accessible.—–Use Existing Software or Build your own?<h2>Use Existing Software or Build your own?</h2>The next step is to investigate what options are on the market with regards to pre-packaged social networking solutions. There are numerous options form self hosted (which means you will have to be responsible for putting up the website and keeping it up) or hosted solutions (you pay a fee to a provider each month and they look after this for you).It's important to see what's out there in order to determine if the solutions available can fit your needs or if you need to consider developing the site from scratch. Keep in mind that custom development is very expensive so make sure you absolutely discount all available options before going that route.Let's look at some of the solutions that are available.<h3>PHPFox</h3>PHPFox has been around for many years and is one of the least expensive options on the market. While there are always people who complain about every product that is out there, the fact remains that there are tons of great social networks running on PHPFox and doing quite well for themselves. Cost-wise, the investment has gone down quite a bit since the main company rebranded to Moxi9 and now, you can purchase PHPfox for just $99.<figure class="image"><img src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2023/08/phpfox.jpg" alt="How to Create a Social Network" /></figure>I'd consider that a reasonable investment for the amount of work it eliminates you having to do yourself. For less than a hundred bucks, you've got a framework to begin with and should your site take off down the road, you can consider other options such as custom development once you've established a strong foothold and started to generate revenue from your social network.Don't discount options like these as they are fast ways to get things going with minimal investment and see if they take off. You wouldn't want to spend thousands only to find out your idea flopped so start by minimizing your costs first and keeping your overhead low. PHPFox won Best Social Networking Solution in our 2012  <a href="/cms-critic-awards/">Critics' Choice CMS Awards </a>as well.<a target="_blank" href="https://www.phpfox.com/">Get PHPFox</a><h3>Social Engine</h3>Social Engine is generally considered to be one of the top social networking products on the market along with PHPFox. Their offerings are more expansive and include both a cloud version (so you can use their product on their servers without having to install it yourself) which is currently priced at $29 / month or a downloadable version, which you would own wholly and would run you $299.<img src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2023/08/socialengine_screenshot600x0.png" alt="how to create a social network" />Both options are excellent ones to consider. Personally, I think the cloud solution might be a bit better due to the fact that you wouldn't be required to fight with configuring your hosting. The downside of course is that you lose a bit of customization capability and do not fully own the product. Either way, SE is a great option to consider when exploring your options.<a target="_blank" href="https://socialengine.com/">Get SocialEngine</a><h3>Dolphin Smart Community Builder</h3><a target="_blank" href="https://www.boonex.com/features">Dolphin</a> is another good option to consider. They offer plenty of great modules and loads of functionality at a reasonable price. While they are certainly more expensive than PHPFox, you may find they fit your needs a bit better (everyone has different tastes).<img src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2023/08/dolphin_smart_community_builder600x0.jpg" alt="How to Create a Social Network" />Prices for Dolphin range from $399 to 799 so needless to say, it's definitely more expensive than most but if you feel the options they offer suit your needs and PHPFox is out of the question, it's a good second option to consider. Certainly, it's far cheaper than developing from scratch so don't discount the price, which in the grand scheme of things is still quite reasonable.<a target="_blank" href="https://www.boonex.com/features">Get Dolphin</a><h3>Evoq Social</h3>If the network you are trying to create is more of a business style network, then you should definitely look into Evoq Social. This offering is from the fine folks at DNN Software and can help you produce a truly amazing social network for your site. They also won last years  <a href="/2013-people-s-choice-winner-for-best-social-networking-solution/">Best Social Network Solution </a>award during our Critics' Choice CMS Awards.If this looks like a good fit for you, you can <a target="_blank" href="https://www.dnnsoftware.com/products/evoq-engage">learn more about Evoq Social</a>.<h3>Oxwall</h3>Oxwall is a great open source solution that you can get your hands on for free. There is a strong community and plenty of options. You can test out a free demo on the Oxwall website to see if it suits your needs as well.<img src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2023/08/oxwall600x0.jpg" alt="How to Create a Social Network" />Oxwall is open source which means the code is freely available. It's also free.<a target="_blank" href="http://www.oxwall.org">Get Oxwall</a>—– What's Next?<h2>What's Next?</h2>So you've decided whether you want to use some of the social network software we've recommended, you've made a list of your answers to the questions we identified at the beginning or our article and you are ready to get going.There's only one question now, what's next?At this stage, you've got your concept and the software. Make sure you take advantage of the many communities available to get help with your questions. Places like <a target="_blank" href="http://stackoverflow.com/">Stack Overflow </a>,  <a target="_blank" href="http://www.quora.com">Quora </a>and others can be invaluable resources when you get stuck or need help.If you find yourself in need of a developer, use sites like <a target="_blank" href="http://www.elance.com">Elance </a>,  <a target="_blank" href="http://www.freelancer.com">Freelancer </a>or  <a target="_blank" href="http://www.guru.com">Guru </a>to find someone who can give you a hand at a price point you can live with.Don't forget to use the support services of whichever platform you end up using. For PHPFox and others, use their community and look for fellow users on Google as well. Be sure to work with your hosting provider to help get things up and moving if you choose to do the hosting on your own.<img src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2023/08/how_to_create_a_social_network_-_3600x0.jpg" alt="how_to_create_a_social_network" />If you need assistance setting up your social network, drop us a line or leave a comment below. We offer consulting services that can help you get things rolling. Good luck and may your social network be successful!

How to Create a Social Network

Power your CMS on AWS

Manage your websites & apps in the most trusted cloud.

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<a href="https://www.kentico.com/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Kentico</a> have announced the release date of the latest version of their integrated marketing solution, Kentico 8.1.
The date they have given is August 22nd, 2014. In addition, thanks to listening to some feedback, Kentico have also said that they will make the upgrade procedure available on the same date.
Also, Kentico have announced that the beta version of Kentico 8.1 will be available by the end of July 2014.
This news comes just a few months after the <a href="/kentico-8-introduces-slick-new-interface-and-improved-marketing-suite/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">release of Kentico 8</a>, which brought along with it a completely revamped interface, as well as a number of enhancements for Kentico's integrated marketing suite.
<h2>Social Marketing &amp; Sharepoint Integration</h2>
So, what can Kentico users expect from version 8.1? Well, here's what Kentico have unveiled so far:
<ul>
<li>Upgrade improvements</li>
<li>Pages usability enhancements</li>
<li>Online Marketing performance improvements</li>
<li>Discounts and promotion innovations</li>
<li>Social marketing improvements</li>
<li>Sharepoint integration</li>
</ul>
In addition to this list, Kentico has announced that they will be <a href="http://devnet.kentico.com/articles/kentico-8-1-removing-support-for-medium-trust-environment" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">dropping support for the medium trust environment</a>.
You can find out more about what Kentico have planned <a href="https://www.kentico.com/Product/Roadmap" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">via their roadmap</a>.
Also, be sure to explore more of <a href="/products/kentico/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Kentico via our CMS Directory</a>.

Kentico 8.1 Release Date Revealed

After getting off to a great start on <a href="/day-one-of-magnolia-conference-2014-personalization-apps-a-roundtable/" target="_blank">day one of the Magnolia Conference 2014</a>, which was a day full of technical, business and digital marketing tracks, day two of Magnolia's fifth annual event had something refreshing to offer.
Mike and I got ourselves back down to the Pathé Theatre venue in the heart of a hot and humid Basel, just in time to witness the start of an interesting and engaging conference activity.
It was the Magnolia “Unconference” 2014, and everybody was getting involved.
<h2>Engaging with the Ecosystem</h2>
Magnolia’s Unconference – which dominated day two – was all about attendee engagement and collaboration.
<img src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2023/08/14496228536_de86accf9e_b700x0.jpg" alt="Magnolia Conference 2014" />
An unconference is a style of conference where the attendees propose, schedule and present their own sessions. Magnolia state that:
<blockquote>
“The Magnolia Conference attracts some of the most engaged, skilled and innovative people from the Magnolia ecosystem and broader CMS industry. The unconference helps harness this potential, giving each attendee the opportunity to discuss what matters most to them in this rich environment.”
</blockquote>
So, if the purpose of day one was to allow Magnolia to talk to their audience face-to-face, day two was simply a chance for that same audience to respond.
<img src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2023/08/14333613217_ef936085e9_b700x0.jpg" alt="Magnolia Conferece 2014" />
Although the concept of an unconference is nothing new, they aren’t always incorporated into a company’s largest annual event. It was an invigorating activity, and I have no doubt that the attendees were glad Magnolia chose to offer it.
<h2>How it Worked</h2>
To ensure the unconference ran smoothly, Magnolia handed out some (very slick) conference folios throughout day one, which contained suggestion cards, amongst other things.
Attendees were encouraged to fill out these suggestion cards in preparation for day two, when their suggestions would be compiled and eventually discussed.
<img src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2023/08/14332728609_fbce0a7ede_b700x0.jpg" alt="Magnolia Conference 2014" />
The day began with the audience getting to briefly introduce their session ideas, in what was a very bubbly and relaxed theatre room. 
All kinds of ideas were flowing through the room, from Magnolia migration best practises to more comical activities. 
<blockquote>
.<a href="https://twitter.com/topherzee">@topherzee</a> suggests an Unconference session to compose a rap song on Magnolia CMS essentials. Looking forward to the result! <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/mconf14?src=hash">#mconf14</a>
— Magnolia CMS (@magnolia_cms) <a href="https://twitter.com/magnolia_cms/statuses/482064869207056384">June 26, 2014</a>
</blockquote>
In the end, a full day of attendee-suggested sessions were planned out. The sessions spanned from discussions about eCommerce platform integration to brainstorms regarding the top 20 most needed apps &amp; modules.
<img src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2023/08/14332667100_81490a1f20_b700x0.jpg" alt="Magnolia Conference 2014" />
The finished unconference wall for Magnolia Conference 2014 can be seen in more detail <a href="http://wall.magnolia-cms.com/unconf/" target="_blank">right here</a>. 
<h2>Technicalities Continued</h2>
Running side-by-side with the unconference, was a technical track similar to that found during day one.
<blockquote>
There we go! <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/mconf14?src=hash"> #mconf14 </a> <a href="https://twitter.com/edbananeman"> @edbananeman </a> <a href="https://twitter.com/Jelastic"> @Jelastic </a> <a href="https://twitter.com/lazarenkod"> @lazarenkod </a> <a href="http://t.co/SXy5Kydbrc"> pic.twitter.com/SXy5Kydbrc </a>
— Info.nl (@infonl) <a href="https://twitter.com/infonl/statuses/482130249707446272"> June 26, 2014 </a>
</blockquote>
Magnolia’s attending clients and partners were running the show, with Tricode, Tinext,Aperto, Jelastic, Lemonize and Agido all dishing out technical presentations.
They spoke on topics such as vanity URLs, utilities portal building and there was even mention of some tips for when it comes to developing a Magnolia website with speed in mind.
<img src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2023/08/14496225166_c58327f020_b700x0.jpg" alt="Magnolia Conference 2014" />
Overall, day two had everything it needed to close out the Magnolia Conference 2014. The technical tracks were there for those who wished to hear from industry experts, but the casual nature of the unconference was the icing on the cake. It was fun, engaging and genuinely informative for those who attended. 
To get a sense of how Magnolia Conference 2014 went down on the ground, be sure to check out the event’s <a href="http://eventifier.com/event/mconf14/popular?utm_content=buffer3fe0d&amp;utm_medium=social&amp;utm_source=twitter.com&amp;utm_campaign=buffer"> social media wall</a> revolving around the #MConf14 hashtag. CMS Critic was even ranked as the top contributor!
For a recap on day one of Magnolia conference 2014, <a href="/day-one-of-magnolia-conference-2014-personalization-apps-a-roundtable/" target="_blank">check out my coverage of the opening day</a>.
Images: <a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/magnolia-cms/" target="_blank">Magnolia</a>

Day Two of Magnolia Conference 2014: The Unconference

For the third time this year, the CMS Critic team – consisting of Mike Johnston and myself – were in Europe for a conference. This time, it was the <a href="http://www.magnolia-cms.com/conference.html" target="_blank"> Magnolia Conference 2014</a>.
Set in the surprisingly hot and sunny city of Basel, Switzerland, Magnolia were hosting their fifth annual conference in the wake of the <a href="/magnolia-5.3-blends-cxm-with-cms-to-deliver-best-of-breed-software/" target="_blank"> release of Magnolia 5.3</a>.
Mike and I got ourselves down to the venue (a modern and beautifully designed Cinema) bright and early to ensure a front row seat for the opening keynote. As always, we were <a href="https://twitter.com/cmscritic/" target="_blank"> live-tweeting</a> throughout the event. 
<h2>Success, Growth &amp; New Horizons</h2>
The Magnolia Conference 2014 was split into technical, business and digital marketing tracks, but it all kicked off in the same place by Pascal Mangold, Magnolia's Co-founder and CEO.  
 He spoke with energy about the recent history of Magnolia, citing some very impressive financial figures along the way. Notably, he mentioned how Magnolia had doubled their revenue in just two years, growing by 35% year on year in the process. 
 <img src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2023/08/pascal.png" alt="Pascal Mangold" />
Pascal Mangold, Magnolia Co-founder &amp; CEO
Following up from Pascal Mangold was Boris Kraft, who was introduced with his brand new title of Chief Visionary Officer.  
 Being a co-founder and a now former CTO himself, Boris picked up where Pascal Mangold left off with Magnolia's progression.
He touched on some of Magnolia's biggest clients, and gave some brief details about how each one had made use of Magnolia 5 in particular. Such clients included Virgin America, Al Arabiya and The Telegraph. 
 <img src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2023/08/boris1.jpg" alt="Boris Kraft" />
Boris Kraft, Magnolia Chief Visionary Officer
Before wrapping up the opening keynote, Boris Kraft had a chance to speak about Magnolia 5.3, the latest version of their platform which boasts a heavy focus on personalization. 
 The Chief Visionary Officer skimmed through this focus before mentioning some of the new features, such as the Magnolia App Finder. You can read more on Magnolia 5.3 <a href="/magnolia-5.3-blends-cxm-with-cms-to-deliver-best-of-breed-software/" target="_blank"> right here</a>.
<blockquote>
“What I really like about Magnolia 5.3, is that it validates our apps approach” – <a href="https://twitter.com/bkraft"> @bkraft </a> Chief Visionary Officer of <a href="https://twitter.com/magnolia_cms"> @magnolia_cms </a> <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/mconf14?src=hash"> #mconf14 </a>
— CMS Critic (@cmscritic) <a href="https://twitter.com/cmscritic/statuses/481704756550049793"> June 25, 2014 </a>
</blockquote>
<h2>Personalization Nation</h2>
Following the opening keynote, Philipp Barfuss of Magnolia got the ball rolling with the word on the lips of almost every Magnolia Conference 2014 speaker and attendee. Personalization. 
 He spoke about how Magnolia 5.3 utilizes four key personalization tools; visitor/user traits, content variations, segments and personas. 
 Together, these four tools combine to form a formidable arsenal to help personalize content for users of different ages, locations, device, and more. Not to mention date and time specific content and other such variations.
<blockquote>
<a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/Personalization?src=hash"> #Personalization </a> in <a href="https://twitter.com/magnolia_cms"> @magnolia_cms </a> 5.3 via traits and content variants being showcased at <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/mconf14?src=hash"> #mconf14 </a> <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/cxm?src=hash"> #cxm </a> <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/CMS?src=hash"> #CMS </a> <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/wxm?src=hash"> #wxm </a> <a href="http://t.co/pxchgdi0dN"> pic.twitter.com/pxchgdi0dN </a>
— CMS Critic (@cmscritic) <a href="https://twitter.com/cmscritic/statuses/481713780716752896"> June 25, 2014 </a>
</blockquote>
. Philipp Barfuss also showcased the previews feature, which allows publishers and marketers to preview content variations and targeted content as if they were the intended audience, simply by selecting different personas from a drop-down menu. 
 Andreas Weder and Mikael Geljic of Magnolia then took to the stage to walk the audience through app creation with Magnolia 5.3.
<blockquote>
. <a href="https://twitter.com/mgnl_ux"> @Mgnl_UX </a> &amp; <a href="https://twitter.com/mikaelgeljic"> @mikaelgeljic </a> recapping <a href="https://twitter.com/magnolia_cms"> @magnolia_cms </a> ‘ 5.3 enhancements related to app building <a href="http://t.co/qffpIXjd66"> pic.twitter.com/qffpIXjd66 </a>
— CMS Critic (@cmscritic) <a href="https://twitter.com/cmscritic/statuses/481732382123622400"> June 25, 2014 </a>
</blockquote>
 They both demonstrated how the “Photo Scout” app worked, fetching images from Instagram to be readily used within Magnolia. Leaving the technicalities to one side, it was a good way to simultaneously showcase Magnolia 5.3's app development features, along with its social media integration options.  
 Meanwhile, in other sections of the Cinema, clients and partners of Magnolia such as SysEleven, Atlassian, MBC Group and more also had time to talk about how they make the most of the CMS. For me though, the highlight of the day was to be found right at the very end. 
<h2>The Roundtable Discussion</h2>
Day one of the Magnolia Conference 2014 was capped off with a roundtable discussion. Technically, there was no round table in sight, but the professional (yet quirky) panel members more than made up for it. 
 Our very own Mike Johnston was joined by Tim Walters from Digital Clarity Group, Adriaan Bloem from MBC Group, and Janus Boye, CEO of J.Boye. The discussion was also moderated by Magnolia's CMO, Christopher Justice.
<img src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2023/08/table.png" alt="Roundtable" />
The Roundtable Discussion Panel
The discussion between the panelists began regarding customer experience management, which quickly led us back to the question of personalization. 
<blockquote>
“You can call it personalization, but relevance is the goal.” – <a href="https://twitter.com/tim_walters"> @tim_walters </a> from <a href="https://twitter.com/Just_Clarity"> @Just_Clarity </a> <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/mconf14?src=hash"> #mconf14 </a>
— CMS Critic (@cmscritic) <a href="https://twitter.com/cmscritic/statuses/481817367056748544"> June 25, 2014 </a>
</blockquote>
 Opinions about the validity of the term and the extent of its reach were broadly discussed by the panel. A concensus soon emerged though. Personalization is all well and good, but relevance is the true driving factor for good, consistent customer experience management. 
 After that, the creepiness of personalization became the talking point. 
<blockquote>
The discussion is now about the fine line between relevant/helpful personalization, &amp; creepy personalization <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/mconf14?src=hash"> #mconf14 </a> <a href="http://t.co/Lski4TMyMX"> pic.twitter.com/Lski4TMyMX </a>
— CMS Critic (@cmscritic) <a href="https://twitter.com/cmscritic/statuses/481819586028113920"> June 25, 2014 </a>
</blockquote>
 By creepy, I mean the insanely fine-tuned personalization tactics employed by the likes of Amazon. For example, their personalized product recommendations are great, but sometimes they're a little too great. Which can get creepy. 
 The discussion came to an end with the spotlight on the term “CMS”. One member of the audience felt the term was outdated, but the panel seemed to be more inclined to blame marketers, who seem to regularly throw out jargon to reinvent the term, slowly drowning the average consumer in acronyms.
<blockquote>
Mike Johnston discussing the jargon surrounding CMS. Do marketers come up with new acronyms too regularly? <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/mconf14?src=hash"> #mconf14 </a> <a href="https://t.co/mxpBCELN6v"> https://t.co/mxpBCELN6v </a>
— CMS Critic (@cmscritic) <a href="https://twitter.com/cmscritic/statuses/481821658626666497"> June 25, 2014 </a>
</blockquote>
 Immediately after the roundtable discussion, it was time for the after-party, where the conference came to a relaxed end with some drinks and snacks. 
A World Cup fixture was even being screened for those wishing to watch the action, which I felt was a very nice touch. The venue? A Church.
<img src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2023/08/magnol.png" alt="Magnolia After Party" /> All in all, day one of Magnolia Conference 2014 was enjoyable, informative and even quite funny at times. Needless to say, I'm looking forward to day two. 
To access our full twitter coverage of day one at the Magnolia Conference 2014, <a href="https://twitter.com/cmscritic/" target="_blank"> head over to our Twitter page</a>, or the hashtag <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/mconf14?src=hash" target="_blank">#MConf14</a>.
 For more information on Magnolia Conference 2014, <a href="http://www.magnolia-cms.com/conference.html" target="_blank"> check out the official website</a>. 
Images: <a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/magnolia-cms/sets/" target="_blank">Magnolia </a>

Day One of Magnolia Conference 2014: Personalization, Apps & A Roundtable

Magnolia 5.3 has offiically been released and with it, introduced a new blend of CXM and CMS for this rapidly growing company.
With year over year growth exceeding 35% and a churn rate lower than 5%, Magnolia has seen some incredibly promising up ticks in sales and presence over the past few years.
To keep the ball rolling, they've introduced a new release that offers even more amazing refinements to their mobile first open source CMS. Magnolia 5.3 focuses on better positioning the product in a market of customer experience management driven suites by focusing on expanding capabilities such as personalization in order to improve customer interaction.
<blockquote>
“Creating better brand experiences is about taking the best tools and the data collected from them to quickly deliver new and personalized customer interactions” explains Boris Kraft, Magnolia Co-founder and Chief Visionary Officer. “The innovation in this release has been driven by our customers and their need to track, enhance and organize every online interaction through a simple-to-use content management system.”
</blockquote>
Let's take a look at some of the new capabilities and changes in this release.
<h3>Personalization</h3>
Magnolia's new personalization feature is based on page variants. Variants are alternative content that replace the original content in personalized delivery. You can target page variants to visitor according to traits such as country, date, or new vs. returning. Dedicated apps support creating segments and personas and impersonating visitors. Take the example below for instance, as you can see, you can personalize the experience based on the individual user or other traits as outlined above.
<img src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2023/08/magnolia-personalization953x0.png" alt="Magnolia 5.3" />
<h3>Tag Management</h3>
Another new feature in this release is the introduction of the Tags Manager app. This app lets you take those often used snippets of code for best-of-breed services such as <a href="http://www.google.com/analytics/"> Google Analytics </a> , <a href="http://www.comscore.com/"> comScore </a> , <a href="http://www.turn.com"> Turn </a> , <a href="https://www.omniture.com/"> Omniture </a> , <a href="https://www.optimizely.com/"> Optimizely </a> , <a href="http://www.leadlander.com/"> Leadlander </a> and many others and integrate them quickly and easily into your platform with no developer support required.
<img src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2023/08/teaser-tags-manager_2014-06-24-12-15-05.png" alt="Magnolia 5.3" />
These tags can be used for a number of purposes and you aren't required to use any specific vendors, it's simply a way to quickly integrate code with minimal effort. What's nice is you can determine whether they show within your content and which platforms you'd like to display them on.
<img src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2023/08/diagram-tags-manager_2014-06-24-12-16-45.png" alt="Magnolia 5.3" />
Is it revolutionary? No of course not. This type of functionality already exists in a number of systems but the implementation here is what counts in my mind. There are similar solutions in products such as WordPress for specific themes (I'm thinking Genesis snippets here) and with the use of third party plugins but this being an app that is developed for Magnolia by Magnolia makes me more likely to consider it over an unvetted third party solution.
<h3>Tasks Inbox</h3>
This is one of the items I've been waiting to see the most since my  <a href="/my-visit-to-magnolias-offices-in-basel-switzerland/"> first visit to the Magnolia offices </a> last year. One of the features I saw missing was a workflow process that could be utilized to communicate between team members and Magnolia has done a great job in creating what I consider a solid implementation.
<blockquote>
The new Tasks Inbox provides instant visibility into open tasks, allowing administrators to easily check status and assign tasks to users. The Tasks Inbox is integrated with the Pulse, so assignees get instant notifications of new tasks…and of course, it all works seamlessly whether you're at work or on the move.
</blockquote>
In a demo by Andreas Weder and Mikael Geljic here at the 2014 Magnolia Conference, we saw a good example of how this Tasks inbox can be utilized when they demo'd the creation of an instagram based app that pulls photos and suggests them for future content to approvers.
Here's a great video that showcases a bit of what the Tasks inbox can do:
<iframe src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/ZrwbBBnGiKg?feature=oembed" frameborder="0" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture" allowfullscreen></iframe>
<h3>Content at home or abroad</h3>
Perhaps you use third party cloud storage or web services in addition to databases to store your content.
<blockquote>
With Content Connectors, developers can now build Magnolia apps with the same great user experience as native apps, and quickly interact with any external data source while users manage the content in a familiar way. 
 All native Magnolia content apps in community and enterprise editions are updated to use the new content connector automatically. Magnolia 5.3 also introduces an improved DAM API making it possible to plug in external asset providers such as Flickr, YouTube or a file system, and integrate the DAM with WebDav and CMIS.
</blockquote>
With Magnolia 5.3, you can manage all of it using your favorite Apps. Content can be stored in a number of places as illustrated by the diagram below.
<img src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2023/08/teaser-content-connector_2014-06-24-12-16-12.png" alt="Magnolia 5.3" />
The obvious advantages here are that you don't need to create yet another repository just to make things work with Magnolia but rather, you can simply connect it to existing services and manage them from within.
In addition to these new features, Magnolia has also introduced their new App Finder, which is a centralized repository for Magnolia approved applications, modules, source code and partner contributions.
<img src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2023/08/appfinder887x0.png" alt="Magnolia 5.3" />
It is available to all customers and community contributors and can be found at <a href="http://apps.magnolia-cms.com"> http://apps.magnolia-cms.com </a>
To learn more about this new release from Magnolia, visit https://www.magnolia-cms.com/home/campaigns/magnolia-5-3  and be sure to  <a href="http://www.twitter.com/cmscritic"> follow us on Twitter </a> to get the latest updates.

Magnolia 5.3 Blends CXM with CMS to Deliver Best of Breed Software

<a href="http://www.elcomcms.com/" target="_blank"> ElcomCMS </a>  have unveiled version 9.5 of their platform, with a “focus on customer experience”.
Geared towards mid-large size enterprises, ElcomCMS comes with over 70 core features to enable users to manage multiple sites, intranets, micro-sites, and so forth.
ElcomCMS 9.5 is scheduled to go live on July 1st 2014.
<img src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2023/08/elcomcms9_5.jpg" alt="ElcomCMS 9.5" />
The Elcom team has identified some common challenges facing IT managers, marketing executives, and everybody in between.
Here are some of those common challenges ElcomCMS 9.5 is aiming to address:
<ul>
<li>Reducing the time it takes to transfer content from old sites to new sites with a migration toolkit.</li>
<li>Authorized staff will be able to update the website anywhere, anytime on a mobile-friendly admin interface.</li>
<li>Push important information out to your employees through a new intranet mobile app.</li>
<li>Segmentation-based delivery of content to website audiences.</li>
<li>Faster performance resulting in quicker page-loading and reduced bounce rates.</li>
</ul>
Elcom's Product Director Tim Kirkman made the following comments regarding the announcement:
<blockquote>“Increasingly, IT and marketing teams are working together to create websites and intranets that not only meet the basic corporate requirements but integrate the many elements of marketing technology that are now critical to sales strategies.
As technology advances, companies are able to build on their existing platforms rather than having to change products. At the same time most want to take more control over migration and administration, to cut out the middle man and reduce time delays.
In upgrading our CMS platform a core consideration has been enhancing both our customers’ experience behind the scenes as well as the experience of their own customers. We want to offer a foundation from which companies can manage all their communication tools with flexibility to grow in the future.
Our goal is to help businesses get the most from their websites, intranets and portals by integrating existing systems with new functions. By putting the focus on communication rather than technology or sales, we can ensure the needs of all departments are met – regardless of a company’s core business.”</blockquote>
For more information on ElcomCMS 9.5, check out <a href="http://www.elcomcms.com/Resources/Articles/elcomcms95-customer-experience" target="_blank"> Elcom's recent blog post</a> regarding the impending release.

ElcomCMS 9.5 Set to Be Released

A new release of the open source content management framework (CMF) Kajona is now available. Version 4.5 of Kajona brings with it a number of changes. Below is the release announcement from the Kajona development team:
Besides the advancement of the index-based search, Kajona V4.5 “gitorious” focuses on the restructuring and enhancement of central components. In addition the project finished the transition from SVN to git.
The index-based search engine, introduced to the backend in V4.4, is now available at the portal, too. This means that the powerful engine is now available to all end-users including all functionalities. The indexer was partly rewritten and is now much faster when it comes to creating and updating the search-index.
The way how events are created and processed within Kajona was changed fundamentally and rewritten from scratch. While the old implementation founded on listener-interfaces, the new approach is based on a fully decoupled mechanism using named events. New event-types are added declaratively, making single packages even more independent. An overview of events available and a description of the new api is available at http://www.kajona.de/en/v4_events.html.
A new template-mapper simplifies the export of objects to templates by extracting all designated properties and providing them to a template directly. Additional, programmatic steps are no longer required. If necessary, the value of properties may be transformed using custom renderers before they are placed into the template.
The database layer was complemented by a new method to handle combined inserts. Inserting multiple records into a table is now possible in a single query using a special api call. The database-layer takes care to generate the sql code matching the current database system in use.
With Kajona V4.5 the team finished the transition from subversion to git. The projects' sourcecode is now available on Github:  <a href="https://github.com/kajona/kajonacms "> https://github.com/kajona/kajonacms </a>
Since Kajona 4.5 includes several bug fixes, security updates and updates for compatibility with current web browsers and web server systems, the upgrade to 4.5 is recommended to all users. The update is available and recommended via the integrated package-management.
The documentation was updated to the latest release. The download of the system is possible on the projects website <a href="http://www.kajona.de"> http://www.kajona.de </a> .
<h3>Screenshots</h3>
<img src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2023/08/v4_5_portalsearch1635x0.png" />
<img src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2023/08/v4_5_mediamanager1635x0.png" />

Kajona CMF 4.5 Now Available

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