Articles - Page 164

<hr /> If there’s a song lyric that captures the ethos of Switzerland, this one comes to mind from <a target="_blank" href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ozl3L9fhKtE">Fleetwood Mac</a>: “You can go your own way…”This classic was spinning on turntables and jukeboxes in the mid-1970s, but the Swiss have been rockin’ to the beat of their own drum for over 500 years – back when the country first established its venerated stance on neutrality. With a rich history of non-conformist geopolitical leanings, it’s not surprising that Switzerland is embracing open source software (OSS) with greater purpose and intention, while much of the West remains hesitant – particularly in government circles. Just how serious are the Swiss about OSS? Last year, the country passed what it calls the <a target="_blank" href="https://joinup.ec.europa.eu/collection/open-source-observatory-osor/news/new-open-source-law-switzerland">Federal Law on the Use of Electronic Means for the Fulfillment of Government Tasks</a> (EMBAG for short), a law requiring public sector entities to provide their software as open source. This applies to any code or applications they’ve developed (or had developed by a third party) provided it doesn’t compromise any rights or create security issues. While many of the tenets are still being implemented, the Swiss government and its contractors must release their software code under an OSS license, promising an entirely new level of transparency around government practices. A year after the law’s final adoption, EMBAG continues to challenge existing perceptions of OSS across the EU, and might just be the model for the future. That may sound wildly ambitious to some – foolhardy to others – but it also makes perfect sense. Like the Swiss, OSS is steeped in a deep legacy of democratic and social idealism, embodying the spirit of freedom and community.But in a world where trust can be easily exploited, is it a good idea for government agencies to be so open about their software?I recently caught up with <a target="_blank" href="https://www.linkedin.com/in/mathias-bolt-lesniak/">Mathias Bolt Lesniak</a>, an open source evangelist at <a target="_blank" href="https://www.toujou.com/">toujou</a> (a SaaS website building platform based in Norway) and Project Ambassador at the <a target="_blank" href="https://www.linkedin.com/company/typo3-association/">TYPO3 Association</a>. We’ve spoken previously about his involvement with the <a target="_blank" href="https://typo3.org/project/press/press-releases/open-website-alliance/english">Open Web Alliance</a>, a cabal of the world’s leading open source CMSs – <a target="_blank" href="https://cmscritic.com/products/drupal">Drupal</a>, <a target="_blank" href="https://cmscritic.com/products/joomla">Joomla</a>, <a target="_blank" href="https://cmscritic.com/TYPO3">TYPO3</a>, and <a target="_blank" href="https://cmscritic.com/products/wordpress">WordPress</a> – which assembled in the wake of the <a target="_blank" href="https://digital-strategy.ec.europa.eu/en/library/cyber-resilience-act">EU’s Cyber Resilience Act</a>. The Alliance perceived this emerging policy as a threat to free and open source software like <a target="_blank" href="https://cmscritic.com/what-is-a-content-management-system-cms">content management systems</a>, assigning responsibility for safety and security considerations regardless of how their CMS software is being utilized or customized. Their efforts culminated in an open letter to the EU about a myriad of issues – including the financial implications – and reinforced the benefits of open source. As an expert in OSS (or “FOSS” when it's free), Mathias had some thoughts on the evolution of Switzerland’s law and what it signals about the future. While other countries in the EU are also investing in the promise of open source, governments abroad are less bullish about the prospects. WordPress, the open source CMS goliath, continues to <a target="_blank" href="https://wordpress.org/about/features/">power over 43% of all websites</a> on the planet. Despite this staggering reach, there’s much work to be done to advance OSS principles in all corners of the globe, particularly in the public sector. But EMBAG just moved the ball further down the field – and if the Swiss don't miss, it could change the game. <h3 id="the-long-road-to-open-source">The long road to open source</h3>The adoption of EMBAG was certainly a legal milestone, and more than a decade in the making. Over that period, the Swiss government was embroiled in lengthy political and legal battles. There were numerous questions about existing agreements and the weight of international law. But in the end, the Swiss government achieved cooperation, applying radical changes to its e-government practices – specifically as it relates to the free reuse of its open source code.Unlike other legislation efforts, EMBAG also breaks new ground by mandating the release of broader government data. While this precludes personal or highly secure information, its Open Government Data (OGD) model goes beyond transparency – easing the friction around reusing data for other applications and encouraging greater innovation and collaboration between government agencies. <h3 id="an-alignment-of-democratic-ideals">An alignment of democratic ideals</h3>I asked Mathias about the promises and pitfalls of EMBAG, and where the potential of success – or failure – might exist. He had some strong observations on the role of governance in the equation, and how that could influence the overall trajectory. “My primary reaction, of course, is that this is great,” he said “I'm really looking forward to seeing the results of it, because this is a project that can go really well, or it can go not so well. I think it depends on the governance aspect of how it's actually implemented. Switzerland, of course, is one of these places that has a really strong democratic tradition – and democracy is what I usually point to when I talk about the positive things open source can bring into countries. It's a kind of ‘learning ground’ for democratic practices. And Switzerland, of course, has had this amazing, direct democracy for hundreds of years.”As Mathias codified, one might say that the Swiss were “culturally prepared” for a shift towards OSS, making it an ideal stage for employing such a groundbreaking piece of legislation. Other countries like France have professed a predilection towards open source, but none have gone this far with their public sector standards.  <hr /> <h4 style="text-align:center" id="“democracy-is-what-i-usually-point-to-when-i-talk-about-the-positive-things-open-source-can-bring-into-countries.”">“Democracy is what I usually point to when I talk about the positive things open source can bring into countries.”</h4> <hr /> The cards might be stacked against any country willing to dive this deep with open source. According to Mathias, there are several things that might help ensure positive outcomes as Switzerland looks to successfully execute this policy.“One of the things I'm looking forward to hopefully seeing is the Swiss building expertise around open source systems, as well as their small to medium supplier market,” he observed. “Open source has this ability, because it gives people the possibility to learn and use it outside of the originally intended use case.” Mathias also sees a runway for expanding the reuse of government software by other entities within Switzerland as well as outside the country. To his point, the Swiss have long cultivated a reputation for superior products and technologies (watches come to mind). As he sees it, there may be a heightened demand for Swiss OSS that far exceeds its current charter – perhaps even a “Swiss standard” for government software. To that end, Mathias sees the adoption of EMBAG as a clear signal that Switzerland recognizes the true potential of open source, widening the aperture well beyond its peers in the EU and abroad. <h3 id="the-struggle-with-security">The struggle with security</h3>Despite the palpable pros, open source has wrestled with the central challenge of trust. And it makes sense: you open your code to the world, and the question of security naturally follows. Accountability is also a major point of friction, as any issues with code or functionality often belong to a community, which can present barriers to solving critical problems.To be fair, all software is vulnerable – and we’re seeing just how vulnerable on a daily basis. Hacks and threats are becoming commonplace, and large open source systems like WordPress provide a much larger surface area for exploits. That said, proprietary software is target-rich and bountiful for likes of ransomware. Just take a quick peek at <a target="_blank" href="https://msrc.microsoft.com/update-guide/acknowledgement">Microsoft’s security update guide</a> and you’ll get a long and troubling list of vulnerabilities that have cropped up over time.No software should ever be deemed completely secure. But relative to proprietary platforms, open source can hold its own – and in some instances, might even be considered a safer bet. One example: because OSS isn’t controlled by a single vendor, anyone can monitor, locate, and remediate vulnerabilities. This can be a force multiplier for security and governance.At the end of the day, does this build enough trust for public sector agencies to open their code? Do the rewards outweigh the risks?“I think it definitely builds trust,” Mathias said. “Any country that adopts open source so fully is really a sign that its government understands all of the good stuff that you can do with it.”<h3 id="why-is-the-u.s.-less-bullish-on-open-source?">Why is the U.S. less bullish on open source?</h3>The European market teetered on the brink of recession throughout 2023. There were certainly a few bright spots, but by in large, the entire continent struggled as the U.S. boomed, losing pace in the race for AI and suffering setbacks in areas like electric vehicles. According to a <a target="_blank" href="https://www.wsj.com/economy/europe-regulates-its-way-to-last-place-2a03c21d">Wall Street Journal article</a> published in January, there is one field where the EU still leads the world – and that’s regulation. This has been a benefit in areas like controlling carbon emissions and advancing data privacy. But its penchant for draconian rulemaking has also stymied its economic agility when competing with China and the U.S.Of course, it’s not all about competition. There is this thing called humanity, and countries like Switzerland seem interested in policies that protect citizens and serve the public interest while promoting digital sovereignty and stoking innovation. Many would claim that doing good and driving economic growth aren’t mutually exclusive, but some EU companies are proving the opposite. <a target="_blank" href="https://cmscritic.com/umbraco-publishes-annual-impact-report-reinforcing-commitments-to-sustainability-and-community">A great example in the CMS world is Umbraco</a>, which is investing deeply in sustainability and DEI strategies while activating growth (it also happens to be an open source platform).We’ve already established that open source can overcome questions about its security and stability – and based on <a target="_blank" href="https://hbswk.hbs.edu/item/open-source-software-the-nine-trillion-resource-companies-take-for-granted">research from Frank Nagle</a> at the Harvard Business School, 96% of commercial programs include some form of OSS in their mix – making it absolutely critical to the global economy. Now, the Swiss are advocating open source for government at the highest level.So why has it been slow to catch on in the U.S. public sector?Well, for starters, there’s certainly support for it. Just a few years ago, the <a target="_blank" href="https://thenewstack.io/how-the-u-s-air-force-deployed-kubernetes-and-istio-on-an-f-16-in-45-days">U.S. Air Force began deploying applications</a> on F-16s utilizing a hybrid cloud strategy via Kubernetes – an open source system for pushing, scaling, and managing containerized apps. The U.S. federal government also requires agencies to release a percentage of its custom code as OSS. That said, there are no mandates like the one Switzerland has introduced – and very little incentive for public sector agencies to invest heavily in open source. I asked Mathias about this marked difference between the U.S. and Europe, and what the underlying factors might be.“I think there's a difference in tradition,” he said. “The U.S. and Europe have different ways of funding for open source projects, to be very black and white. Europe has much more of a government-centric funding model, where the public sector supports projects. The <a target="_blank" href="https://www.sovereigntechfund.de/">German Sovereign Tech Fund</a>, for example, is a government construct for capitalizing open source projects. And in the U.S., it seems that it's much more reliant on private capital. I think both of those can work as funding solutions, but governments are going to be motivated by public service to a much larger degree than private funding.”That said, the EU's well might be running dry on public funding for OSS. In July, the European Commission <a target="_blank" href="https://fossforce.com/2024/07/is-the-european-commission-dropping-support-for-important-open-source-funding/">neglected to include</a> any Next Generation Internet (NGI) programs in its budget for 2025. NGI has been fiercely committed to building a trustworthy internet by funding over a thousand open source projects through its NGI Zero Commons Fund. If this disappears, many OSS projects may come to a halt.<h3 id="opening-up-the-open-source-promise-">Opening up the open source promise </h3>While EMBAG is providing a template for other EU nations – and the world – it’s still early days. There are aspects of the policy that still need shaking out. But as Mathias observed, the news is sparking great interest around open source and its potential for continued growth.There are clear benefits for the Swiss as they embark on this journey. Aside from the foundation of greater openness and transparency, OSS eliminates inhibitors like vendor lock-in and other compromises that come with selecting proprietary software. More importantly, it drives efficiency by enabling the reuse of code and improving productivity through collaboration. As Mathias sees it, open source can provide governments with greater choice and control –  the essential ingredients for accelerating time to mission and supporting the needs of citizens and communities. Being able to share and reuse OSS code can help activate the potential. “Selecting open source doesn't have to mean you select a single model or one open source piece of software to rule them all,” he explained. “You can also create and fund a collaboration between different projects so that they can reuse the same kind of code. And I think that's an opportunity that is much more relevant when the government is participating. We share information openly, and that’s something that can benefit existing platforms and the development of new platforms for things like government ID.”Mathias is also predicting unexpected ways that open source might deliver greater impact and value.“Governments have an opportunity to support some of areas that are often forgotten, or that receive little focus from open source developers, and one of those is UX,” he said. “For example, many open source systems have been built by developers who build them in a ‘developer way.’ The first thing they think about is functionality and not UX, and governments have the possibility to fund that missing layer of making open source so usable that everyone will adopt it. If that happens, we might see open source platforms that are being compared beyond their feature sets.”We’ve had numerous discussions in the <a target="_blank" href="https://www.boye-co.com/">Boye &amp; Company CMS Experts Group</a> about Gartner’s persistent “overlooking” of open source platforms on its MQ reports. We know revenue is an obstacle (among other requirements), but there’s also a latent undercurrent of negative perception around OSS when it comes to enterprise software decisions.As the Swiss swing for the fences and once again “go their own way,” perhaps more OSS solutions will attain a new level of respect in the minds of market watchers. Of course, that shift will require a deeper understanding of the true nature of open source:It’s less about code – and more about culture.  <hr /><h3 id="upcoming-conferences">Upcoming conferences</h3> <img style="width:29.67%" src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2024/01/cms-connect-2024-logo.png" alt="CMS Connect 24 logo" /><h4 id="cms-connect-24---sold-out"><a target="_blank" href="https://www.boye-co.com/conferences/cmsconnect24">CMS Connect 24</a> - SOLD OUT</h4>August 6-7, 2024 – Montreal, CanadaWe are delighted to present our first annual summer edition of our prestigious international conference dedicated to the global content management community. Join us this August in Montreal, Canada, for a vendor-neutral conference focused on CMS. Tired of impersonal and overwhelming gatherings? Picture this event as a unique blend of masterclasses, insightful talks, interactive discussions, impactful learning sessions, and authentic networking opportunities. <img style="width:29.58%" src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2024/01/cms-kickoff-2025-logo.png" /><h4 id="cms-kickoff-25"><a target="_blank" href="https://www.boye-co.com/conferences/cmskickoff25/tickets">CMS Kickoff 25</a></h4>January 14-15, 2025 – Tampa Bay Area, FloridaJoin us next January in the Tampa Bay area of Florida for the third annual CMS Kickoff – the industry's premier global 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, so secure your tickets today.

The Swiss Don’t Miss on Open Source: How Switzerland's EMBAG Law is Evolving the OSS Landscape

matt-garrepy

The latest release from Kentico brings some pretty amazing changes to this popular CMS. With the latest release of version 7, Kentico adds easier mobile development and marketing automation to it's repertoire.
According to Petr Palas, CEO of Kentico:
<blockquote>In Kentico CMS version 7, we continue to revolutionize the industry by bringing enterprise-class technology to everyone. Kentico is currently the only .NET CMS vendor that offers a complete CXM solution both on-premise and as a service in the Windows Azure cloud. Version 7 continues to focus on helping our customers and partners achieve higher ROI on their campaigns through better engagement with their clients</blockquote>
What does version 7 mean for you as a customer?
<ol>
<li>Lead management and scoring along with email marketing functionality – This allows marketers to assess leads and run automated campaigns as needed.</li>
<li>A new visual workflow designer – Need to prepare a complex approval and publishing process? No problem.</li>
<li>Translation Management – new integration with external translation providers.</li>
</ol>
But wait! There's more…
<ul>
<li>Marketing Automation and Drip Marketing</li>
<li>Mobile Website enhancements: mobile layouts with responsive behavior, Mobile Preview and Mobile Device Detection</li>
<li>Ready-to-use integration with Salesforce.com and Data.com</li>
<li>Highly simplified On-site Editing interface enabling content management from mobile devices</li>
<li>E-commerce enhancements: improved product catalog management, mobile-enabled store template, dashboard and 30+ new reports</li>
<li>A/B testing for E-mail Marketing campaigns</li>
<li>A large set of social media widgets for integrating Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, Google+ and Pinterest</li>
<li>Fully integrated wireframe designer</li>
<li>Live Chat, which can be initiated by customer or by operator</li>
<li>Banner Management</li>
<li>Full support of the MVC development model</li>
</ul>
Want to learn more? Check out <a href="http://www.Kentico.com">http://www.Kentico.com</a> for details.

Kentico 7 Simplifies Mobile Development and Adds Marketing Automation

mike-johnston

A new version of CMS Made Simple (CMSMS) has been released. This new release, 1.11.2, is a bugfix release that smooths out some of the issues introduced with 1.11.
Some of the bug fixes for this release include:
<ul>
<li>Lost password functionality wrt OneEleven admin/login theme.</li>
<li>Content Editing when in Site Down Mode.</li>
<li>Additional Editors lost when editing Global Content Blocks.</li>
<li>Locale case sensitifity fixes.</li>
<li>Minor FileManager fixes.</li>
<li>Fix problem with news detail links wrt expired articles.</li>
</ul>
Grab your copy from their website today @ <a href="http://CMSMadeSimple.org">CMSMadeSimple.org</a>

CMS Made Simple 1.11.2 Released

<a href="http://www.dotnetnuke.com/" target="_blank">DotNetNuke Corp.</a>, the company behind the most widely adopted Web Content Management Platform for Microsoft .NET, today announced a two year compounded annual growth rate of 103% for the period ending 2011. The company began licensing its Professional Edition product offering in 2009. DotNetNuke Corp. continued its strong growth in 2012, ending the second quarter with a 42% increase over first quarter 2012. The worldwide customer base for commercial products grew to over 2,000 during the same period. Customer loyalty also remained high, with a monthly churn of less than 1%. The number of commercial applications distributed through the DotNetNuke Store rose to over 10,000 apps and design templates. The DotNetNuke open source community also grew substantially, now powering over 700,000 production web sites worldwide and more than 1 million registered community members.
In November 2011, DotNetNuke tripled attendance at the company’s annual user conference. DNN World 2012, which will be held in Orlando, Florida from October 10 – 12, is on track to be the largest DotNetNuke event to date.
In addition to realizing strong growth across all customer segments, DotNetNuke’s commercial products have been implemented at an accelerated rate by federal, state and local government agencies, including the United States Army, Navy, Air Force and Marines. In recognition of the significant adoption of DotNetNuke products by the Department of Defense, Les Benito, Director of Public Web for Defense Media Activity, will deliver a keynote address at this year’s DNN World conference.
The company plans to unveil DNN 7.0, a major upgrade to the DotNetNuke platform, at DNN World. DNN 7.0 includes a modern client- side development interface built on Microsoft’s Web API and ASP.Net platform.  Based on the close integration of DNN 7.0 with Microsoft’s next generation server and web development tools, Scott Hunter, Principal Program Manager for Microsoft’s Web Platform, will also deliver a keynote presentation at the event in October.
Highlights:
<ul>
<li>Adding to its list of commercial customers, DotNetNuke Corp signed license agreements with leading companies including Bank of America, Black and Decker, British Petroleum, Cannon, Chrysler, Miller/Coors, NASCAR, the National Football League , Pfizer, Texas Instruments, Time Warner, True Value Hardware and Weight Watchers.</li>
<li>The company released the 6.1 version of the DotNetNuke Web CMS and application development framework that enables the delivery of web content optimized for thousands of mobile devices.</li>
<li>DotNetNuke launched version 6.2, the Social CMS for business, which provides a suite of social collaboration tools that enable the development of online communities and social intranets. DNN 6.2 also includes support for Microsoft SharePoint 2010 and 2007.</li>
<li>In the first quarter of 2012, the company launched a redesigned and upgraded DotNetNuke Store, which delivers a streamlined shopping experience for customers searching for pre-built application modules and design templates.</li>
<li>The company received numerous awards and recognition including the AlwaysOn Top 100, Red Herring Top 100 North America, “WCMS Innovator” recognition by Info-Tech Research Group and Inc Magazine Top 500/5000 for 2011 and 2012.</li>
<li>DotNetNuke Corp expanded operations into the EMEA markets by opening its European headquarters in Amsterdam, The Netherlands.</li>
<li>The company signed partnership agreements with a growing list of Microsoft Gold Certified partners including Infinite Computing Systems, SSW and Yahara.</li>
<li>In 2012, DotNetNuke launched cloud-based trials for its Professional Edition, which continues to drive adoption of the company’s commercial products.</li>
</ul>
“DotNetNuke offers a strong social platform at a mid-market price-point. It supports collaboration and the building of both internal and external social communities,” said Christopher Wynder, Research Analyst at Info-Tech Research Group.

DotNetNuke Corporation Achieves Compounded Annual Growth of 103% after Second Full Year of Commercial Sales

If you are a hardcore Joomla fan and can't wait to get a chance to check out the new features in Joomla 3.0, then today is a great day for you! Joomla 3.0 beta 1 has been released and is ready to be played with.
There are plenty of new features to mess around with, here's a quick list of some of them:
<ul>
<li>Incorporation of Twitter Bootstrap into a jui media package.</li>
<li>A new responsive administrator template–Isis– and interface.</li>
<li>A new front end template–Protostar– built using Twitter Bootstrap Updated accessible template called Beez3</li>
<li>PostgreSQL Driver. You will be able to run Joomla 3.0 sites using the PostgreSQL database.</li>
<li>PHP Memcached Driver</li>
<li>Use of JFeed for feed management rather than SimplePie</li>
<li>Installation of language packages directly from the extension manager</li>
<li>Guest user group present by default</li>
<li>Saving blank articles allowed</li>
<li>New administrator statistics module</li>
<li>Update TinyMCE to version 3.5.6</li>
<li>Continued clean up of older unused code, files and database fields and tables and improved standardization of tables.</li>
<li>Improvements to Smart Search</li>
<li>Extensive work on code style standardisation and consistency</li>
<li>Unit testing in the CMS</li>
<li>Updated system tests in the CMS</li>
</ul>
Ready to start geeking out? Grab your copy from <a href="http://Joomla.org">Joomla.org</a>

Are you a hardcore Joomla Fan? Help Test out Joomla 3.0 Beta 1

A new update for WordPress is available for those running the popular open source CMS / blog platform. Version 3.4.2 sees a few security fixes and bug patches that should help stabilize installations.
Here's a quick summary of the changes:
<ul>
<li>Fix some issues with older browsers in the administration area.</li>
<li>Fix an issue where a theme may not preview correctly, or its screenshot may not be displayed.</li>
<li>Improve plugin compatibility with the visual editor.</li>
<li>Address pagination problems with some category permalink structures.</li>
<li>Avoid errors with both oEmbed providers and trackbacks.</li>
<li>Prevent improperly sized header images from being uploaded.</li>
</ul>
A couple of security vulnerabilities were resolved as well. The vulnerabilities included potential privilege escalation and a bug that affects multisite installs with untrusted users.
Update via the dashboard or download the latest version from <a href="http://WordPress.org">WordPress.org</a>

WordPress Gets Updated to Version 3.4.2

The mobile application market is moving faster today than it ever has. With the surge in popularity of not only mobile broadband, but in other wireless 4G service like <a href="http://internet.clear.com/clear-internet-plans.html">Clear Internet plans</a>, applications are becoming an even more integral part of how we use online services. Here are 5 popular new apps to try.
AdHawk (iOS)
The presidential election is less than two months away. You know what that means – an onslaught of political ads from each candidate and his supporters. The problem with some ads is that they aren't necessarily approved or endorsed by each candidate, and thus can be unreliable or sketchy. With AdHawk, you can find out where questionable political ads are coming from and learn who's sponsoring them.
Fancy (Android)
If you love Tumblr, Instagram and Pinterest, you probably have a ton of posts and photos you've favorited and tagged. With Fancy, you don't just have to gaze at photos wondering where such a unique widget or knick-knack came from. Fancy lets you buy your favorite stuff with real-world cash.
Slices (iOS, Android)
Have you used Twitter lately? Depending on how people you're following and how many lists you have, browsing the Twitter app can seem like an information overload. Slices is true to its name – it slices Twitter into categories so you can follow live events and get the news that matters to you. With Slices, Twitter is easier to browse and more enjoyable to use.
Untappd (iOS, Android)
This app was developed with both the social networker and beer lover in mind. Untappd is a social network that centers around your favorite brews. Add friends, check-in to pubs and bars and create a “tab” that lists the beers you've tried and how you've rated them.
Food Network On the Road (iOS)
If you're a fan of Food Network's road trip shows like Diners, Drive-Ins and Dives, you might like an app that points you to the dining establishments in the TV shows. With the Food Network On the Road app, you can browse Food Network's featured restaurants, see nearby dining possibilities or find specific restaurants by category.

Top 5 Best New Mobile Apps on the Market

Today, we introduce you to the <a href="https://www.cmscritic.com/cms-critic-awards/">Critic's Choice CMS Awards</a>. These new awards are geared towards helping promote and boost the communities in the CMS world. We are introducing two types of awards, the Critic's Choice CMS awards which will be voted on by CMS Critic and the People's Choice CMS Awards which will be voted on by you, the public.
The categories for this years’ awards are as follows:
<ul>
<li>Best Open Source CMS</li>
<li>Best Free CMS</li>
<li>Best Budget CMS</li>
<li>Best CMS for Small / Medium Sized Businesses</li>
<li>Best Enterprise CMS</li>
<li>Best Website Builder</li>
<li>Best Social Networking Solution</li>
</ul>
The timelines are as follows:
<ul>
<li>September 10, 2012 to October 15, 2012: Nominations taken.</li>
<li>October 16, 2012 to November 16, 2012: Voting occurs.</li>
<li>December 1st, 2012 – Winners announced.</li>
</ul>
All who participate by either voting or nominating will be entered for a chance to win a Google Nexus 7 tablet.
Nominations are open so head on over to the <a href="https://www.cmscritic.com/cms-critic-awards/">awards page</a> and get yours in today. If you are a member of a particular CMS and want to be included in the awards, grab a badge from the awards page and get your community involved in nominating and voting.
Best of luck to all and we look forward to seeing what our readers think are the best solutions out there.

Introducing the Critic's Choice CMS Awards!

After winning the “Project of the Month” Award in August at SourceForge, world’s largest repository of OpenSource projects (<a href="http://sourceforge.net/blog/potm-201208/">link</a>), the XOOPS Project is proud to present XOOPS 2.6.0 Alpha 1.
This is a brand new XOOPS series, with several major changes and enhancements to the Core. You can review the current XOOPS 2.6.0 Roadmap at: <a href="http://xoops.org/modules/news/article.php?storyid=6339">http://xoops.org/modules/news/article.php?storyid=6339</a>
The main goal of the 2.6 series is to update the XOOPS Core and all classes to PHP 5.4, refactor old legacy code and separate all HTML code from PHP.
Some of the main changes in Alpha 1:
<ul>
<li>Central class “xoops” to simplify the development of XOOPS modules, giving developers direct access to XOOPS API</li>
<li>Automatic loading of all XOOPS classes</li>
<li>Removal of global variables</li>
<li>Central folder for all multimedia public frameworks (jQuery, CSS, JS, images, …).</li>
<li>Module Class Admin to give the same admin interface for all modules</li>
<li>Refactoring the system module.</li>
<li>Adding a new feature: System Extensions</li>
<li>Integration of CSS Framework: Bootstrap from Twitter.</li>
<li>Removal of all queries for the block templates and modules.</li>
<li>Reduction of queries in all pages.</li>
<li>New theme in the Admin interface.</li>
</ul>
XOOPS 2.6.0 represents a major step to simplify XOOPS and make it more user as well as developer friendly. The main features of XOOPS are full modularization where modules can be installed/uninstalled/activated/deactivated with a mouse click, its versatile Group Permissions System, and a theme-based skinnable interface, where both webmasters and users can change the look of the entire website with just a click of a mouse.
There are over thousand of themes and modules available for free download. With the most popular modules like News, Discussion Forums, Photo Galleries, Calendars, Jobs and Classifieds, Polls, and Video presentations, it's very easy for anyone to set up a “Community Website”. And since XOOPS is Open Source, the users can also contribute back to the development.
In the current economic downturn, Open Source software has become increasingly attractive to users and companies, as well as to governments, as it helps them to save a lot of money. This is especially valid for young democracies, like Libya.
Gallery:
To learn more or download the latest version of Xoops, visit their website @ <a href="http://Xoops.org">Xoops.org</a>

XOOPS Project releases XOOPS 2.6.0 Alpha 1

Call Tracking + AI 

Call Tracking + AI that Turns Calls into Leads

#ffffff

Recently, Concrete5 5.6.0 was released and it brings some new features to the popular open source CMS. Concrete5 is often seen as a solid alternative to the traditional big three (Joomla, Drupal, WordPress) and this new release is packed full of features to make it extra attractive to both developers and users alike.First off, comes a new completely rebuilt advanced permissions system that brings the following changes:<ul><li>More granular permission control that maps directly to common concrete5 tasks.</li><li>Ability to control which users or groups CAN’T do something, as opposed to only allow those who CAN do something.</li><li>Ability to grant a permission to only those users in a particular combination of groups.</li><li>Ability to control which users and groups can add which types of block site-wide and in simple permissions mode.</li><li>Restrict permissions to various roles, including “uploader of the file”, “page owner”, etc…</li><li>Shortcut for enabling guest view access on blocks.</li><li>Group Sets can group groups together for organizational purposes, permissions.</li><li>Fine-grained, granular controls on content types, permission types.</li><li>New user permissions to control who can edit which users, assign which groups, etc…</li></ul>Check out the video below for a run through of the new permissions system:<figure class="media"><div data-oembed-url="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ac7Z3x2RDss"><div style="position:relative;padding-bottom:100%;height:0;padding-bottom:56.2493%"><iframe src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/Ac7Z3x2RDss" style="position:absolute;width:100%;height:100%;top:0;left:0" frameborder="0" allow="autoplay; encrypted-media" allowfullscreen></iframe></div></div></figure>Also included in this release are improved mobile support, a new extendable workflow system, performance improvements and more. For a full list of changes, check out the <a target="_blank" href="http://www.concrete5.org/documentation/background/version_history/5-6-0-release-notes/">Concrete5 5.6.0 release notes</a>.Website: <a target="_blank" href="http://www.concrete5.org/">http://www.concrete5.org</a>

New Concrete5 Release Brings Tons of New Features

Ingeniux has released a new version of their popular web content management system. Ingeniux 8 delivers improve mobile capabilities, a new, re-written web delivery server and more.
Dynamic Site Server
Ingeniux CMS 8 debuts a completely re-written and feature-rich web delivery server, the Dynamic Site Server (DSS), which is built on the Microsoft .NET platform. With the DSS, developers can take advantage of cutting-edge Microsoft technologies, including ASP.NET 4.0, MVC 3, and the Razor view engine.
The DSS offers many new features, including:
<ul>
<li>Improved content delivery and rendering performance</li>
<li>Default support for ASP.NET MVC 3 and the new Razor view engine as well as support for ASPX templates</li>
<li>A new authentication/authorization system</li>
<li>Mobile device detection using the 51Degrees.mobi library</li>
<li>Seamless support for XSLT-based websites</li>
</ul>
Mobile Preview Device Targeting
Ingeniux CMS 8 delivers in-CMS preview of mobile-optimized pages with a library of device skins. Mobile Preview allows web managers to see how their content will display on a wide range of devices, including Apple iPhone, iPad, and Google Android devices. Users can make changes to the content inline within the device preview, and the device views may be switched between portrait and landscape modes.
Mobile Device Manager
One of the key mobile enhancements in CMS 8 is the integration of the 51Degrees.mobi Framework. 51Degrees.mobi employs a device library containing display data for thousands of different smartphones, tablets, game consoles, and other mobile devices. Using this device data, the DSS can automatically redirect page requests to pages optimized for specific devices.
SiteSync Secure Replication
Ingeniux CMS 8 introduces SiteSync, a new replication system that is fully integrated with the Ingeniux software. The new replication system provides more granular control and monitoring of the replication process with fully integrated dashboard views.
SiteSync provides:
<ul>
<li>Support for FileSMB, FTP, Secure FTP and other replication methods</li>
<li>Ability to configure unique replication rules for each site or publishing target within an Ingeniux CMS instance</li>
<li>Scheduling of replication as an automated task</li>
</ul>
Schema Designer and Developer Tools
Ingeniux CMS 8 includes a new Schema Designer for creating and updating XML schemas. Using an intuitive drag-and-drop editor, web developers can create new XML schemas without writing a line of code. The new Schema Designer makes it easy to edit schemas, review previous versions of schemas, and sync changes to existing content items.
Learn more at <a href="http://www.ingeniux.com">http://www.ingeniux.com</a>

Ingeniux CMS 8 Brings Improved Mobile Capabilities and More

If you are a photographer who's been looking for a slick new CMS for either a portfolio site or an online gallery for your work,  you are about to witness what could potentially be the most impressive looking CMS we've ever seen for these purposes.
Ladies and gentlemen, check out Koken:
 [[koken]]
If you aren't drooling after watching that, then head on over to their website and sign up to be notified when the upcoming public beta of this amazing looking CMS for photographers is released.
According to what we've been able to glean so far, Koken is a web site publishing system developed for photographers, designers, artists and creative DIYs. The system is self-installable on your own server and features robust photo management, essays, custom pages, live site previewing and editing, plus plenty of tools to build your own custom themes.
The free public beta is due soon so you can either jump on the mailing list or follow them on twitter to get informed. I know I didn't waste any time signing up.
What do you think? Does this look like it could be the next big thing for photographers?
Website (you can view the video or sign up for the mailing list to be notified on release here): <a href="http://staged.koken.me/">Koken</a>
Follow them on Twitter (In case you hate mailing lists): <a href="http://twitter.com/koken">http://twitter.com/koken</a>

Exciting New CMS for Photographers Spotted on Vimeo

If you have ever written anything online, you'll know that it can often be a challenge figuring out how to best position your content and gain visibility for it online. Thanks to a tool called InboundWriter, the writing process just became a whole lot easier. For those looking to develop a content marketing strategy, this product should be on your list.
<h2>What exactly is it?</h2>
InboundWriter is a web-based content optimization application that helps content marketers and professional writers of all types to create web-friendly content. There is also a WordPress plugin, which can be installed from the WordPress plugin repository.
<h2>How does it work?</h2>
The application/WordPress plugin suggests popular keywords as you type, empowering you, the writer, to make informed decisions regarding striking a balance between style and optimization for the web.
Until now, the traditional online writing process was broken into separate stages – research, writing and optimization. InboundWriter combines them all into a single application by integrating real-time insights from a variety of web sources, including search engines and social media, directly into the writing process. Documents created in InboundWriter are scored on a scale of 1 to 100 based on their findability and in accordance with the content optimization strategy, as identified in the settings by the writer. Signing up and exploring the insights and automation that InboundWriter provides is completely free. Professional users may upgrade to a premium account with unlimited editing and no advertising for a monthly subscription fee.
<h2>What I Think About It</h2>
I think InboundWriter is an excellent tool to help writers get back to the business of writing and I think it's extremely useful for those who have been pushed into a blended role of creator/marketer. It removes the stress of having to figure out how best to position your content for maximum exposure. If you are in the process of trying to define your content marketing strategy, InboundWriter should definitely be on your list of applications to consider adding to your repertoire.
I'm a big fan of choices and InboundWriter gives you plenty of them. At any time,  you can choose your content marketing strategy, effectively telling InboundWriter what your goals for the particular piece of content are.
<img src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2023/08/wp_plugin_strategies-620x497.png" alt="InboundWriter Review" />
Once it has your goals in mind, the system changes it's focus and guides you in the writing process by providing new suggestions and recommendations as you write.
<img src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2023/08/wp_plugin_tips-620x497.png" alt="InboundWriter Review" />
The stars in the screenshot above show you which terms are more likely to give you higher traffic &amp; exposure, allowing you to alter your content accordingly. This is handy if you, like me, are unsure at times which keywords are the best to use as focus terms for your content.
Once you've completed all of the steps suggested by InboundWriter, you should have a score that shows green and the gauge in the software should show you in the 80-100 range (shown below). This is how you determine that you've done a good job targeting your content.
<img src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2023/08/wp_plugin_finished-620x497.png" alt="InboundWriter Review" />
If you haven't taken a look at InboundWriter, I'd suggest implementing it as part of your writing process. You can always get started for free and once you've seen the benefits of this great piece of software, I've no doubt it'll become part of your content marketing strategy.
Take a look at InboundWriter today and start getting your content the exposure it needs.
Since we like InboundWriter so much, we're giving away 2 free licenses. Leave a comment below to be entered to win. Winners announced on September 8th, 2012.

Become a Better Writer with InboundWriter

With the advance of tablet computing and mobile technologies, more and more companies are working to take advantage of these devices as ways to further differentiate themselves from their competitors. How are they doing this? By developing apps for mobile devices such as iPads and smartphones in order to give themselves an edge over the competition.
WordPress was one of the first significant apps available on the iPad and iPhone devices and, while it struggled when first released to actually be useful, it's grown into quite the handy app.
The latest version, 3.1, offered a UI redesign and the app is even slicker than before. One awesome new feature was the addition of the Reader which lets you either choose topics and then shows you a list of curated blogs to follow or lets you read the latest from a variety of blogs on the topic you've chosen. It's a cool way of exploring new content and blogs you might not normally have known about.
<img src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2023/08/22104_793231467412177_8494232424221102817_n_yirwsg.jpg" alt="WordPress for iOS" />
<img src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2023/08/photo-2012-08-20-2-29-38-pm-620x465.png" alt="WordPress for iOS" />
The only drawback here is that it seems to only work with WordPress.com blogs so it's a bit limiting.
You can also view, edit and create new posts (or pages) quickly and easily. I'm not a huge fan of blogging via tablet since I'm more of a physical keyboard guy myself but I know people who are content to do it or have purchased bluetooth keyboards and make due just fine.
<img src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2023/08/drupal_business_theme_-_1_jnfcge.png" alt="WordPress for iOS" />
<img src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2023/08/drupal_business_theme_-_2_tauuho.png" alt="WordPress for iOS" />
<img src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2023/08/photo-2012-08-20-2-07-43-pm-620x465.png" alt="WordPress for iOS" />
You can also administer comments (which is what I use it for primarily) via a nice clean interface:
<img src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2023/08/photo-2012-08-20-2-07-56-pm-620x465.png" alt="WordPress for iOS" />
Additional features of this app include:
<ul>
<li>Statistics so you can check how your blog is doing, how many visitors, page views, etc. (this is only good for those using WordPress.com Stats via the Jetpack plugin that comes with WordPress).</li>
<li>Quick link to the dashboard which opens up inside the app via browser integration.</li>
<li>Integrated previews of posts, pages and the entire site within the app itself.</li>
</ul>
It's a great app that keeps getting better. It's also free, which rocks. You can check it out here: <a href="http://itunes.apple.com/app/wordpress/id335703880">WordPress for iOS</a>

WordPress iPad App Keeps Getting Better

Power your CMS on AWS

Manage your websites & apps in the most trusted cloud.

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