Articles - Page 178

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

msalvatierra

DotCMS 2.1 has been released today and with it come a number of improvements to the java based, open source CMS. Specific changes include an improved site search, scheduled workflow tasks, content improvements, remote widgets and an integrated help system.
<h3>New &amp; Improved Site Search</h3>
First off, DotCMS 2.1 offers an improved upon site search using ElasticSearch to allow the creation of independent indexes for different search sections on your website. The new site search indexes all popular office document formats, pdfs, pages and content. You can even back up and restore indexes as needed.
<img src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2023/08/1-620x158.png" alt="dotcms site search" />
<h3>Workflow Tasks Can Now Be Scheduled</h3>
You can now schedule a Workflow Action to automatically execute if the task remains on that step for a certain length of time.  This allows you to create automatic review dates for content, escalate content stalled in workflow or perform any other workflow action on a timed basis.Workflow search has also been improved upon for those wanting to search for old tasks.
<h3>Improved Administration and Management</h3>
Two of the more valuable additions to the administration and management of the CMS:
<ul>
<li>You can now get Index Details and Cluster Statistics by hovering your mouse over the Cluster Health Bar under CMS Maintenance.</li>
<li>It is now possible to get a list of users currently logged in under the CMS Maintenance section.</li>
</ul>
<h3>Content Improvements</h3>
<ul>
<li>Via a REST URL you can now retrieve and search for content. Results can be XML or JSON. http://www.dotcms.com/docs/2.0/ContentAPI</li>
<li>dotCMS now ships with a 508/WCAG Accessibility Checker. This functionality is built directly into the WYSIWYG editor. Look for the green check mark icon in the WYSIWYG editor.</li>
<li>Binary Content – Will now attempt to use Hard Links for file storage.</li>
</ul>
Remote Widgets
<ul>
<li>dotCMS Widgets can be delivered into 3rd party and remote systems using a high performance restful API, as either code snippets or as full blown applications.</li>
</ul>
Integrated Help System
<ul>
<li>dotCMS has started a Help System built into the backend.</li>
<li>Users will be able to get documentation help on areas of dotCMS linked directly from the dotCMS backend.</li>
</ul>
A full list of changes to this section can be found in the <a href="http://dotcms.com/about/press-release/dotcms-releases-2-1" target="_blank">release announcement</a>.

New DotCMS 2.1 Release Offers Easier Administration and Manageability

mike-johnston

Update [November 2015]: CMS Critic has published an updated <a href="/boonex-dolphin.pro-review/" target="_blank">Boonex Dolphin Review</a>.
Boonex Dolphin is a social networking platform that can be used for creating communities or dating-based social networking sites. Boonex Dolphin has been around for quite some time and has a pretty big following of users. In this Boonex Dolphin Review, I'm going to take you on a tour of the free edition and discuss some of my thoughts on the product and its uses.
This video gives you a bit of an introduction to the product:
<iframe src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/bu5ySi8G3gc?feature=oembed" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen="allowfullscreen"></iframe>
Boonex Dolphin is available in a number of licenses. You can get it for free (the community edition) or in a plan which gives you various options. The plans range from $99+. Pricing is pretty reasonable considering how much you get for the product. The one drawback to using the free edition is that there are embedded ads for Boonex Dolphin within the product that cannot be removed without purchasing a license. Having said that, I feel it's a fair trade-off considering what you get for free. Let's get to the Boonex Dolphin Review.
Installation is pretty straightforward.
<img src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2023/08/screen-shot-2012-07-15-at-7_42_54-pm-620x506.png" alt="Boonex Dolphin Review" />
Once you click past this installation screen, the system does a quick permissions check to see if your host is configured correctly. If not, you may have to make some permissions changes.
<img src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2023/08/screen-shot-2012-07-15-at-7_44_44-pm-620x535.png" alt="Boonex Dolphin Review" />
Once you've got your permissions sorted out, the system will attempt to detect all of the paths such as the URL, the file folders and more.
<img src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2023/08/screen-shot-2012-07-15-at-7_45_07-pm-620x437.png" alt="Boonex Dolphin Review" />
Next, it's time to configure the system with a site name, admin credentials and email for various system purposes.
<img src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2023/08/screen-shot-2012-07-16-at-10_02_31-am.png" alt="Boonex Dolphin Review" />
Once you get through the installation, you'll be greeted with the default implementation of your social networking site, which looks like this:
<img src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2023/08/screen-shot-2012-07-16-at-5_48_47-pm-620x428.png" alt="Boonex Dolphin Review" />
Obviously, you aren't going to want to stick with the default, but it's a good time now to browse through the system and see what you've got to work with for your social networking website. The default setup is nice and clean and gives you a decent idea as to what you can expect.
Once you've had a chance to explore, you can log into the admin system and get tweaking! Here's what the admin side of things looks like:
<img src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2023/08/screen-shot-2012-07-16-at-5_51_43-pm-620x344.png" alt="Boonex Dolphin Review" />
Clicking on the Members module will bring you to a list of the various members of your site. Since it's a fresh install, at the moment there is just the one but more can be added if necessary. Once you've got a few people signed up for your site, you can modify them here as well.
<img src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2023/08/screen-shot-2012-07-16-at-5_53_08-pm-620x279.png" alt="Boonex Dolphin Review" />
Hopefully you won't need to use it but, there is a ban option as well for those who are rowdy or sign up with the intent to spam.
Next is the Modules menu, where you can add some extra functionality to your site. There are quite a few modules that offer extensive enhancements for any site.
<ul>
<li>Facebook Connect – lets your users log into the system using their Facebook social networking accounts</li>
<li>Polls – You can add or remove polls (or have user generated ones show up here for approval) in the Polls module. You can then display these throughout the site.</li>
<li>Shoutbox – A shoutbox is a widget that you can place on the site that allows people to enter small messages that are shared publicly. It's a way of saying Hi or making a comment, similar to a private messaging system but it's public.</li>
<li>Simple Messenger – A private messaging type application that people can use to chat with individual members.</li>
<li>Spy – Spy is a module you can enable that allows users to see who has updated their profile or content and which users.</li>
<li>Flash Apps – These modules are packaged in their own category and include items like a photo shooter, video player, audio/video chat and whiteboard which can add some fun and enhance the experience within your site. You can add these by using this menu.</li>
<li>Ads – The Ads module is actually a small and simple classified ads module complete with pictures and a buy it now option. There is also an approval function for submitted ads, although there is no indication as to how to configure any payment functions even though the buy it now checkbox exists. Again, documentation would be very helpful here. I am assuming that setting up the Payment module will enable something on the Ads module but it's not clear this is the case and it's outside the scope of this review. 
<img src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2023/08/screen-shot-2012-07-26-at-6_22_53-am.png" alt="Boonex Dolphin Review" /></li>
<li>Articles – This module allows you to add an articles list that you can manage and publish to the block on your site. Remember, you can control which blocks appear where in the builders menu. It's a pretty decent module with more than enough functionality for good articles with imagery and full wysiwyg capabilities. It even includes categorizing and tagging of content. 
<img src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2023/08/screen-shot-2012-07-26-at-6_27_00-am-620x468.png" alt="Boonex Dolphin Review" /></li>
<li>Avatars – This one should be pretty self explanatory so I will assume you can figure it out ?</li>
<li>Blogs – This allows administrators to give individual users the ability to have their own blogs which they can post to.</li>
<li>Custom RSS – This is a pretty cool little module that allows administrators the ability to let users add custom RSS feeds to their profile and display a certain number of posts from them. I can see this being a big draw to keep users on the site and wanting to use it as they can use this module to either promote their own sites or to show a list of their favorites and use it like Google Reader on their profile. 
<img src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2023/08/screen-shot-2012-07-26-at-6_33_55-am-620x303.png" alt="Boonex Dolphin Review" /></li>
</ul>
There are too many to list here but let me just say that Boonex Dolphin has a lot of functionality and there are innumerable ways in which one can expand it. Here is a list of modules you can set up with the default installation (there are plenty more in their market on their website as well if you want even more).
<img src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2023/08/screen-shot-2012-07-26-at-6_40_22-am.png" alt="Boonex Dolphin Review" />
<img src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2023/08/screen-shot-2012-07-26-at-6_40_30-am.png" alt="Boonex Dolphin Review" />
The issue I have with these modules isn't their functionality but rather the complete lack of any help or documentation anywhere within any of them. I had to Google each of these to find out what they did (well, the spy module anyway). It would be more helpful if there was a popup description for each module that accurately describes what it does and how to go about using it / finding it on the site once activated. As it is now, you have to hunt around to see what functionality was added and hope you find them all. This can be confusing and frustrating when you just want to get the site up on a deadline. I checked the help link in the back end of the installation and that simply brought me to their wiki. In the administration guide, I could not find anything on any of these modules, which I found odd considering they are there with the default install.
Under the tools menu, there are a number of options, as you can see below. Some of these are implemented well, while others could use some improvements.
<img src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2023/08/screen-shot-2012-07-16-at-5_55_52-pm.png" alt="Boonex Dolphin Review" />
Take for example, the Mass Mailer tool. Here's how it looks today:
<img src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2023/08/boonex-dolphin-review-mass-mailer-620x447.jpg" alt="boonex dolphin review" />
There are a couple of inconsistencies that, while not rendering the tool nonfunctional, certainly don't make sense. The first is the naming convention, “Notify letters”. I have no idea why they would call the tool the Mass Mailer and then name the tool Notify letters. Poor English and bad wording just lead people to becoming confused about the purpose of the tool. Secondly, as you can see, the input boxes are ridiculously small and cannot be resized, which is just plain silly. I don't know about you, but I don't want to type a long mass mailing out in a teensy little box that I have to scroll all over the place within to read and check for spelling mistakes. Last but not least, I could not get the preview to work. The system simply flashed something and went back to the input box. I tested it in the latest version of Internet Explorer (yes, I had to launch IE, which was punishment enough) and Firefox. Neither of them worked for the preview.
The other tools within this menu allow you to add banners to various sections within the site, blacklist IP addresses, perform database backups and manage your antispam settings. They are pretty straight forward so I'm not going to discuss them further in this review.
The Builders menu is where you will likely spend the bulk of your time setting up your site and arranging everything.
<img src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2023/08/boonex-dolphin-review-4.jpg" alt="boonex dolphin review" />
This is where you create the structure for your pages and menus. Let's take a look at the menu builder first off.
<img src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2023/08/screen-shot-2012-07-16-at-5_57_16-pm1.png" alt="boonex dolphin review" />
As you can see, there are a number of available items under theAll Items section. All you have to do is simply drag and drop them as you would like them to appear, click save and the changes are applied. This makes for easy navigation changes and from what I can tell, everything worked without issue.
This design interface is identical for the Profile Fields which users fill out when signing up, as you can see below.
<img src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2023/08/screen-shot-2012-07-16-at-5_57_51-pm-620x511.png" alt="boonex dolphin review" />
I like the interface. It's simply and easy to use and should be pretty easy to pick up for most administrators. The page builder, while quite similar, is slightly different in that it offers column sizing as well. You select the page, add or remove columns and size accordingly.
<img src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2023/08/screen-shot-2012-07-16-at-5_58_14-pm-620x496.png" alt="boonex dolphin review" />
In the page builder, you add blocks of content to the pages via the same drag and drop functionality.
For the most part, you should be able to create a reasonably unique-looking site using these tools in concert with styling via CSS. There are numerous themes available for the system as well which you can find in the market on <a href="https://www.boonex.com/features">the Boonex Website</a>.
Additional settings can be found under the Settings menu.
<img src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2023/08/screen-shot-2012-07-16-at-5_58_45-pm.png" alt="boonex dolphin review" />
Within here, most of the settings are standard fare. The issue of the input boxes being too small is present here as well though and needs to be corrected. You can see what I mean when you try to enter custom CSS styles into a tiny input box similar to the one used for mass mailings.
One thing that Boonex Dolphin is not lacking in is its configuration settings, which allows you to really keep your system clean and functional while controlling almost every aspect of it.
I like the inclusion of the database pruning and watermark settings in Boonex Dolphin. The prior allows you to clean up old content from the database to keep things lean and mean and the latter allows you to embed a watermark on your images while controlling said watermarks' transparency. The watermark capability is rather unique and I've not seen it included by default in similar tools.
<h2>Conclusion</h2>
There are a few things that I've identified above in this Boonex Dolphin review that I'd consider more annoyances than real major concerns and I'm sure they'll get sorted out in due time. In addition to the items mentioned above, there are a few more points I wanted to make:
<ul>
<li>While exploring their help options, I encountered a rather sparse “Beginners Guide” which simply had three paragraphs on how to choose the right hosting for Dolphin. Obviously, this isn't much of a guide and I'm hopeful they either remove it or rename it accordingly. There is some very good documentation present on the main wiki, however, and it includes an administration guide with tips on improving performance of the system as well as troubleshooting information. Cleaning up the useless beginners guide would make the overall documentation excellent, in my opinion.</li>
</ul>
<ul>
<li>SEO wise, the system performs pretty much as expected. There are basic configuration options such as meta descriptions present and permalinks can be configured. This is pretty much standard stuff that most system have built in.</li>
</ul>
<ul>
<li>Theming is where Dolphin shines. There are (at last count) just shy of 400 templates on the Boonex market that allow you to customize Dolphin to your needs. This is a huge number and definitely helps for those who struggle in the design department. It's great to see a system enjoy so much developer activity.</li>
<li>From a validation perspective, I was a bit alarmed by the results of a markup validation scan I did with <a href="http://validator.w3.org" target="_blank">http://validator.w3.org</a>. It came back with 56 errors and 7 warnings, which I consider excessive for any system. Having said that, the validator isn't perfect but I'd like to see some improvements here to bring that number down. I've yet to see a system easily pass it completely so I tend to allow for some slack here but 56 errors is a bit much.</li>
<li>The forums on the Boonex website are active and there's a lot of people present that can help with issues and customizations, so from a community perspective, things look good and finding help shouldn't be a problem.</li>
<li>The selection of plugins and modules combined with the various ways you can add functionality to the site make this a very solid option for those looking to engage their users for longer site visits and increased usage.</li>
</ul>
Overall, in concluding this Boonex Dolphin Review, I'd say that Dolphin is a good choice for those looking for social networking software, provided you are willing to overlook the few issues I've identified in this review. The price point for the product seems reasonable, the community is large and there is the option to get the system for free for those who want to mess around and don't mind the Boonex ads.
You can learn more, download, or purchase from <a href="https://www.boonex.com" target="_blank">Boonex</a>.

Boonex Dolphin Review - Software for Social Networking

ImpressPages CMS entered the horizon when they won 2011 Open Source Awards as The Most Promising Open Source Project (<a href="http://www.packtpub.com/blog/2011-open-source-awards-winner-news-most-promising-open-source-project">http://www.packtpub.com/blog/2011-open-source-awards-winner-news-most-promising-open-source-project</a>). They stood next to the other categories’ winners such as Joomla, Drupal, jQuery, PrestaShop and others. Let’s have a look at what they have done this year to step out from the most promising towards the best.
<h2>Recent updates</h2>
The biggest announcement of this year was the release of the 2.x version. Here is a quote from their feature list:
“We are working hard to give you new experience:
<ul>
<li>working with images: cropping and dragging</li>
<li>multiple file uploads: for images and files</li>
<li>drag widgets not only inside content area but also onto the sidebar</li>
<li>pages have versions and you can publish any of it</li>
<li>check new widget architecture and already start planning your own widgets”</li>
</ul>
Following releases introduced new widgets, made installation of plugins and themes much easier than in earlier versions.
<h2>Further recognition</h2>
A few days ago Installatron officially announced the availability of the ImpressPages CMS package. Immediately after, Softaculous added ImpressPages CMS to their supported application list, too. The obvious advantage here is that the process of installing the system has been made easier for the end user and the exposure of the system has increased. If your hosting has Installatron or Softaculous, ImpressPages CMS can be installed on your server with a single click. Updates works with one click, too.
According to the ImpressPages CMS team, installations have doubled since these announcements which should mean an increased user base, increased developer interest and better exposure for the product.
<h2>Bottom line</h2>
If you haven't tried ImpressPages CMS as of yet, you should give it a shot and see if it works for you. You can download it from <a href="http://www.impresspages.org/">http://www.impresspages.org</a> or go directly to the demo at <a href="http://www.impresspages.org/create-website/">http://www.impresspages.org/create-website/</a>.

ImpressPages CMS - Give it a Try!

An interesting product built on the versatile Kentico CMS platform has been made available. CPD Academy, as it's named, was designed for organizations looking to deliver continuing professional development e-learning, this new learning management system offers a clean interface built on a proven solution.
The system contains all of the necessary tools to create a complete training platform, including user management, course structure and overview, shared learning resources, community and collaboration, workflow and supervision of progress.
The administration interface allows creation and management of learning content, complex course structures and training plans, and offers trainees access to numerous resources, like wikis, blogs, forums, messaging, file- sharing and much more. Kentico's excellent framework ensures a straightforward set up, with the custom-built learning management modules of the CPD Academy allowing for a comprehensive range of functionality and delivering an impressive e-learning experience.
Here is a video that gives you an ideas as to how this system works:
[[learningmanagement]]
If you want to learn more about this new product, visit their website: <a href="http://www.learningacademy.co.uk" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">CPD Academy</a>

New Learning Management System Built on Kentico CMS

Newscoop, the open-source content management system for publishers, has a new release available. This version was released to improve articles and comments within the system as well as improving support with PHP 5.4.This video introduces the system, but doesn't showcase the features. You can check out the system yourself with a demo from their website:<figure class="media"><div data-oembed-url="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3EZF916Cet4"><div style="position:relative;padding-bottom:100%;height:0;padding-bottom:56.2493%"><iframe src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/3EZF916Cet4" style="position:absolute;width:100%;height:100%;top:0;left:0" frameborder="0" allow="autoplay; encrypted-media" allowfullscreen></iframe></div></div></figure>A list of some of the new features and changes in this list:<ol><li>Overhauled media archive Multiple file upload, faster search and new features!</li><li>Drag-and-drop front page management Use lists to add articles to your front page (or other site area) and re-order your front page.</li><li>Intelligent image renditions Use Newscoop to crop images and display perfectly in different areas of the site.</li><li>Dynamic Maps Points of interest from multiple articles can now be displayed on a single map on your website.</li><li>Video and picture slideshows Slideshows can be attached to articles and can be managed through the Media Archive.</li><li>Citizen journalist and community management tools Newscoop allows visitors to sign up for a profile, comment on articles and even follow topics.</li><li>Two new adaptive CSS themes, the New Custodian and the Rock Star Theme manager allows you to switching from one theme to another with one click.</li><li>Improved SoundCloud plugin Upload audio to the web's best audio sharing service and use it as your sound archive.</li><li>Related Article Lists Create thematic and semantic links to group articles.</li><li>Better comments We've improved the UI and made it pluggable into services like Disqus.</li></ol>Here's an example of one of the many themes for Newscoop. This particular one is called Zen and is mobile responsive.<img src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2023/08/ipad-820272_1280_3_ovbrqs.jpg" alt="newscoop" />For more info on Newscoop or to try the demo, check out their website: <a target="_blank" href="http://www.sourcefabric.org/en/">http://www.sourcefabric.org/en/</a>

New Release of Newscoop Improves Articles and Comments

In addition to a significant update of their primary content management platform, Ektron has announced the release of two new products which they call Ektron Digital Experience Hub and Ektron Cloud Manager.
According to Bill Rogers, Founder of Ektron:
<blockquote>“These are important new releases for Ektron customers, the combination of Ektron 8.6 with the Ektron Digital Experience Hub represents the next stage in the evolution of our product beyond web content management to complete digital experience management. Ektron Cloud Manager extends the dynamic delivery of Ektron-powered websites and marketing campaigns into the cloud, enabling content authors to achieve their business goals without concerns about the impact on website hardware or IT resources.”</blockquote>
Some of the features present in this new release include:
<ul>
<li>a new HTML5 based content editor.<img src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2023/08/ektron-1-620x374.jpg" alt="New HTML5 Content Editor" /> New HTML5 Content Editor</li>
<li>dynamically resizing images based on device screen size.<img src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2023/08/img_6223_fyj5iv.jpg" alt="Mobile Adaptive Image Resizing" /> Mobile Adaptive Image Resizing</li>
<li>a new mobile preview option that allows you to see how your site will look on iPhone, iPad or Android.<img src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2023/08/ektron-3.jpg" alt="Mobile Preview" /> Mobile Preview</li>
<li>URL alias redirects.<img src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2023/08/img_6198-1_qnwmzo.jpg" alt="URL Alias Redirects" /> URL Alias Redirects</li>
</ul>
To learn more about this new release, visit <a href="http://www.ektron.com" target="_blank">Ektron</a> or download their “<a href="http://ektron.com/WorkArea/DownloadAsset.aspx?id=30064771130">What's New in Ektron 8.6</a>” pdf.

Ektron Releases Two New Products: Ektron Digital Experience Hub and Ektron Cloud Manager

Power your CMS on AWS

Manage your websites & apps in the most trusted cloud.

#ffffff

Today, I have a new acquisition to tell you about. <a href="http://epublishing.com/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">ePublishing Inc.</a> has decided to acquire <a href="http://ellingtoncms.com" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Ellington CMS</a> and Ellington Marketplace. Ellington CMS is a powerful CMS with a significant portion of its customers being in the publishing &amp; news sectors. It runs such site as Yale News and Golf Week, for example.
With strong user generated content and social tools, it's a solid contender for any business. ePublishing Inc. focuses on providing what they call an Enterprise Publishing System, which is a blend of CMS, eCommerce, CRM and more. With the acquisition of Ellington CMS, they are in a good position to expand their offerings by integrating its strengths and technologies into their own system.
The publishing market is a hot one and I'm seeing more and more contenders ramping up their products to attempt to stay on top of the latest industry requirements and this move is one of many to come, I suspect.
The acquisition should be complete by the end of this month. Unfortunately, financial terms were not released.

Ellington CMS to be Acquired by ePublishing, Inc.

SEOTOASTER by SEO Samba has been released and is available for all of you to dig into. It's been quite some time since our last <a href="https://www.cmscritic.com/seotoaster-review/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">SEOTOASTER review </a>and we're looking forward to seeing what fixes and changes have been applied in this release.
Some of the new features for V2 of this CMS include:
<ul>
<li>Optimized core – the system has been completely optimized for speed and stability.</li>
<li>New, 1-click 5X Speed Media Server technology ( leverages browser parallel download capabilities to speed website serving up to 5 times faster than other CMS).</li>
<li>10 free premium website themes.</li>
<li>40 plug-ins. Some free, some for sale in the marketplace, including an ingenious theme-based liquid mobile plug-in that keeps your web and mobile versions of your website in sync.</li>
<li>A new WYSIWYG form builder to ease the form building process.</li>
<li>A new email facility that allows you to create great looking, content-filled emails and trigger them automatically based on user data.</li>
<li>much more.</li>
</ul>
Website: <a href="http://www.seotoaster.com" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">SEOToaster</a>

SEOTOASTER v2 Hits the Web

I'm always working hard to find ways to improve the site and with that in mind, I've added two new lists to our product directories / software lists page.
First off is our list of social networking software. I get a lot of emails from users who are in the market for these types of products and this led me to create this list. Within, you will find a curated list of what I consider to be the best options in this area. I hope you'll find it useful.
The second list is for those looking for a <a href="https://www.cmscritic.com/key-website-builders/">website builder</a>. There are plenty of them to be found online but I've chosen to curate a list of the ones I've tested and deemed to be good offerings. As always, I am striving to bring you reviews of as many pieces of software as possible and I've identified within the lists which ones I've reviewed. I will continue to update the lists with new products as the testing progresses.
I hope you find these lists useful. If there's a list you know of that would be of value, please <a href="https://www.cmscritic.com/contact/">let us know</a>.

Two New Lists added to our Product Directories

<a target="_blank" href="https://www.weebly.com/">Weebly</a> is a popular website builder that's often used to create free websites. It's a platform that has continued to gain recognition on the web for its ease of use. For that reason, I decided to take a look at this website builder and write up a <a target="_blank" href="https://www.weebly.com/">Weebly</a> review to investigate whether it's a good option for those looking for something similar. Without further adieu, here is my Weebly Review.First let me say this. A lot of people use Weebly. It's an incredibly popular website builder boasting over 12 million people and businesses. A pretty impressive feat which, one would think, means it's got to be an impressive tool right? Let's dig into our Weebly Review.<h2>Weebly Review – Let's Get Started</h2>When I first chose to review <a target="_blank" href="https://www.weebly.com/">Weebly</a>, I was greeted with a quick and simple sign in box to get you started. Immediately after you fill out these details, you are asked for a site name and category:<h3>Weebly Review – Enter a Title for your Site:</h3><img src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2023/08/recyclebin_cwlhwx.png" alt="Weebly Review" />Once you've submitted this form, you get the option to make your own weebly.com address, purchase a domain or transfer an existing one to use with the site. Most people will likely start off with a subdomain and purchase a domain from Weebly (or somewhere else) later, but the choice is yours.Once you've got a domain, you are immediately put into the Weebly website builder so you can get building.<h3>Weebly Review – The Weebly Editor:</h3><img src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2023/08/weebly3-620x413.jpg" alt="weebly review" />What I love about the Weebly website builder is its speed. It's incredibly fast and the modules update immediately unlike some other builders I've used. To add a new module, you simply drag and drop it into your site. Once it's dropped, if configuration is required, you'll get a popup from Weebly that allows you to complete the setup. Here's just a small example of the modules you can add to your site:<h3>Weebly Review – The Modules:</h3><img src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2023/08/weebly11-620x71.jpg" alt="weebly review" /><img src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2023/08/weebly10-620x80.jpg" alt="weebly review" /><img src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2023/08/workspace-820315_1280-1_fuama1.jpg" alt="weebly review" /><img src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2023/08/weebly12.jpg" alt="weebly review" />I'd say that's a pretty good collection wouldn't you? You'll notice that you can add a ton of different elements to your Weebly page from basic eCommerce (redirects to PayPal or Google Checkout) to photo galleries, slideshows, flash components, videos, maps and text / images. There's definitely more than enough for the average website. In fact, I'm not sure there's anything missing at all, now that I think about it.To add a component, like I mentioned, just drag and drop it onto your new Weebly website. You'll notice that below I dragged the Multiple Columns element into the site and was quickly given the option to choose the number of columns and resize them if necessary.<h3>Weebly Review – The Multiple Columns Element:</h3><img src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2023/08/office-620822_960_720_ptvexi.jpg" alt="weebly review" />Once done, I can then drag any of the above elements are shown below into any of the columns as well. If you wanted to change your logo, you simply hover over and you'll be given the option to either turn it off, use text or upload the logo of your choice.<h3>Weebly Review – Modifying the Logo:</h3><img src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2023/08/weebly5.jpg" alt="weebly review" />Here, you can see that I've added the Paragraph with Picture element.<h3>Weebly Review – The Paragraph with a Picture Element:</h3><img src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2023/08/weebly6-620x101.jpg" alt="weebly review" />What I like about this one is that you can use a resize handle to get the image exactly how you want it, add a link or comment and edit the text easily. It's generally just fun to use this tool given how easy and fast it is. I know I've said that a few times but you really have to try it to get the full feel for the speed of this tool.Spicing up your new Weebly website is easy as well and Weebly has plenty of theme and design choices to choose from. You can, of course, also edit the HTML/CSS directly.<h3>Weebly Review – Selecting a Theme:</h3><img src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2023/08/weebly16-620x82.jpg" alt="weebly review" />I browsed through the designs they offered and there are some decent choices with more being added daily. It shouldn't be hard to find a good one to use as a basis of your site and then build from there. I like that they have a large collection as some similar tools lack in this department.Once you've got your design, perhaps you'll want to add a page to the site or even a blog? You can do that through the Pages tab and it's just as quick and easy as the rest of the stuff I've shown you.<h3>Weebly Review – Managing Pages:</h3><img src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2021/07/weebly17-620x410_xhvdtm.jpg" alt="weebly review" />For fun, I added a blog to my Weebly page, gave it a title and it immediately showed up on the site ready to be populated.<h3>Weebly Review – Blogging Functionality:</h3><img src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2023/08/weebly18-620x505.jpg" alt="weebly review" />Clicking on the Blog Settings button, I was presented with a quick set of options for my new Weebly blog page. Surprisingly, they even included share buttons!<h3>Weebly Review – Blog Settings:</h3><img src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2023/08/great_banner_image_option_yusang.jpg" alt="weebly review" />Now it's time to try adding a blog post. I expected that this would bring up a simple text editor where I'd be able to add an image and some content with a post title. I was wrong. Instead, I was given far more!<h3>Weebly Review – Adding a Blog Post:</h3><img src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2023/08/weebly20-620x478.jpg" alt="weebly review" />Admittedly, I didn't expect to be able to use elements for my blog post so I was pleasantly surprised to be given such a great selection of ways to add content and media to my post. For those looking to use Weebly for blogging or should you want to incorporate blogging into your Weebly site, this is a great editor and truly fun to use and create with. You won't be lacking in features.The next tab, Editors, allows you to add additional people to the site that can contribute content or administer it for you. Once you add them, you can manage them from this screen as well.<h3>Weebly Review – Working with Multiple Editors:</h3><img src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2023/08/coffee-desk-notes-workspace_cdxdsd.jpg" alt="weebly review" />Last but not least, the Settings tab. First on the tab are your site settings where you can change the address, title, favicon, etc.<h3>Weebly Review – Site Settings:</h3><img src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2023/08/weebly8.jpg" alt="weebly review" />You are also given some SEO functionality where you can change / add a site description, meta keywords, header and footer code (good for analytics or adsense code) and add 301 redirects.<h3>Weebly Review – SEO Functionality:</h3><img src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2023/08/weebly9.jpg" alt="weebly review" />On the eCommerce Settings tab, you can choose between PayPal or Google Checkout as your preferred means of processing payments. On the Mobile Settings, you can tell Weebly to display the mobile-optimized version of this website when someone visits from a mobile device. This is a great option that I was surprised to find and means that your site will be mobile responsive without any effort on your part. Lastly, you can un-publish your site or download a complete zipped version of it.<h2>Conclusion</h2>Simply put, I love Weebly. This website builder is incredibly fast, feature rich and full of all kinds of great options that allow anyone to make a great website with no coding experience at all.  I was blown away by the speed of the tool (in case you didn't notice) and as I navigated it, was repeatedly surprised by the depth of the options within. This truly is a favorite of the systems I've tried and I won't hesitate recommending it highly. What do you think of Weebly or this Weebly review? Share your thoughts in the comments below or <a target="_blank" href="https://www.weebly.com/">try Weebly</a>, I'm sure you'll be just as impressed as I am.Check out our newly updated Weebly Review showcasing all of the new features since this review was written: <a href="/weebly-review-all-new-weebly/">Weebly Review</a>

Weebly Review - The Website Builder that makes Web Design Fun

Finding the best WordPress hosting can be a daunting task. There are millions of hosts out there that do a “good” job of hosting all types of sites but what if your site starts to take off and you want performance, price and support for a reasonable price?
That's when shared hosting stops being a good idea. Since 2008, this site (<a href="https://www.cmscritic.com">CMS Critic</a>) had run on HostGator's business shared hosting plan. It did the job reasonably well with minimal downtime but lately, I started to see that their support guys were deactivating my site if my traffic got too high or the load on their shared hosting CPU became too much.  That's when I decided it was about time I moved this site to a proper host and search out some truly solid WordPress hosting.
I started the search by reading through the various forums out there and, unfortunately, 90% of the sites I encountered appeared to be fake review sites that provided no meaningful or honest suggestions as to what service might actually be the best out there. I took it upon myself to use some of the more popular webmaster forums instead of simply trying to Google for the term ‘best WordPress hosting' as this was turning up nothing of value.
In my research for the best WordPress hosting solution, I discovered an option that intrigued my quite a bit, a company called WP Engine. What caught my attention specifically, was the fact that Automattic, the company behind WordPress, actually invested $1.2 million in their WordPress hosting business. I don't think I've ever seen them invest in a WordPress hosting provider before and that was pretty much close to what sealed the deal for me that I should give these guys a try. So I did.
Today, I am running 100% of this site on WP Engine's WordPress hosting.. and I love it.
WP Engine is staffed by WordPress geeks who know their stuff and getting support when I needed it was quick and easy. I opened a ticket and was able to explain the issue without having to explain WordPress or how it works.
Add to this the fact that their system automatically set up caching on my site and migration was done from Hostgator to WPEngine in less than 6 hours (including file transfer time!). That's pretty darn good considering this site has almost 1,000 articles and pages on it plus tons of media.
Another awesome feature that I fell in love with is their plugin that ties the hosting into my WordPress dashboard. From here, I can create an entire staging site with a single click. This makes a complete copy of my site that I can work on without having any impact on my production site. This, for me, was a huge bonus that I actually didn't know about until after I signed up for their plan.
WP Engine also curates plugins and lets you know the ones that work best with their system and which ones not to use to get the maximum output from you site. You just can't get this kind of expertise anywhere else. During the migration of my hosting from Hostgator, I didn't even need to use their support staff at all, I just used their extensive articles on migrating and followed them with ease.
What did I get with my WordPress hosting package through WP Engine?
<ul>
<li>A crazy fast site.</li>
<li>Unlimited data transfer.</li>
<li>Automatic daily backups.</li>
<li>The ability to back up my site by creating a restore point with a single click.</li>
<li>Managed upgrades.</li>
<li>A Firewall.</li>
<li>Malware scanning.</li>
<li>CDN services (although I have found I don't need them).</li>
<li>WordPress experts available to answer my questions.</li>
<li>The ability to create a staging site to develop on without impacting production.</li>
<li>Amazing support from people who know WordPress really, really well.</li>
</ul>
I seriously can't rave about these guys enough. If you are in the market for the absolute best WordPress hosting available, then you need to take a look at these guys. I did and I couldn't be happier. Did I mention that you get a 60 day money back guarantee? Good luck getting that from another WordPress hosting provider.
Check them out here: <a href="https://www.cmscritic.com/wpengine">WP Engine</a> – They simply offer the best WordPress hosting I know of.

WP Engine Review - Simply the Best WordPress Hosting

I've spent a lot of time recently searching the web to find responsive WordPress themes for a number of sites that I manage, including this one, so I decided to put together a list of places that offer them.
<h2>Where to find Responsive WordPress Themes</h2>
Here is a list I have compiled of places where you can find an excellent selection of responsive WordPress themes. You can also hire a <a href="http://www.imforza.com/">WordPress design company</a> to help you customize it further. In most cases, I've attempted to link directly to the page that lists them as opposed to making you sift through their websites individually.
<h3>StudioPress</h3>
StudioPress is one of the most prominent theme development companies for WordPress. All of their themes are based off of the incredibly powerful and versatile Genesis WordPress theme framework. As of last count, they had over 40 themes on their site, not including those listed in their community marketplace.
I highly recommend checking them out if you're in the market. Sites designed off of the Genesis framework tend to do quite well in Google as the framework is exceptionally lean and expertly configured for the best possible SEO performance. I use Genesis on my wife's site (<a href="http://thekitchenmagpie.com" target="_blank">http://thekitchenmagpie.com</a>) and love how easy it is to design with.
An example of one of their themes:
<img src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2023/08/generate.jpg" alt="Responsive wordpress themes 2" />
Like what you see? This is only one of many amazing looking designs you can choose from.
[button link=”https://www.cmscritic.com/out/studiopress” color=”#05619F” size=”3″ style=”1″ dark=”0″ radius=”auto” target=”self” ]See their themes[/button]
<h3>WooThemes</h3>
I would be remiss if I didn't mention WooThemes. Like StudioPress, they've been around for a long time and have been providing top notch WordPress themes (and support) for many years. They also have over 20 excellent responsive wordpress themes to choose from.
An example of one of their themes:
<img src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2023/08/zoho-crm_idx1u1.png" alt="responsive wordpress themes 3" />
All of their WordPress themes are built off of the WooFramework, which makes it super easy to handle upgrades and stay compatible with the latest releases of WordPress. The advantage here is that you won't lose your customizations during upgrades.
[button link=”https://www.cmscritic.com/out/woothemes” color=”#05619F” size=”3″ style=”1″ dark=”0″ radius=”auto” target=”self” ]See their themes[/button]
<h3>PageLines</h3>
PageLines provides an awesome framework to build off of. It also happens to be the very framework I use here on CMS Critic. What makes it differ from the other frameworks on the market is that it's drag and drop capable. An example of one of how the framework looks:
<img src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2023/08/pagelines.png" alt="responsive wordpress themes 5" />
PageLines gives you a ton of options for customization and to be honest, it's almost crazy how much customization you can do. It adds a huge amount of functionality to the dashboard in WordPress and gives you the ability to really do some amazing things.
[button link=”https://www.cmscritic.com/out/pagelines” color=”#05619F” size=”3″ style=”1″ dark=”0″ radius=”auto” target=”self” ]See their themes[/button]
<h3>WPZoom</h3>
WPZoom offers a large selection of responsive WordPress themes. They release new ones constantly and the quality and look of their WordPress themes is outstanding. This is especially true for their magazine and newspaper style layouts.. some of these rival the looks of some of the top websites out there. They have some great looking portfolio themes as well and even a few free ones.
An example of one of their WordPress themes:
<img src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2023/08/vimes.png" alt="responsive wordpress themes 7" />
You can also check their showcase to see some of the various sites using their WordPress themes. Some of the designs are pretty impressive.
[button link=”https://www.cmscritic.com/out/wpzoom” color=”#05619F” size=”3″ style=”1″ dark=”0″ radius=”auto” target=”self” ]See their themes[/button]
<h3>BizzThemes</h3>
BizzThemes creates some truly unique looking WordPress themes that don't conform to the norm. Their strength lies in the selection of niche themes such as options for Hair Studios, Consulting Agencies and more.
An example of one of their themes:
<img src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2023/08/streamlined-updates-1-e1471435122911_xdeua8.png" alt="responsive wordpress themes 8" />
The designs are attractive, the themes are responsive and the options panels that they've developed are intuitive and easy to use. I definitely suggest taking a look and seeing if any of their options suit your needs.
[button link=”https://www.cmscritic.com/out/bizzthemes” color=”#05619F” size=”3″ style=”1″ dark=”0″ radius=”auto” target=”self” ]See their themes[/button]
<h3>Elegant Themes</h3>
Elegant Themes has been producing great looking, responsive WordPress themes for a number of years. Currently, they have a great offer where you pay only $39 and get all 77 of their themes. That's pretty incredible for a theme company and certainly the best deal around at the moment.
An example of one of their themes:
<img src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2023/08/socialengine_1_ilc5ip.png" alt="responsive wordpress themes 9" />
The theme selection is great with options for portfolio, blog, business, magazine and more.
[button link=”https://www.cmscritic.com/elegantthemes” color=”#05619F” size=”3″ style=”1″ dark=”0″ radius=”auto” target=”self” ]See their themes[/button]
<h3>Themeforest</h3>
Themeforest has a huge selection of responsive WordPress themes and I could personally spend all day browsing through their site admiring all of the amazing creations that are being offered there. What makes Themeforest unique is that you can find themes from a wide variety of developers on their site. A lot of developers and designers use Themeforest as a marketplace to sell their themes and as a result, the selection is unparalleled.
An example of one of their WordPress themes:
<img src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2023/08/alyeska.jpg" alt="responsive wordpress themes 14" />
[button link=”https://www.cmscritic.comhttps://www.cmscritic.com/themeforest-responsive” color=”#05619F” size=”3″ style=”1″ dark=”0″ radius=”auto” target=”self” ]See their themes[/button]
And there you have it. With the above options, you shouldn't have any issues trying to find a good, responsive WordPress theme for your website. Best of luck and if you know of other places that offer a good selection, by all means, let me know.

Where to get Responsive WordPress Themes

Some exciting news for those of you who love to play with open source content management systems and for anyone running previous version of SilverStripe CMS.
With this new release of version 3.0, SilverStripe has been graced with a beautiful new admin interface for the CMS. Take a look at some of these SilverStripe 3 Screenshots to see what I mean:
<img src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2023/08/dragdrop-620x438.png" alt="silverstripe 3" /> silverStripe 3 – Drag and Drop
<img src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2023/08/gridfield-list-620x617.png" alt="silverstripe 3" /> SilverStripe 3 – Grid field List
<img src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2023/08/media-editor1-620x617.png" alt="silverstripe 3" /> SilverStripe 3 – Media Editor
<img src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2023/08/media-popup-620x617.png" alt="silverstripe 3" /> SilverStripe 3 – Media Popup
<img src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2023/08/page-list-620x617.png" alt="silverstripe 3" /> SilverStripe 3 – Page List
Pretty impressive looking isn't it? I'm certainly eager to get my hands on it and do some testing / fiddling. According to the SilverStripe team, this new UI is the result of usability testing that was performed and judging from the end result, they've definitely made some excellent improvements (at least visually, functionality remains to be seen but expect a review soon).
A couple of other interesting changes cited in the release announcement:
<ul>
<li>List-view for page editing helps to structure site parts that have a lot of content and sub sites, such as the blog, in a user friendly way without rearranging the site tree.</li>
</ul>
<ul>
<li>To embed media from YouTube, Flickr, Vimeo and many other sites, the administrator simply inserts the item's URL and the CMS will import it automatically.</li>
</ul>
Of course, we love videos and here's a good one that really gives you a good idea as to how the new system works:
To learn more about this release, visit <a href="http://www.silverstripe.org/" target="_blank">SilverStripe</a>.

New Stable Release of SilverStripe CMS & Framework Available

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