Articles - Page 198

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

msalvatierra

Enterprise content management vendor, Hippo (<a href="http://onehippo.com">site</a>,<a href="/tag/hippo-cms">news</a>), has been making great strides with their popular ECM platform and has just announced the release of their latest version. Hippo 7.6 brings with it some great new features and plenty of additional training tools to help end users quickly learn their platform.
New enhancements in this version include:
<ul>
<li>Native support to change content types on the fly, providing much faster development cycles</li>
<li>CMIS Support – adding interoperability with ECM Systems</li>
<li>Support for Tomcat 6, Cargo and JRebel giving developers the tools to develop faster without time consuming rebuilds</li>
<li>Automatic exporting of developer configurations</li>
<li>Extensive Spring MVC support</li>
</ul>
What is especially significant about this release is that fact that Hippo has also release a new training website which allows you to choose a path and walk through a step by step guide to implementing the CMS. This is an excellent addition to their already well put together documentation and should greatly improve adoption.
<img src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2023/08/cmscritic1_gytllk.png" alt="Hippo Trail Training Site" />
The Hippo Trail is available immediately at https://wiki.onehippo.com/display/CMS7/Hippo+Trail
Arjé Cahn, CTO of Hippo, said:
<blockquote>“Hippo CMS 7.6 is designed to help not just end-users get more out of their Web Content Management experience, but also the developers that implement our software. We noticed that more and more of these developers were also using Spring technologies. It was clear that the Spring ecosystem was in need of a good enterprise-grade Web Content Management system, and Hippo CMS 7.6 fills that gap. In every Enterprise Java environment we see the same issues when it comes to WCM and integration; and this is where Hippo is an ideal fit. We strive to create a perfect balance. While we want to provide end-users with an intuitive enterprise-class CMS experience, we never lose focus that we also need to continually provide more powerful and flexible solutions for developers and architects.”</blockquote>
Developer Webinar
Hippo has scheduled a webinar for developers who are interested in getting started with Hippo 7.6 on Monday, July 25th, 5 pm CEST / 8 am PDT. Attendees can sign up for this free online webinar athttps://www1.gotomeeting.com/register/910111576.

Hippo announces 7.6 and a new step by step training website

mike-johnston

Web Teks (<a href="http://www.webteks.com">site</a>), a US based consulting and custom business technology provider worked alongside partner, Elcom (<a href="http://www.elcomcms.com">site</a>, <a href="https://www.cmscritic.com/tag/elcom">news</a>), a global enterprise web content management provider, to deliver a 40 minute complimentary best-practice mobile enablement webinar. Participants were provided with industry insight and best-practice strategies during the event. The webinar was a great success. Live online polls conducted found that 89% of the audience were actively looking for solutions and only 3% were happy with their existing solution. This clearly highlighted the trend of businesses actively looking at mobile web strategies. With mobile device subscriptions predicted to hit 7.1 billion over the next five years, businesses are searching for ways to optimise and expand their web strategies effectively. Josh Anstey, Elcom’s VP of Partner Engagement commented:
<blockquote>
“We are excited about the success of the webinar. We received fantastic feedback and the audience was really engaged, asking key questions which highlighted the challenges that they were experiencing.” Anstey continued, “Elcom is proud to have worked alongside Web Teks and their experts to deliver the mobile enablement webinar.”
</blockquote>
Web Teks’ Director of Business Development, Lisa Litwiller added:
<blockquote>
“The webinar was yet another example of Web Teks’ expertise in implementing the Elcom CMS. We have worked closely with Elcom on client implementations, and look forward to working with the many attendees on implementing their mobile strategies in the near future.”
</blockquote>
To view the webinar please contact Web Teks or Elcom. About Web Teks Since 1999, Web Teks has provided more than 500 companies worldwide with customized solutions generated from a unique combination of strategic thinking, creativity, technological excellence and an unmatched speed to market. Key service offerings include Enterprise Web and Portal Development, Open Source Software Customization, Microsoft, SharePoint &amp; .NET, Elcom CMS, IT Project Management, Creative Design and Corporate Branding. About Elcom Elcom is a globally recognized enterprise web content management developer. We assist mid-market organizations achieve their online objectives for corporate websites, intranets, mobile, social, ecommerce and training through one powerfully simple, secure platform: CommunityManager.NET. Established in 1996 in Sydney, Australia, and with offices in the USA, we are a Microsoft Gold partner with more than 500 successful customer implementations, many of which have been delivered jointly with our global partner network.

89% of ‘Get Mobile’ audience looking for a mobile web strategy

Ektron today announced a major upgrade to the company's flagship software. Ektron 8.5 is the most significant release in Ektron’s history, empowering a new level of developer productivity and enterprise scalability, wrapped in a new, sleek user interface.
<blockquote>
“We’ve taken extensive feedback from our customers and partners and have delivered a release that radically transforms the developer experience with Ektron,” said Bill Rogers, Ektron CEO and founder. “Ektron is privileged to service some of the largest companies in the world, and 8.5 sets the standard for enterprise scalability with key new components including a 3-tier architecture and new search platform.”
“As a long standing Ektron partner, n-tara is pleased with Ektron’s developer focus with the release of Ektron 8.5,” said Jeff Morris, co-founder and CTO of n-tara interactive. “The development team at n-tara is excited about using the new developer-oriented features in 8.5, including the new Framework API and .NET 4.0 support.  Ektron 8.5 is a transformative release for Ektron and we can’t wait to start deploying it for our clients. ”
“Anyone who is developing web content really needs to look into Ektron 8.5,” said Clinton Porter, Commercial Director, Nvisage, one of the leading Ektron developer partners in Europe. “The new Microsoft Search service really puts Ektron into a whole new realm for developers to craft tools such as ‘find as you type’ search.  Altogether, 8.5 is a major advancement for Ektron developers and their clients.”
</blockquote>
Jonathan Tonberg, Chief Technology Officer at Ektron Elite partner, Realise Digital, noted, “The new, 3-tier architecture in Ektron 8.5 really helps Ektron fit into our clients’ infrastructure and corporate strategies.”
In addition to the developer-focused features, Ektron 8.5 includes a new user interface, designed to provide Ektron users with a modern, intuitive and fun user experience.
<blockquote>
“One of the challenges Valassis consumer brands such as RedPlum™ face is how to engage on-line consumers with entertaining content such as our SweetFinds™ Deal of the Day,” said Brian Costello, General Manager and Vice President for Digital Strategy and The RedPlum Network for Valassis.  “The new, intuitive interface in Ektron 8.5 helps our editors focus their creative energies on content creation.”
</blockquote>
Highlights of Ektron 8.5 include:
<ul>
<li>New Workarea: A redesign of the Workarea interface for a modern, intuitive user experience.</li>
<li>Expanded developer API:  The Ektron Framework API radically improves developer productivity through a highly consistent and discoverable set of functions and methods.  When combined with new support for Microsoft LINQ, developers can now design websites with a fraction of the code it took to accomplish the same work in the past.</li>
<li> 3-tier architecture: Ektron is the first enterprise .NET web content management vendor to deliver a 3-tier architecture.  In a 3-tier configuration, no Ektron software exists in the web tier, meaning CIOs and IT architects looking for maximum scalability, reliability, and security can now deploy Ektron in a manner consistent with enterprise software deployments.</li>
<li>.NET 4.0 support:  8.5 supports .NET 4.0, including support for Microsoft® Visual Studio® Web Application projects.</li>
<li>Enhanced search capabilities:  Now based on the Microsoft Search Server, Ektron Site Search  brings new features including faceted navigation, dynamic search relevancy tuning, federated search, automated query suggestions, search analytics reports, and more. Ektron Site Search  offers massive scalability, scaling to tens of millions of items and beyond, including all types of web content, Microsoft Office documents and rich media content.</li>
<li>eSync enhancements:  Ektron’s unique synchronization technology now includes a diagnostic utility to generate a real-time map of an eSync network, providing real time visibility into a server topology.</li>
</ul>
The feature-complete Release Candidate build of 8.5 is available for <a href="http://ektron.com/Trial-Version/?cc=mcepr000085">download now at ektron.com</a>, with final release targeted for September 2011.
About Ektron
Ektron’s web content management (WCM) platform simplifies the creation, management and delivery of multi-channel customer experiences for global organizations that are looking to engage with customers online.  Ektron speeds time-to-web, drives business outcomes, and builds customer loyalty through software that powers corporate websites, intranet portals, and social communities.  Ektron goes beyond traditional WCM, putting the power of the entire customer lifecycle, from acquisition through conversion and retention, into the hands of your marketing and web teams so that customers continuously receive relevant, fresh content. Headquartered in Nashua, New Hampshire, with offices in Australia, Canada and the United Kingdom, Ektron has more than 8,000 customers worldwide including: The Home Depot, Kodak, Microsoft, NASDAQ and National Health Services UK. For more information, please visit <a href="http://www.ektron.com/">www</a><a href="http://www.ektron.com/">.</a><a href="http://www.ektron.com/">ektron</a><a href="http://www.ektron.com/">.</a><a href="http://www.ektron.com/">com</a>.

Ektron Unveils Ektron 8.5 Web Content Management Platform

Sourcefabric took the occasion of their first ever Central American conference last weekto launch a new global theme contest, in which designers worldwide are invited to submit themes for Newscoop, the open source CMS for news organisations.
The keynote speaker at the conference, called Software de código abierto para Medios de Vanguardia (Open Source Software for Cutting Edge Media), was Douglas Arellanes, co-founder of Sourcefabric. The Czech Republic-based, not-for-profit organisation support independent journalism through open source software, services and support.
<blockquote>
“We’ve been working in Central America for a number of significant organisations,” said Douglas Arellanes. “Newscoop powers El Faro, the first online-only news site in Central America, and ElPeriódico de Guatemala which receives over a quarter of a million unique visitors a month.”
</blockquote>
Sourcefabric’s Newscoop Theme Contest gives aspiring designers a chance to submit themes for newspaper sites like El Faro. Two winning entries will receive all-expenses paid trips to Prague for Sourcecamp 2011, the annual get-together of the Sourcefabric community.
The contest is free to enter at <a href="http://contest.sourcefabric.org">http://contest.sourcefabric.org</a>, where designers can download a sample theme and view the competition’s guidelines. Newscoop uses a templating language called $gimme which works alongside CSS and HTML to enable designers to have complete control over the look and feel of the website.

Sourcefabric launches theme contest at first Central American conference

DotNetNuke is the leading open source Web Content Management Platform for Microsoft .NET. and is quickly becoming the standard answer for mission-critical web-based content management solutions worldwide. This webinar reviews the new features and enhancements that are included with DotNetNuke 6.0.0.
Website: <a href="http://www.dotnetnuke.com">http://www.dotnetnuke.com</a>

Introduction to DotNetNuke Professional 6.0

A new release of the DotNetNuke is upon us, but this one is a bit different from previous releases in that it offers a redesigned UI and some impressive new features.
Check out these screenshots showing off the new look:
<img style="max-width:482px" src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2023/08/resized_opentext_logo_izshym.jpg" alt="Dotnetnuke 6 screenshot 1" />
Some of the highlights from the release announcement:
<ul>
<li>For the first time ever, the DotNetNuke Store (Snowcovered.com) and the Extensions Forge<a href="http://www.dotnetnuke.com/Community/Extensions-Forge.aspx">,</a> with over 10,000 application extensions, are directly accessible from within the core DotNetNuke platform. The tight integration simplifies the process of finding, purchasing and installing DotNetNuke apps</li>
<li>DotNetNuke 6 delivers a platform that is fully compatible with Windows Azure Hosting and provides cloud service integration with the addition of the new Windows Azure Storage and Amazon S3 folder providers. DotNetNuke 6 provides a great foundation for moving to the cloud, whether you need to your whole site to live in the cloud or just your content.</li>
<li>DotNetNuke 6 Professional and Enterprise includes a great new eCommerce module that empowers organizations to quickly add eCommerce capabililities to their website. The new eCommerce module is designed for organizations seeking to deliver a small portfolio of digital goods and services to their end users and is built from the ground up with simplicity and customer experience in mind.</li>
<li>vailable exclusively in the DotNetNuke Enterprise Edition, the Microsoft SharePoint Connector for DotNetNuke enables fast, secure publishing of documents stored in Sharepoint to public web sites, extranets or intranets. Organizations can securely manage their document library within SharePoint and selectively publish those documents using the flexible, cost effective DotNetNuke platform.</li>
<li>DotNetNuke 6 has gotten a major new platform upgrade as the result of a complete conversion to C#. This language change will make it more accessible to a larger development community and allows us to leverage many development tools which have always had strong C# support. The C# version of DotNetNuke has been available for the past year and starting with DotNetNuke 6, it is officially the primary development language of the platform.</li>
</ul>
Official announcement: <a href="http://www.dotnetnuke.com/Resources/Blogs/EntryId/3137/Announcing-DotNetNuke-6.aspx">http://www.dotnetnuke.com/Resources/Blogs/EntryId/3137/Announcing-DotNetNuke-6.aspx</a>

DotNetNuke 6.0 now available, offers simplified interface

docSTAR, the leader in advanced document management software, announces the release of its eagerly anticipated next generation product, docSTAR Eclipse 2.0. This online document management solution captures, manages and securely stores documents in the cloud. The new platform leverages docSTAR’s 15 years of experience in serving thousands of customers with document management technology.
docSTAR Eclipse is a comprehensive document management system that is affordable for companies and consumers alike. The month-to-month service, with no hardware or software to buy, allows for fast implementation and immediate returns. Designed with enterprise customers in mind, docSTAR Eclipse flexibly and affordably meets the needs of small office environments.
With its intuitive browser-based interface, docSTAR Eclipse provides remote access from any PC or Multifunction Printer (MFP) with Internet connection, from anywhere in the world. Incorporating a task bar navigation panel, similar to MS Outlook, docSTAR Eclipse users quickly scan, import, process, and retrieve documents. Additionally, users quickly and easily search for documents, organize their workflow, and better share their information with others.
<blockquote>
“Our hosted, ‘in-the-cloud’ document management solution offers businesses a practical, affordable, easy-to-implement solution that virtually eliminates the on-going purchase, installation, upgrading, and maintenance of hardware and software,” Franceski continues, “Because docSTAR Eclipse is an ASP solution our customers no longer are burdened with technology acquisition or maintenance and we have the ability to add new product features quickly and without disruption.”
</blockquote>
docSTAR Eclipse utilizes a secure off-site, SAS 70 certified Data Center equipped with state-of-the-art security, redundancy and internet connectivity for superior performance and peace of mind.
About docSTAR docSTAR is recognized as a leader in easy-to-use document management software and systems. docSTAR allows instant access to documents and immediate cost savings while delivering ease of use, fast implementation, safety, and security.
Website: <a href="http://www.docstar.com/">http://www.docstar.com/</a>

docSTAR Launches Cloud Document Management

Acquia, the commercial Drupal venture started by Drupal founder, Dries Buytaert, has raised an additional $15 million in series D funding. According to a recent post by Dries on his <a href="http://buytaert.net/acquia-raises-15-million-series-d">personal blog</a>,
<blockquote>
This is an incredibly exciting time to be at Acquia. Since the series C last November, our staff size has almost doubled, from 70 to 130. We're bursting out of our office space and will be moving to a bigger, 35,000 square feet office soon. We needed all those people to service our thousand-plus enterprise customers, and to plan for the future with new initiatives, such as Dev Cloud andthe newly revised Acquia Network. We broke revenue records in Q1 and Q2 this year, following an extremely successful 2010.
</blockquote>
This is very positive news for Acquia and the Drupal community in general as it attests to how well grounded the product and it's capabilities are.
To learn more about Acquia, visit their website: <a href="http://acquia.com/">http://acquia.com/</a>

Acquia receives $15 million in series D funding

Power your CMS on AWS

Manage your websites & apps in the most trusted cloud.

#ffffff

Information management specialists Ixxus today announced the launch of its Social Content Platform for users of the Alfresco Enterprise Content Management (ECM) system.  Alfresco is the leading global open source ECM provider with nearly 2,000 customers in 55 countries and Ixxus is the first company to develop a specific module for managing and creating social content across the platform.
The Ixxus Social Content Platform features out-of-the-box integration with existing social media services such as Facebook, Twitter, YouTube and LinkedIn, meaning that users can create a central repository based on Alfresco for managing both their traditional and now social content. Through being able to disseminate and access information quickly and in a consistent manner via a single platform, organisations can improve both brand awareness and customer loyalty, as well as create revenue opportunities.
<blockquote>
“Being able to manage and share social content effectively is becoming a huge challenge for a lot of organisations as the rules have changed regarding how people consume media and interact online. Whereas previously organisations may have had control over the content they published, today’s social media channels are making this a much more difficult task,”
</blockquote>
said Paul Samuel, Director at Ixxus.
<blockquote>
“While recognising the importance of social media, many organisations currently manage it in a siloed fashion using a number of different tools and with very little integration with their existing content management systems. Furthermore, it can be very difficult for organisations to keep track of and record all their social media interactions with customers, which is becoming increasingly important when it comes to customer service. With our Social Content Platform we aim to provide Alfresco users with one co-ordinated point where they can publish their social content and interact with their online audiences in a more controlled and efficient fashion.”
</blockquote>
The Ixxus Social Content Platform offers users a number of features including:
<ul>
<li>Integrated social content publishing – Out-of–the-box integration with your existing website, Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn, enabling users to directly publish to social media sites from their content management system. As an open platform it will also allow for easy integration of future publishing channels. Ixxus has even created an algorithm that will help reduce content to 140 characters so it can be sent out via Twitter.</li>
<li>Central management of feedback – The Social Content Platform also provides users with the ability to view and respond to user comments via a common interface. This means that users no longer need to use separate tools and ensures better response consistency across all social media channels.</li>
<li>Review and publish workflow – Organisations can set the necessary workflow publishing approvals for all their social content to help ensure that messages are consistent and potentially damaging tweets or Facebook updates aren’t published. Time-based workflow can also be set up to ensure that scheduled content goes out in a co-ordinated manner across all communication channels.</li>
<li>Powerful reporting – Integration with reporting tools such as Google Analytics means that organisations can gauge the success of their social media activity, providing marketers with full campaign management. For example, analytics may show that Facebook activity was more successful than Twitter on a particular campaign, meaning that an organisation may choose to focus more on Facebook activity in the future.</li>
<li>Full history of published content – The Social Content Platform provides organisations with access to a full history of their published content.  This means that users can easily search and retrieve content, and provide them with the ability to roll-back changes across one or more of their web or social media sites.</li>
</ul>
<blockquote>
“Most organisations are faced with the dual pressure of driving out costs but at the same time increasing efficiency.  One way of doing this is to sort out their information infrastructures and create better repositories for all their content. Modules such as our Social Media Platform can help organisations simplify and improve the speed of their communication processes by minimising the number of tasks and people involved. Furthermore, as it is based on an open platform like Alfresco customers can have peace of mind that they will have an extensible and future-proof solution without the lock-in of propriety systems,” added Paul Samuel.
</blockquote>
Ixxus (<a href="http://www.ixxus.com/" target="_blank">www.ixxus.com</a>)

Ixxus launches Social Content Platform for Alfresco Enterprise Content Management customers

This video showcases how customers view SharePoint. This video showcases SharePoint customers such as  Global Crossing, Associated Press, and many more.
For more information on SharePoint, visit the website: <a href="http://sharepoint.microsoft.com/">http://sharepoint.microsoft.com</a>

SharePoint in a Customers' eyes

The rise of social networking has, without doubt, led to a number of significant changes on the web. Previously, to get support from a company, one would have to either register with their forums or interact with them via email. With the introduction of sites such as Twitter, Facebook and the new Google+ platform, the means by which users communicate with companies has changed.
Twitter is, without question, the best example of positive change in the way that both companies and organizations communicate with the public. In 140 characters or less, you can get quick updates on road conditions, traffic problems, news updates from around the world and even technical support.
In fact, a lot of these means of gathering knowledge quickly and easily are the exact reason why it is so successful. I can recall a number of occasions where I've been driving on the highway and have come up on a major delay where I am suddenly stuck for an extended period inching along. Without hesitating, my first move is to check the traffic reports on Twitter via <a href="https://twitter.com/AMARoadReports">@AMARoadReports</a> where I am informed of the nature of the delay and how long I can expect to wait. This is, to me, invaluable information that I wouldn't normally have access to without an excessive amount of searching.
Had the organizations that provide this service not taken to Twitter as they have, this information would be much more difficult to access and as a result, I am also less likely to find value in the services they offer.  As a customer, knowing that they openly provide me with this service (without the need for being a customer in the first place) makes me more inclined to do business with them by other means (ie: emergency services, etc).
A number of companies have also taken to Twitter as a means of providing technical support to their customers, whether intentionally or otherwise. For example, <a href="http://www.zendesk.com">Zendesk</a> is a provider of one of the largest web based support products out there. If you check out their Twitter account, you'll see that they often get questions from users who are either experiencing issues or have inquiries.
Here's an excerpt from their Twitter account (<a href="http://www.twitter.com/zendesk">@zendesk</a>) as an example:
<img src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2023/08/moodboard_ui_lwekxp.jpg" alt="Zendesk (zendesk) on Twitter" />
Firing off a quick response is a great way to show your customers that you are listening and helps build confidence in the product and Zendesk does this very well.
(Quick tip: If you are looking to buy software or a service from a company and they have a Twitter account, check out their profile and see how well they interact with their user base. This is often a great way of determining how a company handles their customers and in turn, how you can expect to be handled should you become one!)
Does this type of interaction occur with other sites such as Facebook? Yes, but to a lesser degree. The main issue being that on Facebook, it's more difficult to filter through all of the interactions  to get to the replies whereas Twitter feels more like it's been (deliberately or not) designed for this type of interaction.
Facebook's strength is in the way that users are able to show they are fans of a product. This is a great way  to show potential customers how popular your product or brand is. There is certainly interaction on Facebook between customers and the organizations they are fans of but it's less personal. There is definite value to having a Facebook page, but there are also plenty of issues with the way they have been implemented.
As an example: Let's say Joe sets up a fan page for the company he works for and a few weeks later, Joe is dismissed or goes to work for another company. Good luck changing the ownership of that page to someone else if Joe is disgruntled. Do a simple Google search for “facebook fan page transfer ownership” and you will see how many people have encountered this issue. This particular problem has been an issue since they were implemented and there still has not been a solution for it.  Most of the time, Facebook fan pages tend to be treated more like feed subscriptions whereby you can get the latest updates without cracking a news reader such as Google Reader.
With the recent introduction of <a href="http://plus.google.com">Google+</a> (in beta and invite only at the moment), I am starting to notice that it offers somewhat of a best of both worlds scenario. Google+ offers a clean and uncluttered interface and very good interaction. It is, in my opinion, a cleaner and more professional approach to communicating than Facebook.  Will it replace or challenge Twitter in the future? No, I don't think so but I also don't think that's it's intention either.  I see it as more of a LinkedIn meets Facebook without the clutter social network and I think it will likely be quite successful.
Where Google+ is likely to do best is with the Circles method of sharing. Right now, Google+ only allows personal accounts but should they introduce the same for businesses, I can see huge value in the way that it allows you to communicate with specific circles of people. We'll have to see whether Google allows businesses to form a presence in the future. If they are smart, they will as this will drive up their usage and adoption significantly.
What all of this leads us to is the importance of utilizing all of the available tools out there to interact with your customers. No longer can an organization expect to simply put up a website and consider that sufficient. Social networks have become a very valuable addition to the repertoire and they need to be considered carefully during the CMS selection process. Does the system you are considering have solid social network integration? If not, it's probably not the best tool for this day and age.

The Rise of Social Networks and the Importance of Engaging your Customers

Today marks the official release of Joomla! 1.7. One of the world's most popular open source content management systems, Joomla! has continued to <a href="https://www.cmscritic.com/joomlas-growth-continues-unabated-with-record-numbers/">grow in popularity</a> since first branching from Mambo many years ago.
One of the most common criticisms people make when speaking about Joomla! are jabs at its security model, which some consider weak. In all fairness to the Joomla! developers, I think that when you are as popular and widely used as Joomla!, you're going to be prone to more attempts to hack than say, a less popular CMS. In response to some of these concerns, there has been a lot of focus on security improvements within the CMS of late and this release is no exception to the rule.
That, however, is not all this new release brings. There are a number of exciting new additions. Key updates in the new version include pre-defined search options, a new defense against form manipulation, language specific font settings and more. In addition, the entire Joomla open source community overhauled the development lifecycle for its CMS to make future release dates more predictable, and enabled users to more easily contribute content and migrate to the latest version.
<blockquote>
“Security is an important aspect of any CMS. Downloading the latest version of Joomla is the best way to ensure your personal or organizational security needs are being met,”
said Mark Dexter of the Joomla Production Leadership Team.
“With Joomla 1.7 the user community placed a large emphasis on making the CMS installation process as simple as possible and new versions more frequent. This will allow users to more easily and frequently migrate to the latest version of Joomla, and take advantage of all the security benefits associated with running the newest code. We think Joomla users around the world will really embrace this new process.”
</blockquote>
Some of the main enhancements to this version include:
<ul>
<li>One Click Version Updating – Update a site to the latest stable Joomla release with just a click. The new built-in updater also handles updates for Joomla and Joomla extensions. This is a major enhancement improving upon the previous system of manually updating individual files on the server.</li>
<li>Six-Month Release Cycle – A shorter development cycle that will enhance Joomla’s stability by providing more core feature development and adoption. Short-term releases will be in active development for six months, then reach the end-of-life one month after the next version’s release. Long-term support will be active for 15 months, starting with Joomla version 1.8. Version 1.7 will have a support cycle of seven months.</li>
<li>Joomla Platform Split – The platform (the libraries folder) will now be split from the actual CMS, allowing the Joomla platform to be enhanced outside of Joomla and used for other types of development projects. This will also allow the user community to be more strongly aligned with particular development groups, which will result in more effective and quality development.</li>
</ul>
<h3>A True Open Source Community</h3>
The development of 1.7 is a true collaboration by thousands of Joomla developers and millions of everyday users that have downloaded the CMS to date since the Joomla community does not rely on contributions from large software development companies. This includes feedback gathered from more than 2.3 million Joomla forum posts, 490,000 Joomla forum members and data from more than 7,900 Joomla extensions. Since 2007, Joomla has been downloaded more than 24 million times, making it by far, the most popular and downloaded open source website software in the world today.
Joomla is used for everything from small personal websites to the backend management for some of the largest enterprises and highest traffic sites on the Web, including sites operated by Citibank, eBay, General Electric, Harvard University, Ikea, McDonald’s, Sony, many large nations and more.
Additional Features Included:
<ul>
<li>Better example code for different plug-in types. This enables developers to more easily build custom extensions.</li>
<li>The ability to automatically validate form data against a list of options during the save operation. This makes it easier to protect against hackers manipulating forms and trying to save invalid data.</li>
<li>Enables the submit article form to automatically set the article category. This makes it easier for site administrators to restrict users to a specific category meaning content isn’t accidentally added to the incorrect page on a website.</li>
<li>Multilanguage improvements allows developers/administrators to associate menu items in different languages for faster navigation. Language packs can now also be built to automatically select the best font for that language for the administrative back end.</li>
</ul>
Visit <a href="http://www.joomla.org">http://www.joomla.org</a> to download Joomla 1.7 today

Joomla! CMS 1.7 released with focus on enhanced security

Radiant CMS is a simple, no-frills Content Management System that is built using Ruby on Rails. It is licenced under the MIT Licence, which means it is freely redistributable and can be employed for both commercial and non-profit usage. Let's get straight to it with our Radiant CMS Review.
Main Features
<ol>
<li>Radiant has a fairly simple and minimal admin interface that has barely three tabs – Content, Design and Settings. We will delve deeper into the admin back end later.</li>
<li>In Radiant, you can create Pages using Markdown, Textile or plain HTML, among several others. Furthermore, content can be reused easily by employing as a Snippet.</li>
<li>Pages can be organized within a Child / Parent hierarchy.</li>
<li>Radiant has a custom macro language called Radius which can be used to further extend the system.</li>
<li>Radiant is well localized, with native language packs for English, German, Russian, Italian, Dutch, French and Japanese.</li>
<li>Last, but not least, Radiant comes with support for custom text filters as well as page caching.</li>
</ol>
An Overview of the Back end
As mentioned above, the admin interface has barely three tabs:- Content, Layout and Settings. Lets proceed tab by tab.
<img src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2023/08/cmsc3i-580x262.jpg" alt="Radiant CMS Review" />
Content:
In Radiant, the website's content revolves around pages. Such pages can be organized in (virtually) any hierarchy. By default, it comes with templates for Home Page, Error 404, RSS Feed, Site map, etc. You can add, remove or modify pages as needed.
<img src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2021/07/cmsc3ii-580x278_n4fmas.jpg" alt="Radiant CMS Review" />
Radiant CMS Backend: Edit Page
Design: 
The Design section is further sub-divided into two parts: Layouts and Snippets. The Layout area lets you modify the Stylesheets and control the look and feel of your website.
<img src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2023/08/survey_1_k3eyvw.png" alt="Radiant CMS Review" />
Snippets, on the other hand, are handy pieces or chunks that can be added as and when needed. They come in handy as you no longer need to build (and then re-build) the same sections of your website multiple times, such as sidebars and menus or comment mechanisms. Radiant comes with predefined snippets for Articles, Comments, Footer, Header, Newsletter, RSS, Site Map, Navigation, etc.
Settings:
Settings Page is perhaps the most populated section in the entire admin interface. Still, it is far simpler than other CMS platforms on the market. It has three sub-tabs, namely, Personal, Users and Extensions.
In Personal Preferences, you can specify your user name, display name, email and Gravatar, along with preferred language and password. On the Users page, you can view or modify the user accounts on the website.
<img src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2023/08/cmsc3iv.jpeg" alt="Radiant CMS Review" />
Lastly, in Extensions, Radiant lists all the installed extensions that can be used to further enhance your website's features. Radiant comes with several pre-installed extensions such as text filters for Mark Down, Textile and Smarty Pants as well as few language packs. Further extensions can be downloaded from the website of Radiant CMS.
<img src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2023/08/cmsc3v.jpeg" alt="Radiant CMS Review" />
So, is it worth it?
Well, Radiant CMS does not (yet) feature on the list of most automated script installers, nor is it the first choice for many web admins.
Personally, I loved the swift and clean administrative interface, especially the manner in which Radiant handles Pages. The flexibility of adding hierarchy easily to Pages as well as the good support for localization add to Radiant's USP. Further more, Snippets also come in handy when setting up a website, and Radiant seems to do well there too.
Since not many CMS use Ruby on Rails, Radiant falls in a different category altogether. Yet, compared to the rest, it needs to implement few more features — the most emphatic being an easy Update mechanism. Also, apart from extensions, Radiant CMS is in need of templates or themes to further simplify the process of designing a website. Lastly, I feel the community needs to be built better too, but this inactivity in forums can be attributed to the fact that most non-PHP CMS have a smaller user base.
And now, here are few points for (and against) it:
You SHOULD use it if…
<ul>
<li>You need a no-nonsense, minimal CMS,</li>
<li>You need Ruby on Rails,</li>
<li>You do not need the complex admin back ends of other CMS,</li>
<li>You just need to get a small sized website up and ready,</li>
<li>You are comfortable with tweaking code to modify the site.</li>
</ul>
You SHOULD NOT use it if…
<ul>
<li>You need one-click installs of themes or templates,</li>
<li>You do not need Ruby on Rails or you prefer PHP,</li>
<li>Your website is a grand project that goes beyond mere ‘pages',</li>
<li>You'd need to edit features like site Permalink structure without editing the code.</li>
</ul>
Verdict
In today's Content Management hemisphere where hardly any software has a specifically rigid genre of operation (WordPress is being used as a CMS and Drupal can be employed to power blogs), Radiant CMS strives to be different. Radiant CMS surely is nimble and easy to use, and does not compel you to learn Rocket Science in order to master it. But this is precisely all that it is. If, for instance, you intend to run a magazine blog or a news site using it, you'd be better off with other CMS options such as Joomla or even WordPress. On the other hand, if you have a small or medium sized website, Radiant will work well for you.
Links 
<a href="http://radiantcms.org/">Website</a> | <a href="http://radiantcms.org/demo/">Demo</a> | <a href="http://github.com/radiant/radiant/wiki/">Documentation</a> | <a href="http://radiantcms.org/download/">Download</a>
Have you used or are using Radiant CMS? Share your experiences with us in the comments below!

Radiant CMS Review

Call Tracking + AI 

Call Tracking + AI that Turns Calls into Leads

Explore a wide range of informative articles, insights, and industry updates. Stay informed and ahead of the curve with our diverse collection of news and posts covering the latest trends and developments in the industry. Page - 198