Articles - Page 42

Bland Brands Beware: Optimizely’s New Identity Brings Human Creativity to its Agentic AI and AEO Ambitions

matt-garrepy

April 2022 is already behind us. And when it rains... it pours. 
As bad news befalls the globe – from a persistent conflict in Ukraine to stumbling stock markets – CMS and DXP vendors continue to slug it out. How will tech fare in the coming months with the specter of recession on the horizon? Tough to say, but we'll be watching.  
By most measures, last month was relatively quiet. We saw announcements from <a href="https://www.cmscritic.com/hyland-releases-new-content-services-and-intelligent-automation-product-enhancements/">Hyland</a>, updates from <a href="https://www.cmscritic.com/sitecore-announces-updates-to-product-suite-enhances-composable-features-and-innovation-from-acquisitions/">Sitecore</a> around its composable features, and a new partnership between <a href="https://www.cmscritic.com/woocommerce-and-pinterest-announce-partnership-offer-new-integration-for-connecting-with-shoppers/">WooCommerce and Pinterest</a>. We followed a few additional stories in April and wrapped them up (as we always do). 
Enjoy the scoop. And you might want to keep an umbrella handy. You never know if the forecast might change. 
<h2>WordPress.com changes pricing and rattles users </h2>
Speaking of rain, WordPress.com has been gathering a few storm clouds by adding some significant <a href="https://wordpress.com/pricing/">price changes to its plans</a>. To add salt to the wound, the changes were apparently <a href="https://rootprivileges.net/2022/04/03/what-are-you-doing-wordpress-com/">unannounced,</a> and many people have been expressing their disappointment. The biggest sly: replacing all its paid options with a single Pro plan. The platform also slashed the storage on its free tier from 3GB to 500MB. Ouch.
Dave Martin, the CEO of WordPress.com, took to <a href="https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=30896807">Hacker News</a> to address the concerns. As he noted: "You're right to call us out. I did a poor job of sharing context around why we are making change, so I can see how they could come as a shock. I'm sorry! That's on me."
Martin went on to say that more changes were in the works and that this was the first of several phases. He also clarified that no legacy sites or blogs have been affected by these new price changes – so if your site is on an older plan, there should have been no changes to your billing. He mentioned that many of the existing plans were haphazardly added to WordPress.com with no real strategy, making it hard for customers to see at-a-glance why they should choose one plan over another.
That said, it's a classic lesson in the need for transparency. 
<h2>WordPress releases version 6.0, Gutenberg 13.0</h2>
When <a href="https://www.cmscritic.com/updates-on-wordcamp-2021-wordpress-5-8-beta-details-and-gutenberg-enhancements/" target="_blank">WordPress 5.8</a> was released in July 2021, it introduced some major features that would pave the way to <a href="https://make.wordpress.org/design/handbook/focuses/full-site-editing/" target="_blank">Full Site Editing (FSE)</a>. <a href="https://make.wordpress.org/core/5-9/" target="_blank">WordPress 5.9 Josephine</a> took that to the next level, putting users in control of the whole experience of the FSE’s visual editing capabilities. 
Now, WordPress 6.0 is almost here, making it the second<a href="https://make.wordpress.org/core/handbook/about/release-cycle/releasing-major-versions/" target="_blank"> major release</a> of 2022. While the 6.0 beta version arrived in mid-April, it is expected to be<a href="https://make.wordpress.org/core/6-0/" target="_blank"> released on May 24, 2022</a>.
While we’re waiting for the release of WordPress 6.0, WordPress released another update to Gutenberg on April 14.
<img style="max-width:900px" src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2022/05/featured-image-in-cover.png" alt="Featured Image in Cover" />
The major updates include text selection across blocks, cover blocks with feature images, new responsive layouts for the Groups, Rows, and Stacks, and customizable borders to make your blocks stand out. 
There are also many other<a href="https://make.wordpress.org/core/2022/04/14/whats-new-in-gutenberg-13-0-14-april/" target="_blank"> notable improvements</a> that are worth checking out. 
<h2>WP Engine accelerates headless WordPress innovation with launch of new plans and Atlas Blueprints</h2>
<img style="max-width:900px" src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2022/05/wp-engine-atlas-blueprint.webp" alt="WP-Engine-Atlas-blueprint" />
WordPress has always been a traditional monolithic CMS. While it still maintains its crown as the most popular CMS in the world, it's been playing catch up in the move to headless.
But that's starting to change as <a href="https://wpengine.com/" target="_blank">WP Engine</a>, the world’s most trusted WordPress technology company, as they announced the launch of Atlas – its award-winning headless WordPress solution. It's now available to businesses of all sizes with four new headless WordPress plans, ranging from $49 to $499, allowing developers to learn, build and grow their sites on Atlas. 
WP Engine also announced the launch of Atlas Blueprints, which are free, professionally-designed templates allowing anyone to get started fast with headless WordPress. Developers can also try out Atlas by signing up for a free Atlas Sandbox account, which allows developers to learn more about developing with headless WordPress and create prototype projects.
<h2>Postman API platform surpasses 20 million users, driven by vision for API-First world</h2>
<img src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2022/05/20-million-postman-users.jpg" alt="20-million-postman-users" />
<a href="https://www.postman.com/" target="_blank">Postman</a>, the world's leading API platform, <a href="https://blog.postman.com/celebrating-20-million-postman-users/">announced</a> that more than 20 million developers and builders have adopted its platform to build and use APIs, strengthening the company's reputation for simplifying the API lifecycle and streamlining collaboration. Postman's public API hub is the world's largest, with workspaces from Microsoft, Stripe, Meta, Notion, Intel, Oracle, and more.
In <a href="https://www.cmscritic.com/postman-releases-2021-state-of-the-api-report-shows-global-trend-towards-api-first-digital-era/">Postman's 2021 State of the API Report</a>, 67% of survey respondents ranked themselves a five or higher in terms of embracing an API-first philosophy – a five-point increase from 2020. Furthermore, the "API-first leaders" who ranked themselves highest produced APIs more quickly, deployed more frequently, had fewer failures, and recovered more swiftly when failures occurred.
<h2>Hyland expands infrastructure to deploy new OnBase and Brainware customers on AWS</h2>
<img src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2021/09/e0030_thumb_big_media.png" alt="Hyland OnBase" />
<a href="https://www.cmscritic.com/hyland-releases-new-content-services-and-intelligent-automation-product-enhancements/">Hyland</a>, recognized as a leading content services provider with more than 1,700 cloud customers, has expanded its work with <a href="https://aws.amazon.com/">Amazon Web Services (AWS)</a> to support its customer base and their increased cloud deployment and migration needs. 
Working with AWS, Hyland will expand its <a href="https://www.hyland.com/en/innovation/hyland-cloud" target="_blank">Hyland Cloud</a> infrastructure to deploy new <a href="https://www.hyland.com/en/onbase" target="_blank">OnBase</a> and <a href="https://www.hyland.com/en/platform/product-suite/brainware" target="_blank">Brainware</a> cloud customers and cloud migration environments in North America on the appropriate AWS Region – fully supported and managed by Hyland's technical experts.
The strengthened relationship with AWS delivers an expansive infrastructure footprint for the Hyland Cloud, allowing Hyland to meet customer requirements with agility and scale while providing a more flexible architecture that supports customers' evolving information technology (IT) and business challenges. Backed by innovative technologies, security-driven policies, and dedicated support from knowledgeable technology experts, customers deploying Hyland's software-as-a-service (SaaS) and platform-as-a-service (PaaS) offerings on AWS benefit from its continued focus on cloud innovation and support for next-generation cloud solutions.
"Our work with AWS gives customers and prospects greater confidence and agility when deploying their cloud content services solutions, which are optimized for their unique needs and requirements," said Will Milewski, Senior Vice President, Cloud Infrastructure and Operations at Hyland. "With organizations continuing to evolve their business strategies to support remote work, cloud-based solutions are becoming the default and our relationship with AWS will ensure we're exceeding our customers' requirements from their content services platform."
Gartner has recognized Hyland as a content services industry leader for 12 consecutive years, and the winner of our own <a href="https://www.cmscritic.com/introducing-the-winners-of-the-2021-cms-critics-choice-awards/" target="_blank">Critic's Choice Awards</a> for ECM in 2021. 
<h2>Concrete CMS 9.1.0RC1 is now available</h2>
Solid as a rock.
That was the news from the <a href="https://www.concretecms.com/" target="_blank">Concrete CMS</a> team as the company announced the availability of its first release candidate for Concrete CMS 9.1.0 – featuring a multitude of improvements, new features, and bug fixes, including:
<ul>
<li>Enhanced compatibility with PHP 8 and PHP 8.1.</li>
<li>Improved appearance and functionality when editing block, area, layout, and container styles inline in the page.</li>
<li>Express improvements like the ability to mark attributes as unique, handle re-use across objects, and much more.</li>
<li>Much improved version comparison features that can compare the HTML of two-page versions and highlight the differences.</li>
<li>Improvements to Dashboard listing screens and the file details screen.</li>
</ul>
Additionally, there are many behavioral and performance improvements included. The boulder-sized list is far too large for this blog post. <a href="https://documentation.concretecms.org/developers/introduction/version-history/910-release-notes" target="_blank">Click here</a> to read more of the details.
Concrete CMS was also recognized as a 2022 Leader in Content Management Systems by <a href="https://sourceforge.net/">SourceForge</a>.

CMS Monthly Recap: WP Engine Launches Headless Plans, Postman API Platform Surpasses 20 Million Users, and More

paris-tuzun

Featured image of April monthly recap of an umbrella with raindrops

When compared to mammoth rivals like Facebook, Instagram, and Tik Tok, <a href="https://www.pinterest.com/" target="_blank">Pinterest</a> can feel... well, less interesting. 
OK, so maybe it's not as visible as its social brethren, and the stats codify this. According to a recent <a href="https://blog.hootsuite.com/pinterest-statistics-for-business/" target="_blank">article</a>, the image-sharing app – popular for posting recipes, home decor, and more – ranks fourteenth on a list of the world's most used social media platforms. 
Fourteenth. That seems like quite a few rungs down the social ladder. But shockingly, Pinterest's <a href="https://www.statista.com/statistics/463353/pinterest-global-mau/#:~:text=How%20many%20users%20does%20Pinterest,million%20international%20monthly%20active%20users." target="_blank">431 million active global users</a> still puts it ahead of Twitter.
Take that, Elon Musk.
Along with posting "pins" of paint chips and curtain fabrics, shopping is one of the top activities for Pinterest users, and the platform's expansive community has emerged as a channel for e-Commerce. Given the number of users browsing boards and perusing products and services, it makes sense that sellers might be interested in connecting their storefronts to Pinterest to peddle their wares. 
Now, <a href="https://business.pinterest.com/en/blog/introducing-pinterest-for-woocommerce/" target="_blank">WooCommerce</a> is giving its merchants a way to turn their product catalogs into shoppable "pins" on Pinterest, making it easier to build audiences and drive more sales. Whatever a seller might be offering – from fashion to apparel to appliances – this new feature will allow each product listing to become a shoppable pin on the platform, just like this:
<img src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2022/04/pinterest-product-tags-975x1024.webp" alt="Pinterest product tags" />
The companies recently <a href="https://business.pinterest.com/en/blog/introducing-pinterest-for-woocommerce/" target="_blank">announced</a> a strategic partnership that's designed to simplify the connection via a new integration, which will be available to WooCommerce merchants in the <a href="https://woocommerce.com/products/pinterest-for-woocommerce/" target="_blank">Products section</a> of the company's website. 
"By partnering together, we provide the best integrated Pinterest shopping experience possible for WooCommerce merchants to be on the cutting edge of social commerce," said Aleksandra Bettin, VP of Business Development at WooCommerce. "WooCommerce is highly invested in our merchants' success. Merchants need the right options to reach the right audiences – this integration with Pinterest helps them do that."
<h2>Using Pinterest to drive more traffic to WooCommerce stores</h2>
The category of <a href="https://www.investopedia.com/terms/s/social-commerce.asp#:~:text=What%20Is%20Social%20Commerce%3F,retweets%2C%20likes%2C%20and%20shares." target="_blank">social commerce</a> is booming, and brands are looking for new ways to reach their audiences. While all social media platforms can help amplify traffic (both paid and organic), Pinterest has introduced some innovative features to help augment SEO. This includes a new visual search tool that makes finding customers on the platform even easier. Likewise, using pins, boards, and collections on Pinterest can drive organic traffic to a WooCommerce site. This combination gives merchants more power when it comes to expanding their reach. 
According to Pinterest's statistics, a whopping <a href="https://business.pinterest.com/audience/" target="_blank">97% of the top searches on Pinterest are unbranded</a>. That means Pinterest shoppers haven't made up their minds about specific products or brands – and they're open to learning and exploring. This is an opportunity that both WooCommerce and Pinterest have keyed in on, and are now simplifying the connection points to convert a shopper's interest into a real brand purchase. 
<h2>How to use the WooCommerce Pinterest extension </h2>
Adding the Pinterest integration to a WooCommerce store is very simple. It starts by installing the <a href="https://woocommerce.com/products/pinterest-for-woocommerce/" target="_blank">Pinterest for WooCommerce extension</a>, which will upload an entire WooCommerce product catalog to Pinterest. From there, shoppable pins will appear in people's feeds as they search and browse. The extension also logs when customers interact with products on Pinterest so users can track their best-selling or most saved items. 
While some WooCommerce merchants might have already manually uploaded their catalogs to Pinterest, the company recommends switching to the new extension instead. It's the easiest and most efficient way to keep your products current on Pinterest since it automatically updates details like pricing and product availability. 
The Pinterest for WooCommerce integration is currently available in Australia, Austria, Belgium, Brazil, Canada, Cyprus, Czechia, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Ireland, Italy, Luxembourg, Malta, Mexico, Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Slovakia, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, the United Kingdom, and the United States. Argentina, Chile, Colombia, and Japan will gain access later this year. 
<h2>About WooCommerce</h2>
<a href="https://woocommerce.com/" target="_blank">WooCommerce</a> is the leading open-source e-commerce platform, powering 28% of the top million online stores (BuiltWith). Built on <a href="https://wordpress.com/" target="_blank">WordPress</a>, it empowers anyone, anywhere, to sell anything with truly unlimited extensibility, flexibility, and control over how they build and evolve their business. Founded in 2011 and acquired by Automattic in 2015, WooCommerce is a fully distributed company with employees based around the world.
<h2>About Pinterest</h2>
People around the world come to Pinterest for inspiration. It's a visual inspiration platform where people find inspiring creators, shop new products, and seek out ideas to take offline. People have saved more than 330 billion Pins across a range of interests, from creating a home office, cooking a new recipe to finding your next vacation spot. Headquartered in San Francisco, Pinterest launched in 2010 and has more than 400 million monthly active users. Available on iOS and Android and at pinterest.com.

WooCommerce and Pinterest Announce Partnership, Offer New Integration for Connecting with Shoppers

Woocommerce and Pinterest logos together on a dark background

Squarespace had perhaps one of the most unusual ads during this year's Super Bowl. Featuring Jeff Bridges, the ad focused on Mr. Bridges saying “OM” while sitting beside a sleeping couple, watching them sleep.
<img src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2023/08/3041798-inline-i-1-jeff-bridges-om-ad-super-bowl.jpg" />
While it is admirable that they are attempting to help promote and support Mr. Bridges endeavor to sell his album of relaxing sounds and vocalisms to support charity, the video ends up coming across as not only baffling as an advertisement but also creepy (at least to this guy).
<iframe src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/BKIlfLReHyo?feature=oembed" frameborder="0" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture" allowfullscreen></iframe>
I personally see it as a hugely expensive waste of advertising dollars. Not only that, but if anything, I see it as driving people away from the product, not towards. Perhaps I'm wrong.
What do you think? Does this make you want to <a href="https://www.squarespace.com">Sign up for Squarespace</a>?

Weird Squarespace Superbowl Ad Features Jeff Bridges Watching You Sleep

mike-johnston

Microsoft Office 365 subscribers can now make use of <a href="http://www.wix.com/" target="_blank"> Wix.com </a>  to launch a website directly from within the Office 365 platform.
Wix, <a href="/the-winner-of-the-2014-peoples-choice-cms-award-for-best-website-builder/" target="_blank"> winner of the 2014 People's Choice CMS Award for Best Website Builder </a> , is one of the world's most popular website builders, and was recently <a href="https://www.websitebuilderscritic.com/website_builders/reviews/wix/" target="_blank"> featured on Website Builders Critic </a>  as a recommended product for those with no website building experience. The cloud-based platform boasts hundreds of high quality templates, a simple drag-and-drop design system, and an array of useful apps.
In addition to having access to Wix within the Office 365 platform, subscribers who currently host a domain with Microsoft will also be able to automatically connect the domain to their site built on Wix.com.
<h2>Wix To Fill The Void, Empower Businesses</h2>
<a href="http://www.wix.com/" target="_blank"><img src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2023/08/wix_com.png" alt="Wix" /></a>
This news comes as Microsoft pulls the plug on its “Public Website” feature on SharePoint Online. The feature is no longer being offered to new Office 365 customers, while existing customers may only have access to it for the next two-years.
This Wix integration then, will fill the website building void being left within the Microsoft platform.
Avishai Abrahami, the Co-Founder and CEO of Wix, made these comments:
<blockquote>“Both Microsoft and Wix share the common vision of enabling small and medium-sized businesses to access and utilize cloud technology to operate all aspects of their business. Wix simplifies the website and mobile site creation and management processes, all critical for any business today, by providing enterprise class functionality to every business, no matter how small. Through Office 365, we are excited to provide even more business owners with an easy and affordable platform on which to create, manage and grow their business online.”</blockquote>
According to Eric Mason, the Wix Director of Strategic Marketing Communications, Office 365 users will have access to Wix “immediately”.
The full press release regarding this exciting piece of news <a href="http://globenewswire.com/news-release/2015/02/04/702998/10118512/en/Wix-Announces-New-Microsoft-Office-365-Capabilities.html" target="_blank">can be found here</a>.
Visit the <a href="http://www.wix.com/" target="_blank">Wix website</a> for more information about their platform, and of course, be sure to explore more of <a href="/products/wix/" target="_blank">Wix via our CMS Directory</a>.

Microsoft Office 365 Subscribers Now Have Wix Website Building Power

Today, I announce the winner of the 2014 Critics' Choice Award for Best Free Forum Solution.
<img src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2023/08/bestfreeforumsolution.png" />
This is always a tough category but once again this year, we're giving the win to the ever popular, Vanilla Forums.
<a href="http://vanillaforums.org"><img src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2023/08/vanilla_grad.png" /></a>
Congratulations to the Vanilla Forums development team. Check them out here: <a href="http://vanillaforums.org/">http://vanillaforums.org/</a>

2014 Critics' Choice Award Winner - Best Free Forum Solution

<img alt="Magnolia Conference 2016" src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2023/08/img_4204-1.jpg" />
Need to catch up? Check out my <a href="/magnolia-conference-2016-day-one/">coverage of Magnolia Conference 2016 Day One</a>. 
Typically, the second day of a conference is far more mellow than the first – and Day Two of the Magnolia Conference 2016 was no different.
However, <a href="/magnolia-conference-2014-reflections-of-an-attendee/">just like back at the Magnolia Conference 2014</a>, Magnolia didn't try to force or feign urgency. Instead, they embraced this inevitability with open arms by hosting a far more casual ‘Unconference'. 
For those unaware of the concept, an Unconference is where attendees pitch topics to discuss, take a vote, and then take a more active role in discussing the selected topics. 
Magnolia began by explaining that concept to the audience early on Day Two, before opening up the floor for individual attendees to pitch their ideas to the audience.
The ideas soon rolled in, and it wasn’t long until we had a filled schedule for the rest of the day.
<img alt="Setting up the Unconference schedule" src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2023/08/img_4182-e1465600581489-1024x691.jpg" />
As the various discussions took place across the Pathe Kuchlin Theatre, I made my way around the various rooms and screens to try and drink in as much of the event as possible. And to <a href="https://twitter.com/search?q=%23mconf16&amp;src=typd">live-tweet it all</a>, of course.
Unlike the presentations on Day One, attendees were free to voice opinions, suggestions, and concerns. You could feel the open source nature of Magnolia being physically lived out. <img alt="Magnolia Conference 2016" src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2023/08/img_4232.jpg" />
For those who wanted a more traditional conference experience, business and technical tracks continued to run throughout the day alongside the Unconference. Those presentations came from the likes of Netcetera Software, who explored Atmomic Design and how it related to Magnolia CMS.
<img alt="IMG_4200" src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2023/08/img_4200.jpg" />
Other presentations were given by Canto, SysEleven, Arvato, and others.
In fact, thanks to the Unconference events, there was actually more going on during Day Two than there was during Day One. However, because the day's activities were divided up across the theatre, you might be forgiven for thinking the opposite. 
<h2>Same Atmosphere, Different Day</h2>
The same friendly atmosphere I felt during Day One was also present during Day Two.
But, as Magnolia encouraged at the start of the day, I felt more comfortable leaving and entering rooms where discussions were already in flow. I also popped to the lobby for an Espresso every so often, without feeling the need to wait for the official coffee breaks.
The whole day was one, big, enjoyable blur.
And of course, I got my hands on some conference loot, including a tee-shirt, a hoody, and a very cool <a href="https://www.thetileapp.com/">Tile</a>.


Although the nature of Day Two was entirely different to what I experienced during <a href="/magnolia-conference-2016-day-one/">Day One</a>, I can firmly say that the Magnolia Conference 2016 was a genuine joy to attend.
I saw some great presentations, learned a few things, and met some very friendly representatives from the likes of IBM, as well as Magnolia of course.
<img alt="Plus, free Croissants!" src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2023/08/img_4168-e1465600722119-1024x714.jpg" />
And with that in mind, I'd like to thank Magnolia CMS (and in particular <a href="https://www.linkedin.com/in/lorrainechandler">Lorraine Chandler</a>, Magnolia's Senior Content Strategist), for inviting CMS Critic to the event.
As for those who missed out, you can re-live the whole event through the Twitter hashtag <a href="https://twitter.com/search?q=%23mconf16&amp;src=typd">#MConf16</a>. You'll find that, as usual at these events, CMS Critic's account was the most active.
Furthermore, be sure to keep your eye on <a href="http://www.magnolia-cms.com/">Magnolia's website</a> for news on next year's conference. You won't regret making the trip.

Magnolia Conference 2016 Day Two: The Unconference

<a href="https://ghost.org/" target="_blank">Ghost</a> has released some improvements which will help make tag management a tidier experience.
Recently crowned the <a href="/2014-most-promising-cms/" target="_blank">2014 Critics' Choice Award Winner for Most Promising CMS</a>, Ghost is proving to be an exciting blogging platform, which now releases mini-updates like these on a very regular basis.
Ghost users can now edit and delete their tags in Ghost.  Additionally Ghost users can personalise tag archives by adding cover images and meta data. This allows existing tags to be tidied up a little, both in terms of spelling, quantity and categorization.
<img src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2023/08/screen-shot-2015-01-13-at-14-05-37700x0.png" />
As usual, Ghost Pro users will find this feature enabled automatically, while those self-hosting will need to <a href="https://ghost.org/download/?__hstc=10303082.e349d0ad7a5666a28a9feace53e2dd1f.1416486488818.1422275546673.1422296414441.10&amp;__hssc=10303082.2.1422296414441&amp;__hsfp=3780233567" target="_blank">update to Ghost version 0.5.8</a>.
For more information on Ghost's new tagging system (including a handy GIF showing this new enhancement in action), <a href="http://blog.ghost.org/tag-management/" target="_blank">check out Ghost's official blog announcement</a>.
To find out more about Ghost, <a href="https://ghost.org/" target="_blank">visit their website</a>.

Ghost Tidies Up Tag Management

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

CMS Summit 26

Find out at Open Source CMS 26, October 20-21 in Utrecht, Netherlands

What's ahead for Open Source CMS?

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DNN has announced the general availability of DNN Evoq 8.
<a href="http://www.dnnsoftware.com/" target="_blank">DNN Software</a> provides a suite of solutions that make designing, building and managing feature-rich sites and communities fast, easy and cost-effective. DNN Evoq Content is used by thousands of businesses worldwide, including a number of Fortune 500 companies. DNN was also the <a href="/2014-critics-choice-award-winner-best-small-to-midsize-business-net-cms/" target="_blank">2014 Critics' Choice Award Winner for Best Small to Midsize Business .NET CMS</a>.
According to DNN, Evoq 8 seeks to empower modern digital marketers by giving them easy access to all of their digital assets regardless of where they are stored. Marketers can also publish content to any online channel, personalize it to each visitor, and measure its effectiveness.
<h2>Bridging The Multi-channel Gap</h2>
The most obvious enhancement brought about by DNN Evoq 8 is the new, streamlined interface, with layout and editing capabilities that are more efficient than ever before.
<img src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2023/08/dnn-evoq-8-challenges700x0.png" alt="DNN Evoq 8" />
DNN Evoq 8 also brings about the following new features:
<ul>
<li>Content Personalization: Content personalization is seen as an essential digital marketing capability that increases conversion, according to recent research by Econsultancy. Evoq 8 enables customers to build personalization rules that tailor site content based on visitors’ profiles. Rules are based on geography, account registration (i.e. registered versus non-registered users), gender, age, recent visits, referral source, search terms and ad clicks.</li>
<li>Page-Level Content Analytics: Statistics on page views, referrers, unique visitors and conversions are presented as an overlay on each web page, via data collected and managed by Evoq. Any marketer, regardless of their level of proficiency with analytics, can immediately understand how content is performing, without navigating to a separate web analytics system.</li>
<li>Centralized Access to Cloud-Hosted Content Repositories: Evoq 8 includes built-in connectors to Box, Dropbox, Amazon S3, and SharePoint, making it easy to access any piece of content or digital asset from a single window. This capability allows marketers and content producers to use their preferred content storage service or use multiple services, without moving files, duplicating effort, or wasting valuable time.</li>
<li>Advocate Marketing: Evoq 8 enables Marketers to activate the brand advocates already on their webiste by rewarding them for sharing content on their personal social networks. The advocacy marketing capability is integrated with Evoq’s native gamification engine, and engages customers by issuing challenges, tracking challenge completions, and awarding points, badges, or other designated incentives.</li>
</ul>
Furthermore, Evoq 8 allows marketers to quickly and easily integrate their websites with Marketo.
<img src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2023/08/dnn-evoq-8-analytics700x0.png" alt="DNN Evoq 8" />
Navin Nagiah, CEO and President of DNN, gave some insightful comments regarding the release of DNN Evoq 8:
<blockquote>“We’re seeing a big shift in the digital marketing landscape.
Marketers have to coordinate the publishing and tracking of content to multiple channels and systems, beyond their own websites – Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, campaign microsites and landing pages, CRM systems, and marketing automation systems. From a marketing solutions perspective, on the one hand are traditional Web CMS for content publishing; and on the other hand, there are now more nascent solutions from young companies rooted in predictive analytics, personalization, and content marketing. Marketers are desperate to bridge that gap.
With Evoq 8, we will be one of the few companies to straddle both worlds and deliver measurable ROI to customers. Evoq pulls content from any repository, pushes it to any online channel, and measures its effectiveness.”</blockquote>
<h2>Live Webinar &amp; Product Demonstration</h2>
DNN will be showcasing a demonstration of Evoq 8 during their upcming webinar, schduled for Wednesday, January 28, 2015 at 9am PT (12pm ET). The webinar is open to the general public.
Visit DNN’s website to <a href="http://www.dnnsoftware.com/resources/webinars/build-world-class-digital-experiences-with-evoq-8/view/webinar?utm_medium=text_link&amp;utm_source=DNN-Press-Release&amp;utm_campaign=webinar_invite_jan282015" target="_blank">register for the webinar</a>.
<img src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2023/08/dnn-evoq-8-assets700x0.png" alt="DNN Evoq 8" />
To find out more about DNN Evoq Content, <a href="http://www.dnnsoftware.com/" target="_blank">visit their website</a>.
Also, be sure to discover more about <a href="/products/dnn-evoq-content/" target="_blank">DNN Evoq Content through our CMS Directory</a>.

DNN "Moves Beyond Web Content Management" With The Release of DNN Evoq 8

<a href="http://www.hannonhill.com/downloads/cascade/" target="_blank">Cascade Server version 7.10</a> by Hannon Hill has today become available for download. 
Hannon Hill's award-winning Enterprise CMS now boasts several new user experience features and improvements, from the admin dashboard to the end-user mobile experience.
So, here's a look at the highlights of what's new with Cascade Server 7.10.
<h2>Progressive Disclosure, Better Dashboard &amp; Mobile Experience</h2>
It's always great to see developers listen to their customers, and so we'll start with the fact that <a href="http://www.hannonhill.com/" target="_blank">Hannon Hill</a> have implemented the second most popular idea on their customer idea exchange by introducing Progressive Disclosure.
Users can now select dependencies between Data Definition fields where one field will be hidden unless a specific value is selected in another “parent” field. This allows  for progressively showing more fields to the user as needed and hiding other fields that are irrelevant when editing structured data Pages and Blocks. 
For example, suppose a Data Definition contains an “Address” group containing a number of data definition fields used to capture address information.  This group can be configured such that it will only be displayed if a user changes the value of another data definition field called “Include Address?” to “Yes”.
Parent fields can be radio buttons, checkboxes, dropdowns, and multi-select boxes.
<img src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2023/08/progressive-disclosure700x0.png" alt="Cascade Server Progressive Disclosure" />
What's more is, the Home area Dashboard has received a face-lift, allowing every user to be able to customize their own dashboard for each site. The dashboard has been split into widgets that can be dragged and dropped to a new position or removed from the dashboard completely.
The Stale Content widget, the Content to Review widget, and the Analytics widgets can also be configured to show specific information in particular time frames.
<img src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2023/08/customizable-dashboard.png" alt="Cascade Server Customizable Dashboard" />
The dashboard is also responsive and compatible with most mobile devices.  The layout of the dashboard will seamlessly transition from a 3 column layout down to a 2+1 layout and then finally down to a single column layout as the viewport gets smaller.
Additionally, in a continuing effort to improve the Cascade experience on mobile devices, a number of mobile bugs have been addressed and improvements implemented that allow users to better interact with Cascade using their phones and tablets. This effort began in the 7.8 series and will continue through 7.10 and beyond.  
Thanks to these improvements introduced in version 7.10, Cascade's goal of creating a mobile experience as close as possible in functionality to the desktop experience for all core Cascade features is now a few steps closer.
Such changes include:
<ul>
<li>A mobile optimized login screen</li>
<li>Responsive home area dashboard</li>
<li>A fixed 800px width viewport for mobile devices</li>
<li>Improvements to editing to allow better navigation of edit forms</li>
<li>Addressed issues with the layout on mobile devices including an issue with the site dropdown sticking during scrolling</li>
</ul>
<h2>Advanced Code Editor, UI Improvements &amp; More</h2>
The Advanced Code Editor as introduced in <a href="/cascade-server-7.4-feature-overview/#.UwU-M_l_vhM" target="_blank">Cascade 7.4</a> has been added to the HTML View in the WYSIWYG.  This adds things like syntax highlight, code folding, line numbers and other convenient features to HTML editing. 
<img src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2023/08/ace-html-wysiwyg-view700x0.png" alt="Cascade Server Advanced Code Editor" />
Also on the list of updates, Cascade users can enjoy some revamped control icons, which make them easier to distinguish and easier to click.
This includes the links to expand and collapse folders in the left-hand navigation:
<img src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2023/08/left-hand-side-collapse-expand.png" alt="Cascade Server User Interface" />
Along with added controls to re-order, add and remove multiple fields when editing pages and blocks:
<img src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2023/08/structured-data-controls.png" alt="Cascade Server User Interface " />
Over the next two weeks, Cascade will be releasing a series of blog posts to give you more details about the major improvements in 7.10, but you can also learn about the new features in the <a href="http://www3.hannonhill.com/c/1675/172220/48853" target="_blank">7.10 Release Notes</a>, the <a href="http://www3.hannonhill.com/c/1675/172220/49238" target="_blank">7.10 Press Release</a> or by signing up for the <a href="http://www3.hannonhill.com/c/1675/172220/48987" target="_blank">7.10 Release Webinar</a>, to take place February 26th at 2PM Eastern Time. 
To download Cascade Server 7.10, check out the official <a href="http://www3.hannonhill.com/c/1675/172220/48852" target="_blank">Downloads Page</a>.

Cascade Server 7.10 Released

Today, I am announcing the winner of the 2014 Critics' Choice CMS Award for Best Enterprise .NET CMS.
<img style="max-width:188px" src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2023/08/bestenterprisenetcms2014.png" />
This is always a difficult category given the vast majority of enterprise CMS are written in .NET. We have, however, come to a decision this year as to which should end up taking the award. The winner for this year is none other than…
<a href="http://www.sitefinity.com"><img style="max-width:400px" src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2023/08/sitefinitylogo_wtagline_rgb400x0.png" /></a>
Sitefinity takes the prize this year given their high level of activity in 2014. With all of their strong releases and their acquisition by Progress Software, they are poised to do some amazing things in the next few years.
Congratulations to the team at Sitefinity on their win. Learn more about Sitefinity in our CMS directory here: <a href="/products/sitefinity/">Sitefinity</a>

2014 Critics' Choice Award Winner - Best Enterprise .NET CMS

Today I'm going to announce the winner of the Critics' Choice Award for Best Small to Midsize Business .NET CMS.
<img style="max-width:188px" src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2023/08/bestsmbnetcms2014.png" />
When it comes to the small to midsize market, one CMS stands out from the rest of the crowd in both popularity and capability. This was an easy pick for the judges this year. The winner of the 2014 award for Best SMB .NET CMS is…
<img style="max-width:400px" src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2023/08/dnn_fullcolor_pos400x0.jpg" />
Congratulations to the team at DNN Corporation on their win. Check them out in our directory here: <a href="/products/dnn-evoq-content/">DNN Evoq Content</a>

2014 Critics' Choice Award Winner - Best Small to Midsize Business .NET CMS

Although the platform is still in beta, <a href="http://microweber.com/" target="_blank"> Microweber CMS</a> is attracting a fair amount of interest. 
 Focused on stripping away the complexities of most other content management systems, Microweber has hundreds of registered users, a growing online community and a platform which boasts some simple yet effective features, none of which require any technical ability to use.
 To get a taste for what Microweber has to offer, check out their quick demonstration video below.
<iframe src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/eajCiD0ha2s?feature=oembed" frameborder="0" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture" allowfullscreen></iframe>
<h2>The Microweber Story</h2>
It's always nice to get a feel for how a CMS came into being, and it just so happens that Microweber have a rather pleasant tale worth reading.  
 After working in the web design sector for some time, Bulgaria based Microweber co-founders Boris and Peter decided to try something new. They felt that the CMS sector lacked a truly easy to use service for the end-user lacking technical knowledge. Thus, the idea of Microweber was born.
Following a failed attempt to raise funds via Kickstarter, they made a bold move. A video was recorded and posted on their small YouTube channel in late January 2012, where Boris and Peter asked for financial support from whoever saw the video and liked their idea.
Less than a month later this move yielded a result, as investor Nicholas Gerber from the USA decided to help the duo. For almost two years though, Nicholas never met Peter or Boris, communicating solely via occasional e-mails. This means that between early 2012 and late 2013, all investments from Gerber relied completely on the sole trust that Boris and Peter were honest men who were focused at creating something innovative. 
However, during Christmas 2013, all parties met for the very first time in Istanbul, Turkey.
Since then, Microweber has quickly been advancing through its Beta phase, accumulating several hundred registered users, scores of orders from websites and a helpful community. The latter resulted in the purely voluntary translation of Microweber in six languages: English, German, Spanish, Russian, Slovenian, and Greek. Some users even wanted to teach about Microweber in their academic institutions. Thanks to this exponential growth, the project got its third developer – Alexander, who is responsible for front-end development.
With 2014 now underway, the trio decided that it was time for Microweber to go live and unleash its full potential. Their aim is to deliver an easy, free product that is rich on customization for end-users and that is open source so the designer/developer community can benefit.
<h2>A Superbly Simple CMS</h2>
Now that you know the Microweber story, let's delve into their digital offerings. 
Microweber is a CMS that lets you Drag &amp; Drop modules alongside its “Live Edit” feature. This means that websites can be drastically modified and tweaked via live preview, so that you can experience the end result as you edit.
<a href="http://microweber.com/" target="_blank"><img src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2023/08/2700x0.jpg" alt="Microweber CMS Dashboard" /></a>
The free and open source platform is aimed at delivering an optimal user experience, with simplicity always in mnd. It is also customization friendly, so developers and designers can have a take on it and create their ideas using the platform. 
Using Microweber, you can create a website, blog, or online store using the default theme of Microweber. The Microweber development team is also currently preparing a whole load of new templates so users can customize their sites according to their needs and wants. 
You can also make use of Microweber's Drag &amp; Drop technology when creating content, uploading images, embedding videos and a range of other tasks. Users can arrange elements with just a click of the mouse, dragging and dropping them across the screen before clicking them in order to modify them further.
<a href="http://microweber.com/" target="_blank"><img src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2023/08/5700x0.jpg" alt="Microweber CMS Live Editing" /></a>
The highlight feature of the CMS is the real time text writing &amp; editing function. With it, you can manage the site content without any use of admin panel, going “live” on the site interface instead. As an addition, there are different modules and layouts that offer rich customization in the pursuit of crafting the most suitable website.
Furthermore, Microweber can also be used as an ecommerce platform. The platform allows you to upload products, pictures and videos, set pricing &amp; shipping costs, customize products using custom fields (size, colours, everything needed) and track orders and payments.
<a href="http://microweber.com/" target="_blank"><img src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2023/08/4700x0.jpg" alt="Microweber CMS ecommerce" /></a>
The developers and designers can benefit from the fact that Microweber is open source. They can create and share themes, modules or plug-ins and either distribute them freely or sell them. A Marketplace is in the making so the process can become more coordinated.
For more information on Microweber CMS, visit their <a href="http://microweber.com/" target="_blank">official website</a>, or better yet, <a href="http://demo.microweber.org/" target="_blank">test out a demo</a>.

Microweber: A CMS Stripped of Complexity

Weglot - The easiest way to translate a website

The easiest way to translate a website

#18164c

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