Articles - Page 45

The Top 10 AI Tools for Small Business: From Automation to a Coordinated Team of AI Agents

matt-garrepy

Previously, I managed to derive some important lessons regarding <a href="/how-to-avoid-the-prevalent-pitfalls-of-deploying-an-enterprise-website/#.UwJGvfl_vhM" target="_blank"> enterprise website deployment via a Magnolia CMS Whitepaper</a>.
 But Magnolia CMS has far more to offer than mere advice. 
Magnolia's powerful platform enables customers to create their own bespoke suites with all the benefits of Magnolia's enterprise-grade Java foundation – otherwise known as <a href="http://www.magnolia-cms.com/campaigns/open-suite-cms-critic.html" target="_blank">Magnolia's “Open Suite Approach”</a>. 
 The Open Suite approach keeps companies agile, enabling them to use state-of-the-art customer and communications management as the digital world continues to evolve. 
This is all thanks to Magnolia's open architecture, which allows organizations to connect existing and future tools into an integrated platform for digital marketing, commerce and services. By allowing organizations to combine the best available tools for the job without any vendor restrictions, Magnolia helps to maximizing choice and future-proof digital investments.
<h2>The Importance of a Modern &amp; Flexible CMS</h2>
With new technologies constantly changing the way everybody experiences digital content, flexibility is key to marketing technology.
Your analytics, social sharing features and customer relationship management (CRM) system, not to mention your other existing tools, all have to work together for the benefit of both your organisation and its customers.
This is no easy task, but a solid and open content management system (CMS) at the core of your digital presence is by far the most effective way to meet such a challenge.
Let's take the online retail sector as an example. With mobile devices becoming pervasive, it is no surprise that smartphones are a common starting point for multi-channel shopping experiences. According to Google Insights, 65% of such experiences (known as sequential shopping) are started on a smartphone and 67% of shoppers start shopping on one device before continuing on another. Companies must therefore strive to offer optimal customer experience across all types of devices.
To deal with these constantly shifting trends, your CMS must now enable you to deliver compelling and personalized customer experiences that are assembled from a range of content sources, data sets and services. Social media, device information, customer-generated content and back-ofﬁce services must all be brought together across a wide range of devices to provide customers with a service worth their time. 
<h2>Magnolia's Open Suite Approach</h2>
Throughout the last decade, Magnolia has worked with forward-thinking organizations to develop an open, agile CMS that is able to integrate with marketing technology tools, third-party services and back-ofﬁce systems. Magnolia's Open Suite approach enables its customers to build their own suite of tools and services, precisely targeted to their current needs and requirements. 
Thanks to the Open Suite approach, you can build your digital presence step- by-step, and at each step, benefit from what you have already invested. 
For example, you can begin by using Magnolia CMS to build your main website. You can then add micro-sites, mobile sites or country-specific sites as you need them, all from within Magnolia CMS so that you have less systems to manage and can easily reuse website assets. Later, you can integrate the CRM you already use, add a commerce engine and plug in analytics. You can also integrate it with existing bespoke back-office systems or with third-party services.
<a href="http://www.magnolia-cms.com/campaigns/open-suite-cms-critic.html" target="_blank"><img src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2023/08/magnolia_open_suite.png" alt="Magnolia Open Suite Approach" /></a>
This approach enables you to gradually build your online infrastructure and focus on the most promising next step, while adapting to change by replacing outdated components with best-of-breed innovations as they come to market. 
Magnolia's Open Suite approach stands in stark contrast to the “closed suites” offered by many vendors. A “closed suite” is one that comes pre-integrated with many tools which have to be adopted by an organization, increasing the complexity of transitions. In addition, such pre-configured suites are inherently less agile, because these types of software are not designed to easily integrate with new tools.
<h2>Wide Ranging Benefits, Enterprise Integration &amp; More</h2>
Magnolia's Open Suite approach allows you to create a complete enterprise solution built with multiple tools. These tools span various categories, including ecommerce platforms, analytics, marketing automation, social media, document management and on-site search.
On the Web, persuasive content and personalized experience are key to repeat business. Magnolia CMS lets you collect information from across mobile, social and in-store channels and integrate it with world-class ecommerce platforms, to ensure that your customers always have the best possible shopping experience. 
Below is a quick overview of the integrations on offer:
<a href="http://www.magnolia-cms.com/campaigns/open-suite-cms-critic.html" target="_blank"><img src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2023/08/magsuite.png" alt="Magnolia Open Suite Integrations" /></a>
It's not just about integrating a number of external tools and services though. Magnolia's Open Suite approach allows you to enjoy a range of benefits. 
Below is a list of just some of the benefits brough about by Magnolia's Open Suite approach.
<ul>
<li>Choice: Magnolia's Open Suite approach enables you to integrate your choice of best-of-breed tools in each category, instead of being locked into the tools a closed-suite vendor thinks are best (or happens to have acquired by the vendor and bolted together over time). This ensures that business needs will dictate technology and not the other way around. </li>
<li>Value: Competitive marketplaces combined with diverse user needs, force vendors of most closed suites to offer all-in-one solutions encompassing a broad range of tools – at a high cost. When organizations purchase such a suite, they typically end up paying for components they don't want, need or plan to use. With Magnolia's Open Suite approach, users always only pay for what they need right now.</li>
<li>High Interoperability: For the Open Suite approach to be successful, there must exist the possibility of interoperability. Magnolia CMS supports many open standards for data exchange, including standards like Content Management Interoperability Services (CMIS), a speciﬁcation for improving interoperability between enterprise content management systems. </li>
<li>Dynamism: With Magnolia's Open Suite approach, you can keep evolving parts of the suite as your needs change, while keeping the rest of your tools as they are. The promise of our Open Suite approach is that it allows you to upgrade different parts of the digital marketing mix at different speeds depending on your current priorities. If your business priorities change, our Open Suite approach gives you the ﬂexibility to change your technology to keep pace. </li>
<li>Efﬁciency: With Magnolia's Open Suite approach, different products and systems optimization, analytics, CRM, ecommerce and more – work toether around the core publishing tools of the CMS. This helps create efﬁiencies within teams, departments and companies. For organizations, it’s easier to react, by quickly launching new campaign microsites and landing pages. By using Magnolia CMS' built-in Apps provisioning to enforce access policies for staff and customers, regardless of how and where they log in from. </li>
<li>Flexibility: Think of Magnolia's Open Suite approach as an option on future technology: it gives you maximum ﬂexibility to move to different technologies and toolkits if existing ones aren't meeting your needs. Want to swap out your marketing automation tool for a better one when it comes along, or add new ecommerce functionality as your online store grows? With a closed suite, you'd need to start afresh, draining time and money. With Magnolia at the core of your Open Suite, on the other hand, your suite evolves with your needs.</li>
<li>User Experience: When other applications are integrated with Magnolia, it's done with a small, single-purpose App that behaves like the other Apps within Magnolia CMS. It runs across all browsers, users go to one place to ﬁnd it, and data can be accessed in a consistent fashion. On the administration side, too, controls for integrated applications can be managed within Magnolia, allowing disparate systems to be part of the same workﬂow system. By providing a consistent user experience across platforms, Magnolia's Open Suite approach reduces the learning curve, raises productivity and fosters higher adoption.</li>
</ul>
All of these qualities are essential to deploying and running a smooth digital operation, where the needs of both an enterprise, and all of its clients or customers are met.  Magnolia don't just understand these needs, but they cater for them too. It's no wonder then, that Magnolia CMS is the choice of a range of enterprises around the world. 
In fact, leading organisations such as aviation corporation Airbus Group, news outlet Al Arabiya and media company Foxtel all boast Magnolia's services, and all reap the assorted rewards and benefits listed above.
To explore the benefits of Magnolia's tried and tested open suite approach further, check out their highly detailed white paper, <a href="http://www.magnolia-cms.com/campaigns/open-suite-cms-critic.html" target="_blank">The Magnolia Open Suite Approach</a>.

Magnolia's Open Suite Approach: Maximizing Choice & Future-proofing Digital Investments

mike-johnston

Today, I'm going to announce the winner of the 2014 Critics Choice CMS Award for Best Open Source JAVA CMS.
<img style="max-width:188px" src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2023/08/bestopensourcejavacms2014-1.png" />
The winner this year is a CMS that offers a wide range of features and is a powerful presence in the marketplace. The judges have chosen.
<a href="http://www.nuxeo.com"><img style="max-width:345px" src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2023/08/nuxeo_logo-1.png" /></a>
Nuxeo is an open-source content management system platform used by architects and developers to build, deploy, and run content-centric business applications. Nuxeo's Enterprise Content Management (ECM) technology allows for document management, case management, digital asset management, and other applications. The Nuxeo Platform offers modularity, a plug-in model and packaging capabilities.
Congratulations to Nuxeo on their win. Check them out in our CMS directory here: <a href="/products/nuxeo/">Nuxeo</a>.

2014 Critics' Choice Award Winner - Best Open Source JAVA CMS

<img src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2023/08/img_4096-e1465425906661.jpg" alt="IMG_4096" />
It was a humid day in Basel, Switzerland, and there was a pre-conference buzz in the lobby of Pathe Küchlin Theatre. As the coffees flowed, the time soon came for that buzz to simmer down for the welcoming keynote of <a href="http://www.magnolia-cms.com/">Magnolia’s</a> Co-Founder, Pascal Mangold.
Mangold kicked off the event by taking us through Magnolia's impressive yearly revenue totals, as well as their projected totals up until 2018 (a year which they predict will bring in over $26M).
He also revealed some new high profile clients, including the likes of; Maserati, The New York Times, Tesco, Verizon, and American Express.
Boris Kraft soon took over, and the Chief Visionary Officer picked up where Mangold left off. 

 Both of their presentations were filled with highly professional videos, interesting factoids, and a few jokes to wake the crowd up, too. I found myself genuinely enjoying each section, particularly because they were discussing something pretty big, and pretty new. Speaking of which…
<h2>Magnolia Now Announced</h2>
Day one of the Magnolia Conference 2016 was marked with the official announcement of <a href="https://www.magnolia-now.com/">Magnolia Now</a>, a cloud-hosted enterprise CMS solution.


To put it simply, Magnolia Now has been released to help companies shorten their time to market. And of course, it will bring with it the traditional benefits of a cloud-based enterprise CMS, including; updates, backups, and premium support.
Mangold and Kraft both leaned on the metaphor of a car to describe their new product. In the analogy, Magnolia CMS itself is the engine, while the extra moving parts that make it easy for a driver to get in and drive, are the parts that make up Magnolia Now.


The release date is set for November 15th 2016, although the cheapest Magnolia Now plan for small-to-medium sized businesses (which comes at a fee of $999 per month) won't be available until 2017.
Following the announcement of Magnolia Now, I had the chance to converse with Magnolia’s new CMO, Lars Boeddener and IBM’s <a href="https://www.linkedin.com/in/deleatanda?authType=NAME_SEARCH&amp;authToken=E2V7&amp;locale=en_US&amp;trk=tyah&amp;trkInfo=clickedVertical%3Amynetwork%2CclickedEntityId%3A16712203%2CauthType%3ANAME_SEARCH%2Cidx%3A1-1-1%2CtarId%3A1465425102497%2Ctas%3Adele%20atan">Dele Atanda</a> – who was due to give a presentation of his own towards the end of the day. 
We had a light-hearted discussion about the motivations behind – as well as the objectives of – the release of Magnolia Now. We all agreed that it was indeed an exciting move from Magnolia. 
<a href="https://www.linkedin.com/in/preseetha?authType=NAME_SEARCH&amp;authToken=IDEh&amp;locale=en_US&amp;trk=tyah&amp;trkInfo=clickedVertical%3Amynetwork%2CclickedEntityId%3A6400579%2CauthType%3ANAME_SEARCH%2Cidx%3A1-1-1%2CtarId%3A1465425081183%2Ctas%3APreseetha%20Kollamthodi">Preseetha Kollamthodi’s</a> presentation was another highlight of the day. The EMEA Channel Leader from IBM Marketing Cloud served up some genuinely useful insights for the marketers who were in attendance.


Dele Atanda’s presentation also impressed me. As the Chief Digital Innovation Officer at IBM Interactive Experience. Atanda’s focus was on IoT (Internet of Things). 


He touched on the types of technology that was already in production – like this <a href="http://www.cnet.com/uk/news/oscar-mayer-bacon-alarm-clock-wafts-meat-odors-from-your-iphone/">Bacon scent emitting iPhone accessory</a> – and dropped some interesting statistics about the future of IoT.
Atanda also gave us a glimpse into how IBM Watson was Working with a company called Cognitoy to change the way children learn by adding personalization into the mix. 
<h2>Success Stories</h2>
Magnolia showcased some of their client's success stories today, too.
<a href="http://moo.co.uk/">Moo</a>, the UK-based printing company demonstrated how they pulled off a migration to Magnolia, while <a href="https://www.migros.ch/de.html">Migros</a> – a huge Swiss retailer – showed off their Magnolia-driven omni-channel powers.
<a href="https://www.migros.ch/de.html">Migros.ch</a> and all its associated websites boast over 5,500 pages, which are available in three different languages. They presented the ways in which Magnolia facilitated a complete re-design of their digital presence, as well as how it continues to help them personalize customer experiences across different channels.


<h2>Day One Take Aways</h2>
I'll level with you. I attended the Magnolia Conference in 2014, and although I enjoyed it, it doesn't compare to what I experienced today.
Mangold and Kraft delivered honed and entertaining keynotes, Magnolia Now was announced, the IBM duo of Kollamthodi and Atanda impressed, and the atmosphere was splendid.
<figure class="wp-caption aligncenter"><img src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2023/08/img_0036-295x220.jpg" alt="The snacks weren't bad, either." /><figcaption>The snacks weren't bad, either.</figcaption></figure>
Furthermore, Magnolia went to the trouble of creating an iOS, Android, and Windows app specifically for the event. It provided maps, schedules, and even made use of bluetooth beacons around the Theatre to alert you about what was happening in the room you were standing next to.
As you may be able to tell, I thoroughly enjoyed day one of the Magnolia Conference 2016. And the best part is, day two is just a few hours away.
Follow CMS Critic on Twitter for more <a href="https://twitter.com/cmscritic">live tweets from me using the #MConf16 hasthtag</a>, and stay tuned for tomorrows coverage of Magnolia Conference 2016 Day Two.
Also, be sure to explore the <a href="/magnolia-cms/">Magnolia CMS hub on our CMS Directory</a>.
Looking for Day Two coverage? <a href="/magnolia-conference-2016-day-two/">Here you go</a>.

Magnolia Conference 2016 Day One: Magnolia Now, Success Stories & IoT

Magentrix Customer Portals Review

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

New Stable Release of SilverStripe CMS & Framework Available

It was just over a decade ago that WordPress was first released as a free and open source blogging tool. Since those good ol’ days WordPress has grown up; it has gone from a simple blogging platform to a fully fledged CMS (content management system) that literally has no boundaries! Has WordPress gone too far from its roots though -so far even that a new platform needs to exist?Apparently John O’Nolan and over 5,000 backers think so. The Ghost blogging platform is a new contender that recently entered the blogging ring, ready to throw some jabs at the blogging giant. The question that has come to mind is…<h2>Should you ditch WordPress and start using Ghost?</h2><h3>Installation</h3><img src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2023/08/wordpress-vs-ghost1-1328x0.jpg" alt="wordpress vs ghost" />You would expect a platform that describes itself as a simple blogging solution to have an easy installation; however that wasn’t the case with Ghost. The most important thing you need to know about doing a self-hosted Ghost blog is that your server MUST support <a target="_blank" href="http://nodejs.org/">Node.js</a>. If your hosting provider doesn’t, than you are plain out of luck.This was the case for me since I use a bulk account for hosting about 45 websites. I was forced to make the decision of either upgrading to a dedicated VPS or going elsewhere for my hosting. Fortunately there are a whole slew of providers that offer suitable hosting for Ghost for as low as $5 / month.Although the installer documentation is still a work in progress, I will say it was pretty thorough and helpful. Just don’t expect a 1-click install at this point without some terminal based action.Since WordPress along with numerous other popular applications are built with PHP, nearly any hosting provider will support it. Not only that, but WordPress has the clear upper hand advantage with it being tweaked and optimized over the past 11 years.Installing WordPress is relatively painless and straightforward, especially if your hosting provider has Installatron or Fantastico installed. Regardless of whether you use a guided installer application like those mentioned or install WordPress manually, it can be up and running in 10 minutes or less.Both of these platforms threw some punches, but WordPress stood out as the clear victor when it comes to installation. I do believe that given more time, that Ghost will be better supported and easier to install.<h3>UI Experience</h3>Now we get it to see each of these contenders throw some hurtin’ bombs! Let’s start with usability.I’ve got to be honest with you, I am really enjoying Ghost’s user interface. It is completely different from what WordPress offers and I mean that in a good way.<img src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2023/08/wordpress-vs-ghost-editor-ii.jpg" alt="wordpress vs ghost" />Creating new posts in both platforms is extremely straightforward and easy. What really sets Ghost apart though is its two column system.It is obvious that a lot of thought was put into the user experience. You would almost expect that O’Nolan had previous experience in user interface design; oh wait, he does! O’Nolan was deputy head of the WordPress user interface team for two years.Simply put, the two column system is intuitive, well put together, and easy to use. You get your markup on the left and the preview on the right. Not sure what the shortcode is for a specific font styling? It’s as easy as clicking on the ‘markdown help’ to have a lightbox pop up with all of the shortcodes listed.Creating and updating posts on WordPress is completely different from Ghost. With WordPress you get a traditional WYSIWIG editor along with a ‘kitchen sink’ full of goodies.You do have the option to preview your post before publishing, which opens a secondary tab showcasing exactly what your post will look like when live.I have used WordPress and built literally hundreds of websites with WordPress over the past few years -and it works great! What I don’t like is having to have multiple tabs open at the same time as well as going back and forth so much.<img src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2023/08/wordpress-vs-ghost-editor.jpg" alt="wordpress vs ghost" />I can see why WordPress still maintains using this traditional editor though. With many themes and plugins you install, it adds more to the kitchen sink through added columns, shortcodes, and features.What’s happened over the past few years though is that it really has gotten so feature heavy that it doesn’t always have the best user experience; everything is clearly labeled and in obvious locations but leaves you clicking back and forth much of the time. As you keep adding plugins and shortcodes the kitchen sink can become cluttered.So, what ‘blogging platform’ has easiest to use? It was a close match but I would have to say that Ghost is the victor if you’re looking for just blogging. The two column system just works.Hold up though, the fight isn’t over yet! Yes, Ghost won the battle for user friendliness.. but what about features?<h3>Features and Customization</h3>Right out of the far corner WordPress comes out swinging! WordPress is so feature packed that it can be overwhelming sometimes, especially with using a ‘high end’ theme that wants to be your everything.Before moving forward I want to make a note of exactly this whole theme debacle. WordPress by itself is a great platform for running your website. What has happened, especially over the past two years, is that ‘premium’ themes have taken over. WordPress really is more than just a blogging platform and wants to be your entire CMS.Theme developers have really taken things too far in my opinion. There is nothing wrong with having a multi-purpose theme that would work for a portfolio, business, personal, any niche website. The problem that has occurred is that themes have become so feature packed that they overly complicate standard WordPress use. It isn’t uncommon in today’s market for premium WordPress themes to have 20+ pages of documentation. Is that really necessary?Whoa, sorry for that tangent! Anyways now we’re back to features. Since WordPress has been out for so long there are literally thousands upon thousands of free and premium plugins available. Need a secure contact form? No problem! How about a pop up generator to reduce your bounce rate? Again, no problem.WordPress has a whole slew of free plugins <a target="_blank" href="http://wordpress.org/plugins/">over here</a> and you can get some really nice premium plugins over at <a target="_blank" href="http://codecanyon.net/?ref=cmscritic">CodeCanyon</a>.Ghost, being so new to the market, already has a nice set themes available. If you take a look at the <a target="_blank" href="http://marketplace.ghost.org/">Ghost Marketplace</a> you can see some beautiful themes have already been developed.Plugins for Ghost on the other hand, are few and far between. The Ghost forums are pretty active on plugin development, but there just aren’t many released yet – just as you would expect with it being such a new platform.So when it comes to features, WordPress would be the clear winner. You are literally just a Google search away from any feature you would require with WordPress. In all fairness, however, Ghost never set out to be a feature rich CMS -it was created simply for blogging.<h3>Your Turn</h3>It was a brutal match and punches were thrown with WordPress emerging as the victor. But for how long? I can definitely recommend Ghost if you are looking at running a blog; but if there is even the slightest chance of growing that blog into a complete website you should still consider WordPress.Will Ghost continue to stay the straight and steady course to becoming the best solution for blogging? Or will it strive to be more competitive with WordPress CMS and other platforms? Time will tell and this match may have to be revisited.Don't forget that when you go to set up your Ghost or WordPress website, you'll need a reliable web <a target="_blank" href="https://affiliates.arvixe.com/track.php?id">hosting</a> company. We recommend Arvixe. They are currently offering great discounts to our readers, so be sure to take advantage of the offer before it expires. <a href="/bluehost">Click here to get cheap, reliable hosting from Arvixe</a>.Do you agree with the outcome? Did I miss covering something you think is crucial? Make sure you let me know below!

WordPress vs Ghost: Should you ditch WordPress and start using Ghost?

vince-polston

Today, I'm going to announce the winner of the 2014 Critics Choice CMS Award for Best JAVA CMS for Small to Midsize Business CMS.
<img style="max-width:188px" src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2023/08/bestsmbjavacms2014-1.png" />
The importance of content management systems to business is obvious, they are a critical piece of the infrastructure and part of what holds things together. Choosing the one that should be crowned as best of the best is a challenging task but the judges have made their decision.
The winner for this year is Jahia Digital Factory.
<a href="http://www.jahia.com"><img style="max-width:400px" src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2023/08/digitalfactory400x0.png" /></a>
Congratulations to the team at Jahia on their win. Learn more about them in our directory here: <a href="/products/jahia/"> Jahia Digital Factory </a>

2014 Critics' Choice Award Winner - Best JAVA CMS for Small to Midsize Business

<img src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2023/08/pwpwpw121x0.png" />Numerous upgrades and refinements make ProcessWire 2.4 our most friendly and powerful version yet!
ProcessWire 2.4 is focused on listening to the feedback from of our users and answering with the best CMS experience for web designers/developers and their clients. 
<h2>What’s new in ProcessWire 2.4</h2>
<h3>Field Dependencies</h3>
Thanks to the sponsorship support of <a href="http://www.avoine.fi/">Avoine</a>, we now have support for field dependencies in both the admin and from the API. Your admin form fields can now be shown or hidden based on values in other fields. Likewise, fields can be made required or not required based on values in other fields. <a href="http://processwire.com/talk/topic/4323-field-dependencies/">More</a>
<h3>New Admin Theme</h3>
<ul>
<li>New and fully responsive default admin theme with 4 color scheme options (configurable from the Default Admin Theme module settings).</li>
<li>Support for admin themes as installable modules. <a href="http://processwire.com/talk/topic/4650-new-processwire-admin-theme-on-dev-branch/?p=53671">More</a></li>
<li>Support for multiple admin theme modules to be installed at once. When more than one is installed, admin theme becomes a user profile setting. </li>
<li>New drop down menus providing direct access to fields and templates (for superusers).  </li>
<li>Add New drop-down option for shortcuts to adding predefined page types.</li>
<li>New auto-complete search box with support for searching pages, fields and templates. <a href="http://processwire.com/talk/topic/3768-processwire-231-dev-branch/?p=43930">More</a></li>
</ul>
<h3>Admin Upgrades</h3>
<ul>
<li>New ability to install and upgrade modules directly from the Admin Modules page. Think of it as a Modules Manager Lite. </li>
<li>The modules screen now separates modules by Site and Core. (Site modules represent user installed modules). </li>
<li>New grid mode available with Image fields. Now you can view all your images in a grid rather than just a verbose list, and you can easily toggle between the two views. <a href="http://processwire.com/talk/topic/3768-processwire-231-dev-branch/?p=45453">More</a></li>
<li>New double-click to select all mode for marking all files or images in a field for deletion at once. <a href="http://processwire.com/talk/topic/3768-processwire-231-dev-branch/?p=45453">More</a></li>
<li>Core support for font-awesome icons with templates, fields and API level support with Inputfields. </li>
<li>New Link to Child option in the rich text editor link dialog box, along with other enhancements. </li>
</ul>
<h3>Language Support </h3>
Major upgrades to ProcessWire language support for page names/URLs. ProcessWire 2.4 now gives you the simplest, most powerful and stable options for creating multi-language websites. 
<h3>Database Change</h3>
ProcessWire now uses PDO rather than the mysql database driver by default. The mysqli driver will continue to be supported for backwards compatibility. The PDO driver provides better support for named parameters and offers more options for future database portability. 
<h3>New API Additions</h3>
<ul>
<li>New $log API variable for super-easy writing to log files. <a href="http://processwire.com/talk/topic/3768-processwire-231-dev-branch/">More</a></li>
<li>New $database API variable for direct access to the new PDO driver. The mysqli driver continues to be accessible with the $db API variable. </li>
<li>New WireArray functions: implode(), explode(), and(), data(). <a href="http://processwire.com/talk/topic/5098-new-wirearray-api-additions-on-dev/">More</a></li>
<li>New $pages-&gt;add() method for creating new pages more quickly and easily. <a href="http://processwire.com/talk/topic/3768-processwire-231-dev-branch/">More</a></li>
<li>Conditional autoload modules. Now module authors can specify an anonymous function or selector string to trigger if the module is autoload. <a href="http://processwire.com/talk/topic/3768-processwire-231-dev-branch/">More</a></li>
<li>New wireUnzipFile() function for unzipping a file to a destination directory, and wireCopy() function for copying all files from one directory to another (including recursively). <a href="https://github.com/ryancramerdesign/ProcessWire/blob/master/wire/core/Functions.php#L264">More</a></li>
<li>Support for sharpening and auto-rotation of images. You may define defaults in your /site/config.php file, and/or specify arguments to any image resize function. <a href="https://github.com/ryancramerdesign/ProcessWire/blob/master/site-default/config.php#L114">More</a></li>
</ul>
<h3>Other updates and additions</h3>
<ul>
<li>Built-in abstraction of URLs in textarea fields. <a href="http://processwire.com/talk/topic/3768-processwire-231-dev-branch/?p=41651">More</a></li>
<li>New locked mode for Inputfields where a value can be shown but not edited.</li>
<li>Upgraded installer that now includes selection of color theme, timezone and more. </li>
<li>Support for an HTTP hosts whitelist for added security.</li>
<li>Countless optimizations, fixes and improvements. </li>
<li><a href="https://github.com/ryancramerdesign/ProcessWire/commits/master">See the full list of changes</a></li>
</ul>
<h2>About ProcessWire</h2>
<h3>ProcessWire is a friendly and powerful open source CMS and CMF with an exceptionally strong foundation.</h3>
With all custom fields, an easy-to-use jQuery-inspired API, and a powerful page selector engine, ProcessWire will rise to any task.
Clients love ProcessWire for its no-fuss simplicity and ease of use when editing their site. Designers and developers love ProcessWire for its thoughtful, easy and powerful API-driven approach that keeps them in control of the markup and makes development fun again. Not to mention, ProcessWire's API can also be booted from other applications or command-line scripts, bringing entire new levels of accessibility to your content.
ProcessWire is a modern SEO specialist's dream come true. It uses logical, readable and search-friendly URLs that always reflect the content's home in the tree. Meaning you'll never have to worry about multiple URLs or play duplicate content games. With full markup control, all custom fields, and support for runtime URL segments, ProcessWire lets you take full advantage of all the on-site SEO possibilities without wasting your time on long irrelevant tags and tricks.
ProcessWire is an incredible multi-language solution. With support for multi-language fields, multi-language URLs and a built-in static translation engine, ProcessWire 2.4 makes building and managing a multi-language website incredibly easy!
ProcessWire is designed for the needs of today and not limited by the past. It is equally at home powering small-to-large scale standards-friendly websites, mobile websites, JSON/XML web services, Flash applications, AJAX-driven content, iPhone/Android applications, and more. This output agnosticism drives ProcessWire's simplicity and makes it support, rather than interfere with your work.
ProcessWire is a mature product that comes from a strong bloodline of content management systems developed over more than a decade. ProcessWire runs beautifully on web servers running PHP 5.3.8+ and MySQL 5.
<ul>
<li><a href="http://processwire.com/">Learn more about ProcessWire CMF/CMS</a> and <a href="http://processwire.com/download/">download</a> »</li>
<li><a href="http://processwire.com/demo/">Try out a demo of ProcessWire</a> »</li>
<li><a href="https://github.com/ryancramerdesign/ProcessWire#upgrades">ProcessWire 2.4 upgrade instructions</a> »</li>
</ul>

ProcessWire 2.4 Released

Shopify - The global commerce platform

Build your business with Shopify to sell online, offline, and everywhere in between.

The global commerce platform

#ffffff

Building an online course will not only cement your reputation as an authority in your industry, but it can also be a source of passive income for you as well. 
Got your attention? 
With today’s technology, you also don’t require a full-on development team to build, manage, and sell online courses.
Platforms like Kajabi, Ruzuku, and Thinkific can let you do all of these tasks through an easy-to-use visual interface. 
To help you decide which platform perfectly suits your needs, here is a closer look on each of the platforms’ features.
<h2><a href="https://newkajabi.com/">Kajabi</a></h2>
<img src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2023/08/kajabi1082x0-is.png" />
First up is Kajabi — an all-in-one online course platform that has everything.
In addition to functions that can help you create content and manage subscribers, it’s also equipped with features that can help you with the marketing facet of your online course. 
<h3>Overview</h3>
Here’s a quick list of things that you can do with Kajabi:
<ul>
<li>Theme-based website, newsletters, and landing pages</li>
<li>Lead generation pipelines</li>
<li>In-depth reports</li>
<li>Integrations with third-party services (PayPal, MailChimp, etc.)</li>
<li>Affiliate programs</li>
</ul>
<h3>Interface and Navigation</h3>
Are you a WordPress user? Then you’ll feel at home with Kajabi.
The platform kicks off at a dashboard with all the navigation elements on the left-hand side. This should make exploring Kajabi and getting to know its features a breeze. 
However, if you’re completely unfamiliar with anything that resembles a content management system like WordPress, then you can take advantage of the “Kajabi Assistant” found at the top of the dashboard page. 
<img src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2023/08/kajabi2905x0-is.png" />As far as usability goes, everything in Kajabi follows the same layout for each section; a submenu appears whenever you click on any menu item while the Kajabi Assistant remains at the top of the screen. This substantially smoothens the learning curve for new users. 
<img src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2023/08/kajabi31065x0-is.png" />
You’ll probably find yourself relying on the Kajabi Assistant to get around, especially during your first few hours with the platform. Nevertheless, the search feature itself performs fluidly enough that it actually boosts your productivity rather than hinder it. 
<h3>Tools and Features</h3>
The designing aspect of Kajabi relies on themes, which can be accessed by going to the “Appearance” section either through the “Website” or “Products” tab. 
<img src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2023/08/kajabi51065x0-is.png" />
Of course, every theme has a host of customization options you can use to personalize your online course website.
To launch the editor, hover your mouse over the theme preview and click “Customize” or click the paint palette icon next to the site you want to modify.

Learning Management System Review: Kajabi, Ruzuku, or Thinkific?

<img src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2023/08/introducing-arastta-1.jpg" alt="introducing-arastta (1)" />
Launched in 2015, Arastta is a free and open source eCommerce solution that traces its roots back to the history-steeped Istanbul. 
But Arastta isn’t just free to download and tinker with, it’s also totally free to host in the cloud.
<a href="https://arastta.com">Arastta Cloud</a> is a feature-packed solution, boasting; total design customization, a drag-and-drop layout manager, advanced statistics, mail and bulletin features, multilingual support and Facebook Store compatibility. It even has a basic and advanced mode to cater for both newbies and eCommerce veterans.
Here’s a video introduction to get us started:
<iframe src="//www.youtube.com/embed/_Px3Gs50LHc" allowfullscreen="allowfullscreen"></iframe> As for the latest version of Arastta, which brings about a range of new features, here’s another video: <iframe src="//www.youtube.com/embed/zTzF545aWuQ" allowfullscreen="allowfullscreen"></iframe>
<h2>Arastta Cloud: “It’s Open Source &amp; All Yours”</h2>
One area of Arastta that particularly excites me, is the freedom they afford their cloud customers: 
“[You can] manage your files and database. It's open source and all yours.”
Unlike other free cloud-based solutions, Arastta puts no restrictions on what files you can access and modify. This freedom to customize the already feature-filled platform is complemented further by extensions; all of which can be found on the <a href="https://arastta.pro/">Arastta Marketplace</a>. 
For a product that’s so young, their marketplace is well populated with extensions, themes, and other resources are available for download and purchase. What’s more, the quality of the themes on offer actually look pretty good, while the price isn’t extortionate.
<img src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2023/08/sshot-27.png" alt="sshot-27" />
Arastta has also thought about the user experience here, making it easy for their users to <a href="https://arastta.org/blog/getting-started-app-store">install apps and themes from within their admin panel</a>, removing the need to leave and visit the main Arastta website.
Furthermore, it’s a community driven marketplace, where developers can build and sell their own digital wares to other Arastta users across the globe. I’ll touch more on that Arastta community later. 
<h2>A Slick Interface, A Growing Community</h2>
I signed up and started a store with Arastta in minutes, and I was welcomed by a very pleasant interface.
<img src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2023/08/sshot-22.png" alt="sshot-22" /> The home page of the dashboard is inviting, yet laced with store information, from recent visitor reports to the total amount of sales made. 
I had a peek around, and found it to be a very quick and easy interface to use. I even came across a Customizer feature, that WordPress users will find familiar:
<img src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2023/08/sshot-23.png" alt="sshot-23" />
I also explored other areas, discovering the function to create affiliate accounts for users who wish to market your products for you, for a percentage of the sale. 
But as well all know, open source projects rely heavily on their communities to survive and thrive – and thankfully for Arastta, <a href="https://arastta.org/community">their community</a> is doing their part.
<img src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2023/08/sshot-24.png" alt="sshot-24" />
The community section is one big discussion, where any registered user can share their issues, create discussions, make friends, build a user profile, join groups, and much more. It’s not just a forum like other open source software vendors tout – it’s a fully fledged online community. 
On the other hand, if it is a forum you’re looking for, <a href="https://arastta.org/forum">Arastta has that, too</a>, with over 1,000 registered members. They also have a dedicated section for the community to <a href="https://arastta.org/ideas">voice their ideas</a>, To check if their ideas were accepted, <a href="https://arastta.org/roadmap">Arastta posts up a guaranteed roadmap</a> which enables users to forecast future updates.
Arsatta gives back to their community through dedicated support. Free members can of course refer to the community, while Premium members get ticket support, while Business members can also reach out via live chat. 
As for the <a href="https://arastta.org/">downloadable version of Arastta</a>, that’s just as compatible with the extension and themes on the marketplace, and can be hosted anywhere that runs PHP 5.3.10 or higher. From what I’ve seen from Arastta, it looks like a relatively new product with lots of potential. There aren’t many free cloud-hosted eCommerce solutions out there, so if you’re looking to open an online store with minimal overheads, it’s worth your time to give Arastta a whirl. 
To start your free Arastta Cloud store today, <a href="https://arastta.com">head over to their website</a>.
<hr />
This post is <a href="/advertising/">sponsored</a> by Arastta. Find out more at <a href="https://arastta.com/">arastta.com</a>.

Arastta: Cloud Hosted, Open Source & Free eCommerce

<a href="https://www.joomla.com/" target="_blank">Joomla</a>, one of the world's most popular content management systems, has opened its digital doors wider than ever before by offering up free, hosted website solutions.
Make no mistake, this is big news from one of the biggest players in the CMS world. Joomla is an open-source, award-winning platform, powering millions of websites and online applications across the world.
Now, thanks to a partnership with hosting company Siteground, anybody can sign up for a free Joomla website via <a href="https://www.joomla.com/" target="_blank">Joomla.com</a>.
<h2>Joomla In Just A Few Clicks</h2>
<a href="https://www.joomla.com/" target="_blank"><img src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2023/08/sshot-19700x0.png" alt="Joomla.com" /></a>
To make Joomla.com removes hosting fees, lengthy installations and some expandability options. The result is that a Joomla website is now just a few clicks away from the average person and business. Here are the feature highlights:
<ul>
<li>Hosting for all Joomla.com websites is totally free.</li>
<li>Free site name at the joomla.com subdomain (for example: mywebsite.joomla.com).</li>
<li>Comes pre-installed with additional extensions, templates, and all available languages.</li>
<li>Automatic updates.</li>
</ul>
Joomla.com doesn't offer everything that <a href="https://www.joomla.org" target="_blank">self-hosted Joomla</a> users can get, though.
As of right now, Joomla.com includes a set of pre-selected templates and several very useful pre-installed extensions like Google analytics, Google maps integration, Disqus powered comments and social media sharing options. However, Joomla.com wouldn't be suitable for a user looking to build an advanced website with custom code and a wider choice of templates and extensions. Then again, that's what Joomla.org is for.
Having said that, Joomla has claimed that websites started at Joomla.com can easily be developed later into full-fledged self-hosted Joomla projects without any limitations on extendability.
<img src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2023/08/sshot-20700x0.png" alt="Joomla.com" />
The President of Open Source Matters Inc. (which provides legal and financial support to the Joomla project), Sarah Watz, made these comments upon the release of Joomla.com:
<blockquote>“I’m very excited because the new service at joomla.com makes Joomla! CMS a more accessible option than ever.”</blockquote>
I take my hat off to Joomla, for this step towards greater accessibility is precisely <a href="/cms-in-2015-what-we-want-to-see/" target="_blank">what I called for from the world of CMS in 2015</a>.
For more information on this release, <a href="http://www.joomla.org/announcements/general-news/5580-joomla-offers-free-hosted-website-solution-on-joomla-com-in-partnership-with-siteground.html" target="_blank">check out the Joomla announcement</a>. To get your free Joomla website, head over to <a href="https://www.joomla.com/" target="_blank">Joomla.com</a>.
Also, be sure to explore more of <a href="/products/joomla/" target="_blank">Joomla via our CMS Directory</a>.

Joomla Now Offers Free Hosted Websites via Joomla.com

At the end of May, Janus Boye and his <a href="https://www.boye-co.com/conferences/martech-briefing2023">Boye &amp; Co organized two meetups</a> in Europe with <a href="https://www.linkedin.com/in/sjbrinker/">Scott Brinker</a>, the famous author of the <a href="https://chiefmartec.com/2023/05/2023-marketing-technology-landscape-supergraphic-11038-solutions-searchable-on-martechmap-com/">Marketing Technology Landscape infographic</a>, Editor at <a href="http://chiefmartec.com/">chiefmartec.com</a>, and VP Platform Ecosystem at HubSpot. Janus also invited some other speakers to showcase the reality of martech development in different types of companies. Since Kentico was sponsoring the event, I was lucky to attend both of them and can summarize the most interesting takeaways.
<h2>MarTech Supercollision</h2>
Let’s start with Scott Brinker's presentation, “<a href="https://www.boye-co.com/conferences/martech-briefing-hamburg-2023">MarTech Supercollision</a>,” covering several marketing technology topics. He discussed companies' varying levels of maturity with marketing technology, emphasizing the need for investment in people in addition to technology. Scott also explored the concept of composability in marketing, including its importance in creating personalized customer experiences. He analyzed the three different trends in MarTech, calling it “Supercollision” because each would be big enough to shake the industry. Still, they are now happening all at the same time: data, composability, and AI.
Scott has been exploring the MarTech landscape since 2011. There has been a 7,258% growth in the number of martech solutions in the last 12 years. The 2023 infographic contains 11,038 solutions – that’s an 11% increase from 2022, even though there was a 7% churn rate.
And as we discussed during the event, we can expect an even bigger influx of new niche solutions since the development of AI has completely shaken and democratized software development. It’s unexpectedly easy to brief an AI tool to create the right app for your needs and put it to the market.
In my insightful interview with Scott after the event, the conversation also revolved around the rapid influx of tools and innovations in the market and how companies can embrace these changes. Scott emphasized the importance of maturity in utilizing MarTech, stating there's a wide distribution in how mature companies are with leveraging marketing technology. He referred to Avinash Kaushik's 90/10 rule, where 90% of the investment should be in people and only 10% in technology. Scott stressed the importance of investing in people, not just in terms of individual skills training but also in evolving the organization to support what those people want to do.
We also discussed the concept of composability in martech. Scott explained that while there are different levels of composability, most companies are currently at a stage where they are composing relatively lightweight but very useful things. He emphasized the importance of creating a supportive culture that encourages people to experiment with applying these tools. He also highlighted the need to adjust processes to remove some friction, making it easier for people to use these tools.
I found Scott’s analogy of composability to LEGO clever for explaining it to non-tech marketers. However, I argued that in many cases, companies do not need to buy thousands of small bricks to build a LEGO ship. They can use pre-built sets, put them together, and have fun with the result instead of spending hundreds of hours sitting with the most expensive building kits. Sure, there are people who love to spend this time building it from scratch, and it’s fine. It’s just not the majority.
<img src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2023/06/scott-brinker-lego-analogy-1024x502.png" alt="Buy, build, adapt composable images from Scott Brinker's presentation" />
<h2>What about people?</h2>
I already mentioned that Scott emphasized the importance of people during our interview, but there was also another presentation called “The hidden success factor behind MarTech” by <a href="https://www.linkedin.com/in/angelika-gust-5a4192205/">Angelika Gust</a>, Head of Marketing at S-Bahn Berlin, focusing on this.
Angelika argued that martech should actually be called “Communication Technology (CommTech)” since it should help anyone in the company, not just marketing people, communicating with the customers. And very often, she said, these hidden champions, employees with direct or indirect customer touchpoints, are not digitally native and savvy.
To maximize the potential of MarTech, companies should focus on transforming these employees into enthusiastic MarTech users. Angelika underscores the need for roles like Data Translator and MarTech Operationalizer, who can bridge the gap between MarTech specialists and other employees. She also highlighted the importance of addressing fears like job loss due to AI advancements.
<h2>The digital experience maturity journey</h2>
The journey towards digital experience maturity is a shared endeavor, as evidenced by the contributions of our own Kentico partners and customers at these two events. Co-founder of <a href="https://www.actumdigital.com/">ACTUM Digital</a>, <a href="https://www.linkedin.com/in/janhavel/">Jan Havel</a>, along with <a href="https://www.linkedin.com/in/delfinvassallo/">Delfin Vassallo</a>, Marketing Director at <a href="https://www.actumdigital.com/cases/uponor-case-study">Uponor</a>, and <a href="https://www.linkedin.com/in/roelkuik/">Roel Kuik</a>, Kentico Practice Lead at <a href="https://www.avivasolutions.nl/">Aviva Solutions</a>, alongside <a href="https://www.linkedin.com/in/michael-van-dijk-b176b611/">Michael van Dijk</a> from APS IT-diensten, all shared their unique experiences of re-platforming.
The key takeaway from these presentations is the vital importance of ensuring that technology is in harmony with the specific needs and objectives of the business. By doing so, companies can optimize their technology solutions for the greatest impact. This alignment boosts operational efficiency and enriches the user experience and satisfaction, improving engagement metrics.
Furthermore, these insights highlight the necessity of flexibility and the courage to shift towards different goals and strategies when needed. Whether it's crafting a user-friendly interface for content editors, establishing a unified component library, or tackling industry-specific challenges in B2B e-commerce, the capacity to adapt and pivot is crucial.
In summary, these insights reinforce the mantra of "Listen to understand." Companies can make well-informed decisions about their technology implementations by attentively listening to the needs of the business, the users, and the industry. This approach, combined with a commitment to employee satisfaction and a willingness to embrace change, can substantially enhance business performance and user experience.
<a href="https://www.cmscritic.com/critics/jenda-perla/">Jenda Perla</a> is VP of Marketing at Kentico, and a CMS Critic contributor.

Scott Brinker's "MarTech Supercollision" and Key Takeaways from the Boye & Co Briefings in Europe

jenda-perla

Martech supercollision of text and background moving towards center of light

The Internet demands that you make your website easy to access for people browsing from a toilet seat. And that's the blunt truth that you need to deal with, if you haven't done so already.In fact, Google states that <a target="_blank" href="http://isitvivid.com/blog/google-penalty-non-responsive-websites">nearly 60% of all Google searches start on a mobile device</a>, with many then moving to desktop devices to expand their research. Plus, if your website isn't mobile friendly, Google will penalize you by lowering your SEO ranking.But perhaps even more importantly, without mobile-friendly design, your visitors will begin to leave you – because they absolutely demand content that they can access while using a mobile device. Anything less than that is almost repulsive in the eyes of today's digitally-savvy society.Thus, <a href="/why-responsive-design-is-so-important/">responsive design is vital</a> to the survival and expansion of your brand.<h2>Google's New Responsive Design Checker</h2>To help check how friendly your website is with mobile devices like smartphones and tablets, <a target="_blank" href="https://search.google.com/search-console/mobile-friendly">Google has just launched a new tool</a>.As you can see, CMS Critic is a friend to all screen sizes:<img src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2023/08/sshot-28.png" alt="Responsive Design Checker" />Via their new tool, Google analyses any website you ask it to, and then returns a short report.Firstly, and most importantly, it will point out if the website is mobile-friendly or not.It will also alert you to any individual elements of your website which aren't responsive. These may or may not be important, or indeed, you may have deliberately disabled some elements for mobile devices in order to enhance the user experience. But in either case, it's good to know what areas of your website mobile devices are (and aren't) seeing.Most modern content management systems are churning out responsive themes and templates these days, but with the stakes so high, we strongly recommend checking your websites for yourself.For more information, check out <a target="_blank" href="https://webmasters.googleblog.com/2016/05/a-new-mobile-friendly-testing-tool.html">Google's official announcement</a>.

Google Launches New Responsive Design Checker

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Call Tracking + AI that Turns Calls into Leads

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Call Tracking + AI that Turns Calls into Leads