Articles - Page 46

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

matt-garrepy

In 2014, CMS Critic attended the Magnolia Conference in the centre of busy Basel, Switzerland.
Mike Johnston and I graciously accepted Magnolia's invitation, and we soaked up all the news, case studies and workshops that were on offer:
<ul>
<li><a href="/day-one-of-magnolia-conference-2014-personalization-apps-a-roundtable/" target="_blank">Day One of Magnolia Conference 2014: Personalization, Apps &amp; A Roundtable</a></li>
<li><a href="/day-two-of-magnolia-conference-2014-the-unconference/" target="_blank">Day Two of Magnolia Conference 2014: The Unconference</a></li>
</ul>
<figure class="wp-caption aligncenter"><img src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2023/08/img_6925-e1464342545346.jpg" alt="Basel, Switzerland" /><figcaption>My view of the River Rhine in Basel, Switzerland</figcaption></figure>
Today, I'm happy to announce that CMS Critic – a media sponsor of the Magnolia Conference – will once again be on the ground for <a href="https://conference.magnolia-cms.com/2016/basel.html" target="_blank">Magnolia Conference Basel 2016</a>, providing two-day coverage both here on the website, as well as through <a href="https://twitter.com/cmscritic">live-tweets</a>.
<h2>Magnolia Conference Basel 2016</h2>
During this year's conference, Magnolia will be sharing some exciting progress on light development, which has made front-end development with Magnolia faster and more agile.
It will also be revealing how it will enable companies to get to market quickly while ensuring high compliance and stability.
<img src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2023/08/unnamed.jpg" alt="unnamed" />
It's not going to be a small event, either. Well over 300 developers and digital business professionals are expected to gather inside Basel’s Pathé Cinema for this year’s conference, which will host business and technical talks on the 8th and 9th of June.
Magnolia's program will also bring together success stories from all over Europe. MOO will be coming from the UK to explain how and why one of the fastest growing print businesses in the world decided to adopt Magnolia, while Generali, one of the world’s leading insurance groups, will explain how it enhances investor relations with its new corporate platform.
Furthermore, Karen McGrane, a world-renowned leading content strategist, will be taking to the stage to talk about <a href="https://conference.magnolia-cms.com/2016/basel/program/adaptive-content.html">Adaptive Content, Context and Controversy</a>.
As for workshops they will take place on June 7th at Magnolia’s new purpose-built offices. In addition to learning how to implement light development and personalization, attendees can also find out how to create client sided apps and improve their authoring skills.
<h2>Insider Information</h2>
Attendees will have the opportunity to hear (and see) inside details on Magnolia's plans and product innovations, as well as tips and tricks on how to get the best out of Magnolia implementations.
<blockquote>
“At Magnolia, we spend the whole year working on improving our product so that we can fuel our customers’ digital success.
The conference gives us an opportunity to share with our customers some of the exciting product improvements and services that we’ve developed.”
– Pascal Mangold, Magnolia's Co-founder and CEO
</blockquote>
To find out more about Magnolia Conference Basel 2016, and to register for tickets, <a href="https://conference.magnolia-cms.com/2016/basel.html">visit the official website</a>.
And as per usual, our <a href="/magnolia-cms/">Magnolia CMS hub</a> will tell you everything you need to know about the enterprise-grade platform.

CMS Critic to Attend Magnolia Conference Basel 2016

mike-johnston

<div>
It's hard to follow an act like the <a href="https://www.oscars.org/" target="_blank">Academy Awards</a>, especially after Sunday's "<a href="https://pagesix.com/2022/03/27/will-smith-chris-rock-to-work-out-slap-incident-after-oscars-2022/" target="_blank">slap heard 'round the world.</a>"
But hey, we'll give it a shot – and do it with decidedly less controversy and no long-winded speeches:
Today, we're proud to announce the winners of the 2021 CMS Critic People's Choice Awards!
From our entire editorial staff, we'd like to start with a big THANK YOU to our amazing community of CMS vendors and their incredibly passionate users. We had some, shall we say, "colorful" conversations across social media during the nomination period, and we enjoyed every opportunity to engage with our readers.
It was incredible to see the outpouring of love from people around the globe for their products of choice. That kind of brand loyalty seems increasingly rare. It says a lot about the people using these technologies, and the investment that CMS and DXP platforms are making to really listen to users – and bring them together. 
Before we announce the winners, let's do a quick review of the rules so you know how we got here:
<ul>
<li>First, our annual People's Choice Awards celebrate the top platforms that YOU – our readers – select. As they say, we have no dog in this race.</li>
<li>In late December of 2020, we invited everyone to nominate their favorite platforms across a set of categories on our website. </li>
<li>The top three nominees were selected and featured for general voting in each category.</li>
<li>Participants were able to vote only once, and companies that offered incentives of any kind were disqualified (there were no such shenanigans, BTW). </li>
<li>While we don't offer any golden statues, we do feature the winners on our website for posterity. And of course, you always have bragging rights. </li>
</ul>
We had a fantastic response to the People's Choice Awards this year, and participation has been off the charts since we released the final nominee list. It's always great to see this level of community engagement, and because this is a democratized experience, you never know what to expect from voting – so be prepared for some surprises.
Enough rambling, right? Let's draw back the curtain and proudly present the winners of the 2021 CMS Critic People's Choice Awards!
 
</div>
<hr />
 
<img style="max-width:600px;max-height:156px" src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2022/03/contentstack-logo-white-bg.webp" alt="Contentstack logo" /> 
 
<h2>Best Enterprise CMS: Contentstack</h2>
This year's "Best Enterprise CMS" award goes to <a href="https://www.contentstack.com/" target="_blank">Contentstack</a>, a leader in headless and agile content management. Contentstack has huge momentum, and it's great to see emphatic support from its community of users. 
 
<hr />
 
<img style="max-width:600px;max-height:156px" src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2022/03/adobe-experience-manager-logo-1.webp" alt="Adobe Experience Manager logo" /> 
 
<h2>Best DXP: Adobe Experience Manager</h2>
Given that <a href="https://www.adobe.com/cy_en/marketing/experience-manager.html" target="_blank">Adobe</a> has been the undisputed leader in <a href="https://www.cmscritic.com/key-takeaways-from-gartners-2021-magic-quadrant-for-digital-experience-platforms/">Gartner's Magic Quadrant for Digital Experience Platforms</a> for the fifth year in a row, winning our "Best DXP" honors wasn't a shocker. The Adobe brand is ubiquitous and recognized as a top contender across multiple technology categories. It also has a deep ecosystem of tools and partners. 
 
<hr />
  
<img style="max-width:400px;max-height:90px" src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2022/03/joomla-logo-white-bg.webp" alt="Joomla logo" width="auto" height="auto" /> 
 
<h2>Best Free CMS: Joomla</h2>
Surprised that <a href="https://www.joomla.org/" target="_blank">Joomla</a> carried this category? Don't be. They've cultivated an enthusiastic fan base with a rising fervor for their favorite platform. Joomla continues to have a strong community of open source users, making it one of the top three most popular content management systems in the world - and winner of our "Best Free CMS" category. 
 
<hr />
  
<img style="max-width:400px;max-height:100px" src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2022/03/grav-logo-smallsvg.webp" alt="Grav logo" width="auto" height="auto" /> 
 
<h2>Best Flat File CMS: Grav</h2>
This was a tight race with <a href="https://www.cmscritic.com/top-flat-file-cms-platforms-for-building-simple-websites-fast/" target="_blank">Kirby</a>, but in the end, <a href="https://getgrav.org/" target="_blank">Grav</a> took top honors. A consistent winner of our People's Choice Award for "Best Flat File CMS," Grav is also featured in our <a href="https://www.cmscritic.com/top-flat-file-cms-platforms-for-building-simple-websites-fast/">Top Flat File CMS Platforms</a> article.
 
<hr />
 
<img style="max-width:400px;max-height:90px" src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2022/03/joomla-logo-white-bg.webp" alt="Joomla logo" width="auto" height="auto" /> 
 
<h2>Best Open Source CMS: Joomla</h2>
Despite the far-casting shadow of WordPress, <a href="https://www.joomla.org/" target="_blank">Joomla</a> won big with its community – in no small part to its continued investment in innovation. In fact, 2021 saw a host of new features added to the "Best Open Source CMS" platform, including the <a href="https://www.joomla.org/4/" target="_blank">Joomla! 4.0</a> release with notable improvements. We would like to congratulate the Joomla development team on their win in two categories.
 
<hr />
 
<img style="max-width:400px;max-height:100px" src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2022/03/alfresco-logo.webp" alt="Alfresco logo" width="auto" height="auto" /> 
 
<h2>Best ECM (Enterprise Content Management): Alfresco</h2>
<a href="https://www.alfresco.com/" target="_blank">Alfresco</a> took home the gold for the "Best Enterprise Content Management" solution, proving its continued authority in the ECM space. Alfresco has enjoyed a successful run over the last few years, including <a href="https://www.cmscritic.com/hyland-acquires-alfresco-focuses-on-cloud-and-global-expansion-of-enterprise-cms/">an acquisition by competitor Hyland in 2020</a>. Despite being under the Hyland umbrella, the company still maintains its brand identity. 
 
<hr />
 
<img style="max-width:400px;max-height:100px" src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2022/03/hikashop-logo-resized.png" alt="HikaShop logo" width="auto" height="auto" /> 
 
<h2>Best E-Commerce Solution: Hikashop</h2>
This was an interesting one, but the people have spoken: <a href="https://www.hikashop.com/" target="_blank">HikaShop</a>, the e-commerce solution for Joomla, was triumphant over two worthy competitors – <a href="https://www.cmscritic.com/top-10-open-source-ecommerce-platforms/">WooCommerce</a> and PrestaShop. While the competition was tight, there were surprisingly more fans from the Joomla community throwing their support in the ring. 
 
<hr />
 
<img style="max-width:400px;max-height:90px" src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2022/03/shopify-logo-white-bg.webp" alt="Shopify logo" width="auto" height="auto" /> 
 
<h2>Best Headless Commerce: Shopify</h2>
<a href="https://www.shopify.com/" target="_blank">Shopify</a> has been giving Amazon a run for its money and earning loyal fans along the way. As the leading platform for building e-Commerce solutions – and doing it headlessly – Shopify has become one of the strongest and most trusted brands on the planet for creating online stores and digital commerce experiences.
 
<hr />
 
<img style="max-width:600px;max-height:156px" src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2022/03/contentstack-logo-white-bg.webp" alt="Contentstack logo" /> 
 
<h2>Best Headless CMS: Contentstack</h2>
We have to hand it to the Contentstack crowd: you really brought the rain! Congratulations on cleaning up in both the "Best Enterprise CMS" and "Best Headless CMS" categories! While most notably a headless platform, Contentstack is also one of the <a href="https://www.cmscritic.com/mach-alliance-releases-study-on-adoption-of-mach-technologies-by-tech-leaders-qa-with-sonja-keerl/">founding members of the MACH Alliance</a>. 
 
<hr />
 
<img style="max-width:200px;max-height:100px" src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2022/03/yootheme-logo.webp" alt="YOOTheme logo" width="auto" height="auto" /> 
 
<h2>Best Website Builder: YOOtheme</h2>
Always a perennial fan favorite, the "Best Website Builder" category has evolved to include some amazing tools that are getting progressively easier to use. This year, the crown goes to <a href="https://yootheme.com/" target="_blank">YOOtheme</a> - the popular page builder for WordPress and Joomla. While other popular platforms like Webflow and Gantry were in the running, YOOtheme won out with a sizable margin. Congrats to the community of fans that made YOOtheme a winner!
 
<hr />
 
<img src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2022/03/hugo-logo-wide.svg" alt="Hugo logo" /> 
 
<h2>Best Static Site Generator: Hugo</h2>
The battle was hard-fought – and Gatsby has certainly been a fixture in our coverage over the last few years – but <a href="https://www.cmscritic.com/top-jamstack-static-site-generators-for-2021/">Hugo</a> brought the votes... so congratulations! As a leading static site generator, Hugo has touted its incredibly fast framework for building websites. It's clear that its community of users is continuing to grow and thrive, and showing the love for their favorite JAMstack frontend generator.  
 
<hr />
 
<img style="max-width:400px;max-height:100px" src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2022/03/uniform-logo-white-bg.webp" width="auto" height="auto" /> 
 
<h2>Best Composable System: Uniform</h2>
We had a battle royale brewing in the newly minted "Best Composable System" category between <a href="https://uniform.dev/" target="_blank">Uniform</a>, <a href="https://www.sitecore.com/" target="_blank">Sitecore</a>, and <a href="https://www.acquia.com/" target="_blank">Acquia</a> – but there can be only one! Congratulations to Uniform for taking the throne and becoming our inaugural winner in this new and exciting segment. With big wind (and big investment dollars) at their back, Uniform is already making bold moves from a hiring and acquisition perspective, and we'll be looking for big things in 2022.  
 
<hr />
 
<h2>And that's a wrap for the 2021 People's Choice Awards! </h2>
<div>See that? Not a single moment of uncomfortable stage antics. That's just another benefit we have over the Oscars. </div>
<div> </div>
<div>While the pandemic threw us all for a loop, it's great to be back to a more normal and predictable cycle with our awards program. We look forward to this event every year because it gives us an opportunity to engage with our readers and learn about what platforms are scoring high in their books. At the end of the day, it's about honoring not just the winners, but our entire CMS community. </div>
<div> </div>
<div>There were some tight races going on in the year's competition, and a few surprises that gave us a moment to pause. But that's what makes the People's Choice Awards so exciting: in any given year, fans can come out of the woodwork and elevate their platform to the top echelon. </div>
<div> </div>
<div>Tomorrow, we'll be posting our Editor's Choice Awards. You're bound to see some alignment in certain categories, and you might be in for a few surprises as well. Our editorial staff made their picks based on a wide range of factors, and we're excited to share them with you. </div>
<div> </div>
<div>Thanks again to everyone for participating in the 2021 People’s Choice Awards. See you later this year!</div>

Oscar Who? We're Celebrating the Winners of the 2021 CMS Critic People’s Choice Awards 

cms-critic-staff

Image of the 2021 CMS Critic People's Choice Awards logo with the Text "2021 Winners" to the right, all against a background image of fireworks.

Liferay Social Office is a unique app that has been around for some timebut up until recently, it hasn't been compatible with the most recent release of Liferay, namely Liferay 6.2. Well, no longer will you have to wait. Social Office is now available and updated to work with the latest release of both the Community Edition and Enterprise Edition of Liferay.
This new release now takes advantage of all of the great new features provided by Liferay 6.2, including the upgrade to AlloyUI 2.0, the revamped Calendar and Document Library and a new, extensible Notifications portlet.
Here's some more info (and some sweet, sweet screenshots) about Social Office for those who are not familiar with it:
Liferay Social Office is a dynamic team workspace solution that provides holistic enhancement to the way you and your colleagues work together. By adapting today's most innovative social technologies to the unique needs of productivity and goal-driven enterprise teams, it enables an important shift in how and why communication happens. Key features include, but are not limited to:
<ul>
<li>Documents: shared document repository with Microsoft Office integration.</li>
<li>Communication: instant notifications, team calendars, webmail, task management and contact management.</li>
<li>Collaboration: integrated threaded discussions, blogs, and wikis with related assets and federated search.</li>
<li>People: searchable user profiles with user tagging, friending, integrated chat and simplified Social Office user management.</li>
</ul>
<img src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2023/08/contact_center_notification.png" alt="liferay social office" />
<img src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2023/08/site_home_strata_scheme.png" alt="liferay social office" />
Check out more about <a href="http://www.liferay.com/web/vicki.tsang/blog/-/blogs/announcement-social-office-3-0-ce-ee-released-for-portal-6-2">Social Office</a> or learn more about <a href="/products/liferay/">Liferay</a>.

Social Office updated to work with Liferay 6.2

<a href="https://www.django-cms.org/">django CMS 3.3</a> has been unveiled, and it brings about; speed, enhanced usability, and a whole bunch of other background improvements.
<img src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2023/08/django_cms.jpg" alt="django_cms" />
After being voted as the <a href="/announcing-the-2015-winner-for-best-open-source-cms/" target="_blank">Best Open Source CMS of 2015</a>; django CMS has gone from strength to strength, boasting nearly 80,000 downloads to date – a figure that continues to rise.
They also have more than 300 developers contributing to their open source project.
django CMS 3.3 builds upon the user interface improvements and touch-screen support features that were <a href="/django-cms-3-2-lands-with-new-interface-enhanced-touch-screen-support/">brought along with django CMS 3.2</a>.
To get us started, here's a video of django CMS 3.3 in action:
<iframe src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/pVnITKL8F4M?feature=oembed" frameborder="0" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture" allowfullscreen></iframe>
<h2>Speedier &amp; Easier</h2>
First of all, django CMS is now noticeably faster. See for yourself below:
<img src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2023/08/djangocms325330.gif" alt="djangocms325330" />
On the left, you have django CMS 3.2, and on the right, you have the far speedier django CMS 3.3 (this test was carried out on django CMS' Aldryn Cloud platform).
Furthermore, the django CMS team has modified the admin dashboard toolbar.
<img src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2023/08/menus-325-1.jpg" alt="menus-325 (1)" />
django users will notice that the History button has been placed in the sub-menu beneath Page. Also, the Language button has been moved to the right, and the View Published button has been renamed to View Published Page.
Those are relatively small changes, but together, I think they make the toolbar look far cleaner. Plus, the View Published button was far too vague, so I'm glad to see it replaced.
<h2>“[django CMS 3.3] Benefits Those With Large &amp; Complex Sites”</h2>
django CMS' core development team member, Martin Koistinen, had the following to say upon the release of django CMS 3.3:
<blockquote>
“We’re especially pleased with the performance improvements we’ve been able to achieve in this release, which particularly benefit users with very large and complex sites. django CMS is now more scalable than ever, and we’ll be building on this progress in future releases.”
</blockquote>
As for the rest of the features included in this update, you can find them all via the django CMS 3.3 <a href="http://docs.django-cms.org/en/develop/upgrade/3.3.html">release notes</a>.
More details on the release of django CMS 3.3 can be found on the <a href="https://www.django-cms.org/en/blog/2016/05/27/version-3-3-of-django-cms-released/">django CMS blog</a>.
To learn more about django CMS, be sure to check out my recently published <a href="/django-cms-review/">django CMS Review</a>. Plus, you can learn a lot from the <a href="/django-cms/">django CMS hub on our CMS Directory</a>.

Django CMS 3.3: The Fastest Version of Django CMS to Date

Today, we're going to announce the winner of the 2014 Critics' Choice CMS Award for Best Open Source PHP CMS.
<img style="max-width:188px" src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2023/08/bestopensourcephpcms2014.png" />
The winner this year will not be a surprise to anyone as it's the very CMS that has been taking over the world of content management of late. We would be remiss to not hand this award to the incredibly popular.
<a href="http://www.wordpress.org"><img style="max-width:400px" src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2023/08/wordpress-logo400x0.jpg" /></a>
Congratulations to the development team at WordPress on their win. Check them out in our CMS directory here: <a href="/products/wordpress/">WordPress</a>.

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

<img src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2023/08/prestashop666x0-is.jpg" /> The latest release of Prestashop is now available in 1.7.3. Llist below are a few of the new features you can expect to see in this release.
<h2>Improved Stock Management</h2>
You can now define low-stock levels in two different ways:
<ul>
<li>By default, in the product Settings section</li>
<li>Per products by modifying a standalone item or variant.</li>
</ul>
<h2>New Demo Products</h2>
To improve on the ability for users to be able to demo their stores, the team have also introduced a number of new customizable products, vistual products and more as shown below.
<img src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2023/08/homepage_1_7_3.png" />
<h2>RTL Compliance That Adapts to Any Theme</h2>
There has also been quite a bit of progress made in the migration to Symfony 3.4, which you can read about on their <a href="https://www.prestashop.com/en/blog/prestashop-1-7-3-0-is-available" target="_blank">blog post</a> announcing the release.
For a full list of updates and improvements, check out <a href="https://www.prestashop.com/en/blog/prestashop-1-7-3-0-is-available" target="_blank">this blog post</a>.

PrestaShop 1.7.3.0 Is Available

The hype around digital experiences, headless, MACH, customer journeys, and other buzzwords can be deafening. 
But what about content? And more specifically, managing content? 
For most people in the CMS industry, managing content is considered "core functionality" when it comes to a content management system, but also an area that hasn't really been front and center for the past few years. 
Managing content – so you can do more with it – has huge potential. But how do you tap into this? 
Let's start our quest for better content management in 2022 by looking at some of the recent analyst reports. I'll then turn to a few other key market trends, provide some inconvenient truths, and finally offer some (hopefully) helpful advice on how you can make progress. 
 
<h2>What do the industry analysts say about managing content in 2022?</h2>
I've looked at the reports, we've talked about them in our recent <a href="https://www.boye-co.com/groups/cms-experts/" target="_blank">CMS Experts group</a> meetings, and to be blunt: there's so much confusion that even industry insiders struggle to navigate this marketplace.  
If you turn to the most recent <a href="https://www.gartner.com/en/webinars/4005210/the-gartner-magic-quadrant-for-digital-experience-platforms" target="_blank">Gartner Magic Quadrant for Digital Experience Platforms</a>, you can get a glimpse into how one of the larger industry analysts sees the marketplace. As they say in the opening of the MQ report, their focus is on:
"...the demand for platforms to manage digital experiences of customers, partners and employees…"
And the way they look at the vendors is on how well they:
"...enable the composition, management, delivery, and optimization of contextualized digital experiences across multiexperience customer journeys…"
Content is naturally a key part of digital experiences, and Gartner does consider content management a core capability of a DXP. Still, it's listed alongside 14 other core capabilities and 12 optional capabilities. 
16 vendors are included in this year's Gartner report, and content comes up directly and indirectly with a few of the vendors, such as:
<ul>
<li>CoreMedia's strengths in supporting global multisite operations provide a solid platform to ensure consistency for brands.</li>
<li>Magnolia's focus on offering an extensible DXP built from best-of-breed components from different vendors, to the point of enabling customers to replace native content management system (CMS) capabilities.</li>
<li>Oracle's offering being differentiated by content and digital asset management.</li>
</ul>
 
<img src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2022/03/gartner-mq-dxp-2022.jpg" alt="Gartner Magic Quadrant for DXP graphic 2022" />
It's also worth noting that Gartner looks at <a href="https://www.doxee.com/blog/marketing/what-is-b2e-and-why-it-is-becoming-important/" target="_blank">business-to-employee (B2E)</a> use cases (traditionally known as intranets) and with some of the tools squarely focused on external use cases like digital marketing. This impacts how well they rate in the "horse race style" evaluation approach. 
A noteworthy vendor in this analyst report: Salesforce, who has been marching towards the leader quadrant for quite some time. According to Gartner, they're still positioned as a Challenger, but they've made a few interesting acquisitions – most notably Slack – with the aim of connecting their suite more deeply as a customer experience hub. Salesforce does seem to have a clear vision for integrating its technologies to deliver a more unified digital experience with brand power. Still, where does CMS, and specifically managing content, fit in the Salesforce stack? 
Competing IT analyst firm Forrester released their Q1 2021 <a href="https://www.forrester.com/report/the-forrester-wave-agile-content-management-systems-cmses-q1-2021/RES161667?objectid=RES161667" target="_blank">Agile Content Management Wave</a> a year ago, which covered 15 vendors (mostly the same as Gartner). The initial recommendation from Forrester to buyers was indeed content focused:
"Deliver on the promise of reusable omnichannel content experiences…"
 
<img src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2022/03/forrester-wave-agile-cmses-q1-2021.jpg" alt="Forrester Wave Agile CMSes Quadrant graphic Q1 2021" />
Further down they mentioned the importance of managing content and experiences centrally to drive reuse. In terms of vendors, they didn't include Salesforce in the report but instead Amplience and Contentstack. 
Forrester hasn't yet released an updated 2022 Agile CMS report, but instead a new report on "<a href="https://www.forrester.com/blogs/why-a-multi-cms-approach-may-be-right-for-your-brand/" target="_blank">Making The Case For A Multi-CMS Strategy</a>." That's back to the age-old discussion of best of breed vs. suites, but also a potential to focus more on where you actually manage your content. That is unless you want to manage your content in multiple systems?
Finally, there's G2, which has its "<a href="https://www.g2.com/categories/web-content-management" target="_blank">Best Web Content Management Software</a>" quarterly grid report. G2 has carved out its own niche with user-based reviews – providing an unbiased, real-world reflection of what content managers and CMS users actually think about different platforms. Interestingly (and confusingly), Hubspot is currently positioned as the Leader on the G2 Grid, but not even mentioned in the reports by Forrester and Gartner. 
We live in confusing CMS times. 
 
<h2>Market trends driving a focus on managing content</h2>
There's always the good advice of not just looking at what someone says, but also their actual behavior.  
The recent acquisition of <a href="https://www.bynder.com/en/press-media/bynder-acquires-content-operations-platform-gathercontent/" target="_blank">GatherContent by Bynder</a> is interesting as it signals an investment in Content Operations or the more hip permutation of "ContentOps." GatherContent was initially a platform designed to "gather content" from different sources (kind of like a pre-CMS, if you will) and has since been developed into a large-scale content operations platform. 
In my analysis entitled <a href="https://www.boye-co.com/blog/2022/3/gathercontent-joins-bynder-to-take-contentops-to-the-next-level" target="_blank">GatherContent Joins Bynder To Take ContentOps To The Next Level</a>, I predict a shift in the content toolstack. Where the past decade has been mostly focused on delivery, content management is really not a solved problem. 
Looking at Google search metrics, can tell you a thing or two about intent and where the market is right now. One telling example: there are many more searches for CMS than for DXP. In fact, we have vendors who have long abandoned the term "CMS" and analysts who have stopped talking about it, evolved its definition, or completely eliminated the category. Meanwhile, there are a huge number of potential buyers that are looking for a new CMS – and using that keyword in their searches. 
There are a few lesser known but still established vendors that are benefiting from this confusion and focusing on managing content. Here's just three examples:
<ul>
<li>Norwegian <a href="https://www.boye-co.com/vendors/enonic" target="_blank">Enonic</a>, with their low friction content platform. Or as they frame it: "The ultimate back-end for your digital experiences."</li>
<li><a href="https://www.coredna.com/" target="_blank">Core dna</a> comes from Australian roots and has invested heavily in being an alternative to legacy technology. Their focus is on making it easy "to build your content the way it makes sense for your business."</li>
<li>"Your content. Better, faster, at scale." This is the positioning statement by <a href="https://kontent.ai/" target="_blank">Kontent by Kentico</a>, the headless CMS that's rapidly growing in adoption on the back of the Czech-based Kentico mothership. </li>
</ul>
Another key market trend is the success of MACH and the <a href="https://www.boye-co.com/blog/2021/10/11/whats-the-mach-alliance-all-about" target="_blank">MACH Alliance</a>. This is indeed a technical focus (Microservices, APIs, Cloud-native SaaS, and Headless) but also opens up different conversations in the enterprise. Historically, many have found themselves having to compromise when making technical decisions, and with MACH becoming more established, it enables customers to look for tools that manage content really well while selecting something else for different use cases. 
One final trend worth mentioning: businesses have a huge focus on building their digital presence, whether its campaigns, new stores, new brands, or introducing new digital functionality, it's always build, build, build. 
While talking about building websites, <a href="https://www.boye-co.com/vendors/wordpress">WordPress</a> remains the world’s #1 CMS. Their Gutenberg Editor was introduced in late 2018 and has made creating and managing digital content much easier. It’s not without controversy, however – one industry blogger even described Gutenberg as a “monumental hack” that is worrisome as a future foundation for WordPress. Will this affect WordPress and its mantle of leadership? Only time will tell.
On the enterprise side of the spectrum, many platforms are doubling down on growth and announcing huge investment rounds, particularly in areas like e-Commerce and headless commerce. One example is Bloomreach, which is keenly focused on being the best SaaS CMS for commerce – and <a href="https://www.cmscritic.com/bloomreach-reaches-2-2-billion-valuation-following-175-million-investment-from-goldman-sachs/" target="_blank">recently reached a $2.2 billion valuation</a> with an investment from Goldman Sachs. In the news from late February, Raj De Datta, CEO of Bloomreach, made an interesting comment:
"At Bloomreach, we believe that if the first 20 years of e-commerce have been about standing up the store or simply transacting online, then the next twenty years are about standing out from the crowd or differentiating in the face of increased digital competition and rising consumer expectation."
Besides using a tech solution that fits your needs, I would say that content and how you manage it is how you differentiate in the face of increased competition and rising expectations. That's the key market trend fueling huge investments. 
 
<h2>Inconvenient truths in the CMS marketplace</h2>
There is no "best web content management system." But there is probably a good Web CMS for what you're trying to do, and that's exactly what we focused on at a provocative session at the <a href="https://www.boye-co.com/past-conferences/2005-2009#2009">Boye Aarhus 2009 conference</a> some 13 years ago.
Much has happened since then, but unfortunately, customers still look for the best CMS. That's an inconvenient truth right there, and navigating the marketplace is not much easier these days. I wrote about that confusion in my post last year and offered some hopefully helpful advice: <a href="https://www.cmscritic.com/how-to-make-sense-of-the-cms-market-in-2021/" target="_blank">How to make sense of the CMS market in 2021</a>. 
A big part of the problem, and a problem that's been around for a very long time, is how many customers keep creating checklists and producing Request-for-Proposals that ask questions that achieve nothing. Specifically, on selecting a CMS, you might find the open selection process by the web standards committee, W3C, interesting – in particular as accessibility was a key selection criterion. For more read: <a href="https://www.cmscritic.com/what-can-we-learn-from-the-w3c-cms-selection-process/" target="_blank">What can we learn from the W3C CMS selection process.</a>
Another key indicator of an immature marketplace, even though this thing has been around for 20 years, is that buyers are not talking to each other as much as they should. That's why we have peer groups; that's why conferences are so important, and that's also why CMS Critic has a big value: so that you can find balance between the vendor marketing and the real story. 
When it comes to managing content, it's interesting that many CMS vendors are also struggling to keep up with the pace. Content migration is still not an easy thing and probably the biggest inconvenient truth that still exists in this marketplace – particularly when it comes to managing content in your CMS of choice. More often than not, it's actually more of a people problem. It's the people and the team who builds your site and, in the process, makes some key decisions – and it's down to the team that designs and implements the content experience afterwards to make it work. 
A bad team without a driver's permit will navigate their CMS of choice into a wall, while a good and experienced team will make almost anything work. 
 
<h2>Manage content like a pro</h2>
Let's wrap up this 2022 post by trying to learn from the best, in particular when it comes to content. 
To a digital leader, there's actually some good news in the world right now, even though the pandemic and the war in Ukraine are both inescapable realities. Digital strategies and playbooks, which used to be gathering dust and a low-priority thing, are increasingly being put to good use. And the importance of a digital mindset is no longer questioned.
To quote Ashley Budd from Cornell: "<a href="https://www.boye-co.com/blog/2020/4/23/we-cant-rely-of-the-content-strategy-of-the-past">We can't rely on the content strategy of the past</a>." The new approach that she advocates includes:
<ul>
<li>creating various ways for people to help and make it easy for them to contribute </li>
<li>providing content themes to showcase the breadth of what your organization can offer</li>
</ul>
There's also progress when it comes to identifying content gaps – that's content you are missing on your website as customers are searching for it or because you've designed your site to focus on health and wellness but are short on authoritative content. There are guides and tools in the marketplace to help you, including from SEO experts like <a href="https://backlinko.com/hub/seo/content-gap" target="_blank">Backlinko</a> and ahrefs that come with a <a href="https://ahrefs.com/academy/how-to-use-ahrefs/site-explorer/content-gap" target="_blank">Content Gap report</a>. Website governance vendor <a href="https://littleforest.co.uk/" target="_blank">Little Forest</a> also has an interesting approach to identifying the content you need to be creating. 
There's also the term "content design." What is that, really? 
According to Melinda Belcher at Mastercard, content design focuses on the objective of driving preferences for their products and services. In other words, content design drives great customer experience through storytelling, clarity, and relevance. Still, content design is far from an established practice as compared to user experience design. Read more in this post: <a href="https://www.boye-co.com/blog/2020/11/13/content-design-drives-great-customer-experience-at-mastercard" target="_blank">Content Design Drives Great Customer Experience At Mastercard</a>. 
When it comes to managing content – and why I firmly believe this will be the year – the single biggest reason is the topic of trust. The <a href="https://www.edelman.com/trust/2021-trust-barometer" target="_blank">2021 Edelman Trust Barometer</a> speaks of a "failing trust ecosystem unable to confront the rampant infodemic, leaving the four institutions – business, government, NGOs and media – in an environment of information bankruptcy."
Content is key to addressing it. To quote <a href="https://www.boye-co.com/speakers/tim-walters" target="_blank">privacy and trust expert Tim Walters</a>, you need to: 
"Embody, demonstrate, and project trustworthiness."
It's not just about compliance. It's not just about designing a better cookie banner or protecting consumer data privacy. In fact, it's what Tim Walters calls a "Global Data Privacy Revolution" – and this also impacts how we manage content and enhance growth. It's <a href="https://www.boye-co.com/blog/2022/3/6/the-necessary-shift-from-privacy-to-trust" target="_blank">the necessary shift from privacy to trust</a>. 
In closing: the best, in my humble view, are the ones who are sharing their work openly. Whether epic successes or that project that could have gone more smoothly, those are the heroes and the stories that drive us forward. If we continue to work together, it might also remove some of the confusion we're experiencing at the moment. 
Good luck with your projects this year! Hopefully, you've learned something about change and how we aspire to manage content. And if you're evaluating a CMS, remember to think about what it means to truly manage content.

Will this be the year where CMS is finally about managing content?

janus-boye

Featured image of graphic man pulling down a curtain to reveal a large text graphic of the word "CONTENT"

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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<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

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?

Today, I'm going to announce the winner of the 2014 Critics' Choice CMS Award for Best Free .NET CMS.
<img style="display:block;margin-left:auto;margin-right:auto;max-width:150px" src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2023/08/bestfreenetcms2014.png" />
This year was a tough one when it came to selecting the best of the best in this category but after some tough decision making, the judges came to the decision that the CMS most deserving of this award this year is..
<a href="http://www.composite.net"><img style="max-width:400px" src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2023/08/composite-c1-2500x704400x0.png" /></a>
Congratulations to the team at Composite C1 on their win. Check them out in our directory here: <a href="/products/composite-c1/">Composite C1</a>.

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

Today, I am announcing the winner of the 2014 Critics' Choice Award for Best Free PHP CMS.
<img style="max-width:188px" src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2023/08/bestfreephpcms2014.png" />
The judges deliberated on a large number of content management systems before making their decision but in the end, the decision was unanimous.
The winner for this year is none other than…
<a href="http://www.processwire.com"><img style="max-width:397px" src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2023/08/processwire_logo.png" /></a>
Congratulations to the team at Processwire on their win. It's well deserved.
Check out <a href="/products/processwire/">Processwire</a> in our directory.

2014 Critics' Choice Award Winner - Best Free PHP CMS

Lights, Camera, Action! Jahia's first ever conference being held in the City of Lights, Paris is getting ready to begin. With double the expected attendees, this is sure to be an event to please.
This first ever conference is being held at the beautiful  <a href="http://www.pan-piper.com/"> Pan Piper conference center </a> in downtown Paris.
<img src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2023/08/banner.jpg" />
The event opens with an introductory keynote from Elie Auvray (CEO of Jahia) and Mick MacComascaigh,  Research VP with Gartner and the Lead Analyst for Web content management, this event is sure to bring the latest knowledge about the goings on at Jahia and the future of their position within the content management industry.
<img src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2023/08/img_0084930x0.jpg" alt="Eli Auvray, CEO of Jahia" />
Elie Auvray, CEO of Jahia
The program for the event can be found here: <a href="http://www.jahiaone.com/program">JahiaOne Schedule.</a>
Stay tuned for more from the conference throughout the day by <a href="http://twitter.com/cmscritic">following us on Twitter</a> or following the <a href="https://twitter.com/search?q=%23jahiaone&amp;src=typd">#JahiaOne</a> hashtag on Twitter. Of course, we'll be offering up many posts throughout the event on the site as well.

JahiaOne Paris - Jahia Shines in the City of Light

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