Articles - Page 48

Brightspot Illuminates the Future of CMS with Human-Controlled, AI-Powered Storytelling 

matt-garrepy

<p></p>
<p>Lately, we've been seeing a shift towards simple, responsive, minimalist blogging platforms. More and more, people are looking for solutions that help them focus on their writing and offer distraction-free environments that enable them to do so quickly and effectively.</p>
<p>For years, WordPress has been the star of the show when it comes to blogging, but lately it seems to be developing into a more complex CMS than it was initially intended for when it was first released. Scores of plugins, themes and addons have, according to some, turned it into a more bloated solution than is necessary for the simple task of blogging.</p>
<p>Some of the differences you will find with these solutions in comparison to other blogging platforms are the editing interfaces and the reduction in features to focus on the primary goal of blogging; the writing. As opposed to more complicated editors, they tend to use Markdown for writing blog posts. Markdown is an easy to use text formatter that converts plain text into HTML and produces very readable content using plain text. You'll see what I mean when you try one of these blogging platforms. It's very easy to use.</p>
<p>For those who are finding it hard to find a blogging platform that suits their needs or are looking to start a new blog, this post will offer you some excellent alternatives to popular platforms like Blogger and WordPress. Here is our list of the best minimalist blogging platforms available.</p>
<h2><a href="http://postach.io">Postach.io </a></h2>
<p><img src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2023/08/minimalist_blogging_platforms_-_postachio960x0.png" alt="minimalist_blogging_platforms_-_postachio" /></p>
<p>I had to put Postach.io first simply because it's my personal favorite and one that, in my opinion, offers the most unique approach to blogging. Postach.io lets you store your content in either Dropbox or <a href="https://www.evernote.com/referral/Registration.action?uid=1238466&amp;sig=2de3b5d66a8d847e2d62e1425282eab5">Evernote</a> or both. This lets you choose whichever interface suits you the most (Dropbox files obviously needing to be edited in a text editor and uploaded whereas Evernote has a built in text editor) and work on your content within.</p>
<p>Publishing a post with Evernote is as simple as connecting your account to Postach.io, telling it which notebook in Evernote will contain your posts and then simply writing in that notebook and using the tag “published” when you are done. This tells Postach.io to put the post up on your blog and that's all there is to it. To add images, simply attach them to the note and it will be inserted in your blog post instantly.</p>
<p>The nice part to using the Evernote connection for Postach.io is you can take advantage of the many awesome Evernote apps for mobile devices and tablets that already exist which makes blogging with it a true pleasure.</p>
<p>Postach.io also has perhaps the most features of any of the other platforms I've mentioned so far including:</p>
<ul>
<li>A number of pre-designed and attractive themes.</li>
<li>The ability to easily embed tweets, vine videos, youtube videos, instragram photos, flickr photos, slideshares, about me pages and tons more.</li>
<li>Disqus commenting</li>
<li>Google Analytics integration</li>
<li>You can even share your posts automatically on Facebook or Twitter simply by tagging them in Evernote or Dropbox (you can even customize the tag you use)</li>
<li>A full integrated source code editing interface</li>
</ul>
<p>While Postach.io is free, you can upgrade for $5 / month or $50 / year and get the ability to have multiple sites, multiple authors and a secure website.</p>
<p>Postach.io is a must see and I strongly recommend taking a look to see how amazing it is.</p>
<p><strong>Price: </strong> Free</p>
<h2><a href="http://www.medium.com">Medium </a></h2>
<p><img src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2023/08/minimalist_blogging_platforms_-_medium794x0.png" alt="minimalist_blogging_platforms_-_medium" /></p>
<p>Medium is a very interesting and unique alternative. What's nice about it is that it is designed to help you find an audience and to help you write better content. With a very simple and easy to use interface, Medium is a pleasure to use and gets rid of distractions such as sidebars, widgets and plugins while focusing on allowing you to share your stories and quips with the world.</p>
<p>Rather than overwhelm you with formatting, Medium offers you just enough to do what you need to do and nothing more. This makes the writing process painless and so distraction free that you'll likely want to write more just so you can use the editor. It truly is a beautiful setup. Furthermore, you don't need to worry about whether your website on Medium is responsive. Everything scales to all devices so you will never need to worry about how it's going to look on your phone or tablet again.</p>
<p>It's also a <a href="https://medium.com/about/8304190661d4"> collaborative tool </a> that lets you share your drafts with others and collaborate with them to produce better content. You can even thank those who helped you proof read or add ideas to your content.</p>
<p>My favorite thing about Medium, however, is the way your content is handled once you hit publish:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>We think great ideas can come from anywhere and should compete on their own merits. On Medium, you can contribute often or just once in a blue moon, without the commitment of a blog. And either way, you’re publishing into a thriving, pulsing network — not a standalone web site, which you alone are responsible for keeping alive.</p>
<p>Through a combination of algorithmic and editorial curation, posts on Medium get spread around based on interest and engagement. Some get hundreds of thousands of readers — and not because they were written by famous people. Medium is not about who you are or whom you know, but about what you have to say.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>I've seen this in action on some of my own writings on Medium where people who I do not know have added comments and shared their thoughts with me. If you write great content, you have a great opportunity to find an audience on Medium.</p>
<p><strong>Price: </strong> Free</p>
<h2><a href="https://svbtle.com/">Svblte </a></h2>
<p><img src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2023/08/minimalist_blogging_platforms_-_svbtle910x0.png" alt="minimalist_blogging_platforms_-_svbtle" /></p>
<p>Svtle is similar in some aspects to Medium in that the platform uses Markdown for formatting content and is very distraction free. If you can't tell by the screenshot of the Svblte.com homepage above that this is a minimalist blogging platform, I'd be surprised.</p>
<p>Svblte has been designed in a way to let you dump your ideas into the dashboard and save them as inspiration for future work. It lets you write very distraction free content using an incredibly simple editor with minimal formatting required. It also offers some features such as custom domains and avatars for instance. You can also customize the accent colors of your blog but that's about it. The intention, like most of the others in this list, is to reduce the distractions caused by themes and plugins and to simply help you get your content out to the world.</p>
<p>Your content also has an opportunity to get picked up and spread throughout Svbtle in a similar manner as Medium although they don't give much for details on how this works so I'm not super familiar with the process for curation.</p>
<p><strong>Price: </strong> $6 monthly</p>
<h2><a href="https://ghost.org/">Ghost </a></h2>
<p><img src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2023/08/minimalist_blogging_platforms_-_ghost835x0.png" alt="minimalist_blogging_platforms_-_ghost" /></p>
<p>Ghost is quickly becoming a strong up and comer in the world of blogging and is following in the footsteps of WordPress in that it offers both a downloadable version of the platform to install on your own server or you can use their online blogging platform (similar to Medium, WordPress.com and others) and get up and running with no software to configure. The latter is a paid service, however, and costs typically would range between $5 / month and $80 / month depending on how much traffic and how many blogs you want to have. Pricing is pretty reasonable and you always have the option of downloading Ghost and installing it on your own server if you feel more comfortable managing the software yourself.</p>
<p>The writing interface that Ghost offers is unique from some of the others we've shared so far in that it offers you a split pane look where you write on the left and the right shows a live preview of the text as it's being formatted for comparison. See the screenshot below for an example:</p>
<p><img src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2023/08/2013-11-11_07_05_55-ghost_blogging_platform_features835x0.png" alt="ghost - writing interface" /></p>
<p>Some other differences between Ghost and platforms such as Medium and Svble is that it supports themes. My personal opinion is that themes can end up being a distraction for some people but if you are interested in them, there are already plenty of <a href="https://www.cmscritic.comhttps://www.cmscritic.com/themeforestcategory/blogging/ghost-themes?ref=cmscritic"> themes for Ghost </a> available.</p>
<p><strong>Price: </strong> Free (if downloaded) or $29-199 / month (if hosted)</p>
<h2><a href="https://www.silvrback.com/" target="_blank">Silvrback </a></h2>
<p><img src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2023/08/silvrback_kvkndg.png" />Silvrback is interesting in that its creator, Damian Sowers, aimed to fix the problems he saw with Medium and Svbtle by simply creating what he ideally wanted from a blogging platform for himself. He has now made this available at a reasonable cost of $29.99 / year in the form of Silvrback.</p>
<p>Here's how Damian describes his reasoning for creating Silvrback:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>I built Silvrback because none of the existing blogging platforms satisfied me completely.</p>
<p>Medium is great for readers but it is bad for writers. Readers are steered away to other articles/authors after they are done reading your article. Moreover, the analytics of Medium are extremely basic and you have no idea how people found your article. You really shouldn't use Medium if you want to build any kind of brand with your writing.</p>
<p>Svbtle is closer to what I wanted out of my blogging platform. However, it is taking the elitism approach and heavily restricting its users. I actually just received an invite to Svbtle but I have grown tired of their UI and I'm wary of any blogging platform that doesn't charge for the service. As the saying goes, “If you aren't paying for something then you aren't the customer, you're the product being sold.”</p>
</blockquote>
<p>Due to his lack of satisfaction with the other tools on the market, Damian created Silvrback with the following features:</p>
<ul>
<li>A clean and modern UI (front and back-end).</li>
<li>Markdown powered and as simple as possible.</li>
<li>Support for custom domains and external analytics.</li>
<li>Hosted. People shouldn't spend any time configuring a server for a blog. Also, you shouldn't have to worry about traffic spikes crashing your server.</li>
<li>The platform should have brand awareness in mind (e.g. provide a better way to show and consolidate a person's distributed accomplishments).</li>
<li>Trustworthy. I don't want my efforts and content to be sold to advertisers.</li>
<li>Hacker friendly. Nice syntax highlighting.</li>
<li>Precise control over the journey of a new reader (direction of article discovery).</li>
</ul>
<p>Silvrback was sold to Verde Places LLC, who currently own and run it now and continues to be updated regularly.</p>
<p><strong>Pricing:</strong></p>
<ul>
<li>Annual: US$34.99</li>
<li>Quarterly: US$9.99</li>
<li>Monthly: US$3.99</li>
</ul>
<h2><a href="https://write.as/" target="_blank">Write.as</a></h2>
<p><img src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2023/08/writeas-review-1_f8stqn.png" alt="Write.as Review - 1" /></p>
<p>Write.as is a distraction-free publishing platform that is less about the social media aspect of writing (the likes and follows that we all inadvertently seek) and more about getting your thoughts down fast. The platform’s simplicity is refreshing, but not ideal for complex blogging, especially if you don’t know any code.</p>
<p>On the other hand, because Write.as is open source, technically-minded individuals can change it to suit their needs. Read our <a href="/write-as-review-no-frills-ad-free-publishing/">Write.as Review</a> to learn more.</p>
<p><strong>Price: </strong></p>
<ul>
<li>Free</li>
<li>$5 month</li>
<li>$200 month</li>
</ul>
<h2><a href="http://authpad.com">Authpad </a></h2>
<p><img src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2023/08/minimalist_blogging_platforms_-_authpad.png" alt="minimalist_blogging_platforms_-_authpad" /></p>
<p>Authpad appeals to my inner coder for some reason. Perhaps it's because you can edit the styles directly from within the interface but if there's one thing that Authpad is, it's minimal. I would call this the blogging platform for pure minimalists. It's so fast it's ridiculous and, while the interface is very text heavy, it does the job its intended to do incredibly well.</p>
<p>Still in beta but with plenty of features including, as I mentioned earlier, the ability to directly edit forked styles from within the interface, this is sure to appeal to bloggers with a bit of a technical background as well as those looking for a very minimal experience.</p>
<p>There's not much else to say, Authpad is as basic as you can get and I strongly encourage you to check it out and see how simple blogging can truly be.</p>
<p><strong>Price: </strong> Free</p>
<h2><a href="http://pen.io/">Pen.io</a></h2>
<p><img src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2023/08/minimalist_blogging_platforms_-_penio960x0.png" alt="minimalist_blogging_platforms_-_penio" /></p>
<p>Pen.io is a bit different. You don't get your own website per say but rather, you create a page for your article. You sign up with a URL and a password with no other information, click to edit your title, click to edit your content and that's it. If you need to add images, simply drag and drop them into the page. If you need a multi-page post, simply insert the “:page” tag to do so. There's nothing complicated about it, there's no real blogging aspect to it and there's no way to get back to it other than to find it on Google or remember the page url.</p>
<p>This is unique for those who want to quickly pound something out or feel the need to write but don't want the complication of setting up a blog so if you need an outlet for your creativity, Pen.io is there. Don't expect to find any help or assistance, however as the website is as stark as the article creation process and there's no help system at all.</p>
<p><strong>Price: </strong>Free</p>
<h2><a href="https://posthaven.com/">Posthaven</a></h2>
<p><img src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2023/08/minimalist_blogging_platforms_-_posthaven883x0.png" alt="minimalist_blogging_platforms_-_posthaven" /></p>
<p>Posthaven was created by two of the founding members of Posterous, which was acquired by Twitter in 2012. After being “bummed” that it was shut down, they decided to start Posthaven and make it available forever to anyone who wants an easy to use blog platform. While the platform does charge a monthly fee, it offers a good set of features including:</p>
<ul>
<li>Post by email</li>
<li>Post by web, with photos, music, video and documents</li>
<li>Private sites with passwords</li>
<li>Pages and links</li>
<li>Autopost to Facebook and Twitter</li>
<li>Image gallery upload and editing</li>
<li>Commenting with automatic antispam</li>
<li>Blog following with email notifications</li>
<li>Multiple contributors per blog</li>
</ul>
<p>Currently, the fee to use Posthaven is only $5 / month and the founders promise to only adjust to cover server costs and nothing more. The goal is to maintain the service for as long as possible so users can avoid having their services shutdown constantly thanks to acquisitions and the like. One thing I do like is that if you decide to stop paying, the content will not be lost, it will stay online but you won't be able to edit or add to it until you restart your subscription.</p>
<p><strong>Price: </strong>$5 month</p>
<p>There you have it.  Our list of Minimalist Blogging Platforms that let you focus on writing your content and getting it online in the easiest possible way with the least distracting interfaces.</p>
<p>Are you aware of one we missed? Please share it in the comments below and we'll expand this list accordingly. What are your experiences with these (or other) tools? Let us know in the comments below.</p>
<p></p>


Blogging Platforms That Encourage You To Write

mike-johnston

<p></p>
<p>Sulu is a content management system built on Symfony PHP.  Defining itself as a content management “platform”, Sulu focuses on facilitating highly customized content administration and publishing environments on the back end. Symfony and Sulu are both open-source, free, and backed by significant professional communities and expert support.</p>
<p>A single installation of Sulu can manage multiple complex websites with multiple language instances. Management occurs through one backend and an attractive UI with a live-updating preview of changes.</p>
<p><img src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2023/08/sulu-cms-1_jv9dje.png" alt="sulu cms - 1" /></p>
<p>The Sulu content management platform offers users support throughout the complete content life cycle. Sulu manages users, which can be a team of developers and admins working on the site or end users or ecommerce customers.</p>
<p>Creating and managing content is at the heart of the platform. The UI is modern and sensible, allowing users to dive straight in and build or adjust content as needed. Once the webspaces and themes are defined, creating, maintaining, and publishing content can take center stage.</p>
<p><img src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2023/08/sulu-cms-3_x3mc4j.png" alt="sulu cms - 3" /></p>
<p><img src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2023/08/sulu-cms-2_rixh6n.jpg" alt="sulu cms - 2" /></p>
<p>A robust assets library allows access to images, documents, video, or any other type of media from anywhere in the installation. The system automatically resizes and reformats images to standards required for its templates while storing the original file, meaning one upload can provide infinite usability for visual assets.</p>
<p>Webspaces provide scaffolding for multiple separate websites, such as those used for different brands in the same company. In addition, global brands have multiple options for how they wish to present content in several languages that can be managed seamlessly from the same webspace. Fully customizable themes manage the content delivery to as many webspaces as needed.</p>
<p>Sulu’s final standard module, Settings, controls permissions, meta information, and all other internal adjustments of the platform.</p>
<p>The Sulu platform is designed with modern web standards at the core of its performance and runs without the use of plugins. Integrated SEO functions help sites deliver their best performance to users, search engines, and third-party applications.</p>
<p>Its API-first approach gives users the option to use it as a <a href="/headless-cms-buyers-guide/">headless CMS</a>, managing content behind the scenes for delivery to another front end such as a mobile app or ecommerce system.</p>
<h2>Who is it for?</h2>
<p>Sulu is geared for developers, content professionals, and digital marketers working in a business setting. The platform positions itself as a solution for enterprise-level websites and applications. A lack of pre-made templates makes the system unsuitable for users looking for a quick-setup, out-of-the-box website option.</p>
<p>However, custom modules open up possibilities for developing a well-organized, compliant backend for a wide variety of business applications. Extensive documentation and a live demo are available on the Sulu website for prospective users to explore.</p>
<p>Sulu includes a toolkit for digital marketers to take on high-end SEO and deep analytics integration while utilizing the platform’s ability to deliver targeted, personalized content.</p>
<p>The wide-ranging flexibility of the platform makes it an ideal space to integrate business logic and adapt to emerging markets.</p>
<h2>What language is it built on?</h2>
<p>Sulu runs on PHP using the <a href="https://symfony.com/" target="_blank">Symfony framework</a>. Symfony is an open-source PHP framework designed to organize and streamline a development workflow while optimizing performance. Compatibility with other database systems and a user-friendly interface help boost the framework’s flexibility.</p>
<p>Furthermore, Symfony is supported by SensioLabs, making for strong documentation and community. It’s highly expandible and designed with sustainability and ease of testing in mind.</p>
<h2>Key features</h2>
<ul>
<li>Built for multilingual, multi-channel, and multi-portal infrastructure</li>
<li>User-friendly interface with clear navigation</li>
<li>Mobile and desktop editing support</li>
<li>Live WYSIWYG content preview when editing</li>
<li>Customizable modules</li>
<li>Made for flexibility, extensibility, and ease of maintenance</li>
</ul>
<h2>Why Sulu CMS?</h2>
<p>While Sulu comprises many tools to streamline development tasks, a developer familiar with PHP and the Symfony framework is essential for getting the system up and running.</p>
<p>Knowledgeable users will find a system built to reduce time to market. Sulu’s extensibility safeguards organizations from outgrowing the platform and starting over as their business scales, branches, and moves into new markets.</p>
<p>Sulu CMS is aimed at giving businesses a single solution for a variety of evolving needs. Sulu’s learning curve may be steeper than some systems with more off-the-rack publishing-ready options. However, the platform pays on the other end in shifting long-term focus to content, message, and innovation.</p>
<p>Check it out at <a href="https://sulu.io/" target="_blank">https://sulu.io/</a></p>
<p></p>


Sulu, the Symfony CMS

<p></p>
<p>Voyager Live, for those of you who have never heard of it before, is a heavily customized Ubuntu 19.10 with the Gnome desktop.</p>
<p>They have just released a new version with Voyager Live 19.10 that brings a ton of tweaks, new software and other adjustments to Gnome making it more usable according to the project creator.</p>
<p>Here's a video highlighting the features of this release:</p>
<p><iframe src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/MMEbwQaiZy8?feature=oembed" frameborder="0" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture" allowfullscreen></iframe></p>
<p>Here are some of the additions you can expect in this release:</p>
<ul>
<li>Gufw (Firewall)</li>
<li>Bleachbit</li>
<li>Mintstick</li>
<li>Conky</li>
<li>Zenity</li>
<li>Yad</li>
<li>Testdisk</li>
<li>Deja-dup (for backups)</li>
<li>Caffeine (gnome extension)</li>
<li>Grub customizer</li>
<li>25 different extensions</li>
<li>and more.</li>
</ul>
<p>For a full list of everything in this release, check out the <a href="https://voyagerlive.org/voyager-ge-19-10/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">release announcement</a>.</p>
<p>I've used Voyager Live (their XFCE edition) in the past and have found it to be pretty solid with some pretty cool tweaks and software additions although admittedly, I haven't used their Gnome version much as it's not my desktop environment of choice but I'd love to hear if any of you have and what you think.</p>
<p>Let us know in the comments below.</p>
<p></p>


Voyager Live 19.10 Released

<p></p>
<p>You might have heard of Ghost — an open-source blogging platform that launched in 2013. Ghost was founded by John O’Nolan, a former WordPress employee who grew frustrated with the complexities of the traditional blogging platform and decided to do something about it.</p>
<p>Today, more than a million people and businesses use Ghost, including Apple, Tinder, and Mozilla. This number is likely to increase now that the company has rolled out Ghost 3.0 — its biggest release since the first version of Ghost. Here is a comprehensive look at Ghost’s latest update, Ghost 3.0.</p>
<h2>New and Improved Features</h2>
<p>The core idea behind this latest release is to help publishers build and maintain engaged audiences. The new and exciting features introduced as part of Ghost 3.0 reflect this thinking.</p>
<h3>Members &amp; Subscriptions</h3>
<p>The most significant feature introduced by Ghost 3.0 is support for memberships and subscriptions. The feature is still in beta but is fully functioning.</p>
<p>A simple member signup system turns anonymous visitors into registered members, helping you grow a community of like-minded individuals. Ghost 3.0 allows you to set three different access levels:</p>
<ul>
<li>Public content</li>
<li>Members-only content</li>
<li>Paid members-only content.</li>
</ul>
<p>This is what a post with members-only access looks like on Nolan’s own blog:</p>
<p><img src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2023/08/screenshot1-1_josxry.png" alt="Ghost 3.0 - 1" /></p>
<p>You can have a combination of all three access levels, as long as your theme supports it. If you already have an audience elsewhere, you can give it access to your new site via Ghost’s imports and integrations function.</p>
<p>Ghost 3.0 has a Stripe integration, so taking payments for premium-membership benefits is effortless. Members can pay for your content via credit card or Apple Pay. You can create your own pricing structure. For example, these are the pricing tiers that Nolan chose for his blog:</p>
<p><img src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2023/08/screenshot2-1_ka9xit.png" alt="Ghost 3.0 - 2" /></p>
<p>The billing features are integrated with Stripe Billing API, not Stripe Connect. That means that if Ghost the company were to fold, your site and billing would still work as usual.</p>
<h3>Full-Featured Headless CMS</h3>
<p>Ghost worked tirelessly on improving its APIs (application program interface, a set of protocols for building software applications) and Webhooks (HTTP callbacks that let you create or set up integrations). The company’s efforts have paid off — you can run Ghost 3.0 as a decoupled headless CMS.</p>
<h3>Images</h3>
<p>Working with images on Ghost 3.0 is much easier than before. When you insert an image into a post, it automatically resizes and optimizes it for your theme. This new feature saves you a ton of time and ensures that pages with a lot of images load faster.</p>
<p>You can also add an image gallery with up to nine images at a time. Ghost 3.0 automatically organizes the photos to look their best.</p>
<p><img src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2023/08/screenshot3-1_vkx3cg.png" alt="Ghost 3.0 Image Galleries" /></p>
<h3>Drag and Drop Capabilities</h3>
<p>Changing the layout of a post with Ghost 3.0 is a breeze. You can drag and drop any card, whether it’s text-based or image-based, within a post. The editor auto-scrolls as you move the cards up and down.</p>
<h3>Bookmark Cards</h3>
<p>Ghost 3.0 lets you add a bookmark card into your post, which simplifies the process of sharing links from sites with no automatic embeds.</p>
<p><img src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2023/08/screenshot4-1_xra7k5.png" alt="Ghost 3.0 - Cards" /></p>
<p>As long as you use a URL with the correct meta information, the bookmark card will show:</p>
<ul>
<li>Page title</li>
<li>Preview image</li>
<li>Excerpt</li>
<li>Author</li>
<li>Publisher.</li>
</ul>
<h3>Admin Dashboard Updates</h3>
<p>Ghost 3.0 also updated the admin dashboard. There’s a new site preview feature as well as an option to filter drafts and published posts depending on:</p>
<ul>
<li>Author</li>
<li>Status</li>
<li>Date</li>
<li>Tag.</li>
</ul>
<h3>Themes</h3>
<p>The default Ghost theme has been improved, with added support for dark mode. Also, Ghost added three open-source magazine-style themes and a new starter theme for developers to its marketplace.</p>
<p><img src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2023/08/screenshot_5_ppuumt.png" alt="Ghost 3.0 - themes" /></p>
<h3>WordPress Importer</h3>
<p>Ghost 3.0 has a migration plugin for WordPress, which allows you to export posts, pages, tags, and images into a set of files. Importing these files into Ghost 3.0 is a quick and painless process.</p>
<p>Ghost 3.0 doesn’t have built-in comments, but it integrates with many popular comment platforms so that you can migrate your WordPress comments easily.</p>
<h3>New Integrations</h3>
<p>Ghost makes it easy to set up integrations with multiple apps and tools. New integrations include Ulysses, iA Writer, and <a href="https://write.as/" target="_blank">Write.as</a>, whereas <a href="https://zapier.com" target="_blank">Zapier</a> integration has seen an update.</p>
<h3>That’s Not All!</h3>
<p>On top of the features mentioned above, Ghost 3.0 comes with new developer documentation. The company also launched a weekly newsletter that focuses on important stories, ideas, and publishing resources. If you want to see the full list of updates, take a look at <a href="https://gist.github.com/allouis/aae9e45748da87a6928ac814a04413bb" target="_blank">Ghost 3.0 changelog</a>.</p>
<p></p>


Ghost 3.0 Brings Subscriptions, Memberships and More

laura-martisiute

<p><a target="_blank" href="https://flodesk.com/c/2FQH39">Flodesk</a> says they’re “the world’s most intuitive email builder,” and they’re not exaggerating. With Flodesk, you can create beautiful emails that match the overall style of your brand in minutes, even if you have no technical, design, or marketing skills. But because Flodesk is still so new, it can’t quite match its competitors in terms of power. Read our full Flodesk Review below.</p><h2><strong>Getting Started</strong></h2><p>Setting up an account with Flodesk is easy. Every new user gets a 30-day free trial, which is available via the homepage. Once you fill out the sign-up form, Flodesk sends you an email verification link. Click on the link — and you’re in!</p><p><img src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2023/08/screenshot1_b0gn4a.png" /></p><p>The dashboard is clean and extremely easy to navigate. However, you still might not necessarily know where to start, especially if you’re new to email marketing.</p><p>Luckily, Flodesk understands that mastering a new site takes time, which is why it sends you a helpful email telling you how to make the most of your account. The email comes with instructions on how to:</p><ul><li>Set up your logo and brand.</li><li>Design a welcome email.</li><li>Embed a form.</li><li>Put it all together with a workflow (a series of automated emails).</li></ul><h2><strong>Design</strong></h2><p>Flodesk uses a visual builder, so you don’t need to know HTML code to craft an eye-catching email. In fact, the best thing about Flodesk is the variety of stunning email templates available. You can choose a pre-formatted template based on your “goal,” such as “Share News” or “Make Money.”</p><p><img src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2023/08/screenshot2_il3ujd.png" /></p><p>Customizing your chosen template is a breeze. Simply click on any part of the email to duplicate and delete blocks and tweak things such as:</p><ul><li>Email layout</li><li>Backdrop and canvas color</li><li>Font type, size, and color</li><li>Line height and letter spacing</li><li>Link color</li><li>Border color and thickness</li><li>Padding thickness.</li></ul><p>You can save your brand’s logo and colors, further simplifying the process of adjusting templates to suit your needs. You can also upload PDFs, as long as they’re under 10 MB, and include your real-time Instagram feed at the bottom of your emails.</p><p><img src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2023/08/screenshot3_m7cnrp.png" /></p><p>If none of the templates do it for you, you can start your email from scratch, adding text (Flodesk has more than 100 fonts available, but doesn’t let you upload your own) and images as you see fit. Flodesk integrates photos seamlessly, without asking you to compress or resize them.</p><p>Before you send an email, you can preview it on desktop and mobile, ensuring that it displays smoothly across all devices.</p><h2><strong>Usability and Support</strong></h2><p>Flodesk has a minimalist user interface. At the top of the page, you have four categories: “Emails,” “Audience,” “Forms,” and “Workflows.” These are the four features that you’re most likely to use daily.</p><p>More functions, including domain authentication and brand preferences, can be found under your username icon on the top right-hand corner of the page.</p><p>Flodesk has an extensive Help Center with detailed answers to commonly asked questions as well as technical how-to’s. A search button ensures that you don’t have to sift through countless articles to find a solution to your problem.</p><p><img src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2023/08/screenshot4_lvl9op.png" /></p><p>If you can’t find an answer to your question using the Help Center, you can message Flodesk on Facebook. I got a response to my query in less than three hours on a Sunday. Alternatively, you can join the Flodesk Insiders Facebook page to start a discussion with other users or email the customer support team, which promises to respond within 48 hours.</p><h2><strong>Key Features</strong></h2><p>In addition to pre-made emails, Flodesk is also great for making forms. Flodesk offers its users a range of form templates, from pop-ups to inline forms to full-page landing pages. Embedding the code into your website is straightforward, but you can also publish the form URL directly to the web.</p><p><img src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2023/08/screenshot5_jyszuc.png" /></p><p>Flodesk’s “Workflows” feature lets you send a series of emails to your subscribers automatically. You can set a “Time Delay” specifying the amount of time (whether minutes or hours) that should pass before Flodesk sends the next email, but there’s no option to choose a specific date or time.</p><p>You can also set a “Condition.” In this case, Flodesk will only send an email if a subscriber opens a previously sent email.</p><p><img src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2023/08/screenshot6_fdlrvy.png" /></p><p>Segmenting your email list is simple, perfect for those who have several sign-up lists.</p><p>Flodesk has a comprehensive statistics area, with details on each subscriber, including when and how you acquired them and their device preference. You can also see how many emails they opened, but not which ones. Also, you can’t resend an email to a subscriber that didn’t open it the first time. (<strong>Editors note:</strong> I reached out to Flodesk via Facebook to comment on this as it seemed like an odd thing to restrict. Here's their response:</p><p><i>We do offer workflows that allow you to send to unopens after a period of time you specify—so we do offer it, just not in the one-off campaign area.</i>)</p><p><img src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2023/08/screenshot7_nu5rob.png" /></p><p>Email statistics are available via the “Email” section. Here, you can see the open rate, click-through rate, and the number of email addresses that bounced among other things.</p><p>One big feature that Flodesk is currently missing is A/B testing. There’s no way that I could find to test several subject lines or email types. Other email marketing services, such as ConvertKit, Mailchimp, and Mailerlite, include this function.</p><p>Another negative is Flodesk’s lack of integrations. At the moment, it only supports <a target="_blank" href="https://www.cmscritic.com/shopify">Shopify</a> integration, although <a target="_blank" href="https://zapier.com/">Zapier</a> should be added within a month as well.</p><h2><strong>Pricing – This is where Flodesk Shines</strong></h2><p>Flodesk’s pricing is simple. There’s just one plan which costs <strong>$38 per month</strong>. It gets you <strong>unlimited emails and subscribers</strong>, as well as access to every feature. This is unusual as most email marketing platforms increase your bill as soon as you grow your subscriber list. The ability to scale up without extra cost makes Flodesk great value for fast-growing businesses.</p><p><strong>Editor's Note:</strong></p><blockquote><p>“As you no doubt know, email marketing can get incredibly expensive as you grow in subscribers. Flodesk's model of one flat (and reasonable) price regardless of how many subscribers you have is not only excellent, it's the best value out there in my opinion.” ~ <strong>Mike Johnston</strong></p></blockquote><h2><strong>Pros</strong></h2><ul><li>Price doesn’t change even if your subscriber list grows</li><li>30-day free trial</li><li>Gorgeous templates for emails, pop-ups, inline forms, and landing pages.</li><li>User-friendly interface.</li><li>Great customer support.</li><li>Email automation.</li><li>Email segmentation.</li><li>In-depth statistics.</li><li>Coding knowledge isn’t necessary.</li><li>Easy Instagram integration.</li></ul><h2><strong>Cons</strong></h2><ul><li>No way to perform A/B testing.</li><li>You can’t resend an email to a subscriber that didn’t open.</li><li>Lacking in integrations (although Zapier is due within a month) but this can be attributed to how new the platform is.</li></ul><h2><strong>Final Verdict</strong></h2><p>Flodesk has a lot going for it. It has an intuitive user interface, a vast range of stunning templates, and friendly customer service. While it’s a little behind its competitors in terms of features — it doesn’t have A/B testing and integrates with Shopify only — it’s still in the early stages of development. If you’re a small business owner with growing ambitions but no coding knowledge, then using Flodesk is a no brainer.</p><p><a target="_blank" href="https://flodesk.com/c/2FQH39">Try Flodesk for yourself.</a></p>

Flodesk Review - Email Marketing at an Unbeatable Price

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<p>Photoshop is the first word in graphic design software and like most leading software products, it demands a fee from anyone who wants to use it. In fact, to access Photoshop, you'll need to fork out about $19.99 every month. Personally, I don't have an issue with this given how powerful Photoshop is but there are those who do.</p>
<p>Thankfully, there is a solution to this price problem.</p>
<p>Free alternatives to Photoshop do exist, and they hold their own in terms of quality, too. Here they all are. You can check here for non-free <a href="/paid-photoshop-alternatives/">Photoshop alternatives</a>).</p>
<p></p>
<h1>1. GIMP</h1>
<p>Announced to the public in 1995, GIMP is one of the most popular free Photoshop alternatives on the market. It's also likely to be the most powerful graphic design tool on this list. It's free and open source, but packs a professional punch nonetheless.</p>
<p></p>
<figure class="kg-card kg-image-card kg-card-hascaption"><img src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2023/08/free-photoshop-alternatives---gimp.jpg" alt="Free Photoshop Alternative - GIMP" /><figcaption>GIMP Screenshot</figcaption></figure>
<p>There are big similarities between Photoshop and GIMP in terms of  functionality and user interface, so many find migration from one to the  other to be easy. GIMP is also capable of opening and working with PSD files, which are Photoshop specific.</p>
<p>GIMP has a number of high quality features which definitely hold their own against those of Photoshop. The  professional features available in GIMP such as color adjustment tools, customizable brushes, gradients, and auto image enhancement tools, make it easy for users to create artwork from scratch and edit  photos/images.</p>
<p>The in-depth tutorials cater for all users from beginners to advanced level. This makes it super accessible to everyone, including users who aren’t familiar with the open-source application</p>
<p>Learn more at the <a href="http://www.gimp.org/">GIMP website</a></p>
<h2>2. Inkscape</h2>
<p>Inkscape is a free and open source  vector graphics editor. It’s perfect for creating icons for apps and  websites, cartoon illustrations, and logos. Despite being free, Inkscape  looks and feels incredibly advanced. Some of its many features include  intelligent drawing tools, the ability to import and export multiple  file types, add-ons, and multilingual support. These powerful tools and  its intuitive UI make it an excellent option for beginners.</p>
<p>Although it’s probably a little more  comparable to Illustrator, Inkscape is a great free Photoshop  alternative, especially if you want to save some $$$ (since it’s free).</p>
<figure class="kg-card kg-image-card kg-card-hascaption"><img src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2023/08/free-photoshop-alternative-inkscape.png" alt="Free Photoshop Alternative - Inkscape" /><figcaption>Inkscape Screenshot</figcaption></figure>
<p>It's also one of the few options on the list compatible with Linux (along with GIMP that is).</p>
<p>Learn more at the <a href="https://inkscape.org/en/">Inkscape website.</a></p>
<h2>3. Pixia</h2>
<p>Pixia is a raster painting program and graphics editor specifically well–suited for many forms of digital painting.</p>
<p>It offers a lightweight painting environment for digital painting and artwork of all types! Unlike other digital painting and editing tools, Pixia strips the bloatware features away, leaving a fast, focused environment that ensures you can paint without any distraction.</p>
<figure class="kg-card kg-image-card kg-card-hascaption"><img src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2023/08/free-photoshop-alternatives---pixia.jpg" alt="Free Photoshop Alternative - Pixia" /><figcaption>Pixia Screenshot</figcaption></figure>
<p>It is also freeware making it a great free Photoshop alternative.</p>
<p>Learn more at the <a href="http://www.ne.jp/asahi/mighty/knight/index.html">Pixia website</a>.</p>
<h2>4. exPhoto</h2>
<p>exPhoto is another application by the same developer that created Pixia and is more geared towards photo editing and print graphics. The advantage is that you can choose which application best suits your needs at the time. </p>
<p>Doing some digital painting? Load up Pixia. Looking to touch up a photo? Time for exPhoto. Sure you have to install two apps but it keeps the features geared towards the task at hand, which is smart.</p>
<figure class="kg-card kg-image-card kg-card-hascaption"><img src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2023/08/free-photoshop-alternative---exphoto.jpg" alt="Free Photoshop Alternative - exPhoto" /><figcaption>exPhoto Screenshot</figcaption></figure>
<p>exPhoto is also capable of handling and saving as PSD, just like GIMP.</p>
<p>Learn more at the <a href="http://www.ne.jp/asahi/mighty/knight/exphoto.html">exPhoto website.</a></p>
<h2>5. Pixlr</h2>
<p>Pixlr comes in two distinct flavours.  Pixlr Express is ideal for quick fixes and simple edits, while Pixlr  Editor is for power users. Both are both free, and both are  browser-based web apps, so there's never any need to download the  software. This makes it ideal for Chromebook users, too.</p>
<p>Pixlr is feature-packed but has a clean UI that makes it easy to navigate these features without seeming  “cluttered” or overwhelming the users with the number of options  available.</p>
<figure class="kg-card kg-image-card kg-card-hascaption"><img src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2023/08/free-photoshop-alternative---pixlr.png" alt="Free Photoshop Alternative - Pixlr" /><figcaption>Pixlr Screenshot</figcaption></figure>
<p>One super useful benefit to Pixlr is that it runs free Android and iOS apps that allow you to edit right from your smartphone.</p>
<p>Learn more at the <a href="https://pixlr.com/">Pixlr website.</a></p>
<h2>6. Krita</h2>
<p>Krita was created by artists with the  aim of making art tools affordable to everyone. This is an open source digital sketching and painting studio that is geared towards concept artists. illustrators, and designers who want to sketch from scratch. So, if you want to edit existing imagery, this one isn't for you. Krita  also offers training material to kickstart your illustration career (or  hobby), and can open PSD files, too.</p>
<figure class="kg-card kg-image-card kg-card-hascaption"><img src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2023/08/krita_animation2_pssib7.gif" alt="Free Photoshop Alternative - Krita" /><figcaption>Krita Screenshot</figcaption></figure>
<p>There is a bit of a learning curve to software and the UI isn’t too user-friendly, so its best suited to users with some experience. But once you get the hang of it this is an excellent Photoshop alternative that’s full of great features for  painting and design.</p>
<p>Learn more at the <a href="https://krita.org/en/">Krita website.</a></p>
<h2>7. Canva</h2>
<p>Canva is a browser-based web app that provides everything a graphic designer needs. For those who like to work on their phones or tablets, there are apps for iOS and Android as well.</p>
<p>Used by over 10 million people, Canva  serves up millions of stock images, hundreds of fonts, and a wide range  of filters, icons, and shapes. With their resources to hand, you can  drag and drop images into place before editing them. The simplicity of Canva makes sophisticated design accessible to everyone with a diverse range of templates available, and even the most amateur of users will get decent design outcomes with the help of this app.</p>
<figure class="kg-card kg-image-card kg-card-hascaption"><img src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2023/08/canva_hepqwn.png" alt="Free Photoshop Alternative - Canva" /><figcaption>Canva Screenshot</figcaption></figure>
<p>Seasoned graphic designers may find Canva to be a little lightweight, but it’s a useful app to have on hand when you need to take a few shortcuts and don’t want to sacrifice quality in the process. This is a freemium app and more experienced designers will definitely want the paid version, but pricing is nowhere near Photoshop territory. Check out our <a href="/canva-review/">Canva Review</a> to learn more.</p>
<p>Learn more at the <a href="https://canva.7eqqol.net/c/12549/647168/10068?adcampaigngroup=Pro_LP">Canva website.</a></p>
<h2>8. Paint.NET</h2>
<p>Thanks to its image based tabs system  which makes it easy to work on multiple projects at once, Paint.Net is a great free alternative to Photoshop. Also, the inclusion of layers – a feature normally reserved for expensive professional software – makes Paint.Net tough to beat. The UI will feel familiar to Photoshop users but it’s also very easy to pick up for newbies.</p>
<p>I see it as a halfway house between Microsoft Paint and Photoshop, making it easy for graphic design newbies  to grasp. And it's for that reason – among others – that I've personally been using Paint.NET for all my image editing needs over the  last few years. It’s simplicity combined with the advanced features  available makes it a tough one to beat and also a great option for users  that have difficulty with software that’s geared more towards  experienced users. Features include a number of special effects that can  sharpen, blur, emboss, distort, and eliminate red-eye from photos in a  few clicks.</p>
<figure class="kg-card kg-image-card kg-card-hascaption"><img src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2023/08/pdn40_kirkland_y8gqzp.jpg" alt="Free Photoshop Alternative - Paint.NET" /><figcaption>Paint.NET Screenshot</figcaption></figure>
<p>It's bad news for Mac users though, as Paint.NET is available only for Windows.</p>
<p>Learn more at the <a href="http://www.getpaint.net/">Paint.NET website.</a></p>
<h2>9. Seashore</h2>
<p>If you're a dedicated Mac user, Seashore may be for you. Available only for Mac OS X's Cocoa framework, Seashore takes inspiration from GIMP (number one on this list) by serving up similar functionality and using the same native file format.</p>
<p>However, unlike the GIMP, Seashore is  aimed at a broader audience who just want to do some basic image editing. It’s ideal for new users who with little experience in this area, although the UI is pretty basic and definitely leaves room for improvement.</p>
<figure class="kg-card kg-image-card kg-card-hascaption"><img src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2023/08/1_tdzwny.jpg" alt="Free Photoshop Alternative - Seashore" /><figcaption>Seashore Screenshot</figcaption></figure>
<p>If you’re an amateur photographer or just need to perform some basic image editing, Seashore will do the trick.</p>
<p>Learn more at the <a href="http://seashore.sourceforge.net/The_Seashore_Project/About.html">Seashore website.</a></p>
<h2>10. SumoPaint</h2>
<p>SumoPaint's slogan is, ‘Photoshopping  in your browser' – which is pretty self-explanatory. It's an incredibly powerful web app with an answer to most if not all of Photoshop's best features.</p>
<p>It’s also super fast to navigate and  the interface is definitely pleasing to the eye. All of the standard  features are accessible for free, such as gradient fill, blur, smudge, line tools, and other features you’d expect to find in Photoshop.</p>
<figure class="kg-card kg-image-card kg-card-hascaption"><img src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2023/08/sumopaint.jpg" alt="Free Photoshop Alternative - SumoPaint" /><figcaption>SumoPaint Screenshot</figcaption></figure>
<p>You can use it through your browser and tolerate the ads, or upgrade to SumoPaint Pro to use it without ads and utilize more features.users to access all the basic image manipulation features for free. SumoPaint Pro also allows you to download the software so you can use it offline.</p>
<p>Learn more at the <a href="https://www.sumopaint.com/">SumoPaint website.</a></p>
<h2>Free Graphic Design Software That Doesn't Suck</h2>
<p>Photoshop is a powerhouse, but if you're struggling to justify its  rather heavy price-tag, then the eight Photoshop alternatives listed  above should tide you over.</p>
<p>If you are curious as to what options exist with a price tag, check out our list of <a href="/paid-photoshop-alternatives/">Paid Photoshop Alternatives</a>.</p>
<p>Do you know of any other free Photoshop alternatives? Share them with us in the comments section below!</p>


10 Free Photoshop Alternatives

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<p>Has there ever been a period in history where we have been as obsessed with optimal productivity and output as we are now? I sincerely doubt it. This growing need to increase efficiency and “better ways of working” is reflective of our constant struggle to maintain the elusive work/life balance. And the currently over-saturated market of productivity apps is a clear demonstration of that.</p>
<p>So how do you separate the wheat from the chaff?</p>
<p>Today, we’re going to compare two of the most popular productivity apps on the market: <a href="https://www.trello.com/" target="_blank">Trello</a> vs Asana. These project and task management based apps entered the tech space pretty much around the same time. Trello was introduced by Stack Exchange CEO Joel Spolskey and current Trello CEO Michael Pryor in 2011, until it was then acquired by Atalassian in 2017. <a href="https://asana.com/" target="_blank">Asana</a> came along about 2 months later after a launch by Facebook exec Dustin Moskovitza.</p>
<p>Although the market is bursting at the seams with productivity apps right now, these two tend to dominate when it comes to all things project management. They nailed down deals with some of the top Fortune 500 companies from day one which pretty much brought them right up the ranks and they’re just as popular with smaller companies and startup organisations. If you’re running an Agile team, it’s a no brainer to on-board one of these apps, but then again – there is so much more to these productivity apps that simply managing work related projects. These apps have been developed to help you to manage your entire life as efficiently as possible.</p>
<p>With a range of easy to use features, great design, and continual improvement and progression, it’s a difficult task to choose a winner between the two. But we’re going to give it a go. Let’s start with an initial beginner’s guide to each.</p>
<h2>Trello Vs Asana – The Contenders</h2>
<p>First let's take a look at contender #1, Trello.</p>
<h2>Trello: A Quick Overview</h2>
<p>Trello was actually one of the first project management apps on the market that took things in a very different direction. Trello is based on the Kanban approach which is a visual way of managing tasks on a project board. Think “white board with sticky notes” but on your computer screen. This very visual approach makes it easy to get an instant progress overview and it can be invaluable to busy project managers. Want to know how Trello works? Here’s a basic overview of how to get started:</p>
<h3>The first thing to do when you sign up to Trello is create a board.</h3>
<p>Boards are the brains behind Trello. This is your homebase. Once you’ve set up a board (for a work project, home project, whatever you like) you can assign tasks within that board that have to be completed and can also be checked off once they’re done. Boards can be public or private, so you might want to keep your work items lowkey but leave your party planning board public so everyone can get involved.</p>
<h3>When you’ve set up a board, you can create lists and cards.</h3>
<p>Lists are columns that hold your tasks and you can drag and drop cards/tasks from one column to the next as you project progresses. For example. It’s quite common or users to name lists “to do”, “doing” , and “done”, so it’s pretty obvious that the workflow works! Also don’t underestimate the satisfaction of looking at your “done” list at the end of the day.</p>
<p><img src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2023/08/image2_pqq2ot.png" alt="Trello vs Asana - Image 1" /></p>
<p>Once you’ve set up your first Trello board and a series of lists (or columns), you can start filling them up with cards. In this example, these can be any to-do list items that you have lined up for that week and at what stage you’re at in the process, i.e. do you need to start tomorrow? Are you halfway through? Or is the task completed?</p>
<p>If you're working with colleagues or friends on a task, you can assign these cards you’ve created to anyone else who is working with you on it. As you assign the task, you can add an array of useful information such as the due date, further details on the task, any relevant comments, checklists that need to be completed, and attachments you want to add, etc.</p>
<p><img src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2023/08/image5_f6vcre.png" alt="Trello vs Asana - Image 2" /></p>
<p>Now for contender #2.</p>
<h2>Starting Off With Asana</h2>
<p>In Asana, teams are organised around projects and it’s completely project based. Teams collaborate in Asana via organised lists of tasks and in comparison to Trello it’s definitely more “linear” rather than “visual” in its approach.</p>
<p>In Asana, projects involve lists of tasks that teams collaborate on, e.g. you can create different Sections for each project and create a list of tasks related to that specific section of the project. Each of those tasks can then have its own sub-task so that you can create a “nesting” of tasks. You can tag people in the tasks, add comments and files, create even more subtasks, and add descriptions. Almost whatever you need to complete the task can be added here. This is really useful if you have a very comprehensive and detailed list of tasks involved in a project. In comparison to Trello, which can get pretty messy as a project develops (there’s a LOT of scrolling involved to navigate through tasks), Asana is a lot easier to manage at this level.</p>
<p>Users can use a pre-existing Asana template (which are all absolutely fine to use) or create custom template to meet their exact requirements.</p>
<p><img src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2023/08/image6_g8jkof.png" alt="Trello vs Asana - Image 3" /></p>
<h3>Adding information.</h3>
<p>Once you’ve created a task, you can add lots of details similarly to Trello, such as comments, attachments, and checklists.</p>
<h3>Creating Your First Project</h3>
<p>You can create your first Project before or after you’ve added tasks. When creating a project in Asana, you have a choice between a list or board view layout and you can also set the privacy setting for the project at this stage too.</p>
<p><img src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2023/08/image3_ehogd5.png" alt="Trello vs Asana image 3" /></p>
<p><img src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2023/08/image7_naih0v.png" alt="Trello vs Asana image 4" /></p>
<h3>Adding Columns</h3>
<p>If you opt for a “board view” layout in Asana, your columns will automatically set up and default to “To Do”, “Doing”, and “Done”.</p>
<p><img src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2023/08/image1_fpyc4t.png" alt="Trello vs Asana image 5" /></p>
<p>You can stick with these if you wish or you can rename them and add other columns according to your project requirements.</p>
<h2>OK, But What’s The Main Difference?</h2>
<p>In my opinion, the main difference between Trello Vs Asana lies in the UI and usability. The caveat here is that this ease of use is going to be heavily dependent on your own style of work and what type of UI you’re used to, in addition to your natural preference. But for now, let’s take a black and white look at it.</p>
<p>Trello runs on a Kanban system, so at its core it’s a to-do list made easy. It is extremely adaptable and has expanded into an incredible project management resource, but ultimately it is a to-do list app with a lot of features that make it work in more advanced ways. So, is this a good or a bad thing? I believe it’s a good thing. Because of its origins, Trello is extremely intuitive, whereas Asana has been built as a project management tool for teams from day one and the little intricacies that make it a better option for very robust teams and organisations can alienate smaller teams and single users.</p>
<p>It might be argued that Asana is a “level-up” from Trello if your Trello boards start to become too messy and convoluted. But I’d argue that if you have the correct internal processes in place, that simply won't happen in Trello. Trello is all about having a process, and once you have one, it does its job to support that process.</p>
<p>Trello is designed to help you navigate your whole life, not just your workload. And the level of simplicity at which it does this means it appeals to both technical and non-technical users, which is what gives it an edge over Asana. If i was looking to roll out a new project management system to a mixed team of tech and non-tech employees. I wouldn't think twice about opting for Trello over Asana. Because it’s “better” overall? Debatable. But because it can be grasped very quickly, it would win every time.</p>
<h2>Still Unsure? Let’s Weight Up the Pros and Cons of Trello Vs Asana:</h2>
<h3>Trello: Pros</h3>
<ul>
<li>Free to sign up, no credit card details required.</li>
<li>Very flexible, you can design the exact project management system that works for you and it’s not limited to project management either.</li>
<li>Super useful features like color coding, comments, and mentions, which allow for instant collaboration.</li>
<li>No limit to the amount of team members in the free version.</li>
<li>Doesn’t go overboard with features. You get what you need.</li>
<li>Simplicity: easy to use and visualise project progression with access to help when needed.</li>
<li>Available on iPhone and Android.</li>
<li>Unlimited usage, i.e. create as many Trello cards and invite as many users as you like.</li>
<li>Integrates with apps such as Google Drive, Slack, Dropbox.</li>
</ul>
<h3>Trello: Cons</h3>
<ul>
<li>Can get messy with larger projects if you don’t already have your own system in place. If you don’t put a process in place when you start using Trello and get everyone on the same page, things will get complicated fast.</li>
<li>You can only export when using a paid plan.</li>
<li>The visual style won’t suit everyone’s way of working.</li>
</ul>
<h3>Asana: Pros</h3>
<ul>
<li>Asana has a more sophisticated style. The UI is more refined and you’ll only see options and menus appear when relevant.</li>
<li>It’s free to use for up to 15 people per team.</li>
<li>Easy to quickly add new tasks.</li>
<li>Email integration.</li>
<li>The app is available on iOS and Android.</li>
<li>The condensed task view makes it easier to get a quick bird’s eye look at a project and instantly access the section you need to work on compared to Trello.</li>
<li>Asana has built-in help available that makes sure you never get stuck for too long.</li>
<li>Like Trello, Asana offers a number of integrations such as Slack, Dropbox, and Google Drive.</li>
<li>The Portfolios feature allows larger teams to manage multiple projects at scale as each can be seen in a grid-style view.</li>
</ul>
<h3>Asana: Cons</h3>
<ul>
<li>Team members limited to 15 in the free version.</li>
<li>Only one member of a team can be delegated to each task.</li>
<li>The interface can seem busy at times.</li>
<li>Depending on how tech-savvy the user/users are, it may take some training to get everyone using Asana optimally.</li>
</ul>
<h2>Trello Vs Asana – Let's Talk Pricing</h2>
<p>Both Trello and Asana offer a free basic option for a limited number of users and features. None of which are exactly extortionate, but if you want to use this in a business capacity the free version will simply be a “try before you buy” option for you.</p>
<p>Most Trello teams will start with basic and update to business or Enterprise a while later in order to access things like 3rd party integrations. For more on Trello pricing, <a href="https://trello.com/en/pricing" target="_blank">click here</a>.</p>
<p><img src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2023/08/image4_priwiw.png" alt="Trello vs Asana - Pricing" /></p>
<p>Asana is a little pricier but there really isn’t much in it. For Enterprise rates, you’ll need to contact their sales team directly. For more on Asana pricing, <a href="https://asana.com/pricing" target="_blank">click here</a>.</p>
<p><img src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2023/08/screenshot-2019-09-30-at-120337-pm_zzcvvk.png" alt="Trello vs Asana - Pricing 2" /></p>
<p>Trello vs Asana – Which is Best for You?</p>
<p>The differences are so minor that it’s really a question of personal preference. Trello is undoubtedly the more visually appealing option with more ease of use, but it tends to lose out to Asana once the projects start to pile up. In comparison, Asana can seem a little more daunting to set up but it is that little bit more powerful when it comes to managing large-scale projects, especially when you’re managing multiple teams and projects at once.</p>
<p>The best thing about both of these platforms is that they’re free to try, so why not give both a try and see which works best for you and how you like to work? We’d love to hear whether Asana or Trello wins out for you in the comments section below!</p>
<p>Looking for more great comparisons? Check out the following articles:</p>
<ul>
<li><a href="/static-site-generators-vs-flat-file-cms-is-there-a-difference/">Static Site Generators vs Flat File CMS; Is there a Difference?</a></li>
<li><a href="/magento-vs-shopify-which-is-right-for-you/">Magento vs Shopify: Which Is Right for You</a></li>
</ul>
<p></p>


Trello Vs Asana - The Battle of the Productivity Apps

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<p style="text-align:left">Umbraco, the provider of the flexible, friendly, easy-to-use and full-featured open-source content management system (CMS), today announced the promotion of the company’s chief sales, service and support executive, Kim Sneum Madsen, to chief executive officer. Madsen officially replaces founder Niels Hartvig, allowing Hartvig to focus on expanding the company’s active open source community.</p>
<p><img src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2023/08/blobid5_1568743306549.ft" /></p>
<p>In 2005, Hartvig founded Umbraco CMS, the only .NET-based CMS that also offers all of the advantages of open source software such as the ability to use the software and make changes freely, without expensive licensing fees. Umbraco gives developers the flexibility and freedom to build websites, apps and other solutions with the look and features they want, while enabling editors and content creators to easily and quickly get content in front of their customers. Umbraco CMS and the Umbraco Cloud run more than 500,000 websites worldwide, while being developed and maintained primarily by a global community of 220,000 developers.</p>
<p>“My expertise is in software design and community development, so to grow Umbraco into the type of company I envisioned, I knew we needed someone with vast business experience like Kim,” said Hartvig, who was named a Microsoft Most Valuable Professional in 2014, 2015 and 2016. “Since he joined us 3.5 years ago to help run our sales, service and support, we’ve experienced yearly growth between 25 and 40 percent and added 40 new employees. With Kim trusted at the helm, I’m now ready to go back to where my true passion lies—completely focused on building the Umbraco community, the main reason for our global success and continued development.”</p>
<p>Prior to joining Umbraco in January 2016, Madsen served for 12 years in various service, support and sales management roles at e-conomic international, a Denmark-based accounting software program. He also served for several decades in various high-pressure and high-risk relief and military roles, specifically within the Danish Emergency Management Agency. In addition to working at Umbraco, Madsen is on the board of directors for the IT industry Region of Funen, Denmark, which supports Funen IT companies.</p>
<p>“Working at Umbraco over the last few years has been extremely fulfilling and fruitful as we’ve strived to combine our open source project with the commercial initiatives through Umbraco Cloud,” Madsen said. “With Niels focused on bringing even more creativity, talent and ideas from our active and dedicated community, and our management team focused on growing Umbraco into an even greater business, we’ll ensure our customers and partners get the most safe, professional and high-quality products available.”</p>
<p><strong>About </strong><a href="http://icm-tracking.meltwater.com/link.php?DynEngagement=true&amp;H=3ZUQjNycMu7D%2Fe%2Bm%2FOmi3Qi1eTNrfRb0HcFplK3KYerw%2B6SfjwwI9rHaDQ%2FE22BtrodA2Y7EpntSIZi0q8z2TQ7PKO0cMUA%2BaRov2%2Blz6gk9m6LhQI8ViA%3D%3D&amp;G=0&amp;R=https%3A%2F%2Fumbraco.com%2Fumbraco-8%2F&amp;I=20190918130026.000005ce82e7%40mail6-53-ussnn1&amp;X=MHwxMDQ2NzU4OjVkODEyMDI4ODE2NmRhY2YxZmU5ZGM3OTs%3D&amp;S=067cA9ORbnNO5p5uEnQydj0d9kcmyORizEu2kIp_AOY" target="_blank"><strong>Umbraco</strong></a></p>
<p>Umbraco is an open source CMS built on the Microsoft .NET platform. Often referred to as the “Friendly CMS,” Umbraco gives developers the flexibility and freedom to build website, apps and other solutions with the look and features they want, while enabling editors and content creators to easily and quickly get content in front of their customers as quickly as possible. Created in 2005 by Danish developer Niels Hartvig, Umbraco also offers the Umbraco Cloud, providing all-in-one Azure hosting and predictability in cost, performance and time. More than 500,000 websites run live on Umbraco CMS and the Umbraco Cloud, supported by more than 220,000 very active Umbraco community members. Based in Odense, Denmark, the company also has a sales office in New York City. For more information, visit <a href="http://icm-tracking.meltwater.com/link.php?DynEngagement=true&amp;H=3ZUQjNycMu7D%2Fe%2Bm%2FOmi3Qi1eTNrfRb0HcFplK3KYerw%2B6SfjwwI9rHaDQ%2FE22BtrodA2Y7EpntSIZi0q8z2TQ7PKO0cMUA%2BaRov2%2Blz6gk9m6LhQI8ViA%3D%3D&amp;G=0&amp;R=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.umbraco.com%2F&amp;I=20190918130026.000005ce82e7%40mail6-53-ussnn1&amp;X=MHwxMDQ2NzU4OjVkODEyMDI4ODE2NmRhY2YxZmU5ZGM3OTs%3D&amp;S=E72h70ZB7VkBYDo74WiNn7kOpR_nK8fz-s2CWuKx9OY" target="_blank">www.umbraco.com</a></p>
<p></p>


Kim Sneum Madsen Promoted to CEO of Umbraco, the “Friendly” Content Management System (CMS) Provider

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<p></p>
<p><a href="https://c212.net/c/link/?t=0&amp;l=en&amp;o=2582856-1&amp;h=632259297&amp;u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.nintex.com%2F&amp;a=Nintex" target="_blank">Nintex</a>, the global standard for process management and automation, today announced an industry first: Nintex Workflow Generator, which enables business users to instantly create sophisticated workflows using the cloud-based visual process mapping capability, Nintex Promapp.</p>
<p>Nintex Workflow Generator requires no coding and is a powerful new onramp to the automation capabilities of the Nintex Process Platform. This new feature is currently available to customers and partners with subscriptions to Nintex Promapp and Nintex Workflow Cloud.</p>
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<div class="image lightbox-item "><img title="In Nintex Promapp, a process expert maps a process, then clicks “Request Automation” to generate a workflow in Nintex Workflow Cloud. Learn more about process management and automation at Nintex.com." src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2023/08/nintex_automated_process.jpg" alt="In Nintex Promapp, a process expert maps a process, then clicks “Request Automation” to generate a workflow in Nintex Workflow Cloud. Learn more about process management and automation at Nintex.com." /></div><figcaption>In Nintex Promapp, a process expert maps a process, then clicks “Request Automation” to generate a workflow in Nintex Workflow Cloud. Learn more about process management and automation at Nintex.com.</figcaption></figure>
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<p>“Automation delivers tremendous benefits in terms of time, cost, and accuracy of business processes,” said <b>Nintex CEO <span class="xn-person">Eric Johnson</span></b>. “By empowering business users to easily drive automation, we're helping enterprises further digitize their operations, a major competitive advantage.”</p>
<p>Nintex Workflow Generator will be discussed in depth at <a href="https://c212.net/c/link/?t=0&amp;l=en&amp;o=2582856-1&amp;h=2590335440&amp;u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.nintex.com%2Fnintexprocessfest2019%2F&amp;a=Nintex+ProcessFest+2019" target="_blank">Nintex ProcessFest 2019</a>, a first-of-its-kind process management and automation training and educational conference being held <span class="xn-chron">Sept. 30 through Oct. 3</span> at the W Hotel in <span class="xn-location">Bellevue, Wash.</span>, near Nintex's U.S. headquarters.</p>
<p>In most enterprises, automation expertise is concentrated in the IT department, while departmental process knowledge is dispersed across line of business (LoB) functions such as sales, marketing, HR, and finance. IT often lacks a nuanced understanding of the processes that make the business run. Meanwhile, the LoB experts responsible for completing those processes — many of which are still manual and paper-based — often are not empowered to harness the full potential of automation.</p>
<p>Nintex Workflow Generator uses natural language processing (NLP) to bridge the gap between process knowledge and automation expertise. The process expert simply uses Nintex Promapp to document a process, then clicks “Request Automation” to create a draft workflow and alert the IT department.</p>
<p>The workflow generator also simplifies communication between business users and IT, so workflows can be fine-tuned and continuously improved. The NLP engine uses feedback loops to steadily improve the accuracy with which it aligns process descriptions to standard workflow actions.</p>
<p>“My best clients leverage Nintex Promapp as their process design and knowledge management tool and have had tremendous success in achieving team engagement and communication of their business processes,” said <b><span class="xn-person">Dianna Wilusz</span>, CEO and Founder of The Pendolino Group</b>.</p>
<p>“Now, with the release of the new Nintex Workflow Generator, I'm excited to help our clients go to the next level of process excellence. The Workflow Generator can automatically turn any process into a workflow for automation, saving me and my customers substantial time.”</p>
<p>“Some organizations spend weeks or months trying to manually implement complex business workflows. Now they can translate a Nintex Promapp process to a workflow with simple clicks of a button,” said <b><span class="xn-person">Alex Viera</span>, Nintex Solutions Architect with Pacific Business Process Automation</b>. “It can't get any easier. Nintex Workflow Generator is an industry game-changer.”</p>
<p>Today more than 8,000 companies worldwide leverage the powerful and easy-to-use process mapping and automation capabilities, like workflow, RPA, responsive forms, and mobile apps, of the Nintex Process Platform to manage, automate and optimize business processes to improve the way people work. To see Nintex Workflow Generator in action, visit <a href="https://c212.net/c/link/?t=0&amp;l=en&amp;o=2582856-1&amp;h=3823668828&amp;u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.nintex.com%2Fworkflow-automation%2Fprocess-mapping%2F&amp;a=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.nintex.com%2Fworkflow-automation%2Fprocess-mapping%2F" target="_blank">https://www.nintex.com/workflow-automation/process-mapping/</a> and sign up for a demo.</p>
<p></p>


Nintex Introduces Instant Creation of Automated Workflows

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<div class="m_-7301575464470174534gmail_signature">Contentful, the leading enterprise headless CMS provider, today announced the release of a new <a href="https://www.contentful.com/developers/docs/extensibility/apps/optimizely/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Optimizely application</a>, which allows developers to build content experimentation into <a href="https://www.contentful.com/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Contentful</a>, enabling faster experimentation and more efficient content delivery.</div>
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<div class="m_-7301575464470174534gmail_signature">The new application allows marketers to test critical marketing content without leaving Contentful. This enables more and faster content experimentation, resulting in increased customer conversions and improved customer experiences.</div>
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<div class="m_-7301575464470174534gmail_signature">“Time is money for all digital products and experiments. Contentful takes pride in helping customers deliver great experiences quickly, and the new Optimizely application will only make this even more possible,” said Sascha Konietzke, CEO and co-founder of Contentful. “Not having to leave the Contentful platform to create and run content experiments will give our customers yet another competitive advantage when it comes to the speed, agility and flexibility of the types of content they can deliver.”</div>
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<div class="m_-7301575464470174534gmail_signature">The Optimizely app removes hurdles for users by integrating the two products so practitioners can focus on the creation and testing of great content instead of configuration. Experimentation with variables like branding, messaging and user experience is critical to boosting customer conversions, driving more revenue. The new application also minimizes context switching and mistakes by reducing manual copying. It adds content variations to reference fields, assigns content variations to experiments  and monitors experimentation status.</div>
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<div class="m_-7301575464470174534gmail_signature">“Successful brands integrate experimentation throughout the customer journey to ensure they maximize every digital touchpoint to drive engagement, increase advocacy and grow their businesses,” said Byron Jones, director of product at Optimizely. “Our latest collaboration with Contentful makes it even easier and more efficient for marketers to use data-driven decision making to scale their experimentation programs and eliminate the guesswork to deliver the best digital experience for their customers.”</div>
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<div class="m_-7301575464470174534gmail_signature">The Optimizely application also makes it easier for users to supercharge their experiments with structured content by connecting it with Contentful. Users can ask the Optimizely platform to select a variation based on targeting criteria, which allows them to pick matching content from Contentful.</div>
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<div class="m_-7301575464470174534gmail_signature">Contentful and Optimizely have a history of collaborating on technical projects to improve content management. Last September, Contentful joined forces with Optimizely to help form <a href="https://www.contentful.com/blog/2018/09/12/contentful-joins-dxsalliance-delivers-digital-experiences-faster/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">The Digital Experiences Stack</a> (DXS), a group dedicated to creating a cohesive way for companies to use best-in-category technologies to deliver digital products. The companies also collaborated to build a modernized marketing <a href="https://www.contentful.com/blog/2019/03/20/building-a-modern-marketing-stack-with-contentful-optimizely/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">software stack</a> earlier this year to fuel deeper experimentation and personalization processes.</div>
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<div class="m_-7301575464470174534gmail_signature">The new Optimizely application for Contentful is available as a public beta for enterprise customers starting today, via the Contentful web app. For more information, visit the documentation <a href="https://www.contentful.com/developers/docs/extensibility/apps/optimizely/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">here</a>.</div>
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<div class="m_-7301575464470174534gmail_signature"><b>Additional Information</b></div>
<div class="m_-7301575464470174534gmail_signature">● Learn more about <a href="https://www.contentful.com/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Contentful</a></div>
<div class="m_-7301575464470174534gmail_signature">● Follow <a href="https://twitter.com/contentful" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">@Contentful</a> on Twitter</div>
<div class="m_-7301575464470174534gmail_signature">● Explore resources on <a href="https://github.com/contentful" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Github</a></div>
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<div class="m_-7301575464470174534gmail_signature"><b>About Contentful</b></div>
<div class="m_-7301575464470174534gmail_signature">Contentful provides the essential content infrastructure for digital products and experiences, making content accessible via APIs and editable in an intuitive web app. Companies including Spotify, Red Bull Music Academy, Xoom/Paypal, Lenovo, Nike and many others rely on Contentful to author, manage and deliver digital content to any channel or platform. For more information, visit <a href="https://www.contentful.com/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">https://www.contentful.<wbr></wbr>com/</a></div>
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<div class="m_-7301575464470174534gmail_signature"><b>About Optimizely</b></div>
<div class="m_-7301575464470174534gmail_signature">Optimizely’s leading platform offers a complete set of digital experience optimization technologies, including AI-powered personalization and experimentation, which encompasses A/B testing, multivariate testing, and server-side testing. We take out the guesswork to enable brands to deliver relevant experiences driven by data. The world’s greatest brands choose Optimizely to win and compete in the digital economy, including Gap, StubHub, IBM, The Wall Street Journal, and many more.</div>
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Contentful Launches New Optimizely Application that Enhances the Content Delivery Process to Drive Great Digital Experiences

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<p><span style="font-weight:400">Data is fast becoming a valuable part of business strategy. It gives companies the information they need to analyze trends, decipher customer expectations, and discover exciting new opportunities for growth. These “insight-driven businesses” (a term adopted by Forrester) are growing by more than 30% annunally and this is just the beginning. Predictions from </span><a href="http://yokellocal.com/blog/7-customer-experience-trends-2018"><span style="font-weight:400">Walker Info</span></a><span style="font-weight:400"> indicate that by 2020, 86% of customers will consider customer experience to be the most important factor in their purchasing decisions.</span></p>
<p><span style="font-weight:400">Consumers no longer have the luxury of time to peruse shopping aisles and this has forced many retailers to shut up shop in recent years. These customers are turning to online shopping instead and they have begun to expect a more personalized and unique shopping experience that is tailored to their individual preferences and lifestyles. This shift has been in motion for a while, but the fact that many retailers have been slow to respond has resulted in the closure of circa </span><a href="https://coresight.com/weekly-store-trackers/"><span style="font-weight:400">7,000 stores </span></a><span style="font-weight:400">from the impact of online shopping in 2017 alone. </span></p>
<p><span style="font-weight:400">Now, in 2019, it’s absolutely essential for retailers to focus on improving their digital retail approach in order to enhance customer experiences. This particularly applies to larger retailers who are stuck between a rock and a hard place due to the higher expectations customers have of them in comparison to the fact that niche retailers often find it much easier to provide these sought-after personalized shopping experiences. </span></p>
<p><span style="font-weight:400">A survey by data marketing company </span><a href="https://www.globenewswire.com/news-release/2017/10/25/1300518/0/en/Segment-Survey-Finds-Consumers-Will-Spend-More-When-Their-Shopping-Experience-is-Personalized-but-Most-Retailers-are-Missing-the-Mark.html"><span style="font-weight:400">Segment</span></a><span style="font-weight:400"> surveyed over 200 shoppers and found that this personalisation can result in higher revenues and an increase in customer loyalty (44% of customers said they would shop with that retailer again in the future). In fact, in an </span><a href="https://www.accenture.com/t20150523t052453__w__/gr-en/_acnmedia/accenture/conversion-assets/dotcom/documents/global/pdf/strategy_3/accenture-global-consumer-pulse-research-study-2013-key-findings.pdf"><span style="font-weight:400">Accenture study</span></a><span style="font-weight:400">, 82% of customers who have switched loyalties and moved to a new retailer said that a better customer experience would have prevented them from making the switch. A lack of focus on providing these personalized experiences has been one of the main instigators of the department store shutdowns across the US in recent years.</span></p>
<h2><span style="font-weight:400">The Shift to Data-Driven Experiences is Easier Than You Think</span></h2>
<p><span style="font-weight:400">The technological changes involved in changing your approach to data are pretty straightforward, albeit time consuming. It’s all about shifting your business mindset and processes to make the most out of the data you have.</span></p>
<p><span style="font-weight:400">The amount of data available to businesses today can be overwhelming and many companies find it daunting to extract valuable customer insights from a data stream that never seems to end. One of the main issues causing this is the silo epidemic that’s ever present in large companies across the world. Sales, marketing, and customer service departments often work off different CRMs and it is impossible for employees to collaborate with a focus on the customer, which is essential to create an optimal <a href="https://www.devhub.com/blog/2674033-types-of-data-powered-experiences-dpes/" target="_blank">data powered experience</a>. When you take into consideration the fact that these departments often don’t even know each other personally, the problematic nature of this knowledge gap becomes even more evident. This leads to an inconsistent and disconnected customer experience that does nothing to encourage customer confidence in the business. </span></p>
<p><span style="font-weight:400">This lack of communication results in very little customer insight and a whole lot of unnecessary noise that marketers struggle to organize into valuable information. What usually happens to this collection of data is that it’s sifted through on an ad-hoc basis which again provides little consistency in addition to insufficient growth in the business. </span></p>
<p><span style="font-weight:400">The key to solving this situation is to take a new approach to the data and marketing strategy within your business. Data is useless to your business unless you know what to do with it. Finding and utilizing the correct data, organizing it, and making it available to everyone who needs it within your business will allow you to engage with customers on a much deeper level than you ever have. </span></p>
<p><span style="font-weight:400">This educated information should encourage websites to move towards a more tailored experience that responds directly to an individual rather than simply a persona. A data management platform is useful in this instance to help to make sense of the data noise at your fingertips. This can organize your data to show which parts of your customer experience need the most attention.</span></p>
<h2><span style="font-weight:400">Customer Experience = How a Customer Interacts with a Brand or Business at Every Touchpoint</span></h2>
<p><span style="font-weight:400">The correct usage of analytics and data is empowering businesses to take a new, engaged, and more educated approach to delivering an optimal customer experience.</span></p>
<p><span style="font-weight:400">Each touchpoint provides an opportunity to impress and fulfil the needs of your customer, and once you have a data profile of your customer you have all of the information needed to do so. </span></p>
<p><span style="font-weight:400">Touchpoints include any way that someone can engage with your business or brand, such as websites, commercials, online advertisements, email, social media, support calls, store visits, and purchasing a product to use. This is where you can evaluate how effective your content offers, email campaigns, and CTOs are so that you can then customize them to the needs of each customer. It’s also a great way to see how your customers usually interact with your business, i.e. via mobile apps or web.</span></p>
<p><span style="font-weight:400">The first thing your customer will think about before even thinking about your product is the experience you offer to them. It doesn’t matter how great your product or pricing is if you deliver a bad experience as this will stop people from turning into customers. The good news is that creating a data-driven customer experience will enable you to adapt to the changing preferences of each of your individual customers. The right data will help you to refine your customer experience, UX, analytics, and data to help you maintain and acquire profitable customers. </span></p>
<h2><span style="font-weight:400">Never Stop Refining Your Strategy</span></h2>
<p><span style="font-weight:400">Your data-driven customer experience strategy should be regularly refined every time you collect significant data via these touchpoints. Utilizing this data will help you to adapt to new trends quickly and stay on track with the evolving preferences and behaviors of your customers so that you stay ahead of your competitors.</span></p>
<p><span style="font-weight:400">Once you’ve gathered enough data, you can delve deep into the relationships between the different behavior patterns of your customers which will then become a key factor in your marketing efforts. This data can then help you to create an even better customer persona that is based on the actions of your customers instead of assumptions about what they want. This will enable you to provide suggestions of other products they may be interested in as a result of their previous purchases.</span></p>
<p><span style="font-weight:400">The success of your company ultimately depends on how well you know your customers, and retrieving the right data is the key to gaining that knowledge. Improving your customer experience will make your business smarter, more agile, and equip it with the information it needs to survive in this rapidly changing data-driven environment.</span></p>
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Data Powered Experience: The Future of Marketing

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<p>Today EvoWeb Technologies released EWCart, an entirely new eCommerce solution designed for small businesses that want a reliable, secure, fast eCommerce platform with the added bonus of their own web development team at no extra charge. This affordable, full-featured new platform will include full maintenance and support, and top-of-the-line servers, while also providing customers with a bespoke website and a personal account manager, giving them the tools they need to succeed.</p>
<p>While other eCommerce platforms will only include the platform itself, EWCart aims to stand-out by providing users with a full-fledged eCommerce solution. They provide small businesses with everything they need to sell, update inventory, track orders, and accept payments, as well as their own web development team that can tailor their business website to their needs. This will save businesses thousands in seed capital and maintenance fees, as EWCart takes care of that as well.</p>
<p>EvoWeb Technologies has discovered the high cost of starting an eCommerce website, notably the fees to hire a developer to redesign a template to suit sellers business after paying eCommerce platforms fees. “The eCommerce industry is growing faster than we can all imagine but the cost of set-up is preventing lots of sellers from leveraging on this fantastic market,” the CEO of EvoWeb Technologies, Mustafa Hussaini, noted.</p>
<p>Statista estimated there are no lesser than 1.6 billion digital buyers worldwide and predicted there will be 2.14 billion in 2021. Buyers are reportedly tapping into these customers base and most of them get discouraged due to the cost of designing and hosting their online store.</p>
<p>According to Atlantic Business Technology Inc., the cost of starting an eCommerce website can range from $5,000 to $100,000. On careful analysis, this cost always starts from $20-$60 and can escalate due to the cost of hiring developers to customize the website.</p>
<p>In response to the cost challenges and difficulty in management, the EvoWeb Technologies group of programmers designed an eCommerce platform, EWCart, which offers fully customizable eCommerce platforms that are affordable and easy to manage by all sellers.</p>
<p>To access the platform claimed to be the best and most affordable for all sellers by its parent company, visit <a href="https://www.ewcart.io" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">https://www.ewcart.io</a>. To check their plans, packages and other offers, use this URL https://www.ewcart.io/pricing. To speak with one of their support team members, email hello@ewcart.io or call +1 (323) 607-5424.</p>
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EvoWeb Technologies Releases EWCart, First eCommerce Platform to Provide Free Dedicated Developer Along With Platform

<p>For small-to-medium-sized businesses, establishing an online presence to sell products or services is an absolute must to stay competitive in today’s (and tomorrow’s) marketplace.</p><p><img src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2023/08/ecommerce776x0-is.jpg" /><br />At first glance, the <a href="/top-5-ecommerce-platforms-for-your-website/">premier ecommerce platforms</a> might appear to be a hefty monthly or yearly expense. Fortunately, there are vast number of open source ecommerce platforms that not only have an attractive price tag (many are free!), but they also offer customizability, scalability, and community support that aren’t always found in enterprise solutions.</p><p>Of course, opting to use a free open source ecommerce platform to manage online transactions might be an easy decision for your business as you look to get your feet wet in the online marketplace. Choosing the best open source ecommerce platform, however, will prove to be far more difficult. After all, they all have their various strengths and weaknesses.</p><p>Fear not, though, as in this article, we’ll introduce you to 10 open source ecommerce platforms that stand out from the rest, both in terms of popularity and utility:</p><h2 id="1.-nopcommerce">1. nopCommerce</h2><p><img src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2023/08/screenshot-2019-06-06-at-53906-am_qe3wkf.png" /></p><p>The platform with a wide functionality of features that allows creating projects and integrations of any kind and complexity. It`s the most popular platform on Microsoft framework, that remains free since its establishment in 2008. Today, it powers more than 50.000 stores.</p><p>The platform offers a wide range of functions. For instance, you can run multiple stores, use the multivendor, multi languages and multi-currencies features. This kind of wide functionality may cause difficulties at first: you may spend quite some time to deal with all the settings.</p><p>nopCommerce`s marketplace is quite extensive and contains plenty of plug-ins and themes. If you`re not willing to pay for the premium support from core developers, you can always ask a question on the forums, the community of 100 thousand+ members is quite active.</p><p>Perhaps the biggest drawback of the platform is that it might be difficult to launch a store if you do not have technical knowledge. On the other hand, after the store is launched, you will be able to run and support it on your own, and at the same time be sure that you will not encounter any additional fees</p><p><a target="_blank" href="https://www.nopcommerce.com/">Find out more about nopCommerce</a>.</p><h2 id="2.-prestashop">2. PrestaShop</h2><p><img src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2023/08/presta-shop793x0-is.jpg" /><br />With over 250,000 stores using the ecommerce platform, PrestaShop is very popular due to its ease of use.</p><p>It is easy to both install and customize the software, and everything is very intuitive. How much work you’ll put into creating a store using PrestaShop is up to you: you can either download a fully-hosted or self-hosted version, so you can determine your own level of technical control (both are free).</p><p>That leads us into the biggest downside of PrestaShop: there’s not a lot of customizing that you can do. If you like tinkering with a bunch of graphics, you’ll likely be disappointed, as you’re not given a lot of leeway with graphic elements.</p><p>If you want to really customize your site, you’ll have to purchase additional themes and templates or delve into the code.</p><p><a target="_blank" href="http://www.prestashop.com">Find out more about PrestaShop</a>.</p><h2 id="3.-opencart">3. OpenCart</h2><p><img src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2023/08/opencart787x0-is.jpg" />OpenCart is especially popular with small businesses that don’t have anyone on staff with a lot of programming experience. It’s fairly simple, without a lot of the other functionalities found in other shopping cart software. This, of course, is a double-edged sword, as less complexity means it’s easier to use, but you might not get as much out of it in the end.</p><p>That being said, you can still do a lot with OpenCart, though to really open this program up you’ll need a programmer to help you get around some of the code. You can also choose from a bunch of different plugins to give your site more flexibility.</p><p>One of the other great things about OpenCart’s simplicity is the fact that it doesn’t drag on your server. You can slow everything down by adding a ton of plugins, of course, but for most people this should be one of the faster options.</p><p>The biggest downside, besides the simplicity, is the fact that it’s so reliant on plugins. That means you may have compatibility issues with different plugins, or you might need an update that may never come. You’re putting yourself at the mercy of plugin developers much more with OpenCart than other software.</p><p>All in all, the simplicity of OpenCart has made it the ecommerce platform of choice for daredevil Nik Wallenda.</p><p><a target="_blank" href="http://www.opencart.com/">Find out more about OpenCart</a>.</p><h2 id="4.-oscommerce">4. osCommerce</h2><p><img src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2023/08/os-commerce740x0-is.jpg" /><br />osCommerce has been one the most trusted open source ecommerce platforms for the last fifteen years. With more than 7,000 community-created add-ons available for the platform, you’ll enjoy a wide range of customizability in designing and enhancing the appearance and functionality of your storefront.</p><p>With more than 260,000 store owners, developers, and service providers, osCommerce offers a vast support network, which serves as an excellent resource when things go awry. If you’re having problems with your software, it’s virtually guaranteed that someone else has experienced – and solved – that very same issue.</p><p>The downside to older software, of course, is that it’s old – and in osCommerce’s case, that means it doesn’t quite have the horsepower that other, newer options do. It’s not as scalable, and others have more features and just a little more “oomph.”</p><p><a target="_blank" href="http://www.oscommerce.com/">Find out more about OsCommerce</a>.</p><h2 id="5.-zen-cart">5. Zen Cart</h2><p><img src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2023/08/zen-cart_1744x0-is.jpg" /><br />Zen Cart has one big advantage going for it: it’s got a great product management system. You can do almost anything – and do it easily – in Zen Cart, from controlling inventory to creating specials and sales. It’s total control, right at your fingertips.</p><p>However, the system does tend to slow if you’re adding a bunch of new products, so it may not be great for businesses that do massive amounts of volume.</p><p>The biggest drawback to Zen Cart is that it’s ugly – at least out of the box. You can gussy it up with new templates, and a talented programmer can make it dance, but if you just want to install and go, your storefront won’t exactly have the cosmetic appeal that the alternatives offer.</p><p><a target="_blank" href="http://www.zen-cart.com/">Find out more about Zen Cart</a>.</p><h2 id="6.-spree-commerce">6. Spree Commerce</h2><p><img src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2023/08/spree-commerce.jpg" /></p><p>One of the newer ecommerce platforms, Spree is based on Ruby on Rails. Its modular platform and small learning curve make it very easy to configure and upgrade its functionality. That’s why it should come as no surprise that it’s trusted by such retailers as 3D Robotics and Nutrisystem.</p><p>Many of the extensions that you might want are supported by Spree itself, instead of independent developers, which is particularly advantageous when you need timely upgrades.</p><p>Perhaps the biggest advantages of Spree Commerce are its flexibility and scalability. No matter the size and complexity of your storefront, you’ll be able to customize it to your liking. That’s why it’s widely considered one of the fastest growing open source ecommerce solutions.</p><p><a target="_blank" href="https://spreeecommerce.com/">Find out more about Spree Commerce.</a></p><h2 id="7.-woocommerce-(wordpress)">7. WooCommerce (WordPress)</h2><p><img src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2023/08/woocommerce908x0-is.jpg" /><br />Largely considered the leading open source ecommerce platform for WordPress, WooCommerce boasts a large and rapidly-growing user community. Its seamless integration with WordPress makes it a breeze to install and manage, which is one of the main reasons why retailers like Cupcake Studio and EcoKitty have made it their open source ecommerce platform of choice.</p><p>The mobile-friendly nature of WooCommerce makes it an appealing choice to brands looking to cater to the growing number of customers that use their tablet or phone to shop. In fact, the platform even enables brands to create a mobile app for their storefront with the installation of an add-on.</p><p>Because WooCommerce can only be used with WordPress, it may not be the most attractive solution for some retailers and brands. However, for those already using WordPress, the scalability that WooCommerce offers makes it a particularly appealing option. However, as one might guess, paid extensions are necessary to get the absolute most out of the ecommerce solution.</p><p><a target="_blank" href="https://woocommerce.com/">Find out more about WooCommerce</a>.</p><h2 id="8.-jigoshop-(wordpress)">8. Jigoshop (WordPress)</h2><p><img src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2023/08/jigoshop634x0-is.jpg" /></p><p>Another WordPress-based solution that’s been gaining steam is Jigoshop. Like most other open source ecommerce solutions, Jigoshop is rather lightweight on its own. For retailers looking to make the most of their storefront, themes, plugins, and extensions are available for purchase.</p><p>Like WooCommerce, Jigoshop is very easy to use – with one big exception. You can’t link variations on the software; meaning, if you were selling t-shirts in all different colors, you couldn’t just specify “blue” as the color for all sizes. You’d have to create a “blue small” option, then a “blue medium” option, and so on – which can be very time-consuming.</p><p>Most everything that comes with Jigoshop is very basic, but you can purchase upgrades. This shop will ultimately have as much utility as you can afford to give it.</p><p><a target="_blank" href="http://www.jigoshop.com/">Find out more about Jigoshop</a>.</p><h2 id="9.-virtuemart-(joomla)">9. VirtueMart (Joomla)</h2><p><img src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2023/08/virtue-mart711x0-is.jpg" /></p><p>As the most widely used ecommerce extension for Joomla, <a target="_blank" href="https://www.cmscritic.com/virtuemart-3-released/">VirtueMart</a> makes it a breeze to get your storefront up and running. Its multi-language capability makes it an appealing choice for retailers catering to a global audience, as customers can view product descriptions in their native language.</p><p>VirtueMart is SEO friendly, which could potentially drive more organic traffic to the storefront when used properly. This simple, lightweight ecommerce solution also offers invoicing and inventory management capabilities.</p><p>While VirtueMart doesn’t have all the features of its competitors, its simple integration with Joomla makes it a popular choice.</p><p><a target="_blank" href="http://virtuemart.net/">Find out more about VirtueMart</a>.</p><h2 id="10.-drupal-commerce-(drupal)">10. Drupal Commerce (Drupal)</h2><p><img src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2023/08/drupal-commerce.jpg" /></p><p>As one of my most popular open source ecommerce platforms among Drupal users, Drupal Commerce is both flexible and SEO-friendly. It features an easy-to-use administration system, and it is capable of handling some of the more complex payment models, such as those that are subscription-based.</p><p>Just as WooCommerce is exclusive to WordPress and VirtueMart is exclusive to Joomla, Drupal Commerce can only be used with Drupal. It’s very basic right out of the box, although they do offer a “Commerce Kickstart” package that gives you a nice head start by providing you with the most popular add-ons.</p><p>Whether you’re looking for a basic ecommerce solution, or one that you can supercharge with third-party add-ons, Drupal Commerce is a viable solution as long as you utilize Drupal as your content management platform. Its simplicity and customizability have made it the preferred ecommerce solution for retailers like Lush.</p><p><a target="_blank" href="http://drupalcommerce.org/">Find out more about Drupal Commerce</a>.</p><h2 id="11.-3d-cart">11. 3D Cart</h2><p><img src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2023/08/3dcart-screenshot-1750x0-is.jpg" /></p><p>3dcart is a powerful online store builder and ecommerce solution that offers a staggering list of features for those looking to transact business online. If you are in the market for an exceptional platform for your store, this is a great product to consider. They offer a 15 day free trial that allows you to play around with their excellent software to see if it suits your needs. With 24/7 free premium technical support, quick setup and no transaction fees, 3dCart is definitely a solid option to consider.</p><p>Their plans range from a very reasonable $19.99 / month to $129.99 / month and there is quite literally, a plan for every type of user you could possibly consider.</p><p><a target="_blank" href="https://shareasale.com/r.cfm?b=11762&amp;u=407830&amp;m=3609&amp;urllink=&amp;afftrack=">Find out more about 3dcart</a></p><h2 id="finding-the-best-open-source-ecommerce-platform-for-you">Finding the Best Open Source eCommerce Platform for You</h2><p>Ultimately, <a href="/wordpress-joomla-and-drupal-are-not-the-best-cms/">it’s impossible to say what the “best” platform is</a>, as your specific needs will determine which features will benefit you most. If you’re trying to do basic ecommerce, and you don’t need a scalable or customizable option, then one of the smaller, simpler ecommerce platforms could be perfect for you.</p><p>On the other hand, if you need a lot of versatility (or you’re willing to pay for a developer), then one of the more high-performance platforms is more likely to suit your needs.</p><p>You’re the only one who can decide what’s best for your business. Just remember, though, that people will judge your entire business based on your storefront…so choose wisely.</p><p>Which open source ecommerce platform do you prefer? Leave us a comment below.</p><p> </p>

Top 11 Open Source eCommerce Platforms

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