Articles - Page 53

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

matt-garrepy

When it comes to website traffic analytics, Google Analytics is by far the most popular and widely used tool on the market. It’s powerful, accurate, easy to install, and practically the industry standard at this point.
However, it’s not perfect, and there are a few flaws in GA that can leave some users feeling a little bewildered. Google has addressed this with a number of ‘hacks’ and native/third party plugins that can improve Google Analytics as you require.
I’ve put together a list of some of the best.
<h2>1. Track Clicks On Links To Other Sites</h2>
Tracking links that leave your site is exceptionally useful as it allows you to judge where and how your traffic flows away from your site. In order to track outgoing links within the system, GA users will have to code by hand which isn’t always the easiest task.
<img src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2023/08/picture_4.png" />
There are a number of different ways get around the coding aspect, such as adding a few short lines of jquery (which can be found in a number of sites like <a href="https://github.com/remy/min.js">min.js</a>,<a href="http://zeptojs.com/"> Zepto.js</a>,<a href="http://minifiedjs.com/"> and Minified.js</a>.
Using these lines of code, you can direct Google Analytics' pagetracker to track outbound link clicks extremely easily.
<h2>2. Google Analytics Filters Bot Traffic Automatically – You Just Didn’t Know It</h2>
This simple analytics hack makes life much easier by filtering all the automated bot traffic out of your metrics. So, you’re left with the real clicks that you’re actually interested in.
<img src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2023/08/picture_1507x0-is.png" />
To filter all the bot and search spider traffic from your metrics, just go to the Admin settings. In the View panel, you’ll see View Settings. At the very bottom of this panel, you’ll see a small section for Bot Filtering that has a box next to it that says: ‘Exclude all hits from known bots and spiders’.
Once you tick this box you’ll automatically filter all the known bots and search spiders from your metrics.
<h2>3. Use In-Browser Extensions to Display Information In New Ways</h2>
<img src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2023/08/picture_5.png" />
Google Analytics can be augmented in many ways that don’t include tampering with your code or your site. There are hundreds of interesting and useful extensions that can be added via your browser.
<ul>
<li>
<a href="https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/tag-assistant-by-google/kejbdjndbnbjgmefkgdddjlbokphdefk">The Tag Assistant </a>: This chrome extension allow you to automatically check if you have installed your tracking tags in the correct places.
</li>
<li>
<a href="https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/table-booster-for-google/mhedbgbipbdppajofkiklhlbbdlldidj">Table Booster </a>: This extension allows you to change the way that data is visualized on your Google Analytics dashboard. This allows you to spot errors and identify trends much quicker.
</li>
<li>
<a href="https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/gaidpiakchgkapdgbnoglpnbccdepnpk">Campaign URL Builder </a>: Using Google Tag Manager? If so, this extension can be a very powerful tool. It lets you insert your own GTM container snippet onto a page so you can create your own test environment test it on a site via your browser
</li>
</ul>
<h2>4. Track Your Downloads</h2>
Google Analytics allows you to track your downloads ‘out of the box’ but it requires a lot of specific code manipulation that can be a little daunting for most. Fear not, Google Analytics Certified Partner firm <a href="https://www.analyticspros.com">Analytics Pros </a>have developed a plugin that allows you automate the tagging for your download files in just a few clicks.
<img src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2023/08/4.png" />
This can be especially useful if you have a large number of file links on your site or you feel the code aspect might be a little too time consuming.
<h2>5. Get Google Analytics On Your Apple Products</h2>
As recently as two years ago, it was impossible to get Google Analytics to display on your iPhone without using a third party app that people found a little iffy, especially with data protection being such a hot topic.
You might not have realized that Google has launched an <a href="https://itunes.apple.com/ie/app/google-analytics/id881599038?mt=8">iPhone (and iPad) </a>specific app that gives you all of the power of Google Analytics, optimized for your smart phone.
<img src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2023/08/5.png" />
With Google's app, you can track users in real time, analyze behaviours, and check referalls.
<h2>6. Integrate Google Analytics With Google Docs</h2>
A plugin<a href="https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/google-analytics/fefimfimnhjjkomigakinmjileehfopp"> available from Google </a>lets you automatically export your Google Analytics information into Google Docs to allow you to use their powerful word processing and visualization tools to present your site metrics in a clean, shareable manner.
<img src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2023/08/picture_3887x0-is.png" />
This free plugin allows you to query and display your data from multiple viewpoints, calculate and display custom reports, create pie charts or other visual aids and embed these on third-party websites, schedule your reports to process, and then update automatically.
<h2>7. Use Google Analytics In Your CMS</h2>
You don’t have to stick with Google’s dashboard – you can view your Google Analytics metrics directly on your CMS dashboard with a range of special widgets. Not only do these widgets allow you to easily insert your Analytics code onto your site (usually with a one click solution) but they also allow data visualization of real time traffic.
<img src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2023/08/7.png" />
There’s a range of third party extensions for <a href="https://wordpress.org/plugins/google-analytics-dashboard-for-wp/">WordPress</a>, <a href="http://extensions.joomla.org/extension/asynchronous-google-analytics">Joomla</a>, and many others.
It's worth noting that, although most major content management systems support Google Analytics in one way or another, not all of them allow you to view your stats within their dashboard.
<h2>Hack To Your Heart's Content</h2>
These hacks and plugins allow you to bring Google’s powerful Analytic platform to a new level and customize it to the exact way that you need. I hope you’ll find them as useful as I have.
Why not tell us about some of your hacks and plugin finds? We’d love to hear from you in the comments section below.

7 Google Analytics Plugins & Hacks You Should Know About

grainne-logue

Adobe has announced the latest release of their social media monitoring and analytics solution, <a href="http://www.adobe.com/solutions/social-marketing.html">Adobe Social</a>. This new product aims to provide users with the ability to listen and respond to customer conversations, and connect the dots between social interactions and business results.
Adobe Social integrates with Flickr, Foursquare, Instagram and LinkedIn to provide marketers with a real view of their social presence in addition to social predictive publishing capabilities, a mobile user interface, streamlined reporting, and new collaborative features. As part of the , Adobe Social is one of the many key components to the all-in-one solution for marketers.
<h2>Management and governance</h2>
Adobe Social provides a means to assign roles and permissions, allowing administrators to choose how the various corporate teams (social, customer service, etc) interact with fans and followers. It's easy to specify who can publish content, moderate customer comments and more. Upper management, in the meantime, can get a full view of metrics and how social activities are performing.
<img src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2023/08/thumb-management-and-governance-327x183_jpg_adimg_mw_327.png" alt="adobe social" />
<h2>Listening and Moderation</h2>
Monitor thousands of sites across the social web and identify trends, opportunities and potential business threats. In addition, your social and customer service teams can access a real-time moderation queue, allowing them to respond to comments, route and escalate questions and track it all the way through to resolution.
<img src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2023/08/thumb-listening-and-moderation-327x183_jpg_adimg_mw_327.png" alt="adobe social" />
<h2>Publishing and Ads</h2>
Do you need to publish a large (or small) amount of posts? With Adobe Social it's easier than ever. You can create all posts within a calendar and route them for approval, schedule them for publishing to social sites and more. You can also target defined audiences based on a number of factors such as geographic &amp; demographics. You can also promote these posts directly from within the tool.
<img src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2023/08/thumb-publishing-and-ads-327x183_jpg_adimg_mw_327.png" alt="adobe social" />
<h2>Application Builder</h2>
Quickly and easily build a fan base using a drag and drop custom application made with Adobe Social's application builder. This tool lets you build our contests, galleries, polls and coupons quickly and easily. Using these tactics, you can get new followers and use the data collected to determine what interests them to better target them in the future.
<img src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2023/08/thumb-application-builder-327x183_jpg_adimg_mw_327.png" alt="adobe social" />
<h2>Social Campaigns</h2>
Due to it's deep integration with Adobe Analytics, Adobe Social has some of the most advanced campaign measurement tools available.  You can auto-generate and append unique tracking codes to social media posts and applications to quickly see which social channels, posts, and external influencers are driving the most conversations.
<img src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2023/08/thumb-socialcampaigns-327x183_jpg_adimg_mw_327.png" alt="adobe social" />
<h2>Social Analytics</h2>
Adobe Social helps you see and predict what customers like, talk about, and share most. Adobe Social monitors over 100 engagement metrics, filters social listening data by keywords and sentiment, and ties it all back to website activity so you can see which days, times, and types of content spark the most engagement.
<img src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2023/08/thumb-socialanalytics-327x183_jpg_adimg_mw_327.png" alt="adobe social" />

Need Social Media Monitoring & Analytics? Check out Adobe Social

mike-johnston

Top Flat File CMS Platforms for Building Simple Websites Fast

paris-tuzun

<a href="/how-to-build-your-portfolio-website-fast-with-webydo/">Webydo </a> and  <a target="_blank" href="https://www.ecwid.com/">Ecwid </a>have announced a partnership that offers Webydo users a sophisticated e-commerce solution that can be installed in minutes. Webydo provides graphic designers with a full solution for both the creation and management of sophisticated HTML websites, without writing code.With more than 70 percent of today's websites created by developers, Webydo’s cloud platform empowers designers with full creative control and independence, helping to build over 66,000 business websites to date. Through this partnership, Ecwid, used by more than 300,000 merchants in 175 countries and the most popular store builder on Facebook, will now be available for Webydo users who can add an Ecwid-powered online store to their Webydo websites with a few clicks.<blockquote>“Ecwid and Webydo are transforming the way the web is created with powerful tools and stunning design options,” said Shmulik Grizim, Webydo’s Co-Founder and CEO. “Through this partnership, professional designers can now use the best e-commerce solution on the market within Webydo’s professional web creation platform, enjoying total creative freedom and independence in creating custom designed business websites with sophisticated online stores.”</blockquote>Ecwid can be embedded into any Webydo site in minutes, is available in 45 languages and integrated with all major payment gateways. Based on a recent Webydo survey, e-commerce focused industries are greatly contributing to the growth and development of new websites.The survey, which reviewed more than 30,000 new websites created on the Webydo platform, found that service industries like design and web services created more than 12 percent of new business websites while product driven industries like fashion and retail, at 11 percent, were also major contributors – see below chart:<img src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2023/08/ec_graph741636.jpg" />“Because Ecwid is a full-featured storefront solution, we’re a good match for Webydo’s professional web and graphic designers,” says Jim O'Hara, president of Ecwid, Inc. “Our simple, drop-in installation also integrates beautifully with Webydo’s platform. We look forward to providing Webydo’s global user base with a comprehensive e-commerce functionality.” To create a stunning Webydo site with a sophisticated Ecwid online store go to  <a target="_blank" href="http://www.webydo.com">www.webydo.com </a>

Webydo and Ecwid - Working Together To Bring E-commerce to your Site

<a href="http://www.joomla.org">Joomla</a>! is perhaps one of the best known names in the world of Content Management Systems. Originally a fork of Mambo, Joomla has surpassed it's predecessor in popularity and size by a massive margin. Does Joomla! really deserve all the praise it's been getting? Let's examine it and find out in this Joomla 1.5 review.
First released in January of 2008, version 1.5 has since seen a number of point releases to cover security holes and issues.
With the new release a number of very anticipated changes have been put in place such as one central installation tool and improved theming.
Upon installation we are greeted with the following screen.
<img src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2023/08/joomla1.gif" alt="Joomla 1.5 Review" />
I proceed to the screen below:
<img src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2023/08/joomla2.gif" alt="Joomla 1.5 Review" />
This is an excellent preinstall check that quickly gives you a breakdown of problem areas and things that need to be resolved. For most people, if you are on a shared host and not a VPS .. if you have anything RED, you may need to contact your provider before proceeding.
After accepting the license agreement on the next screen, we are greeted with:
<img src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2023/08/joomla3.gif" alt="Joomla 1.5 Review" />
Enter your database details (for those first timers who've never had to do this before, Joomla has gone to good lengths to make sure they explain each field well). Once this is done, we proceed:
<img src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2023/08/joomla4.gif" alt="Joomla 1.5 Review" />
This is an option I quite like. The ability to add FTP configuration is a sweet function. This allows you to enter your ftp details to your site and let Joomla correct any permissions issues that it encounters without bugging you. In my books, this is immediately filled in every time I install it. Some people will want more direct control though, and for you, you can safely ignore this screen entirely.
Enter your site name, details and choose whether you want sample data installed.
CAVEAT: If you don't install the sample data, you will literally get a bare bones website with zero content and it'll look horrible right off the bat.. so make sure you know what you are doing.
If you want a populated site with content so you can see how it would look when populated.. click install sample data. Otherwise, click next. <img src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2023/08/joomla7.gif" alt="Joomla 1.5 Review" /> Here you see the default site with Sample Data installed. Joomla has one of the better default themes and it shows quite nicely. Let's check out the administration interface:
<img src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2023/08/joomla8.gif" alt="Joomla 1.5 Review" />
Joomla has a nice interface with dropdowns. One of the things I found a bit overwhelming was the number of places content can hide. I literally spent 15 minutes trying to find one article that as buried in a bizarre place not reminiscent of content.
Joomla does a good job of making everything available. There are tons of options and it'll take a few to get used to maneuvering within the admin panel, but once you get used to it.. it functions quite nicely. What I did not like was the breakdown of sections, categories and content. I found I had a hard time understanding which was which and where my article would end up. I also couldn't figure out why I had to have both a category and a section (I hate being forced to do things..)
Once nice new inclusion in 1.5 was the universal installer. Instead of trying to discern what is a mambot, module, component or theme.. you just install the zip from one box in the CMS and it figures it out for you.
Joomla, like Drupal has a very large community, a large number of modules and an amazing amount of beautiful themes available from either premium sources or free.
In this Joomla 1.5 review, we've given it the ratings below:
Community 9/10 (The forums are active, but I found from a few posts I made that it takes a while to get a reply)
Expandability 8/10 (There are modules, but you are still limited with the way views, content and such can be presented as well as there are quite a few essential modules which required payment) Themability 10/10 (Probably the best CMS when it comes to themes. There are thousands of beautiful ones available from a myriad of sources.) Useability 7/10 (Content sections can get overwhelming and using third party addons can get messy as I found quite a few that were not stable or had poor support themselves)
<h2>Overall Score: 8/10</h2>

Joomla 1.5 Review - A Look at the Popular Open Source CMS

Since launching in 2005, Zenfolio has helped thousands of photographers display, share and even sell their work in a highly professional manner.
Essentially, Zenfolio offers a simplistic point-and-click system that makes it easy to create your own photography portfolio. High quality images and HD videos are displayed via beautifully designed galleries, alongside a blog, general website pages and even a built-in shopping cart fully equipped with marketing tools.
Zenfolio offers unlimited storage space for your content, allowing you to share as much of your portfolio as you can – without breaking the bank.
<iframe src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/BkLgDEutxBY?feature=oembed" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen="allowfullscreen"></iframe>
<h2>Website &amp; Blog</h2>
As a photography, you will naturally want your images to be of the highest quality, and diplayed in a fashion which befits their elegance. Zenfolio allows you to build stunning websites to house your portfolio, which can be customized using simplistic point-and-click features.
<img src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2023/08/1700x0.png" alt="Zenfolio " />
The comprehensive CMS allows you to create a professional, fully functioning website, which gives your visitors all of the right vibes – even before they view your images or video content.
Your Zenfolio website can be accompanied by a blog, which you may use to market, explain or show off your content. Additional features such as background music also help to create the perfect ambience for your website.
<h2>Galleries</h2>
Naturally, the most important part of any online photography portfolio is the gallery. Using Zenfolio, you can present your content in a captivating way, across all types of devices.
<img src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2023/08/2700x0.png" alt="Zenfolio " />
As well as being aesthetically pleasing, your galleries will also be extremely safe. Zenfolio allows you to limit access to certain galleries via passcodes, and also allows you to turn off the option for visitors to right-click save, or drag your images to their desktop.
What's more is, Zenfolio enables you to automatically add a unique watermark to all of your images. With all of these effective security measures in place, you can be sure that copyright issues will never arise.
<h2>Shopping Cart</h2>
Unlike a number of other <a href="https://www.cmscritic.com/top-8-website-builders-for-photography-websites/">photography CMS</a>, Zenfolio allows you to quick and easily turn your photography hobby into an online business.
<img src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2023/08/3700x0.png" alt="Zenfolio " />
Zenfolio's fully equipped shopping cart comes with 500 products ready to sell via Zenfolio's own vendors. These include picture frames, specialised printing paper and other photography tools and accessories. Of course, you will also be able to sell digital downloads of your very own work, directly from your website.
Payment options are pleasantly diverse, allowing customers to checkout with multiple currencies via PayPal, or their credit cards.
<h2>Marketing</h2>
No CMS is truly complete without some in-house marketing tools, and Zenfolio offers pretty much everything you need. Social media buttons can be tastefully incorporated into Zenfolio's themes, to help with your social visibility.
<img src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2023/08/4700x0.png" alt="Zenfolio " />
All of your images can be embedded within social media, along with watermarks if necessary. Additionally, you can offer your visitors the option to signup to your website using their email addresses, which in turn allows you to begin an email marketing campaign.
To top everything off, Zenfolio gives you the chance to reach out to your potential or past customers with gift certificates and coupon codes.
Interested? Check out <a href="http://www.zenfolio.com/">Zenfolio's 14-day free trial</a><a href="https://en.zenfolio.com/">.</a>

Looking to Create a Photography Portfolio? Try Zenfolio

Power your CMS on AWS

Manage your websites & apps in the most trusted cloud.

#ffffff

<img style="margin-right:auto;margin-left:auto;display:block" src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2023/08/responsivedesign.jpg" />
Responsive design has been hailed as one of the greatest greatnesses ever to grace the Internet. With myriad mobile users accessing the web, it seems as if responsive design is just about the only way to make an awesome website even awesomer. I've remarked on the <a href="/why-responsive-design-is-so-important/">necessity of RWD before</a>  However, not every website is ready for responsive design. There are three major hurdles that every organization must clear before they launch into the bliss of responsive design. 
<h2>1. Your content needs a major overhaul.</h2>
A site is only as good as its content. You can't improve your content just by going responsive. That's why the very first thing on your agenda should be to <a href="/eight-tips-for-creating-readable-content/">improve your conten</a> . Content can easily become a company's bugaboo. It's outdated, low-quality, or inaccurate. There may even be some flash content lurking in the closets. Before you even thinking about tweaking your CSS and announcing your shiny new RWD site, clean house on content. 
<h2>2.  You need to switch your CMS.</h2>
And you thought going responsive was going to be easy? The cold, hard fact of the matter is that your CMS may not be able to handle responsive design. By applying the right coding skills, just about any quality CMS will be able to dish out RWD. But it's not quite that simple. Although a site's overall presentation may be responsive, the actual functionality of the pages and content may not meet RWD standards. For example, some WYSIWYG CMSs automatically add bits of codes that can wreck a responsive framework. Auto-inserts of inline CSS, Java, HTML tables, or unclosed tags may be added to a page of content, thus conflicting with the responsive site layout. Many of these easy-to-use WYSIWYG editors generate non-semantic markup that clashes with responsive design. In other words, if you're going to go responsive, you need to make sure that your CMS is going to help you, not hurt you. Choose <a href="/sitefinity-cms-5-hits-the-web-brings-cutting-edge-mobile-tools/">a CMS that does responsive righ</a>t. 
<h2>3. You need to rework your collaborative approach.</h2>
Responsive design is far more than a design tweak. It's a complete change in the way that you work. The old model of web design and development looked like this. First, the designer created a Photoshop template. Next, the developer created the website from that template. This waterfall model of web development has served its usefulness. Now, it must give way to the more Agile-oriented approach required by RWD. It bears repeating:  Responsive design isn't just about design. It's about fluid grids, breakpoints, load times, style guides, front-end development, mobile form factors, pixel density awareness, mobile native controls, and a host of other factors that you haven't thought to think about. Old process flows simply aren't going to cut it. Intensive interactive collaboration among UIs, IAs, designers, digital strategists, developers, and other team members is crucial to a successful RWD rollout. 
Don't let these three major hurdles prevent you from jumping into a responsive design implementation. You might be able to hold off RWD for a little while, but give it a few months, and responsive design is going to be even more important. Now is the time to begin considering your strategy for going responsive with your website — hurdles or not.

How to Get Ready for Responsive Design

daniel-threlfall

Originally started as a BBS (Bulletin Board System) by Dries Buytaert, Drupal was turned into an Opensource project back in 2001. Since then, it has expanded to become one of the largest content management systems on the market today. With a huge number of promoters and an enormous community, Drupal continues to expand and grow far past what was initially anticipated back in 2001. Today, we're going to share with you our look at version 6 in this Drupal review.
<div class="content">
Upon starting the install, we are greeted with the screen below. Drupal has several language options that are available, but of course the default is English.
<img src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2023/08/d1.gif" alt="Drupal Review" />
Clicking on Install Drupal in English leads us to the database configuration screen below.
<img src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2023/08/d2.gif" alt="Drupal Review" />
Drupal makes a good effort at explaining what the fields are for. There is also an advanced options dropdown should you need it.. but hidden by default, which is a good choice in my opinion. After configuring the database, we are taken to this screen which identifies that we should now remove certain permissions to certain files. I'd like to note that it would be nice to see a CMS that does this automatically, I know there are a few but it would be a nice touch. You then fill in your site information below: <img src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2023/08/d3.gif" alt="Drupal Review" /> One other thing which I liked was the inclusion of the “Check for updates automatically” box. This is something that was not there in previous versions and is a nice touch. We then proceed below: <img src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2023/08/d4.gif" alt="Drupal Review" /> As you can see, installation is now complete. Let's proceed to the default site: <img src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2023/08/d5.gif" alt="Drupal Review" /> Here is the default Drupal website. The theme it is running by default is called Garland, a very interesting theme that was the first to use a new colour selection feature that let's you customize every colour about this theme using a colour wheel.
It comes with some nice default choices and then you get to also see what your changes look like on the fly. This is an excellent default theme and a very solid introduction to the power of Drupal. I've seen quite a few sites running just this theme with slight colour mods. I would consider this Drupals' most popular theme in fact. We now proceed to the administration panel below: <img src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2023/08/d6.gif" alt="Drupal Review" /> Drupal has an excellent and well laid out Administration panel. It's easy to find what you need (despite some obscure naming in a few areas) and it gives you notices in very easily identifiable colours and shades as you can see from the screenshot.
A couple of things to note, however. Drupal is not for the feint of heart. If you aren't willing to invest the time to learn and to customize Drupal to suit your needs (which can be a bit of a learning curve) then it's not the right CMS for you. Often called a Content Management Framework, Drupal can be very overwhelming and by itself.. does not contain much “out of box” functionality compared to most other options in the CMS world.
The caveat, however, is that Drupal has a massive module respository and a huge community. If you are willing to invest the time learning (a process which can be quite fun and fulfilling once you get started) then there is not much Drupal cannot do. There are a ton of resources available and like i said before, the community is huge. This makes it easy to find or get the answers you need quickly. I also found the community extremely kind and eager to help new users.. which is a bonus.
You can also adjust the permissions of every single module and every piece of Drupal.. in one simple view:
<img src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2023/08/d728129.gif" alt="Drupal Review" />
This is great and keeps the webmaster in control of their content and their site to the Nth degree. A feature I quite like.
Drupal's module listings are huge. There are tons of modules for almost any category. To give you an idea, as of this writing there are an amazing 3,650 modules in their database in 31 categories! That's what I call a well supported CMS.
One of Drupal's weak areas is theming. While it's possible to make wonders happen if you are a designer.. the theme choices for new people are quite unattractive. There are a few nice ones.. but personally, I found most unappealing. Thankfully, there are quite a few new sites cropping up that have started offering more Drupal themes.. ie: TemplateMonster and DrupalShark to name a few.
If you consider this great CMS for your project.. here are a few good links that you'll want to have:
<ul>
<li><a href="http://drupal.org/handbook/customization/tutorials" target="_blank">Tutorials</a></li>
<li><a href="http://drupal.org/handbook/customization/howto" target="_blank">HowTos</a></li>
<li><a href="http://drupal.org/node/266179" target="_blank">Comparisons of contributed modules</a></li>
<li><a href="http://drupal.org/handbook/config/contribmodules" target="_blank">Contributed modules</a></li>
<li><a href="http://drupal.org/node/196218" target="_blank">Contributed themes</a></li>
<li><a href="http://drupal.org/handbook/customization/snippets" target="_blank">Snippets</a></li>
<li><a href="http://drupal.org/node/269999" target="_blank">Understanding Drupal</a></li>
<li><a href="http://drupal.org/handbook/customization/videocasts" target="_blank">Videos and slides</a></li>
<li><a href="http://drupal.org/theme-guide">Theme guide (Drupal 6)</a></li>
<li><a href="http://drupal.org/theme-guide/5">Theme Guide (Drupal 5 and previous)</a></li>
<li><a href="http://drupal.org/forum/0">Support forums</a></li>
</ul>
Overall, Drupal is a great framework and it's no surprise why it keeps getting so much attention. Some very large sites run Drupal with heavy customizations.
A few I can think of off the top of my head are: PopSugar, SpreadFirefox, Ubuntu and Sony's MyPlay to name a few. Check them out, I'm sure you'll be surprised at the capabilities of Drupal.
Our ratings are below:
Community 10/10 (I would dare to say it's the largest and most active)
Expandability 10/10 (There's not much you can't do with Drupal)
Themability 6/10 (It's getting there, just not at the stage it needs to be to be new user friendly and attractive without some design skills)
Useability 7/10 (Can be overwhelming but the administration interface is outstanding. Could work on renaming a few things to make them more user friendly.. and automate some tasks)
<h2>Overall Score: 8/10</h2>


</div>

Drupal Review - Does version 6 of this CMS stand up to it's competition?

For those who love XFCE and have been looking for a sleek, beautiful Linux distro that uses it – you'll be excited to know that the Zorin dev team has just announced Zorin OS 15 Lite.
<figure class="wp-caption aligncenter"><img src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2023/08/zorin-os-15-lite_r8kxq6.png" alt="Zorin OS 15-Lite" /><figcaption>Zorin OS 15 Lite offers a beautifully skinned XFCE environment.</figcaption></figure>
Designed to run fast on computers as old as 15 years and powered by the popular XFCE 4.14, this distribution offers a beautiful option for those who prefer a more lean environment than traditionally offered by Zorin OS. The normal desktop of choice for their distro is Gnome but with the introduction of an XFCE edition (and a beautiful one at that) they've opened the doors to a broader audience.
This new release introduces a new desktop theme that is available in 6 different color variants in addition to the Light &amp; Dark modes. You can set these colors and make changes to the appearance using the Zorin Appearance App.
<div class="gallery galleryid-21515 gallery-columns-2 gallery-size-medium">
<figure class="gallery-item">
<div class="gallery-icon landscape"><img src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2021/07/zorin-os-15-lite-filebrowser_vmwcoa.png" alt="Zorin OS 15 Lite - FileBrowser" /></div>
</figure>
<figure class="gallery-item">
<div class="gallery-icon portrait"><img src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2023/08/zorin-os-15-lite-calculator_calsit.png" alt="Zorin OS 15 Lite - Calculator" /></div>
</figure>
</div>
<h2>Automatic Theme Switching</h2>
A cool new feature that was introduced is automatic theme switching. You can enable this byopening the Zorin Appearance app and clicking the middle “Background” option in the newly-redesigned Zorin theme switcher. What it does is switch the theme from Light to Dark at Sunset and back to Light at sunrise. A pretty cool option that hasn't been present before in any distros I'm aware of.
<figure class="wp-caption aligncenter"><img src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2023/08/zorinautotheme-lite_avfzo3.png" alt="ZorinAutoTheme-Lite" /><figcaption>Zorin Auto Theme-Lite</figcaption></figure>
<h2>What else is new?</h2>
There are some other features such as the inclusion of FlatPak support by default as well as a Do Not Disturb mode and a new Notification Center that is present in the panel. Here's a screenshot of what it looks like:
<img src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2023/08/donotdisturb-lite_mcewm8.png" />
This release is based on the latest Ubuntu LTS, 18.04 and is available for download now for free.
You can get it here: <a href="https://zorinos.com/download/" target="_blank">https://zorinos.com/download/</a>

Zorin OS 15 Lite Announced - A New, Sleek Linux Distro with XFCE

Best Scanning Tools for Digital Accessibility

The first beta for WordPress 4.5 is in full flow, with a final release date set for April 12th 2016. And thankfully, unlike with WordPress 4.4, I'm quite looking forward to clicking the update button on release day.
<img src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2023/08/wordpress-logo-stacked-rgb_400x0_1.png" />
I've had my moments with WordPress recently. I have channeled some of my thoughts on the world's most popular CMS via my <a href="/wordpress-4.4-beta-bare-bones/" target="_blank">coverage of WordPress 4.4 (where I labeled the update as a bare bones excuse for a semi-major update)</a>, and also through my article entitled; “<a href="/how-wordpress-needs-to-improve-itself/" target="_blank">How WordPress Needs to Improve Itself (In 6 Ways)</a>“.
In fact, the latter publication caused a bit of a stir. In return, <a href="/how-not-to-show-your-support-for-wordpress/" target="_blank">I recieved some scathing feedback from well-known WordPress advocate, sparking a small debate</a>.
But as WordPress 4.5 edges closer, I'm happy to report that it looks far more useful than its predecessor.
<h2>Customizer Gets a Much Needed Update</h2>
The usefulness of WordPress 4.5 will largely reside in the updates it has for Customizer, WordPress' front-end editing environment.
But to be fair, there's more to it than that. Here's a summary, borrowed from the official WordPress announcement:
<ul>
<li>Responsive Preview of your site in the Customizer – See how your site looks in <a href="https://make.wordpress.org/core/2016/01/28/previewing-site-responsiveness-in-the-customizer/">mobile, tablet, and desktop</a> contexts before making changes to its appearance.</li>
<li>Theme Logo Support – Native support for a <a href="https://make.wordpress.org/core/2016/02/24/theme-logo-support/">theme logo within the Customizer</a>.</li>
<li>Inline Link Editing – Within the visual editor, <a href="https://wordpress.org/news/files/2016/02/wp-inline-linking.mp4">edit links inline</a> for a smoother workflow.</li>
<li>Additional Editor Shortcuts – <a href="https://wordpress.org/news/files/2016/02/wp-editor-updates.mp4">Includes a few new shortcuts</a>, like `..` forcode and **..** for bold.</li>
<li>Comment Moderation Improvements – An enhanced experience when moderating comments, including preview with rendered formatting.</li>
<li>Optimization of Image Generation – Image sizes are generated more efficiently and remove unneeded meta, while still including color profiles in Imagick, for reduced sizes of up to 50% with near identical visual quality.</li>
</ul>
WordPress developers will get a bundle of updates to play around with, too:
<ul>
<li>Selective Refresh – A <a href="https://make.wordpress.org/core/2016/02/16/selective-refresh-in-the-customizer/">comprehensive framework</a> for rendering parts of the customizer preview in real time. Theme and plugin authors should test their widgets specifically for compatibility with selective refresh, and note that it <a href="https://core.trac.wordpress.org/ticket/35855">may ultimately be opt-in for 4.5</a>.</li>
<li>Backbone and Underscore updated to latest versions – Backbone is upgraded from 1.1.2 to 1.2.3 and Underscore is upgraded from 1.6.0 to 1.8.3. See the <a href="https://make.wordpress.org/core/2016/02/17/backbone-and-underscore-updated-to-latest-versions/">this post</a> for important changes.</li>
<li>Embed templates – Embed templates were split into parts and can now be directly overridden by themes via the template hierarchy.</li>
<li>New WP_Site class – More object-oriented approach for managing sites in Multisite</li>
<li>Script loader – Introduces wp_add_inline_script() for including inline JavaScript just like wp_add_inline_style() works for CSS, and better support for script header/footer dependencies.</li>
</ul>
Now that's an update!
Customizer has long been a relatively handy tool, but it was never truly impressive in terms of functionality. But this update is a solid step in the right direction for that particluar dimension of WordPress.
Plus, inline link editing and improved comment moderation seem like good additions to the platform. I'm hoping the latter can help speed things up when comments start to clutter up the moderation queue.
To find out more about WordPress 4.5 beta 1, <a href="https://wordpress.org/news/2016/02/wordpress-4-5-beta-1/" target="_blank">check out the WordPress blog announcement</a>.

WordPress 4.5 is About to Enhance the Customizer Experience

ButterCMS is designed to be the ideal content management system (CMS) enabling developers to use any technology and programming language and for marketers to produce new content independently.
An an API-driven CMS (also known as headless), <a href="https://buttercms.com/" target="_blank">ButterCMS</a> has a pre-defined data structure optimized to handle a variety of content allowing  developers to integrate it with any tech stack and speed up development. Using tools such as <a href="https://buttercms.com/react-cms/" target="_blank">React</a>, <a href="https://buttercms.com/angular-cms/" target="_blank">Angular</a>, or any other framework of their choice, developers can build a frontend that can act as an easy-to-use interface for marketing teams. As a result, non technical users, content editors and marketers can easily create and edit content.
For the marketing teams, it is extremely important to have a custom user interface where they can track their activities and plan for future tasks. With an API-driven CMS, marketers can specify and define their business requirements and needs through a flexible user interface.
The power of an API-driven CMS lies in its ability to simplify content management without users having to worry about the underlying data structure. Here are some product updates ButterCMS has made <a href="/buttercms-productivity-enhancements-for-content-editors-and-developers/" target="_blank">since our last post</a>, to provide a smoother content management process:
<h2>Collections Capabilities</h2>
ButterCMS unveiled major improvements to their collections, which are similar to databases with various content types that can be stored and fetched when required.  In ButterCMS, the collection builder has been upgraded to a single page application with a much quicker response time, which makes setting up collections a fast and smooth process.
<img src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2023/08/buttercms-collection-builder-_h20dlr.png" />
ButterCMS has updated the collections user interface to provide a more consistent experience when creating and managing items within the collections. You can now make updates, clone and delete collection items and view your entire content history.
There are more capabilities when it comes to fetching content out of your collection with the newly added parameters to the collection end point. In addition, ButterCMS has refined the format for filtering content in your collection.
<h2>Scheduling Pages</h2>
Another big capability Butter has added is scheduling pages, by allowing you to pick a specific date and time for your content to go live. This new feature gives content editors more control and flexibility to coordinate releases of content such as scheduling a blog post to go along with a major announcement you have on your site.
<h2>Export Blog Posts</h2>
ButterCMS also recently launched their export blog post function which facilitates the download of all your blog post data into an excel file. You can now download all your blog posts and conduct an SEO analysis to improve your ranking with this feature which is an important tool for all content marketers.
<img src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2023/08/buttercms-blog-posts_i6mptl.png" />
ButterCMS is a highly effective and functional API-driven CMS offering flexibility and cost reduction. The content dashboard is a centralized platform complete with content management responsibilities and faster customization. Butter gives marketing teams the CMS they've always dreamed of without creating a hassle for developers.

New Enhancements to ButterCMS’ Collection Builder and more

<img src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2023/08/goodwebcontent.jpg" />
Whether you're an old pro at creating content or whether you're new to the field, it never hurts to hear the essentials of effective and readable content. And let's just remember that great content is crucial to a successful site. What follows are eight of the most important things to remember when you're creating readable content for your website.
<ol>
<li>Use an attention-grabbing headline. Readability isn't just a matter of dragging one's eyes across a screen of text. It's about engaging interest. That is the number one job of a headline — to grab someone's attention so they will follow through and read your content. </li>
<li>Break up the content with subheadings, numbers, or bullet points. Most web readers aren't coders — people who can stare at screen full of symbols and make sense of it all. Your content should be delivered up with plenty of paragraphs, bullets, numbers, subheadings, breaks, and pictures. Text is still primary, but you should allow it to give way to the beauty of white space. If you don't, your content will be extremely unwelcoming. </li>
<li>Feature an image. Everyone loves pictures. Eye-tracking heatmaps have long confirmed that a web visitor looks at an image before he or she looks at anything else on the page. It may seem as if images are a separate issue from the actual words of your content, but they are both important to readable content. Your content may be really good, but even so, an image provides a visual oasis in a desert of words. People need the refreshment.</li>
<li>Keep the tone personal, professional, and engaging. When you're writing a blog, it's time to be yourself. Go ahead and use first- and second-person pronouns. Keep it relaxed and casual, but maintain professionalism. The most effective copy is copy that sounds genuinely human, devoid of a stilted stuffy tone. That's what will get people reading, keep people reading, and ensure that people get your message.</li>
<li>Ensure good grammar and spelling. Since I've sneaked in two things here — 1) grammar, and 2) spelling — let me explain them both. First, grammar:  Be accurate, but don't be a slave to it. There are legion rules of grammar that are meant to be broken. Sure, you want to do the best you can, but if you need to break a grammar rule now and then, go for it. Readability trumps the scientific exactitude of grammatical impeccability (did you get that?). Now, for spelling: Get it right. There is no excuse for misspelled words. Unless, of course, you're creating new words.</li>
<li>Keep things varied. Successful bloggers and content creators understand that variety is the spice of blogging life. If every one of your articles sounds the same, looks the same, and basically says the same thing, you're going to bore your readers. Mix it up with an occasional infographic, photo, video, or different article style. </li>
<li>Keep your audience in mind. Someone will only read your content if they're interested. And the only way for someone to be interested in your content is if it speaks to them in some way. Figure out who your audience is, and write content that they are going to read. For example, if you have a website that caters specifically to motorcyclists, your content is probably not going to include tips on migrating to a cloud server. This point is obvious enough, but often overlooked. Figure out what your audience needs, wants, or will be interested in. Then, write content that satisfies that need, want, or curiosity. </li>
<li>Make it long enough (but not too long). There are no hard and fast rules about article length. There is simply a commonsense recommendation. Simply put, don't make it too long. But don't make it too short, either. Few people read laboriously lengthy articles. And super short articles don't gain the kind of sustained interest and SEO-rich content that your site needs. Like virtually all rules, these can be broken. If you spin out a masterful 3,000 word article, sure. Just make sure it's readable. And if you have time for a quick 100-word post, that's fine, too. Sometimes.</li>
</ol>
Content is at the heart of your web strategy. It's worth giving it your best shot to make it even better.

Eight Tips for Creating Readable Content

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