Articles - Page 54

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

matt-garrepy

Personalization has now successfully exited the “buzzword” phase. Today, its pretty much the first thing on the minds of most, if not all, enterprise marketing teams.
To keep up, dotCMS has unveiled some new personalization anf targeted content features, which can be tested via the dotCMS 3.5 beta.
<img src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2023/08/dotcms-250h-1.jpg" /> There's no news on when the final release will be, but here's what you can expect.
<h2>Personalization Personas, Tags &amp; dotCMS Rules</h2>
Based on this beta, dotCMS 3.5 will be brimming with new features.
The sizeable update will bring with it; Personas, Conditions, Actions, Visitors, Weighted Tags and Content Scoring, all working in tandem to help marketers and developers quickly build more relevant and more engaging experiences for their visitors.
<img src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2023/08/edit-mode-view-as-persona536x0-is.png" />
Personalizing content wasn't beyond the reach of dotCMS before this update, but version 3.5 is certainly taking things to a new level.
The new Rule Builder in dotCMS has been designed to be used by site admins, marketers and content editors. They can set up complex Rules for targeting content or performing other actions without having to write any code at all.
Rules can be used to glean “ambient” visitor information such as; the visitors geolocation, their referring url, their browser capabilities and their visit history. In other words, dotCMS is now prepared to provide some pretty comprehensive segmentation options.
<h2>Passive &amp; Active Targeted Content</h2>
The dotCMS Rules engine will allows business users to drive both passive and active personalization and easily deliver targeted content.
Passive personalization occurs without any specific action from a visitor and happens as a visitor browses pages or views content. dotCMS 3.5 will look at how those contents or pages have been tagged and store this information in the visitor’s session as “Accrued Tags”.
<img src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2023/08/persona-flyout-startersite206x0-is.png" />
Active Personalization on the other hand, allows a visitor to select their interests manually, creating their own Persona and based on their selections. dotCMS can then display specific content tailored to each Persona.
dotCMS 3.5 is currently a limited beta, so you'll need to <a href="https://dotcms.com/content-management-system/Personalization-preview" target="_blank">request access here</a>.
Interestingly, you can also experience dotCMS' personalization prowess first hand by visiting their <a href="http://demo35.dotcms.com/" target="_blank">live 3.5 demo</a>, where you'll be served content based on a pre-assigned Persona.
To find out more about this beta release, <a href="https://dotcms.com/blog/post/dotcms-rules-targeted-content-and-personalization" target="_blank">check out the dotCMS announcement</a>.
To explore more of dotCMS, <a href="http://dotcms.com/" target="_blank">visit their website</a>, or explore them <a href="/2014-critics-choice-award-winner-best-cloud-cms-for-smb/" target="_blank">via our CMS Directory</a>.

dotCMS 3.5 Beta Showcases Targeted Content and Personalization Features

mike-johnston

WordPress have announced the official release of WordPress 3.6 “Oscar”, lovingly named after the famous Jazz pianist Oscar Peterson. 
New features include the all new Twenty Thirteen Theme, an improved menu editor, a built-in HTML5 video &amp; audio player and enhancements to post revision, autosaving and locking.
To grasp the basics of WordPress 3.6 Oscar, take a quick peek at the snazzy introductory video laid out by WordPress below.
http://youtu.be/gu0B7OQZ2mY
<h2>New Twenty Thirteen Theme</h2>
WordPress' default themes are traditionally neat, bold and professional, with the new Twenty Thirteen theme being no exception.
<img src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2023/08/sshot-1.png" alt="WordPress 3.6 Oscar" />
The theme's design was inspired by modern art, and aims to help focus the message of your content to readers and visitors via a single column layout.
WordPress' all new Twenty Thirteen theme is also as flexible as it is vibrant. The clean design works well on any device, both big and small, helping your blog or website to reach a wider audience.
<h2>Built-in Media Player</h2>
Instead of having to rely on third-party video and audio platforms, WordPress now supports its very own built in HTML5 media player. The design of the Twenty Thirteen theme certainly seems to encourage the use of video as a means of communication, and WordPress' new native media player will only make it easier to publish such content on a more regular basis.
What's more is, WordPress 3.6 also introduces built-in support for both Rdio, SoundCloud and Spotify, making it faster to embed and share audio content.
<h2>Enhanced Autosaving, Revising &amp; Post Locking</h2>
When it comes to blogging and publishing content, every word counts. So, a new autosave feature brought about by WordPress 3.6 ensures that your content is safely saved after every keystroke.
<img src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2023/08/sshot-2.png" alt="WordPress 3.6 Oscar" />
Revising your posts is also now easier than ever. A brand new revisions interface enables you to scroll through every single change made to a post, and informs you of the changes made by each individual author. A clever colour coder also breaks down posts into revisions made, helping you to identify who said what, and when.
Additionally, an enhanced post locking feature ensures that whenever one author is reviewing or editing a post, all other users are locked out, thus preventing any editorial mishaps.
Without doubt, each of these new features will be of huge benefit to websites who rely on numerous authors to submit, review and publish their content.
<h2>Developer Extras</h2>
As expected, WordPress 3.6 Oscar also brings about a host of new options for developers to get their teeth in to.
These include a new video &amp; audio API, HTML5 markup options, better filters for how revisions work, and so forth. A full list of developer features can be found via the <a href="http://codex.wordpress.org/Version_3.6"> WordPress Codex </a> .
For additional information on WordPress 3.6 Oscar, and for some deeper insights into the features listed above, check out the <a href="http://wordpress.org/news/2013/08/oscar/"> official release notes</a>.

WordPress 3.6 Oscar Goes Live

cmsWhen it comes to email, it's a very personal thing. Some people want more features and others want less but overall, we all want three important things: reliability, solid spam filtering and an easy to use interface. In this article, I'm going to <a target="_blank" href="https://protonmail.com/">t</a>ake you through my ProtonMail Review and explain why they are now my email provider of choice.<img src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2023/08/protonmail-press-web-3.jpg" />ProtonMail offers a great interface and encrypted / secure email for the web and mobile.ProtonMail is an open source secure email provider based in Switzerland. They offer a very solid web based email client as well as apps for all major devices. ISince discovering ProtonMail, I've switched all of my CMS Critic email over to it from Gmail and I won't be switching back. Not only do I prefer the client and it's layout to that offered by Google but I also love the full email encryption.Furthering that, it's open source and as a fan of open source software and an avid user (all of my computers run open source operating systems) it was a natural fit.You do not need to provide any personal information to create a secure email account with ProtonMail and they do not keep IP logs that can be linked to your anonymous email account.Here's a breakdown of the security features included with ProtonMail:<ul><li>End-to-End Encryption Messages are always encrypted and transmitted in encrypted format between their servers and your device. If you are emailing other ProtonMail users they are also fully encrypted within their secure server network.</li><li>Zero Access to User Data The makers of ProtonMail have absolutely no access to your data. They use what they call a zero access architecture which means the data is encrypted in a way that makes it inaccessible to them.</li><li>Open Source Cryptography ProtonMail uses open source cryptography which means they use well tested, trusted encryption algorithms.</li></ul>If you want to learn more, you can visit this page: <a target="_blank" href="https://protonmail.com/security-details">ProtonMail Security Features</a>.<h3>Free or Paid? The Choice is Yours</h3>It's easy to sign up for ProtonMail and they offer a quick and easy to set up free offering. With it you receive the following features:<ul><li>500MB Storage</li><li>150 Messages per day</li><li>Limited Support</li></ul>They also offer two paid plans; Plus and Visionary which offer more advanced features and range from $4 – 25 USD / month.The Plus account includes:<ul><li>5 GB storage</li><li>Send up to 1000 messages per day</li><li>Labels, Custom Filters, and Folders</li><li>Send encrypted messages to external recipients</li><li>Use your own domain (ex: john@smith.com)</li><li>Up to 5 email aliases</li><li>Priority Customer Support</li></ul>The Visionary account includes:<ul><li>20GB storage</li><li>Up to 50 email aliases</li><li>Support for up to 10 domains</li><li>Multi-User Support (6 total)</li><li>No sending limits*</li><li>Labels, Custom Filters, and Folders</li><li>Send encrypted messages to external recipients</li><li>Early access to new features</li><li>Includes access to ProtonVPN</li></ul><h3>Getting a Free Account</h3>Getting a free account is easy, you can sign up with very little information. Literally, they just need you to select a username and password with an optional recovery email. For the purposes of this ProtonMail review, we'll set up a free account.<img src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2023/08/protonmail-review-1.png" />ProtonMail Review – Setting up an AccountOnce signed up (and verified by either having a code emailed or sent to your via SMS) your account will be created and you'll be redirected to your new inbox.<img src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2023/08/protonmail-review-3.png" />ProtonMail Review – The Inbox<h3>The Interface</h3>The same features you'd expect from any web based email are present along with those specific to ProtonMail.When sending a new message, for example, you have two new security based features available if you choose to use them; expiration time and encryption for non-ProtonMail users.To enable an expiration time, from the new message window, select the small hourglass icon in the bottom left and you'll be presented with this screen:<img src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2023/08/protonmail-review-5.png" />ProtonMail Review – Setting an expiration time for an email.To enable encryption for non-ProtonMail users, you can set a password which you would then provide to the recipient. To use this, you would click on the padlock icon in the bottom left of the new message window.<img src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2023/08/protonmail-review-6.png" />ProtonMail Review – Setting up EncryptionAlong with these inbox features (and the typical ones you'd expect from any email client) there are a number of ways to migrate to ProtonMail from your existing email provider.<h3>Migrating to ProtonMail</h3>If you choose to migrate over to ProtonMail, there are a number of ways to do so. ProtonMail offers an easy way to import your contacts which you can access from the contacts tab.Clicking import will present you with the following screen:<img src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2023/08/protonmail-review-7.png" />ProtonMail Review – Importing ContactsProtonMail supports importing CSV files from Outlook, Outlook Express, Yahoo! Mail, Hotmail, Eudora and some other apps. They also support importing vCard. (UTF-8 encoding).Importing EmailTo import email into ProtonMail, you'll need a paid account as their import/export tool is only available to paid users. Fortunately, however, the cost of a paid plan is incredibly reasonable and affordable for everyone. The Import/Export tool works for Windows and Mac users and allows you to import your email from another email account or from a local MBOX or EML file on your device.You can learn more about the app and how it works on the <a target="_blank" href="https://protonmail.com/blog/import-export-beta/">Import/Export tool page.</a><h3>Other Security Features</h3>Along with your typical settings which you can find by clicking the settings tab, you can also find information via the Security tab. This tab shows you past logins and current and previous sessions, amongst other things.<img src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2023/08/protonmail-review-8.png" />ProtonMail Review – Security and Session Management<h3>My Experience So Far</h3>Overall, I've found that I thoroughly enjoy using ProtonMail. I prefer their platform and the simplicity offered by the interface. There are, however, a few things I'd like to see added / improved upon which I'll get into in my pros/cons list below.Pros<ul><li>Simple Interface that is easy to use.</li><li>Encrypted email.</li><li>Price point is very reasonable for personal users and business users.</li><li>Highly secure.</li><li>Plenty of features.</li><li>Easy to migrate from other platforms.</li><li>Excellent help and documentation.</li><li>Available smartphone apps.</li></ul>Cons<ul><li>No scheduling option for emails to allow me to remind myself to reply to it at a later date.</li><li>In their mobile apps, there is no way to select multiple emails at once and mark as read or archive them in one go, things must be done individually.</li><li>No calendar with which to integrate.</li></ul>Overall, I think ProtonMail is an excellent option but I would love to be able to migrate my calendar over from Google and make the transition a complete one. For now, however, I'm stuck using it there until that time comes.Have I convinced you to try it? <a target="_blank" href="https://protonmail.com/">Go ahead and sign up and see for yourself.</a>

ProtonMail Review - Secure Email on All Platforms

Geeklog is somewhat of a combination between blog and cms and more or less would fall under the category of a news publishing platform in my opinion. Let's examine Geeklogs' latest edition in this Geeklog Review and see what kind of changes have been made to make it more simplified.
Geeklog was originally created to run the Securitygeeks and Newsgeeks websites but was released into the wonderful world of opensource under the <a href="http://www.gnu.org/licenses/gpl.html" target="_blank">GPL license</a>.
Geeklog has been around for quite some time, while it used to be notoriously difficult to install.. this new release promises some changes to make it better.
To kick off the install, you need to upload the public_html folder found in the geeklog archive that you download from their website. You then navigate to <a href="http://yourdomain.com/admin/install/index.html">http://yourdomain.com/admin/install/index.html</a> to begin the install process.
You should be greeted with a screen such as the one below:
<img src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2023/08/geeklog11.png" alt="Geeklog Review" />
Once you choose your path (choose it wisely!) you will get the following screen to fill out with your configuration info:
<img src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2023/08/geeklog2.png" alt="Geeklog Review" />
after filling out this you will get this screen identifying that you are done! Wow. That was fast!
<img src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2023/08/geeklog3.png" alt="Geeklog Review" />
Talk about a quick install. Let's check out what we end up with for a system..
Once you login you are greeted with the geeklog control center. It's very basic and you have to keep in mind that the sole purpose of this software is a blog. Personally, I think it could use some work.. especially if they want to compare with some of the larger more refined systems out there.
<img style="width:597px;height:135px" src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2023/08/geeklog4.png" alt="Geeklog Review" />
The initial site is quite basic. Changing themes is far too difficult and involves editing the config files directly. There really aren't a lot of options in the control panel to make life easier for the end user.
Overall, this is just a quick review.. There's not much to say about geeklog. For the people who use it, it works well.. personally, it's not for me. I will say that it's much further ahead than it was now that it is easier to install.. but it's definitely not on par with where it should be to compete. Let's take a look at the ratings (keep in mind I did this review fairly quickly due to the lack of options geeklog has, there wasn't much to review).
Overall, my ratings are:
Community 7/10 (Geeklog has a great community, I'll give them that)
Expandability 5/10 (Needs more modules to compete with larger systems)
Themability 6/10 (Definitely needs more themes in order to be more appealing to broader audience)
Useability 6/10 (Tough for beginners, Recommended for advanced users only)
<h2>Overall Score: 6/10</h2>

Geeklog Review - A look at the Open Source CMS, Geeklog

On July 15th 2013, Tiki Wiki CMS Groupware – who are better known as simply Tiki, released version 11.0 of their wiki-based content management system. Much like Wikipedia, the platform typically allows and encourages users to add, modify, or delete content from webpages.
Last year,  Tiki surpassed the 1 million downloads mark, and also became the <a href="/peoples-choice-winner-for-best-free-cms-is/">winner of the our People's Choice for Best Free CMS</a>. Now, with the release of Tiki 11.0, Tiki Wiki CMS Groupware will be hoping to take even larger steps forward. Now, lets take a look at some of the newly introduced features.
<h2>ElFinder Management</h2>
Tiki's file &amp; media management, named ElFinder has received some helpful changes. The file manager allows users to upload and download images, videos, podcasts and a range of other media types.
Thanks to new updates, users can now enjoy a more visual approach to file management, as Tiki 11.0 brings with it intuitive drag-and-drop system. 
<img src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2023/08/1700x0.png" alt="Tiki 11.0 " />
Documents – which are displayed in a gallery format, can now be moved around and categorized extremely easily. Additionally, users can now utilize the drag-and-drop feature between Tiki CMS and their local desktop.
<h2>Enhanced Tracker Forms</h2>
Trackers allow users to create  different types of forms for collecting data, which enables the trackers to compile reports. Tiki's Trackers help users to combine structured information collected from their visitors.
Now, Tiki 11.0 has made Tracker Forms more powerful and flexible than ever. You can now choose a value from a dropdown box by selecting any of the saved items you may already have in the list. To search, you can either scroll down, or filter the results by typing part of the word into the form. 
<img src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2023/08/2.png" alt="Tiki 11.0 " />
Also, the new and improved search section allows users to select multiple items at once via the dropdown menu. The feature enables items to be selected, and de-selected from the list being compiled.
<img src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2023/08/4.png" alt="Tiki 11.0 " />
These new features work in tandem to provide a smoother, more efficient search option for Tracker Forms, making the entire process much simpler than ever before.
<h2>Additional Features</h2>
On top of the brand new Tiki features listed above, the new update has brought about a number of other enhancements to the popular, free and open-source content management system.
Amongst these additions, you will find that Tiki now supports Gravatars, Bing Translator and Google Translate 2. The developers have also made it easier for users to incorporate Google Analytics codes into their Tiki websites. Additionally, a variety of themes have introduced, whereas existing ones have received a revamp. Naturally, a number of stability issues have also been resolved with the introduction of Tiki 11.0.
To access further information on the enhancements we have listed above, as well as on the rest of Tiki's updates, check out the <a href="http://doc.tiki.org/Tiki11">official Tiki 11.0 full release note</a><a href="http://doc.tiki.org/Tiki11">s</a>.

Tiki 11.0 Brings About New Features

PlushForums Review

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.
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.
<img src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2023/08/sulu-cms-1_jv9dje.png" alt="sulu cms - 1" />
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.
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.
<img src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2023/08/sulu-cms-3_x3mc4j.png" alt="sulu cms - 3" />
<img src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2023/08/sulu-cms-2_rixh6n.jpg" alt="sulu cms - 2" />
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.
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.
Sulu’s final standard module, Settings, controls permissions, meta information, and all other internal adjustments of the platform.
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.
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.
<h2>Who is it for?</h2>
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.
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.
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.
The wide-ranging flexibility of the platform makes it an ideal space to integrate business logic and adapt to emerging markets.
<h2>What language is it built on?</h2>
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.
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.
<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>
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.
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.
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.
Check it out at <a href="https://sulu.io/" target="_blank">https://sulu.io/</a>

Sulu, the Symfony CMS

April brought Spring to many of us. While Covid-19 continues to cast a shadow of uncertainty over the world, it’s safe to say that the digital field is in full bloom.Last month was full of new announcements about upgrades and updates, primarily focused on content teams. Adobe, Contentful, Strapi, and Kentico Kontent all released new features that are designed to break down silos and deliver greater efficiency to users.Here are some of the highlights from the stories we’ve been tracking: <h2>Adobe Introduces Adobe Experience Manager Assets Essentials, Announces New Solutions to Improve E-commerce Experience for Adobe Commerce</h2><img src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2021/05/36391-benefits-media-library-essentials2xpngimg_.png" alt="Adobe media library essentials" />Adobe introduced its new <a target="_blank" href="https://business.adobe.com/products/experience-manager/assets/assets-essentials.html">Adobe Experience Manager Assets Essentials</a> – a lightweight edition of <a target="_blank" href="https://business.adobe.com/products/experience-manager/assets/aem-assets.html">Adobe Experience Manager Assets</a>. It offers a simplified user experience for marketing and creative pros to store, discover, and distribute digital assets across their teams. Assets Essentials will serve as the default asset management experience across Experience Cloud apps, starting with the new Adobe Journey Optimizer and later this year with Adobe Workfront.The new Assets Essentials provides a centralized workspace for the asset repository to store, share, and manage images, videos, documents, and other assets. It allows teams to create, assign, track, review, and approve tasks in a collaborative workspace. And of course, being an Adobe product, it supports all file types including full-sized Photoshop, InDesign, Illustrator, XD, and more.On the same day, Adobe also announced new capabilities for <a target="_blank" href="https://business.adobe.com/products/magento/magento-commerce.html">Adobe Commerce powered by Magento</a> (formerly Magento Commerce) that extend the intelligence of features like Product Recommendations and Live Search. An upcoming integration with <a target="_blank" href="https://acrobat.adobe.com/us/en/sign.html">Adobe Sign</a> means a more seamless commerce experience for any transactions that require e-signatures as part of the checkout process. <h2>The Digital World Mourns the Passing of Chuck Geschke, Co-found of Adobe and Father of the PDF</h2>There are many icons in the computer and software world, and some of the earliest pioneers have made significant contributions that we take for granted every day. One such notable creation: the ubiquitous Portable Document Format, otherwise known as the PDF.Today, we pay homage to Charles “Chuck” Geschke, the co-founder of Adobe, who died on April 16th at the age of 81. Not only did he help develop the PDF, but he drove innovation across desktop publishing, turning Photoshop into a cultural Webster’s reference – and Adobe into a powerhouse. Chuck radically changed the way people create, view, and share documents and images, and his impact cannot be overstated.Farewell to the Father of the PDF, and one of the great digital innovators of all time. <h2>Contentful Unveils New Features and Partner Apps at Second Annual Blueprints Conference</h2><img src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2021/05/contentful-logo-dark.png" alt="Contentful logo - dark" /><a target="_blank" href="https://www.contentful.com/">Contentful</a>, a leading enterprise headless CMS provider, <a target="_blank" href="https://press.contentful.com/197449-contentful-unveils-new-features-and-partner-apps-at-second-annual-blueprints-conference">announced</a> the release of new features and partner-built apps at its second annual <a target="_blank" href="https://www.contentful.com/blueprints-2021/">Blueprints</a> user conference.The new features include <a target="_blank" href="https://www.contentful.com/blog/2021/04/08/governance-tagging-metadata/">tags and permissions</a> that provide content teams greater flexibility and control over how they organize, find, and edit content – and manage permissions across the organization.These platform enhancements build on <a target="_blank" href="https://www.contentful.com/blog/2021/03/16/launch-compose-release/">the recent release of Compose + Launch</a> – two new Contentful apps that allow content authors, editors, and planners to adapt and publish content independently without having to rely on developer resources.Contentful also announced the release of several partner-built apps in the <a target="_blank" href="https://www.contentful.com/marketplace/">Contentful Marketplace</a>, including an app built by digital services provider <a target="_blank" href="https://portaltech.reply.com/portaltech/en/">Portaltech Reply</a> that connects Contentful with SAP Commerce Cloud – enabling businesses to adapt quickly to changing market conditions to deliver direct-to-consumer and omnichannel experiences.Other recently released partner-built apps for Contentful extend the platform's capabilities across personalization, e-commerce, translations, and video, including Uniform Optimize, Saleor Commerce, GlobalLink Connect by Translations.com, and Qencode Video Transcoding.Contentful recently earned the highest score possible in the partner ecosystem criterion – along with five other criteria – in the recent <a target="_blank" href="https://www.contentful.com/resources/forrester-wave-agile-cms-2021-report/">Forrester Wave™ Report for Agile Content Management Systems (CMSes)</a>. <h2>Crownpeak and ilumino Announce Strategic Partnership to Advance Digital Accessibility</h2><img src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2021/04/crownpeak_ilumino.jpg" alt="Crownpeak and ilumino logos in lockup format." /><a target="_blank" href="https://www.crownpeak.com/">Crownpeak</a>, a digital experience platform (DXP), <a target="_blank" href="https://www.cmscritic.com/crownpeak-and-ilumino-announce-strategic-partnership-to-advance-digital-accessibility/">has announced</a> a strategic partnership with <a target="_blank" href="https://www.ilumino.co/">ilumino</a>, a digital accessibility services and consulting firm. The two companies will offer an integrated solution that helps improve digital experiences for users with disabilities while evolving accessibility strategies for organizations.Together, Crownpeak and ilumino offer a single, integrated approach that evolves the accessibility model. The solution combines Crownpeak’s DQM technology, providing automated and ongoing scanning and auditing against WCAG guidelines, with <a target="_blank" href="https://www.ilumino.co/solutions/">ilumino’s expert services</a> – which focuses on nurturing a company’s “culture of accessibility.”Some noteworthy highlights of the Crownpeak + ilumino solution include:<ul><li>Accessibility and compliance dashboard – providing a “single source of truth” for automated and manual accessibility monitoring</li><li>Automated site scanning (enriched by manual testing) – enterprise-grade, multi-site scanning technology</li><li>Manual testing and consulting – performed by certified accessibility experts</li><li>In-house or guided remediation – tailored to each organization’s unique design and development workflows</li><li>Ongoing support – ensuring sustained compliance through a proactive approach</li><li>Accessibility pattern library – simplifying remediation and establishing long-term organizational assets</li><li>Litigation support – with expert review and consulting on any accessibility-related legal actions received</li><li>Accessibility statement – drafted to demonstrate an organization’s commitment to digital inclusion</li><li>Enterprise strategy – assisting with a prioritized roadmap and risk management</li></ul> <h2>Strapi Headless CMS Announces v3.6 with Free Content Internationalization</h2><img src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2021/04/i18n-2.png" alt="content internalization" />Strapi, a leading open-source headless CMS, <a target="_blank" href="https://www.cmscritic.com/strapi-headless-cms-announces-v3-6-with-free-content-internationalization/">has announced</a> the release of Strapi v3.6, which includes a highly anticipated content internationalization (i18n) feature as part of their Community Edition. Now, Strapi users will have the ability to create and manage content in multiple languages and locales for free and without limitations – and personalize messages delivered to target audiences based on language and geographic data.Leveraging integrations with Strapi’s draft and publish system and role-based access control, users will be able to manage their editing and publishing permissions based on specific locales. With Strapi’s internationalization, content is displayed for each locale based on content types. For example, if a company has an e-commerce website, they can select which product pages are displayed in French, Portuguese, or Mandarin. This level of localization is what enables a global digital strategy to work across borders and languages.In our exclusive discussion with <a target="_blank" href="https://www.linkedin.com/in/victorcoisne/">Victor Coisne</a>, Strapi’s Vice President of Marketing, it’s clear that internationalization was a big part of the CMS vendor’s roadmap, and of significant importance to their growing base of global users. <h2>Kentico Kontent Gets a Fresh New User Interface, Adds Features to Streamline Enterprise Content Operations</h2><img src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2021/04/kentico-new-ui-1.png" alt="The new Kentico content UI" />Kentico Kontent, a headless CMS, <a target="_blank" href="https://www.cmscritic.com/kentico-kontents-new-user-interface-streamlines-enterprise-content-operations/">announced</a> the launch of their new user interface, designed to help enterprise content teams execute their content operations faster.The new UI has a fresh, modern design approach that fuses an array of vibrant colors with plenty of contrast to emphasize important elements.Kentico Kontent also unveiled new upgrades in their latest release, including the Collections feature – which lets enterprises manage all their content in a single repository, allowing the content to be shared across teams and channels without losing any control.With the Collections feature, teams can share content items across departments, websites, and experiences to ensure consistency and eliminate error-prone duplication. The goal is to improve efficiency and minimize the frustration that many enterprise content teams experience.

CMS Monthly Recap: Adobe Experience Manager Assets Essentials, Contentful Unveils New Features, Crownpeak Announces Partnership, and More

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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.
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.
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.
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.
<h2><a href="http://postach.io">Postach.io </a></h2>
<img src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2023/08/minimalist_blogging_platforms_-_postachio960x0.png" alt="minimalist_blogging_platforms_-_postachio" />
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.
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.
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.
Postach.io also has perhaps the most features of any of the other platforms I've mentioned so far including:
<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>
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.
Postach.io is a must see and I strongly recommend taking a look to see how amazing it is.
Price: Free
<h2><a href="http://www.medium.com">Medium </a></h2>
<img src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2023/08/minimalist_blogging_platforms_-_medium794x0.png" alt="minimalist_blogging_platforms_-_medium" />
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.
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.
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.
My favorite thing about Medium, however, is the way your content is handled once you hit publish:
<blockquote>
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.
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.
</blockquote>
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.
Price: Free
<h2><a href="https://svbtle.com/">Svblte </a></h2>
<img src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2023/08/minimalist_blogging_platforms_-_svbtle910x0.png" alt="minimalist_blogging_platforms_-_svbtle" />
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.
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.
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.
Price: $6 monthly
<h2><a href="https://ghost.org/">Ghost </a></h2>
<img src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2023/08/minimalist_blogging_platforms_-_ghost835x0.png" alt="minimalist_blogging_platforms_-_ghost" />
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.
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:
<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" />
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.
Price: Free (if downloaded) or $29-199 / month (if hosted)
<h2><a href="https://www.silvrback.com/" target="_blank">Silvrback </a></h2>
<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.
Here's how Damian describes his reasoning for creating Silvrback:
<blockquote>
I built Silvrback because none of the existing blogging platforms satisfied me completely.
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.
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.”
</blockquote>
Due to his lack of satisfaction with the other tools on the market, Damian created Silvrback with the following features:
<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>
Silvrback was sold to Verde Places LLC, who currently own and run it now and continues to be updated regularly.
Pricing:
<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>
<img src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2023/08/writeas-review-1_f8stqn.png" alt="Write.as Review - 1" />
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.
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.
Price: 
<ul>
<li>Free</li>
<li>$5 month</li>
<li>$200 month</li>
</ul>
<h2><a href="http://authpad.com">Authpad </a></h2>
<img src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2023/08/minimalist_blogging_platforms_-_authpad.png" alt="minimalist_blogging_platforms_-_authpad" />
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.
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.
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.
Price: Free
<h2><a href="http://pen.io/">Pen.io</a></h2>
<img src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2023/08/minimalist_blogging_platforms_-_penio960x0.png" alt="minimalist_blogging_platforms_-_penio" />
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.
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.
Price: Free
<h2><a href="https://posthaven.com/">Posthaven</a></h2>
<img src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2023/08/minimalist_blogging_platforms_-_posthaven883x0.png" alt="minimalist_blogging_platforms_-_posthaven" />
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:
<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>
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.
Price: $5 month
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.
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.

Blogging Platforms That Encourage You To Write

Low-cost web-builders and template sites have seen a huge push in the last five years. With heavy advertising, big promises and low-costs, many businesses are getting a taste of what a web-platform can do for them.
The upside is that more businesses than ever before are able to get an online presence. The downside, is that the perceived value of operating a business website has dropped substantially.
The true cost of an effective business site, is drowned out by the persistent messaging the industry puts out – that operating a website is not only easy but it is practically free.
With <a href="http://www.shoutcms.com/" target="_blank">ShoutCMS</a>, we are targeting customers who are seeking a platform that delivers more business functionality as a standard.
<a href="http://www.shoutcms.com/" target="_blank"><img src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2023/08/shoutcms.jpg" /></a>
<h2>An Opportunity, Not a Problem.</h2>
We can look at the current trends in CMS platforms as two primary directions. You have low-cost web-builders who serve up a slice of the latest in design and cultural trends. These platforms are great at manipulating text, images and social networking. Then you have platforms with enterprise level features, who excel at data management, inventory, transactions, and customer relationships – all for a price.
The middle ground is being served primarily by WordPress. It is by-and-far the most widely used platform, and the shear amount of plug-ins, flexibility, and familiarity will keep it this way for years to come.
For our company, we saw the opportunity to develop a platform that kept the ease-of-use, had a lower total-cost of ownership, and started businesses out of the gate with a feature set to last them the lifecycle of their website. They won’t have to worry about upgrading, about maintaining plug-ins, and they will have suite of features that were designed from the ground up to work together.
<h2>Core Business Features in a Unified UX</h2>
With ShoutCMS, we didn’t just want to build great tools, we wanted to have tools that worked great – together.
The advantages of building ShoutCMS as a software-as-a-service platform, is that not only is the level of integration between internal features higher, ongoing development of the platform is made substantially easier as all users are on a persistent architecture. Customers are kept up-to-date as patches and security issues can be addressed across the board.
The core features that we built-in to ShoutCMS:
<ul>
<li>Invoicing</li>
<li>Ecommerce</li>
<li>Contact management</li>
<li>Group level communication</li>
<li>Group level and individual level security</li>
<li>Group level and individual level content access</li>
<li>Group level pricing</li>
<li>Page publishing</li>
<li>Mobile device compatibility</li>
<li>Design customization</li>
<li>Integrated email management</li>
</ul>
Aside from architectural advantages, the user gains the most in that the user-experience is similar across the platform. They gain the confidence of building a page for their website, and then find that managing products, articles, and contacts is largely the same.
<h2>Usability Impacts the Economy at Large</h2>
When customers gain the confidence in their tool, they achieve what the CMS industry set out to achieve in the first place – getting customers to maintain their own websites instead of neglecting them.
With more businesses using their websites, and having tools at hand that make their day-to-day easier, the net benefit is that they have a greater chance at success. Each of those successes add to economic growth.
This is where inspiration begins.
To find out more about ShoutCMS, <a href="http://www.shoutcms.com/" target="_blank">check out their website</a>.
Also, stay tuned for more featured coverage during this <a href="/tag/shoutcms-featured-week/" target="_blank">ShoutCMS featured week</a>.

The Biggest Industry Lie: Building a Website is Easy

When it comes to website creation tools, there are a few criteria that all online businesses compete on; price, an intuitive layout, and ease of use.
In recent years, <a href="http://www.jimdo.com/">Jimdo</a> has become one of the more popular website builders on the market for this very reason. This popularity has been based on its plethora of features, easy navigation, and powerful online store features.
According to the Jimdo site, almost 200,000 online stores have been created since Jimdo launched in 2010, with small business owners, creatives, and bloggers as its primary customers.
One thing that causes a lot of CMS to go downhill is the addition of new features. It can be easy to bloat a CMS with unnecessary tools or widgets but it looks like Jimdo has managed to avoid this pitfall.
<h2>Getting Set Up</h2>
Getting your Jimdo account up and running is a pretty simple process.
You just pick a basic template, insert your email, set a password, and you’re on your way.
<img src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2023/08/sign_in_2663x0-is.png" />
From there, you’re taken to a menu where you can select your domain name. Jimdo has a few options here – a free subdomain, your own .com domain for €5 a month, or transferring your own domain over via their nameservers.
<img src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2023/08/domain512x0-is.png" />
<h2>Features</h2>
As I mentioned earlier, Jimdo places a premium on ease of use. The opening page takes you straight down to business – which is refreshing. Navigation is quite simple and, if anything, maybe a little too simple in places. I would have liked a few more layers of complexity for certain aspects, but this doesn’t hamper the overall experience.
It’s also somewhat ‘inflexible’ when it comes to editing some things. You can’t move some of the text windows, for example.
<img src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2023/08/editing_page672x0-is.png" />
Jimdo has a well designed and intuitive layout. It also has the kind of drag-and-drop functionality that has become the standard in sites like these. This is an editor with no lag and it ran incredibly fast on all of the browsers I tested it on. You should be aware that all your changes are made live to the site as you save each element.
A ‘preview’ button combined with a feature that only publishes your changes on full completion, might be better suited to the rookie site builder. As it is, every change you make goes live straight away.
<h2> </h2>
<h2>Intuition in Design</h2>
If you click on a picture, you can edit it. If you click on text, you can edit it with the rich text editor right there on the screen. Everything is very simple and works as you’d expect it to.
You can create your own template from scratch but the available templates are of a great standard and contemporarily designed.
<img src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2023/08/templates816x0-is.png" />
The design styles are clean and nicely put together but they might be a little basic for some people’s tastes and seemed a little ‘samey’ to me.
I also found that some templates were a little rigid in their layout but they are well designed overall.
<h2> </h2>
<h2>Options</h2>
Jimdo has quite a comprehensive settings page but all the premium features are listed on the free page’s settings, which means that you only find out you don’t have them after you click. A little frustrating.
All of Jimdo packages have a shop function with scaling features. The free package has 5 items, the professional package has 15, and the business package allows you unlimited items.
This online store function is one of Jimdo’s main selling points and it is quite well put together. However, <a href="https://www.paypal.com/">Paypal</a> is the only payment processing option available. This can be a big problem if you don’t want to use that site.
Domains and Email accounts: Jimdo offers an email service with its premium packages which is something none of its competitors offer. This makes the premium packages extremely good value as they don’t charge extra for this service.
App: Jimdo’s app is one of the best available when it comes to creating a website on a tablet or smart device. It’s available on both Android and iOS.
Widgets: All of the plans offer a wide range of Widgets (e.g. YouTube embed, image galleries etc)
<h2>Price Points</h2>
Jimdo is quite reasonably priced. To be honest, the Free option isn’t really worth the effort of setting it up. It’s fine for testing something out, but no business or blogger will realistically use this subdomain as it hosts advertisements and offers only a basic package of features.
You can easily upgrade from your Free package to the Premium or Business package and the added features make it well worth it.
Premium packages start at €5 a month for the Professional package (charged yearly). This allows you to have one domain name of your choosing, numerous SEO options, and a lot of space.
The Business package is a really good option at €15 a month. It seems pricey but you get a ton of features including two domains, unlimited email addresses, unlimited shop items, unlimited storage, discount codes, full SEO customization, and more.
The extensive features available in the Business package make it an extremely good option for the medium sized eCommerce company. For more on pricing, <a href="http://www.jimdo.com/pricing/" target="_blank">click here.</a>
<h2>Pros:</h2>
<ul>
<li>
Very quick and easy setup.
</li>
<li>
Fair pricing scale and lot of good features on their mid-range price option.
</li>
<li>
Offers email hosting with their premium packages.
</li>
<li>
Well designed app.
</li>
<li>
Wide range of widgets and features
</li>
</ul>
<h2>Cons:</h2>
<ul>
<li>
The platform is only compatible with Paypal, which limits your options drastically.
</li>
<li>
Lack of a preview button on page means changes are published live to the site.
</li>
<li>
Slightly inflexible page editor.
</li>
</ul>
<h2>To Sum It Up</h2>
Jimdo is a good website builder that’s just a shade away from being a great website builder. It falls down slightly with its Free package and the depth of editing available on the various templates.
Jimdo’s Business package really seems to be the best deal and it gives you everything that a potential online store could want – at quite a reasonable price for the various features on offer. So if you’re thinking about signing up to Jimdo, I definitely recommend trying going for this option. If you do, you’ll have an intuitive, powerful, easy to use website builder that is well worth the money you’ve paid for it. To sign up for Jimdo, just click <a href="http://www.jimdo.com" target="_blank">here</a>.
Have you tried Jimdo for your business? Why not share your thoughts with us in the comments section below.

Jimdo Review

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Adobe has announced that their new Omniture based SocialAnalytics application has entered beta testing worldwide. This new application, built within the Adobe Online Marketing Suite, which was unveiled earlier this year. Adobe SocialAnalytics works by monitoring and aggregating all relevant activity from social networks and online communities and identifying key business metrics and brand perception. Using the suite, you can monitor and measure all of your social networks (including blogs, forums and the like) in multiple languages easily.
<img src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2023/08/adobe_socialanalytics_dashboard-580x745.jpg" alt="adobe_socialanalytics_dashboard" />Here's some of the comments being made by current beta testers:
<blockquote>
“Through social engagement we can offer responsive customer service, enhance customer engagement and drive contextual messaging. With the ability to tie our efforts to key performance indicators such as onsite behavior patterns and customer satisfaction we can further optimize the social experiences we provide.” – Chris Jenkins, Vodafone
“We have thousands of conversations every day about our brands across multiple social channels. Adobe SocialAnalytics will help us get valuable insights from these conversations that we can use to better meet the needs of our customers and drive ROI.” – Liz Boone, General Motors
</blockquote>
Learn more about the <a href="http://www.omniture.com/en/products/online_marketing_suite" target="_blank">Adobe Online Marketing Suite</a>

Adobe SocialAnalytics now in beta Globally

I have a soft spot for minimalism in web design and nothing makes me smile more than coming upon a well-designed, minimalist website with a strong focus on content. There is a growing number of excellent CMS themes that showcase minimalism very well while maintaining unique looks and styling. Today, I'm going to highlight some of my personal favorites for you.
<h2>Minimalist WordPress Themes</h2>
<h3>iA³ template</h3>
Designed by Information Architects and available for purchase on their website, this premium theme offers a very unique style and look that makes content the primary focus. With full mobile capabilities, this is a beautifully rendered theme at a very reasonable price. It incorporates standards-compliant HTML5 and CSS3 and jQuery and comes with a full Android and iPhone version.
<img src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2023/08/socialengine_woa88q.png" alt="ia3-1" />
You can purchase (or preview) the theme from <a href="http://store.informationarchitects.jp/product/ia%C2%B3-template" target="_blank">Information Architects</a>
<h3>Pimlico</h3>
Designed by Rodrigo Galindez, this theme provides a unique 3 column look with excellent typography and a unique style. Rodrigo has designed some of the most popular minimalist WordPress themes including Modern Clix and The Modernist. Pimlico is less than $25, which is a great deal for a WordPress theme.
<img src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2023/08/pimlico-580x450.png" alt="pimlico" />
You can preview Pimlico, check out his other themes or buy it from his website: <a href="http://www.rodrigogalindez.com/" target="_blank">Rodrigo Galindez</a>
<h3>Suburbia</h3>
Designed by WPShower.com, this theme offers a really unique look as well as some awesome features for a free theme such as integrated automatic tinyurl generation, a logo that moves from left to right on posts and more. The folks at WPShower produce a number of exceptional minimalist themes for WordPress, most of which are free.
<img src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2023/08/cmsexpo2013-620x355_miefz0.jpg" alt="suburbia1" />
Check out Suburbia or there other awesome themes on <a href="http://www.wpshower.com" target="_blank">the WPShower website</a>.
<h3>Typominima</h3>
Designed by Blogsessive, Typominima is an attractive (and free!) single column theme with a focus on Typography. It's unique really showcases content and images well. Perfect for a blog.
<img src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2023/08/socialmediamoderation-620x385_fp1ghc.jpg" alt="typominima" />
You can test and download from here: <a href="http://blogsessive.com" target="_blank">Typominima from Blogsessive</a>.
<h3>The Standard Theme</h3>
Designed by 8Bit, The Standard Theme is an advanced premium theme with extreme customization capabilities, an indepth options panel and lots of SEO functionality built right in. It's used by a good number of websites and is very easy to customize.
<img src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2023/08/standardtheme_com-screen-capture-2011-5-16-9-36-55-493x1024.png" alt="standardtheme" />
You can test or purchase The Standard theme from their website: <a href="https://poststatus.com/notes/woothemes-acquired-standard-theme-8bit/" target="_blank">Standard Theme</a>
 
Do you have favorites that we haven't covered here? Please share them in the comments below!

A Collection of our favorite Minimalist WordPress themes

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