Articles - Page 56

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

matt-garrepy

<a href="https://www.superdesk.org/" target="_blank">The Superdesk website</a> says that the company is “more interested in saving journalists from being used as robots than we are in the fantasy of robots becoming journalists.” That’s a bold goal given the demands placed on journalists, news agencies and media organizations in the current environment.
But Sourcefabric, the team behind Superdesk, are very close to making this happen with their headless CMS and news management system that purports to be a creation, production, curation, distribution and publishing platform built for journalists by journalists.
Will they make it? Read on to find out.
<img src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2023/08/superdesk-1_jprw1j.png" alt="Superdesk Review" />
<h2>Key Features</h2>
<h3>The Personal Tab</h3>
Confidentiality and private space management are essential for journalists. With a modular system like this, Superdesk knew that they had to provide this functionality to users and it’s the first thing that stood out to me.
The Personal Tab on the homepage allows journalists to store private audio, image, video, composites and text files, that are kept completely separate from any search function and the other “desks”. This desk element of Superdesk’s CMS is a key part of the product.
<img src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2023/08/screen-shot-2018-08-31-at-100114_i9gufz.png" alt="Superdesk Review - 2" />
In a physical news organisation, journalists and other content creators work in specific areas of the newsroom. Sourcefabric have tried to recreate this collaborative nexus in a digital environment with the “desks” function, which allows for easy jumping between a sports desk, a politics desk, a features desk, etc.
If a story intersects between sports and politics, different news writers can collaborate in the same newsroom, regardless of their physical location; whether they’re in just across the hall or an ocean away. Using these desks, journalists can manage and control their work practice according to the needs of the story.
<img src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2023/08/screen-shot-2018-08-31-at-100427_ytjr4f.png" alt="Superdesk Review - 3" />
<h3>Superdesk Search</h3>
An editor can also use the Superdesk Search function to capture a wide range of stories with a detailed, exhaustive query system that allows you to narrow in on as many specific stories as you need. Using this function, users can then reuse these stories. Essentially users can search stories and then repurpose them in production
<img src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2023/08/screen-shot-2018-08-31-at-112031_dwmiz6.png" alt="superdesk review 10" />
 
You can filter the search terms under a number of different criteria and clicking on each result brings up a well laid out tab with the full story easily visible.
<img src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2023/08/screen-shot-2018-08-31-at-112312_mftvy8.png" alt="superdesk review 6" />
<h3>Dashboard</h3>
The first page you’re greeted with is the Workspace page, which is the area from which all other parts of the site are accessed. The design immediately strikes you as being clean, fuss-free, and easy on the eye for the most part – albeit a little monotone at times.
From this page, you can easily click into most of what you need – even if the Publishing and Setting pages are hidden behind a blind tab. Once you get to grips with the system, the home page becomes a nexus of information. You can access other workspaces, track stories and easily access your personal tabs, but getting to grips with that system is the thing. It’s easy to use once you know how, but getting to that point is the issue.
In my opinion, the Dashboard area of the platform could be improved with some tips for using the various tools or even just a visible help section to ease the user into the system. The detail of the Superdesk system means that busy journalists will need a little hand-holding initially, especially because the page is so cleanly laid out. Once you know what the Personal Tab does and how the Monitoring system works it’ll become second nature, but getting to that stage without a walkthrough takes a bit of time.
<h3>Monitoring</h3>
The Monitoring tab is where Superdesk really flexes its muscles from a journalist workspace perspective.
<img src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2023/08/screen-shot-2018-08-31-at-103832_ka4w19.png" alt="superdesk review 7" />
In this tab, you can track stories and topics, and edit stories and other assignments right next to the items that you’re tracking. You can write copy, assign urgency, and add other important metadata right next to the content as it tracks.
<img src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2023/08/screen-shot-2018-08-31-at-104141_qjcfbg.png" alt="superdesk review 8" />
<h3>Automated News</h3>
In addition, there is a type of Newsroom Automation that allows journalists to create templates to speed up reports or stories that have similar content week to week, which is a great idea in practice but I found it a bit difficult to work out. The learning curve on the CMS seems to be a little steep and that might make initial uptake quite time-consuming, especially when it comes to creating content on the platform.
<h3>User Interface</h3>
My one criticism of the Superdesk interface is the colour scheme of the Dashboard area and the effect this has on user experience. With the current colour scheme, it’s difficult to determine one area of the page from the other. While everything is perfectly clean, precise, and excellently put together from a layout perspective, the default colour scheme is a little off-putting when engaging on a certain desk or story.
<img src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2023/08/screen-shot-2018-08-31-at-100527_bpizae.png" alt="Superdesk Review - 4" />
That colour issue becomes especially prominent in the Monitoring part of the Dashboard, which makes it difficult to keep track of what stories you have and have not interacted with. As I stated earlier, the lack of support available was also an issue for me and this impaired my use of certain sections, such as Monitoring and Content Production.
This issue is all the more confusing given that Superdesk do know how to use colour to distinguish text and freshen up the visuals of a page. Superdesk’s Copy Editing System is based on just that concept and is absolutely fantastic for journalists in that it addresses a common problem: proofreading and word blindness. In the screenshot below, you’ll see that after creating a document, I was able to copy edit and proofread the text by changing the colour scheme.
<img src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2023/08/screen-shot-2018-08-31-at-101736_yrcfro.png" alt="superdesk review - 11" />
That micro-change and the new colour made the text seem like a different set of words compared to what I had written just minutes prior, which made error spotting much easier.
Overall, the User Interface is very clean, very fast and is intuitively laid out once you get to grips with the general concepts.
<h3>Pricing</h3>
Right now, it’s hard to find what the starting price for Superdesk actually is. Their website writes that it is “developed with new agencies and independent contributors as an open-source newsroom CMS”. And while they state that there is no license fee or a vendor tie-in, it isn’t 100% clear.
I reached out to SourceFabric and found out that there are in fact 3 pricing options for using Superdesk. As it is open source, users with technical know-how can download it for themselves for free. The second option, for smaller operations, is the pro package, and for larger scale organisations Superdesk offers an enterprise package. To find out more about these packages and request a demo, those interested can click <a href="https://www.superdesk.org/products">here</a>. 
<h3>Design</h3>
Once you navigate to the Templates section, the clean design allows you to progress through the stages of creation quite well without tripping you up in relentless click back error loops, which I liked. The presentation of the platform is ultra clean, smooth and performed very well on all the contemporary browsers I tried it on.
I really appreciated the integration with WordPress and their own API-based Superdesk Publisher, which fits into any newsroom software. Superdesk Publisher also has a number of excellent themes that can be easily edited and put together by editorial staff with no need for coding or back-end developers. You can add as many channels as you want, and even publish directly to RSS feeds.
Superdesk has plugin integration for other publishing sites – as you might expect for a platform of this nature – but they also have output settings of their own, which are sleek, easily customisable and are comparable with other bespoke news templates.
<img src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2023/08/screen-shot-2018-08-31-at-102829_xiaynv.png" alt="superdesk review - 12" />
<img src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2023/08/screen-shot-2018-08-31-at-102614_j1zeyr.png" alt="superdesk review - 13" />
The way they’ve integrated video and imagery into the input system and made it easy to export to publishing is particularly useful, especially for journalists and editors who may be under time pressure. I found it quick and seamless with zero lag.
The main page can be further customised by editing widgets. Although this is slightly more complex than editing text, it isn’t too hard to grasp. This element really shows the potential of Superdesk as a publishing platform.
<img src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2023/08/screen-shot-2018-08-31-at-103440_rf5zvm.png" alt="superdesk review -14" />
<h2>Help and Support</h2>
Superdesk might not have many help options in the workspace but they certainly do aim to make their platform as easy to use as possible, with various training options and videocasts to help upskill users to the site's systems.
At the moment though, their help and support sections seem to be a reference to their user manual and user forums, which isn’t very personable and may seem like too much effort to users. However, it’s worth mentioning that they do offer personal support to commercial clients under a Service-Level-Agreement (SLA).
<img src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2023/08/screen-shot-2018-08-31-at-111531_bybxsv.png" alt="superdesk review 15" />
A system as complex and powerful as Superdesk will need a more comprehensive help section to bring along potential users who might be intimidated by its scale.
<h2>Pros</h2>
<ul>
<li>Extremely flexible and powerful layout.</li>
<li>A detailed and extensive search and capture feature for news stories.</li>
<li>Very end-user focused with features and widgets such as colour optimized spell checking, world clock widgets.</li>
<li>Perfectly suited for journalist and newsroom specific collaboration</li>
<li>Multiple language options</li>
</ul>
<h2>Cons</h2>
<ul>
<li>There is a very steep learning curve that may throw off busy editors and journalists from investing time in fully utilizing the systems.</li>
<li>A lack of tool tips or an easily accessible help section adds to this learning curve.</li>
<li>The design is a little monotone, which can hurt readability at times.</li>
</ul>
<h2>Overall</h2>
Once you get past the initial complexity of Superdesks’ setup, you’ll find an incredibly powerful Content Management System and creation tool that really does live up to the idea of being created for journalists by journalists. Little touches like the ability to attach a physical paper trail of attachments to stories in production, publish in multiple languages, and even a projected read time feature on created text show that they’ve spent a lot of time thinking about everything a journalist and newsroom might want.
<img src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2023/08/screen-shot-2018-08-31-at-100811_ng8pat.png" alt="superdesk review 16" />
That blend between journalist and publisher is what makes this such a powerful system. After you’ve progressed through the initial learning curve – which is an unavoidable result of the complexity and power of the system – you have a site that can stitch together content production on a massive scale but is also specific enough to serve a local newspaper.
Its clean design might be a little too stark at times but it makes for a pleasant working environment that is flexible and powerful in equal measure. <a href="https://www.superdesk.org/" target="_blank">Superdesk</a> has the potential to be the next big thing in media content management circles.

Superdesk Digital Newsroom Review

grainne-logue

Choosing the right e-commerce platform is essential for your business. In order to thrive online, your business will need an exceptional website, one that seamlessly melds the digital and physical shopping experiences.
Magento and Shopify are two of the most <a href="https://www.inc.com/bill-carmody/top-seven-ecommerce-platforms-in-2018.html">popular e-commerce platforms</a>. Both are great choices for businesses of all sizes. However, it’s good to take an in-depth look at both to see which platform is the best fit for you.
<h2>Magento: an in-depth look</h2>
Magento is a popular <a href="https://www.cminds.com/the-ultimate-beginners-guide-to-magento/">open-source e-commerce platform</a>. It’s used by small business and large brands alike as it’s easy to customize and scale for both B2B and B2C businesses.
Some key features of Magento:
<ul>
<li>Ability to create and deploy custom e-shops</li>
<li>Massive marketplace stocked with website themes and useful applications</li>
<li>Search engine optimization</li>
<li>An easy-to-integrate shopping cart system</li>
<li>Intuitive inventory system</li>
<li>Multi-store support</li>
<li>Integration of software tools such as a CRM, an ERP, etc</li>
</ul>
Magento is one of the fastest growing cloud-based e-commerce platforms as well, in part because of its customer support, user-friendliness, and flexible shopping cart system. Magento comes with some essential digital marketing features including search engine optimization and customizable user interface design.
The enterprise e-shopping platform is used by over <a href="https://www.thepixel.com/magento-ecommerce/">200,000 online stores</a>. Magento continues to garner more stores as its services and marketing campaigns expand. Its massive community, replete with application designers, theme makers, and Magento experts, attract e-commerce newcomers.
Magento was recently acquired by Adobe, the American software giant, for <a href="https://news.adobe.com/press-release/corporate/adobe-acquire-magento-commerce">$1.68 billion</a>. Adobe has a rather large developer base, active creative community, and a strong cloud infrastructure. Adobe’s resources will undoubtedly shape Magento. At present, it’s unclear how the partnership between the two companies will change e-commerce as a whole. All we know now is that Magento is bound to benefit.
As attractive as Magento sounds, it’s important to note an important technical detail. Magento is self-hosted so you’ll need to have a bit of web development skill in order to get your e-shop up and running. In fact, you may even need the assistance of a <a href="https://www.developersforhire.com/magento">Magento developer</a>.
It’s also important to note, however, that Magento is open-source (and therefore free to use). You’ll have to pay for hosting, apps, and premium themes, but the use of the platform itself is completely free.
<h2>Shopify: an in-depth look</h2>
Shopify is a Canadian e-shopping platform that allows for multiple sales channels, unlimited inventory, and single-step order fulfillment.
Shopify is an increasingly popular e-commerce platform and a major contender to Magento. According to Shopify, over <a href="https://techcrunch.com/2017/08/01/shopify-beats-on-big-revenue-jump-as-it-crosses-500k-merchants/">500,000 merchants</a> are using Shopify in some way, shape, or form and over $65 billion worth of goods have been sold through the platform.
Shopify allows shop owners to:
<ul>
<li>Set up an online store with a custom domain</li>
<li>Customize your online storefront with pre-made, tweakable themes</li>
<li>Accept credit card transactions</li>
<li>Add social media sales channels (like Pinterest)</li>
<li>Track orders</li>
<li>Respond to orders</li>
</ul>
In contrast to Magento, Shopify is hosted. This means they take care of hosting for you. For small business owners without any real web development experience, Shopify could be the best option. This means you’ll have to pay to use the Shopify platform itself, but that most of the technical details are taken care of for you.
Like Magento, Shopify allows users to customize their e-shops with over 100 ready-made themes. Shopify setup is extremely clean and simple to get the hang of for beginners. The e-commerce platform comes with a 14-day free trial so you’ll be able to test out the e-shop solution before committing.
Customer support is provided 24/7 for e-shop owners. So, if you do encounter any problems with the platform, from dysfunctional themes to errors processing payments through the Shopify credit card processing system, you’ll be able to receive help from experts.
Shopify, like Magento, has a dedicated community. So, if you’re looking for tips, tricks, or some help with initial setup, the Shopify community will be able to assist you.
<h2>Conclusion</h2>
Making an eye-catching website with superb ease-of-use, beautiful digital design, and optimized content is no easy feat.
Building your own e-shop, complete with a dazzling frontend and a dependable backend that takes care of orders and shipments, is nearly impossible on your own. Instead of building from scratch, you can leverage enterprise-grade e-commerce platforms.

Magento vs Shopify: Which Is Right for You

josh-althuser

Joomla 3.8.12 is now available. This is a security release for the 3.x series of Joomla which addresses 3 security vulnerabilities and contains over 20 bug fixes and improvements.
<h2>What's in 3.8.12?</h2>
Joomla 3.8.12 includes three security vulnerability fixes, several bug fixes and improvements:
<h3>Security Issues Fixed</h3>
<ul>
<li>Low Priority – Core –  Hardening the InputFilter for phar stubs (affecting Joomla 1.5.0 through 3.8.11) <a href="https://developer.joomla.org/security-centre/743-20180801-core-hardening-the-inputfilter-for-phar-stubs.html">More information »</a></li>
<li>Low Priority – Core – Stored XSS vulnerability in the frontend profile (affecting Joomla 1.5.0 through 3.8.11) <a href="https://developer.joomla.org/security-centre/744-20180802-core-stored-xss-vulnerability-in-the-frontend-profile.html">More information »</a></li>
<li>Low Priority – Core – ACL Violation in custom fields (affecting Joomla 3.7.0 through 3.8.11) <a href="https://developer.joomla.org/security-centre/745-20180803-core-acl-violation-in-custom-fields.html">More information »</a></li>
</ul>
<h3>Bug fixes and Improvements</h3>
<ul>
<li>mod_articles_latest and mod_articles_news: fix to show featured articles <a href="https://github.com/joomla/joomla-cms/pull/21336">#21336</a></li>
<li>Tags in com_content: fix to display tags when other item info are set to hidden <a href="https://github.com/joomla/joomla-cms/pull/21275">#21275</a></li>
<li>com_tags: All Tags default layout <a href="https://github.com/joomla/joomla-cms/pull/21031">#21031</a></li>
<li>Allows filtering by the archived state in the redirect component <a href="https://github.com/joomla/joomla-cms/pull/21673">#21673</a></li>
</ul>
Visit GitHub for the full list of<a href="https://github.com/joomla/joomla-cms/milestone/38?closed=1"> bug fixes</a>.

Joomla 3.8.12 Released

mike-johnston

<a href="https://appinstitute.com/">AppInstitute</a> was founded in 2011 by CEO Ian Naylor and is now one of the largest app builders in the UK. During this time it has acquired a number of startup awards and is now making big waves in the US/Canadian market.
<img src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2023/08/appinstitute-review-1_csohse.png" alt="appinstitute review - 1" />
Known as the “Wordpress for apps”, AppInstitute is a welcome addition to the App Maker CMS. The app builder guides users with no design expertise to create their own applications via the Software-as-a-Service platform. This gives SMEs and individuals the chance to minimize business costs by keeping app development and maintenance in-house.
AppInstitute’s core value “Deliver Wow” is a bold statement for any business to make but it suggests that the company has complete confidence in its product. So the question is: “does it deliver”? Check out our review below to find out.
<h2>Getting Started</h2>
Setting up an account is a breeze and you’ll receive a friendly “Welcome” email straightaway. Once you sign up, you’ll see an option to extract your business information from your Facebook account by simply typing in your page name. Total convenience.
<img src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2023/08/appinstitute-review-2_az9kyb.png" alt="appinstitute review - 2" />
On the next screen you’ll be asked to name your app and follow these steps:
<ul>
<li>Choose a category to find the best template for your app</li>
<li>Select your industry</li>
<li>Enter your website address to create a colour scheme that works with the app.</li>
</ul>
The app builder will then bring you to the next stage of the process where you can edit your design, add content, and publish your app.
<img src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2023/08/appinstitute-review-3_h02crl.png" alt="appinstitute review - 3" />
<h2>Design</h2>
Design options are a bit limited but the available templates are good – with some better than others. Once you’ve chosen a theme you have to stick with it unless you want to start over which is a bit irritating, so it’s advisable to take some time in choosing the right one for your business from the start.
<img src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2023/08/appinstitute-review-4_dzbr3m.png" alt="appinstitute review - 4" />
<h2>Usability and Support</h2>
One of the best things about this app is the support you receive whilst navigating it. The online demo/video tutorials are great for users who aren’t at all familiar with the app building process (which likely accounts for a large portion of AppInsitute demographic) and this is important because the interface has a very cluttered look that may deter newcomers.
Once you look past that, though, the drag-and-drop builder makes it easy to edit or change various app elements and the addition or deletion of functions is also just a process of a few clicks.
<img src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2023/08/appinstitute-review-5_d83lkm.png" alt="appinstitute review - 5" />
<h2>Key Features</h2>
In addition to the app templates available, there are more than 20 modules available to add more app functionality. Some key modules include:
<ul>
<li>In-app calendar and booking system including the use of rich media for the events you create</li>
<li>eCommerce module: create your own menu and check-out features so that users can pay within the app</li>
<li>Loyalty program: coupons, stamps, and loyalty point available</li>
<li>Maps and other location-based features</li>
</ul>
Marketing resources and analytics, push notifications, and a Content Management System are also available to give you even more insight into how your customers are interacting with your app.
<h2>Languages</h2>
As the company is based in the UK, I expected at least 2 language options. However English is the only available option at the moment.
<h2>Compatibility</h2>
AppInstitute is compatible with iOS 6.0 or later on the iPhone, iPad and iPod touch, and 4.0.3 upwards is required for the Android version.
<h2>Pricing</h2>
After your free trial, there are 4 subscription tiers available to suit your needs. The AppInstitute starter plan at $35 p/m is definitely affordable but it may not be enough for some companies. Things start to get a little pricey as you move up the tier ranks, but the AppBuilder Pro+ for $84 monthly is a solid middle-ground option that’s both cost-effective and feature-rich.
<img src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2023/08/appinstitute-review-6_lj8q9q.png" alt="appinstitute review - 6" />
<h2>Pros</h2>
<ul>
<li>100% free trial with no credit card required</li>
<li>Drag-drop builder and instant preview</li>
<li>Possible to hire a developer to assist with the design</li>
<li>Great online support</li>
</ul>
<h2>Cons</h2>
<ul>
<li>Limited template options</li>
<li>Once you cancel your subscription, your app is automatically unpublished from all stores</li>
<li>Can be pricey</li>
<li>Cluttered UI</li>
</ul>
<h2>Final Verdict &amp; Rating: ⅘</h2>
Overall, AppInstitute is a solid App Builder for app design newbies and the price factor isn’t a massive issue in comparison to outsourcing your app development. The busy interface means that it may take complete beginners a while to get their bearings, but the features available more than compensate for that.
If you’re a small to medium business in need of an app, I definitely recommend giving AppInstitute a try.

AppInstitute Review

<a href="https://www.dreamhost.com">DreamHost® </a>has launched a WordPress Export Feature built into its proprietary website builder, <a href="https://www.dreamhost.com/website-builder/">Remixer</a>.
Effective immediately, DreamHost Remixer users who are also DreamHost customers have the power to export their sites to WordPress, carrying across all styles, theming and content created within Remixer into a freshly created WordPress website. The new WordPress export tool does away with Remixer’s “walled garden” approach to website content and brings true data portability to Remixer users, aligning with DreamHost’s stance to fight for the Open Web. 
“We’re committed to supporting the Open Web,” said DreamHost’s vice president of product, Remixer, Ralph Castro. “From free speech to free software, to giving our users complete control and ownership of their data, this launch builds on the web’s early promise to help users share their content online on their platform of choice.”
Remixer has embraced WordPress’ new, in-development “Gutenberg” design paradigm, exporting block-based designs and content designed to work with the WordPress of today and tomorrow.
To date, Remixer is the only standalone website builder with the ability to export websites and their content directly to WordPress, making this a noteworthy industry first. More than that, once a DreamHost customer’s site of choice is moved to WordPress with Remixer, they will have the freedom to take their site to any hosting service of their choice. 
“DreamHost customers can use WordPress' own built-in Export tool to take their data anywhere,” explains VP of Corporate Communications for DreamHost, Brett Dunst. “That's one of the great benefits of the Open Web and open technology like WordPress — true data portability.”
Other notable features of the newly updated Remixer website builder include:
<ul>
<li>Unlimited websites: With Remixer, feel free to build as many websites as you’d like all under one plan.</li>
<li>No page limits: Build an unlimited number of pages on your website.</li>
<li>Custom domain name: Assign your own domain name to your Remixer website.</li>
<li>Free stock photos: You’ll have access to gorgeous professional photos via Pixabay.</li>
<li>SEO made easy: Update your SEO-friendly titles and meta descriptions. </li>
<li>Your own media library: Publish photos, videos and audio directly to your site.</li>
</ul>
Like its new WordPress Export feature, Remixer’s unique ability to guide the average internet user through the intimidating process of website building is built on the foundation of the Open Web. The website builder caters to the majority of internet users who don’t know code and whose web experience is limited to sending emails. Whether you need a site for your small business, you professional portfolio, or your creative ventures, Remixer allows you to easily build your foundation and export your creation to WordPress, the home of 75 million other websites.
DreamHost Remixer’s WordPress export tool is in beta and is available at no charge to all new and existing Remixer All Access users and DreamHost Shared Hosting customers. User feedback during this period will be used, as always, to shape the future of Remixer and other new offerings from DreamHost.
<h2>About DreamHost</h2>
DreamHost is a premier Managed WordPress hosting provider, giving over 400,000 businesses, developers and content creators worldwide the tools they need to own their digital presence. Powered by a strong team of industry experts with nearly two decades of advanced web experience, DreamHost is a leader in Managed WordPress hosting. Supporting the open source community with dedicated resources and top-tier talent, DreamHost believes in the power of the Open Web and the people that make it happen. Founded in 1997, DreamHost has offices in Los Angeles and Orange County, California and in Portland, Oregon. Learn more at <a href="https://www.dreamhost.com">DreamHost.com</a>.

DreamHost Remixer gets WordPress Export Feature

Nuxeo, the leading cloud-native Content Services Platform, today announced Fast Track 10.2, which includes several updates and adds new features to the core Nuxeo Platform.
Nuxeo 10.2 adds enhanced capabilities for annotations, including the ability for users to annotate office documents, images, videos, PDFs, and AutoCAD documents for review/validation processes or for media enrichment. The latest release of the Nuxeo Platform also features a new Adobe Creative Cloud connector, which has been rebuilt from the ground up to improve the user experience and leverage the full capabilities of Adobe CC 2018.
“The latest release of the Nuxeo Platform further strengthens our foundation for building intelligent solutions that connect information across the enterprise, improving business performance and delivering competitive advantage,” said Chris McLaughlin, chief product and marketing officer at Nuxeo. “Nuxeo 10.2 is an intelligent information management platform that enables enterprises to build personalized business solutions to deliver the right information to the right people at the right time on any device.”
Other updates and enhancements featured in<a href="https://www.nuxeo.com/about/what-is-new/?utm_source=Press%20release&amp;utm_campaign=Nuxeo%2010.2%20announcement"> Nuxeo 10.2 </a>include:
<ul>
<li>Federation Blob Provider: The Nuxeo Platform can now manage binary content “in place” (i.e. content that remains stored in external ECM or EFSS systems). In addition to extending the Nuxeo content federation strategy, this enables customers to get all the benefits of a modern Content Services Platform (scale, search, workflows, automation, and permissions) without the cost and pain of forced migrations.</li>
<li>Metadata Comparison: Nuxeo’s Web UI now offers functionality for comparing metadata values across multiple documents. Accuracy and speed are critical when users must clearly identify granular differences across a lot of data linked to different documents or versions of the same document (e.g. product or catalog use cases). Users can now easily review an entire document or just compare the differing metadata values.</li>
<li>Identifying Similar Content: The Nuxeo Platform now supports “More Like This” type queries, which enables intelligent searchesacross a repository for content that’s close to the content of a given image, document, case or other business object. This is particularly useful in case management projects where finding similar cases can reduce resolution time.</li>
<li>Bulk Actions Framework: When dealing with large volumes of data, even a simple action like updating metadata across the entire repository can take a long time and impact overall platform performance. Nuxeo has streamlined these bulk operations with a Bulk Action Framework built on a Kafka-based streaming infrastructure. This framework allows customers to execute custom actions on millions or even billions of content items easily, and in a highly-scalable and robust manner. This can be particularly useful for enterprises that have high-availability solution requirements, or that have specific needs around bulk or volume processing of content or data.</li>
<li>Avro: Nuxeo Stream now sends Asynchronous Processing Messages in Kafka using Avro. Avro is a standardized way of enabling modern systems to communicate with each other. This allows any service to consume Nuxeo messages in a standardized manner, and its programmatic capabilities enhance the openness of the Nuxeo Platform.</li>
</ul>
About Nuxeo
Nuxeo, developer of the leading Content Services Platform, is reinventing<a href="https://www.nuxeo.com/products/digital-asset-management/?utm_source=Press%20release&amp;utm_campaign=Nuxeo%2010.2%20announcement"> </a>digital asset management (DAM) and<a href="https://www.nuxeo.com/products/document-management/?utm_source=Press%20release&amp;utm_campaign=Nuxeo%2010.2%20announcement"> </a>enterprise content management (ECM). Nuxeo is fundamentally changing how people work with data and content to realize new value from digital information. Its cloud-native platform has been deployed by large enterprises, mid-sized businesses and government agencies worldwide. Customers like Verizon, Electronic Arts, ABN Amro, and the Department of Defense have used Nuxeo's technology to transform the way they do business. Founded in 2008, the company is based in New York with offices across the United States, Europe, and Asia. Learn more at<a href="https://www.nuxeo.com/?utm_source=Press%20release&amp;utm_campaign=Nuxeo%2010.2%20announcement"> </a><a href="https://www.nuxeo.com/?utm_source=Press%20release&amp;utm_campaign=Nuxeo%2010.2%20announcement">www.nuxeo.com</a>

Nuxeo Announces Updates to its Content Services Platform

dotCMS, a leading open-source Java CMS and Customer Experience Management software vendor, has launched their latest version, <a href="https://dotcms.com/docs/latest/changelogs#release-5.0">dotCMS 5.0</a>, adding UI / UX features to improve the author experience, a refreshed Edit Mode, new reporting, as well as enhancements to search and security.
“We have made a company-wide decision to make dotCMS the most user-friendly system in the marketplace, and dotCMS 5.0 is a giant step in that direction,” said Will Ezell, dotCMS CTO.
“Marketing and business users spend a majority of their time in our authoring environment, which is why we decided to do a complete refresh of our Edit Mode,”  Ezell continued. “With a cleaner UI, new drag and drop features, and an added reporting module, dotCMS 5.0 follows our <a href="http://go.dotcms.com/nocode-is-the-new-standard">‘NoCode’ philosophy</a>, offering editors the autonomy they need to create without heavy reliance on IT.
dotCMS 5.0 includes a slew of new drag-and-drop capabilities, including:
<ul>
<li>Page / Layout Editor: Layouts are now tied to the page itself, making it easy to make changes to the layout without having to leave the page editor.</li>
<li>Workflow Builder: Building on the ‘Four Eyes’ approval feature from dotCMS 4.3, the dotCMS 5.0 Workflow builder allows for multiple workflow schemes per content type.</li>
<li>Content Type Builder: Users can now drag and drop from a list of fields to build out content types. Adding rows, columns, and changing the order of fields makes it easier to build out new content types, especially forms.</li>
<li>Containers: A huge improvement to the usability of the platform, containers can be used multiple times on the same page, leading to the decrease in the number of templates and the overall ease of management of templates, layouts and containers.</li>
</ul>
Along with these new drag-and-drop features, <a href="http://go.dotcms.com/dotcms-5-0-product-brief">dotCMS 5.0</a> also includes a new reporting module that integrates with Google Analytics to allow businesses to gain insight into their website right from the dotCMS Dashboard. This visualization of your web properties can be customized to show what insights are most important to your business.
“While dotCMS 5.0 does focus primarily on the authoring environment, we’ve also made improvements to the backend, including upgrading to ElasticSearch v6.1, security fixes, and adding full <a href="https://dotcms.com/landing-pages/webinars/why-containerization-makes-sense-for-your-cms-webinar">containerization capabilities</a>,” said Ezell.
To learn more about dotCMS 5.0 and how you can upgrade, visit: <a href="https://dotcms.com/dotcms-5">www.dotcms.com/dotcms-5 </a>
About dotCMS
dotCMS is a leading, open source content and customer experience management Java platform for companies that want innovation and performance driving their websites and other content-driven applications. Extensible and massively scalable, both small and large organizations can rapidly deliver personalized and engaging content across browsers, mobile devices, channels, second screens, and endpoints — all from a single system.
Founded in 2003, dotCMS is a privately owned U.S. company with offices in Miami, Florida, Boston, Massachusetts, and San Jose, Costa Rica. With a global network of certified development partners and an active open source community, dotCMS has generated more than a half million downloads and thousands of implementations and integration projects worldwide.

dotCMS Launches dotCMS 5.0 - Developed with ‘NoCode’ Philosophy, Giving Marketing and Business Teams More Autonomy to Create Digital Experiences

Call Tracking + AI 

Call Tracking + AI that Turns Calls into Leads

#ffffff

The nomination stage for the awards is now open. Please visit the awards page: https://www.cmscritic.com/awards/ to submit your nominations or use the form below
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We will be categorizing the products ourselves so you don't need to worry about which category you are nominating them for, we will take care of that aspect.
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CMS Critic Award Nominations are now open

Elementor Page Builder deservedly has won its popularity among customers on the web space. Not so long ago, this builder came up on the market showing up a new simple way of building great websites.
First things first, this builder is pretty much faster than others. That is why you enjoy real-time results from instant. Besides its simplicity, this builder comes as a truly open source solution that allows you to take a total control over your layouts. Moreover, Elementor has a plenty of handy widgets for even more enjoyable site’s building process.
Therefore, we decided to show you some great themes that have this page builder as a foundation. So, you could create a valuable website even without any professional skills. By the way, if you are a true Elementor-lover, feel free to go to the <a href="https://www.templatemonster.com/elementor-marketplace/?aff=cmscritic">Elementor Marketplace</a>. There you will find a huge variety of different plugins, templates, whatever, to make your web project even more perfect.
<div>
<h2>24.Storcycle – Multipurpose News Elementor WordPress Theme</h2>
<img src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2023/08/69580-big-1_sk3avq.jpg" />
<a href="https://www.templatemonster.com/wordpress-themes/24-storycle-blog-multipurpose.html?aff=cmscritics&amp;utm_campaign=blog_site_cmscritics&amp;utm_source=07.25.2018_guestpost&amp;utm_medium=elementor ">Details</a> |  <a href="https://www.templatemonster.com/demo/69580.html?aff=cmscritics&amp;utm_campaign=blog_site_cmscritics&amp;utm_source=07.25.2018_guestpost&amp;utm_medium=elementor ">Demo</a>
Being a great theme for various news and blog portals, it has a truly mobile-friendly design, multiple customization options, and a hassle-free installation. Here you get a plenty of good-looking demos that will help any blog &amp; news project look gorgeous. Premium site layouts, Jet Plugins package, header &amp; footer builder, and many other features are waiting for you in this theme.
<h2>JohnyGo – Multipurpose Home Services Elementor WordPress Theme</h2>
<img src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2023/08/62555-big-2_kkvdny.jpg" />
<a href="https://www.templatemonster.com/wordpress-themes/johnnygo.html?aff=cmscritics&amp;utm_campaign=blog_site_cmscritic&amp;utm_source=07.25.2018_guestpost&amp;utm_medium=elementor ">Details</a> |  <a href="https://www.templatemonster.com/demo/62555.html?aff=cmscritics&amp;utm_campaign=blog_site_cmscritic&amp;utm_source=07.25.2018_guestpost&amp;utm_medium=elementor ">Demo</a>
This multifunctional template has over 15 perfectly suitable demos for any kind of business you have. So, whether you have dry cleaning, garbage removal, welding, window cleaning, or any other kind of home service, this Elementor theme will help you to create a professional-looking website. Also, here you get a powerful WooCommerce package, which allows you to turn your site into a great money-making machine!
<h2>Projexon – Construction Company Elementor WordPress Theme</h2>
<img src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2023/08/67927-big-1_naiqag.jpg" />
<a href="https://www.templatemonster.com/wordpress-themes/projexon-bright-construction-complany-wordpress-theme-67927.html?aff=cmscritics&amp;utm_campaign=blog_site_cmscritic&amp;utm_source=07.25.2018_guestpost&amp;utm_medium=elementor ">Details</a> |  <a href="https://www.templatemonster.com/demo/67927.html?aff=cmscritics&amp;utm_campaign=blog_site_cmscritic&amp;utm_source=07.25.2018_guestpost&amp;utm_medium=elementor ">Demo</a>
It is a fully responsive WordPress theme that was designed for construction business niche. It comes with a pleasant look, simple documentation, friendly support, and tons of captivating pages for all occasions. Customize your homepage, add the whole range of your services, show up the team of your professionals, run an existing blog, and promote your company on the fly!
<h2>FrameMe – Photo Studio Elementor WordPress Theme</h2>
<img src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2023/08/66179-big-1_dzij49.jpg" />
<a href="https://www.templatemonster.com/wordpress-themes/frameme-photography-studio-wordpress-theme-66179.html?aff=cmscritics&amp;utm_campaign=blog_site_cmscritic&amp;utm_source=07.25.2018_guestpost&amp;utm_medium=elementor ">Details</a> |  <a href="https://www.templatemonster.com/demo/66179.html?aff=cmscritics&amp;utm_campaign=blog_site_cmscritic&amp;utm_source=07.25.2018_guestpost&amp;utm_medium=elementor ">Demo</a>
Looking for a gorgeous theme for your photography studio? Try FrameMe! This is a high-productive photography WordPress theme with a truly stunning design and an advanced functionality! Thanks to its fully responsive nature, your future photo website will have a solid look not only on PC’s and tablets but also on various mobile devices. FrameMe is a great theme that will help you to present your photo studio as a pro.
<h2>Forceair – Air Conditioner Services Elementor WordPress Theme</h2>
<img src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2023/08/64814-big-2_ovospk.jpg" />
<a href="https://www.templatemonster.com/wordpress-themes/64814.html?aff=cmscritics&amp;utm_campaign=blog_site_cmscritic&amp;utm_source=07.25.2018_guestpost&amp;utm_medium=elementor ">Details</a> |  <a href="https://www.templatemonster.com/demo/64814.html?aff=cmscritics&amp;utm_campaign=blog_site_cmscritic&amp;utm_source=07.25.2018_guestpost&amp;utm_medium=elementor ">Demo</a>
Forceair theme comes with an enhanced functionality and a wide range of effective UI elements. It has an intuitive mobile-friendly nature, versatile header &amp; footer styles, over 30 cool widgets for building pages, pleasant color schemes, and even more! This theme is pre-loaded with a clean code, hassle-free documentation, and a friendly lifetime support.
<h2>Grafique – Architecture Elementor WordPress Theme</h2>
<img src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2023/08/66049-big-2_in7vbg.jpg" />
<a href="https://www.templatemonster.com/wordpress-themes/grafique-architect-wordpress-theme-66049.html?aff=cmscritics&amp;utm_campaign=blog_site_cmscritic&amp;utm_source=07.25.2018_guestpost&amp;utm_medium=elementor ">Details</a> |  <a href="https://www.templatemonster.com/demo/66049.html?aff=cmscritics&amp;utm_campaign=blog_site_cmscritic&amp;utm_source=07.25.2018_guestpost&amp;utm_medium=elementor ">Demo</a>
If you need a modern template with an elegant look to boost your architect project, this responsive and SEO-friendly template with Retina-ready visuals is your match. Choose from a diversity of header and footer styles, blog layouts, widgets, post formats, and more. This theme has everything you need for building a proper architect website.
<h2>ExtraOrdinarz – Advertising Agency Elementor WordPress Theme</h2>
<img src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2023/08/66888-big-1_fwh74l.jpg" />
<a href="https://www.templatemonster.com/wordpress-themes/extraordinarz-advertising-agency-wordpress-theme-66888.html?aff=cmscritics&amp;utm_campaign=blog_site_cmscritic&amp;utm_source=07.25.2018_guestpost&amp;utm_medium=elementor ">Details</a> |  <a href="https://www.templatemonster.com/demo/66888.html?aff=cmscritics&amp;utm_campaign=blog_site_cmscritic&amp;utm_source=07.25.2018_guestpost&amp;utm_medium=elementor ">Demo</a>
Are you fond of professional advertising? If yes, this well-documented advertising agency WordPress theme is for you! Built with WordPress Live Customizer, it allows you to manage your site’s settings without reloading the page. To say more, it has a first-class minimalist design that is perfect for your kind of business. ExtraOrdinarz theme is pre-loaded with a plenty of well-designed modules and widgets. Therefore, you will create a profitable website in hours, not in days.
<h2>Digitallium – Analysts Elementor WordPress Theme</h2>
<img src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2023/08/66957-big-1_wgxwt1.jpg" />
<a href="https://www.templatemonster.com/wordpress-themes/digitalium-marketing-agency-wordpress-theme-66957.html?aff=cmscritics&amp;utm_campaign=blog_site_cmscritic&amp;utm_source=07.25.2018_guestpost&amp;utm_medium=elementor ">Details</a> |  <a href="https://www.templatemonster.com/demo/66957.html?aff=cmscritics&amp;utm_campaign=blog_site_cmscritic&amp;utm_source=07.25.2018_guestpost&amp;utm_medium=elementor ">Demo</a>
This marketing agency theme will help you to get started working on your website on the fly thanks to its simple documentation and one-click installation process. Here you get a variety of Cherry plugins that will help you to showcase your services and team members, to add effective popups to your website, and even more! Digitallium theme boasts multiple header &amp; footer styles, various blog layouts, a diversity of Google web fonts, and a lot of outstanding plugins. It is just your best way to launch a high-profitable marketing website!
<h2>Kiddlez – Primary School Elementor WordPress Theme</h2>
<img src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2023/08/67321-big-1_fbj1em.jpg" />
<a href="https://www.templatemonster.com/wordpress-themes/kiddlez-primary-school-responsive-wordpress-theme-67321.html?aff=cmscritics&amp;utm_campaign=blog_site_cmscritic&amp;utm_source=07.25.2018_guestpost&amp;utm_medium=elementor ">Details</a> |  <a href="https://www.templatemonster.com/demo/67321.html?aff=cmscritics&amp;utm_campaign=blog_site_cmscritic&amp;utm_source=07.25.2018_guestpost&amp;utm_medium=elementor ">Demo</a>
Looking for the best theme to promote your primary school? There is a solution! Meet this fully responsive, SEO-friendly, and well-designed Kiddlez! This theme comes with a bright variety of additional pages. Therefore, feel free to add all the necessary information about your school and to present the content in a catchy manner. Being WPML ready, it is pre-loaded with Jet Elements plugin, which will enhance your website with tons of useful features. In addition, Kiddlez theme has an effective 24/7 support.
<h2>Edem – Spa Resort Elementor WordPress Theme</h2>
<img src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2023/08/67555-big-1_hfbppg.jpg" />
<a href="https://www.templatemonster.com/wordpress-themes/edem-sophisticated-beauty-salon-wordpress-theme-67555.html?aff=cmscritics&amp;utm_campaign=blog_site_cmscritic&amp;utm_source=07.25.2018_guestpost&amp;utm_medium=elementor ">Details</a> |  <a href="https://www.templatemonster.com/demo/67555.html?aff=cmscritics&amp;utm_campaign=blog_site_cmscritic&amp;utm_source=07.25.2018_guestpost&amp;utm_medium=elementor ">Demo</a>
It is a fabulous spa center theme that was carefully crafted to help you stand out in a beauty industry. This theme has a stunning design with captivating backgrounds and pleasant tones. Moreover, Edem template is truly intuitive and boasts multiple custom widgets, different headers and footers, a rich color palette, and many other features. Being Ecwid-ready, this theme allows you to launch a cool e-store on your website and to sell online with no effort!
These 10 pre-made bestsellers cover a plenty of business niches. That’s why we are sure that everyone will find a favorable theme in this showcase. Notice, that all templates here come with revolutionary Elementor Page builder and Jet Elements plugin. These two features together provide you with all possible customization options that you might need while building your site. Also, each theme has many unique features up to its design and purpose.
What do you think about Elementor Page builder? Have you already tried it? What is the most suitable Elementor theme for you? We are always glad to see your opinion in the comments!
</div>

10 Best Selling Elementor Themes for Building Your Business Booster

20 Flagship & Best-selling Templates

Most managers understand that communicating regularly with team members is important. However, with <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2017/02/15/us/remote-workers-work-from-home.html">more and more people working remotely</a>, it can become easy to neglect employees who aren’t in the office every day.
You need to guard against this. Communicating with your workers on an everyday basis is still essential, even if you’re not in the same physical space. Implement the right tools, like a <a href="https://www.15five.com/continuous-performance-management/">continuous performance management system</a>. Doing so will allow you to remain in contact with every member of your team every day, no matter where they work. The following are key reasons you should make daily communication a priority:
Higher Engagement
Engaged employees care about performing at the highest level possible. They believe in the company’s values and want to help the organization as a whole achieve its goals.
Unfortunately, Gallup has found that most of today’s workforce is not actively engaged. However, Gallup surveys also indicate that regular communication between workers and managers boosts engagement levels. Simply providing feedback, direction, and recognition on a daily basis is an easy, but effective, way to keep your team motivated.
Lower Turnover
Losing an employee is extremely costly for a business. Luckily, <a href="https://www.adp.com/boost/articles/2017/07/manager-relationships-with-employees-can-boost-retention.aspx">surveys show</a> that retention rates increase when employees feel they have relationships with their managers. When provided with regular direction and feedback, as well as signs of personal empathy, they’re more likely to stay at a company.
Better Insights
Even though you’re a manager, odds are good there is still room for improvement within your own position. Odds are also good your employees are the ones best equipped to identify where you can make improvements.
Of course, if you don’t have a relationship that involves communication, they’re not likely to offer their own insights without prompting. On the other hand, if you stay in touch on a daily basis, team members will be more comfortable offering suggestions.
Problem Solving
Some team members are reluctant to ask questions or request extra help with a task because they don’t want to appear incompetent. However, if you communicate with them on a daily basis and give them opportunities to ask for support, they’ll be more inclined to take you up on those offers. This makes it easier to identify and solve problems early on, before they have a major impact on a project.
Efficiency
Managers and employees who share an office and work together directly on a daily basis often develop similar mindsets that make it easier to work efficiently.
Teams begin to develop a shared language for discussing tasks, and they learn to anticipate when a manager or other team member will need assistance with a task. This eventually shapes an efficient team that knows how to get tasks done and move to the next step without waiting for immediate instruction.
That’s the kind of team you want. Luckily, you don’t need to sacrifice it simply because your employees don’t work in the same physical office. With the right tools, you can enjoy all the rewards that come from keeping in touch with your workers on a daily basis.

Why Maintaining Daily Contact with Employees Is Essential

As a business owner, the most important technology you will use for your website is the Content Management System (CMS), which is the system you will use to create, manage, and edit the content that is on your website. It’s what gives you control over your website.
The best types of CMS are able to accommodate necessary updates in a timely manner, as well as the management of the entire website without you requiring help from an outside source.
Without a CMS in place, you will need to rely solely on your website developer to make any content adjustments to your website. This can create massive roadblocks, as you do not have control over your own website and cannot make the changes as you need them, when you need them.
<a href="https://www.cmscritic.com/key-website-builders/">There are plenty of content management systems </a>available, depending on the purpose of your website, your needs, budget, and the platform you’ve chosen. It can be daunting to narrow your options down enough to pick one, but the following checklist will help you make that decision and pick the CMS that will best fit your brand, organization, and needs.
<img src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2023/08/macbook-laptop-ipad-apple-38519.jpeg" alt="apple, business, computer" />
<h2>Picking the Right CMS for Your Website</h2>
The right content management system depends on your needs and your budget. Go through the list of features outlined in this section, and then narrow your choices based on that.
If you’re working with a web developer, ask them which CMS they will be using for your website. If you’re using it on your own, request a demo from the vendor. Most of them will offer a free trial, so you can get a feel for the platform and determine if it’s the best choice for you.
<h3>1 . Is the CMS easy to use?</h3>
The more popular platforms boast complete ease-of-use, and many of them make it possible for website owners to use them without having to have advanced technical knowledge, like coding. <a href="https://www.cmscritic.com/weebly">Weebly</a> and Strikingly are examples of user-friendly platforms that don’t require much technical knowledge.
You want to make sure the content management system you choose makes it easy to upload and update text, add images and video, insert links, and make other content updates. It should be easy to add, customize, or remove web pages.
Your CMS should be intuitive and user-friendly for both your most tech-savvy and least tech-savvy members of your staff. If it’s just you, you want to make sure you can use it quickly and without frustration, so you can concentrate the majority of your efforts on other aspects of the business and its marketing.
<h3>2 . Is the CMS SEO-friendly?</h3>
It won’t do you a single bit of good to purchase a CMS that adversely affects your search engine optimization efforts or your rankings.
You want to check out SEO-related features, such as:
<ul>
<li>How does the platform go about creating new URLs?
<ul>
<li>The URLs should show up as: www.thisisanexample.com/page/subpage , rather than gibberish–www.thisisanexample.com/page123wasd_12?id=xyz .</li>
</ul>
</li>
<li>Does the platform allow users to write unique titles and page descriptions?</li>
<li>Does the CMS come with or integrate any SEO tools?
<ul>
<li>The vast majority of CMS have plugins or extensions that allow the user to fully manage the website’s SEO, including page descriptions, titles, etc. Some platforms handle the technical SEO aspects for you.</li>
</ul>
</li>
</ul>
<h3>3 . Is the CMS within your budget?</h3>
Most content management system vendors will have the prices and packages listed on their websites, but there may be additional costs that need to be considered.
Some CMS have licensing fees, such as a one-time fee for purchasing the software license. Others have fees for updating, upgrading, or adding extensions / plugins.
When considering a CMS, ask the vendor what all of the fees are.
<h3>4 . How secure is the CMS platform?</h3>
Content management systems are one of the biggest targets for hackers and other types of cyber criminals, and the most popular ones have some serious security issues that need to be taken into account.
Do some research into the platform and the vendor’s past security issues. Find out what security features the CMS has in place, and learn <a href="https://www.cmscritic.com/how-to-secure-your-cms-in-5-steps/">how to secure your CMS</a>.
In the event that the CMS does actually get hacked, what does the vendor do to rectify the issue and prevent further attacks? Find out what others users have to say about the security of the platform. If they are required to make regular upgrades before they can install security patches, you are better off going with a different CMS.
<h3>5 . Does the CMS allow integration of web analytics?</h3>
Regardless of which CMS you go with, you want to ensure the platform grants users the ability to track key <a href="https://www.cmscritic.com/business-intelligence-and-analytics-what-you-need-to-know/">metrics and analytics</a>, such as conversions, page times, site visits, and more. You want to be sure your content management system integrates with analytics tools like <a href="http://www.google.com/analytics/">Google Analytics</a>. Some platforms, like WordPress, also have their own metrics and analytics systems to use in addition to these.
<h3>6 . Does the CMS platform offer technical support?</h3>
While there are many popular content management systems out there that may have all the features you're looking for, not all of them are the best when it comes to providing technical support to their customers.
Look for one that has multiple ways of contacting them, from email to phone numbers. You want one that offers support 24 / 7, or at least responds in a timely manner. You also want to look for one that has does not have a history of hacking, pages being lost, content being deleted, or site crashes.
<h3>7 . Does the CMS allow the use of multiple websites or pages?</h3>
If your business manages multiple websites, you want to pick a CMS that will allow you to integrate and manage all of them from one place.
This will allow you to edit these websites from that one dashboard, rather than having to log into multiple sites to get things done. Not only is this obnoxious, but it’s also time-consuming and takes away from you being able to conduct other business or do other types of marketing.
Additionally, you will likely want a website that allows users to have multiple pages and blogs, rather than just one static site.
<h2>Final Thoughts</h2>
There are hundreds of content management systems available, all with their own unique features and benefits. This checklist is a good place to start, and will help you narrow down your options when it comes to choosing the right CMS and vendor for your business and needs.

How to Choose a CMS in 7 Easy Steps

WP Engine, the <a href="https://www.cmscritic.com/wpengine" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">WordPress digital experience platform</a>, today announced it has acquired StudioPress, creators of the Genesis Framework (“Genesis”), the world’s most popular theme framework for the millions of WordPress sites that comprise 30 percent of the Web. Genesis, and its accompanying suite of themes, helps enterprises, startups, and agencies to accelerate the building of amazing digital experiences. Previously owned by Rainmaker Digital LLC, the acquisition of the StudioPress product line strengthens WP Engine’s WordPress Digital Experience Platform, allowing faster time-to-market with greater ease and agility.
The StudioPress Suite for WordPress
StudioPress is a suite of WordPress solutions that includes:
<ul>
<li>Genesis – the world’s most popular WordPress theme framework combining design, layouts, SEO, performance, interoperability/modularity and support. It offers important benefits such as allowing brands to switch safely and easily between themes, even when doing so at scale. The framework also allows brands to incorporate new technologies more simply.</li>
<li>StudioPress Themes – a collection of over 60 professionally designed, SEO-optimized, mobile-responsive themes built with Genesis that support a number of vertical use cases.</li>
</ul>
The Genesis Community
WP Engine’s acquisition of StudioPress further underscores its commitment and investment in the WordPress open source community. It’s thanks to the tireless efforts of this vibrant and devoted community of tens of thousands of Genesis developers around the world that it has become the world’s most popular framework unrivaled in the WordPress space. Some of the most beautiful websites in the world have been created by this community. The upcoming release of Gutenberg promises to bring even more engaging and beloved digital experiences. WP Engine plans to expand support for contributors and the community by providing meaningful opportunities for continued collaboration for the ongoing betterment of the Genesis Framework.
“The Genesis Framework is the world’s favorite way to build breakthrough WordPress sites,” said Heather Brunner, Chairwoman and CEO of WP Engine. “We welcome this incredible community who has contributed to this success and we will invest in its continued expansion. We firmly believe this combination of our engine, the world’s leading digital experience platform, with the Genesis framework will power the next generation of world-class websites for our customers.”
Strengthening the WordPress Digital Experience
The acquisition of StudioPress strengthens and extends WP Engine’s WordPress Digital Experience Platform.
<ul>
<li>Investment and integration: WP Engine plans to invest in the continued development of the open source Genesis Framework as well as build future solutions that leverage the framework. Further, the Genesis Framework will be integrated tightly into the WP Engine Digital Experience Platform so it performs better here than anywhere else.</li>
<li>Faster, more elegant digital experiences: StudioPress Themes allows WP Engine to offer dozens of highly optimized and responsive themes that look great right out of the box.</li>
<li>Ecosystem expansion: The addition of StudioPress expands WP Engine’s support for third-party plugins and products created to add functionality or support for the use of the Genesis Framework. It also provides additional content in support of the framework and the ecosystem on WP Engine’s publications like Torque and the WP Engine blog.</li>
</ul>

WP Engine Acquires StudioPress WordPress Solutions Including Genesis Framework

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