Articles - Page 85

Agentic AI for Agencies in 2026

bmckeiver

The development team behind Subrion CMS – <a href="http://www.intelliants.com/">Intelliants</a>, have recently announced a major update for their flagship content management system, calling it Subrion CMS 3.
<a href="http://www.subrion.com/">Subrion</a> is an open-source PHP content management system which has always aimed to be as comprehensive as possible in terms of functionality, whilst holding true to it's user-friendly ethos.
Key features such as full source editing, per-page permissions and extensive plugin options have always been part of the platform, but now with a host of improvements recently launched along with Subrion CMS 3, users are in for a far more powerful Subrion experience. Let's explore how.
<h2>Enhanced Admin Dashboard, Plugin Installation &amp; Fields Management</h2>
The most obvious improvement introduced by Subrion CMS 3, is the enhanced admin dashboard. The core version comes in a selection of 5 different colours by default, making it easy to customize your experience right out of the box.
<img src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2023/08/1-1700x0.png" alt="Subrion CMS 3" />
The brand new dashboard, along with its 5 bundled colours, is extremely easy on the eyes, and even simpler to use, thanks to bold menus and logically grouped tools and features which makes managing content a breeze.
This new user interface is sleek and organized, allowing you to access different areas of your Subrion admin panel with ease, whilst also displaying key content such as Twitter news and recent activity via the main dashboard.
Subrion CMS 3's admin dashboard is also fully responsive, so it can be viewed via tablets and smartphones, allowing you can manage your content easily – anywhere you go.  To help achieve this flexibly responsive function, Subrion have utilized the de-factor standard Twitter Bootstrap 3, and the latest version of Sencha JS.
<img src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2023/08/2-1700x0.png" alt="Subrion CMS 3" />
Subrion CMS 3 also brings about remote plugin installation, which scraps the need for manual downloading and uploading of plugins via FTP.
Instead, a simple three-step process is all you need to worry about. Once you navigate over to the Plugins page on your admin panel, you can select the Remote Mode filter for your available plugins, and then click install. It's that easy.
<img src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2023/08/3700x0.png" alt="Subrion CMS 3" />
You can also look forward to improved fields management features for item listings. Whether the fields relate to members, auto listing, real estate listing, coupons, or anything else, you can easily extend your listings with the additional fields.
Fields can be created in many different forms, including, text field, WYSIWYG, checkboxes, radios, pictures, attachments, and much more.
The best part is, there is no need to make any PHP/HTML changes, as you can have complete control over your fields right from the admin panel.
<h2>Built-In Blogging &amp; Professional Templates</h2>
With Subrion CMS 3 also comes bundled with a built-in blogging functionality, which means there is no need to combine Subrion with any other blogging platform or content management system in order to create a blog.
<img src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2023/08/4-1700x0.png" alt="Subrion CMS 3" />
The latest version of Subrion also introduces a new <a href="http://codex.intelliants.com/iabootstrap/">iaBootstrap template framework</a>, which is based on Twitter Bootstrap 2. The framework simplifies new template development for Subrion CMS, providing all templates with a responsive nature.
Subrion have made use of a Smarty based template engine, which is extremely easy to use, and allows the separation of software logic and presentation.
Much like the new Subrion admin panel, all templates that come with the software are fully responsive, which ensures that their sleek and aesthetically modern nature is maintained across all mobile devices. To get a better feel for Subrion's responsive templates, check out their <a href="http://demos.subrion.com/templates" target="_blank">Template Demo Page</a>, which is updated weekly.
<h2>Premium Extension Packages, Major Re-factoring &amp; a 30% Discount</h2>
With version 3 of their platform, Subrion were aiming to make their software more scalable, reliable, and stable than every before – and they did just that.
This is due to some major re-factoring work, with improvements to nearly 90% of Subrion's core code. Major improvements include improved PHP 5 support, and the addition of MySQLi support.
Along with all these Subrion CMS 3 enhancements, you can also extend the default functionality of the platform instantly, with 6 premium extension packages.
<img src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2023/08/5.png" alt="Subrion CMS 3" />
These paid premium packages allow you to add further functionality in terms of article publishing, coupons, real estate listings, directory listings, and more.
There is also some great news for CMS Critic readers. Subrion have kindly offered a 30% discount off all orders, including on their Premium Extension Packages which are detailed above.
To claim your 30% discount, simply use the discount code, “CMSCRITIC” upon checkout.
If you wish to get your hands on some more information on Subrion CMS 3, check out the <a href="http://www.intelliants.com/devblog/announcements/6-subrion30-release-annoucement.html#ia_lightbox/9/">official announcement</a>. You can also try out the <a href="http://cms.subrion.com/">Subrion CMS Demo</a> to get a feel for the platform.
Additionally, you can find out more about <a href="/products/subrion-cms/">Subrion via our CMS Directory</a>.

Subrion CMS 3: Now More Powerful & Flexible Than Ever Before

mike-johnston

Content management systems are an important part of business today and small to midsize businesses have a wide variety of solutions to choose from.
Today, we're going to announce the winner of the 2014 People's Choice CMS Award for Best Small to Midsize Business CMS (Other Languages).
<img style="max-width:200px" src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2023/08/best_smb_other_cms-1200x0.png" alt="best_smb_other_cms" />
This year's contenders were Django CMS, Surreal CMS, and Movable Type.
The winner, in the end, was Django CMS.
<img style="max-width:200px" src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2023/08/561px-django_cms_logo_svg200x0.png" />
Congratulations to Django CMS on their win. Check them out here: <a href="https://www.django-cms.org/en/">https://www.django-cms.org/en/</a>

The Winner of the 2014 People's Choice CMS Award for Best Small to Midsize Business CMS Other Langs

If we learned anything while attending Adobe's Digital Marketing Summit this year, it's that Adobe knows how to throw a party better than anyone.
Entering the aptly dubbed “Summit Bash” we were greeted with BMX and Skateboard stunts at an impromptu set of ramps that had been setup in one section of the party.
<img src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2023/08/bash3-450x300.jpg" alt="Digital Marketing Summit" />
<img src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2023/08/bash2.jpg" alt="Digital Marketing Summit" />
Adding to the ambiance of the party was DJ Mick Boogie putting out some awesome tunes.
<img src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2023/08/bash5-450x300.jpg" alt="Digital Marketing Summit" />
We had barely entered the party when a character on stilts swung open an enormous set of drapes expanding the already huge hall into one three times the size. Acrobats began twisting up the drapes and began to climb them while performing a series of impressive acrobatics while hanging from them.
<img src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2023/08/editrolespage_dedxre.png" alt="Digital Marketing Summit" />
Not only did we have acrobats, we then ended up with a number of beautiful ladies marching about the floor inside balloons, we'll call them “Bubble Girls”  They paraded around the party and popped their bubbles to introduce a band that truly can only be described as “Uniquely amazing”.
The band, named Recycled Percussion, then put on what was the most unique set I've seen, incorporating drumming on recycled materials, ladders, and much more. The music and show these four guys put on was one of the best I've seen.
<img src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2023/08/screenshot_2015-07-08_at_12_53_26_pm_amyh39.png" alt="Digital Marketing Summit" />
We could have easily watched them all night but there was another band that was about to come on stage and headline… Foster the People took the stage as the surprise headline act at the Bash and kicked up the beats with their hit songs, Pumped up Kicks, Helena Beat and more.
<img src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2023/08/wpid-adobe2.jpg" alt="Digital Marketing Summit" />
It wasn't just about music and entertainment, though… there was an incredible amount of food and drinks all of which were free of course. Adobe spared no cost feeding the 4,000 attendees with some of the best food we've had in a long time.
<img src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2023/08/screenshot_2015-07-08_at_12_53_26_pm-1_obcryc.png" alt="Digital Marketing Summit" />
Of course, no party post is complete without a picture of yours truly enjoying a drink.
<img src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2023/08/bash8.jpg" alt="Digital Marketing Summit" />
All said and done, Adobe knows how to entertain and we had an absolute blast. We look forward to attending again next year. Here are some more pictures from the party.
<img src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2023/08/lightmodule_png_2015-07-07-17-26-51_dzngyj.png" alt="Digital Marketing Summit" />
<img src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2023/08/demo_png_2015-07-08-14-43-08_rxl6sd.png" alt="Digital Marketing Summit" />
<img src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2023/08/magnoliacmslogo-1_jbzszi.jpg" alt="Digital Marketing Summit" />
For more info on the summit, visit the <a href="http://summit.adobe.com">Adobe Digital Marketing Summit website</a>.

The Summit Bash at the Adobe Digital Marketing Summit

<a href="https://themeforest.net/">ThemeForest</a> is no longer just a great place to find website themes. They now have a dedicated section for courses where expert developers can share their web design wisdom.
<a href="https://envato.com/">Envato</a>, the company behind ThemeForest (as well as CodeCanyon, PhotoDune, and others) has decided to open this new section to promote some of the material they offer over at <a href="https://www.cmscritic.com/themeforest/">TutsPlus.</a>
TutsPlus is Envato's hub of short courses for budding developers, and as of right now, there are 85 of their short courses available on Themeforest. All sale for just $5 each.
But that's not the exciting part.
<h2>Beyond Code</h2>
Although the courses provided by TutsPlus seem beneficial, you can expect to see a lot more content in coming weeks and months as more experts publish their tutorials.
As a result of this move, ThemeForest users will be buying something other than just code for the first time. Instead, they'll be purchasing the guides that can teach them how to build their very own themes and plugins.
For now, only two sections exist; code and web design. But that's another areas that you can expect to expand.
<a href="https://www.cmscritic.com/themeforest/"><img src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2023/08/sshot-3-1.png" alt="sshot-3" /></a>
Personally, I think this could be a more focused, and potentially cheaper alternative to online code courses, which typically take a more generic approach to learning code, and also cost a pretty penny.
For example, one existing course is titled, “Get Started With Django”, while another is called, “Build a CMS With ASP.NET and Git”. Both sell for just $5.
It all looks like a potential gold mine for aspiring developers, so I hope the content starts to really flow before too long.
<h2>A Winning Formula</h2>
For Envato, this is a win-win.
Existing web developers can sell their tutorials on ThemeForest, which in turn will breed more web developers who – you guessed it – can then sell their wares on ThemeForest.
Essentially, they're turning consumers into vendors (who will in turn provide more content for other consumers) in a rather ingenious way.
To get your hands on a short course, <a href="https://themeforest.net/">check out ThemeForest</a>.

Learn to Code With ThemeForest Short Courses

Unlike the People's Choice Awards, which are based on nominations and voting, the Critic's Choice Awards are selected from all available products on the market and decided upon by a panel of reputable judges from within the industry.This year, we have already announced the Critic's Choice Award for <a href="/2013-critic-s-choice-winner-for-best-small-to-midsize-business-cms/">Best Small to Midsize Business CMS </a>and the Critic's Choice Award for <a href="/2013-critic-s-choice-winner-for-best-website-builder/">Best Website Builder</a>. Today, however, we announce the winner for Best Enterprise CMS.The Winner is…<img src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2023/08/sitecore_logo.gif" alt="Sitecore" />Sometimes the public and the judges are all on the same track and today is one of those occasions. As you may recall, Sitecore was the winner of our <a href="/2013-people-s-choice-winner-for-best-enterprise-cms/">People's Choice Award for Best Enterprise CMS</a> this year and today, we're excited to announce that the judges have selected Sitecore as the winner of our Critic's Choice Award for Best Enteprise CMS as well.Why Sitecore?<img src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2023/08/best-enterprise-cms-1150x0.png" alt="Best Enterprise CMS" />Sitecore has proven themselves to be a strong contender in the Enterprise market due to the high capability of their platform. With the powerful combination of a solid marketing component and a content management system that has evolved into a well rounded platform, Sitecore is poised to continue their expansion in this market. Sitecore also tends to show up on a very high number of short lists from those we consult with here at CMS Critic and that tends to mean two things:<ol><li>They are doing an excellent job of positioning themselves in front of the right potential customers.</li><li>The Sitecore brand has established itself well and people tend to associate their product with their needs, which means the marketing people at Sitecore are doing something right.</li></ol>It can be tough to stand out in the Enteprise market with such a high level of competition but Sitecore has managed to consistently do this with ease which indeed makes them a powerful contender and our choice for the 2013 Critic's Choice Award for Best Enterprise CMS.Congratulations Sitecore, we tip our hats to you and look forward to more amazing things in the future.<a href="/products/sitecore/">Learn more about Sitecore</a> or visit them <a target="_blank" href="http://www.sitecore.net">on the web</a>.

2013 Critic's Choice Winner for Best Enterprise CMS

With the amazing number of free content management systems on the market, choosing one can be a challenge but today, we're hoping to help make the selection process easier.
Today, we're going to announce the Winner of the 2014 People's Choice CMS Award for Best Free CMS.
<img src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2023/08/best_free_cms_other-1200x0.png" />
This year the contenders were Plone and Mura CMS.
The winner between the two was Mura CMS!
<img src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2023/08/4ded144b-bdef-430c-a24021f9d180818c200x0.png" />
Congratulations to the Mura CMS team on their win. Check them out here: <a href="http://www.getmura.com/">http://www.getmura.com/</a>

The Winner of the 2014 People's Choice CMS Award for Best Free CMS (Other Languages)

Mia is your new marketing assistant, according to <a href="http://www.signpost.com/">Signpost</a>.
Signpost is a marketing automation and CRM solution with out 6,000 customers, all of which are about to sample artificial intelligence in a new area of their business.
<a href="http://www.signpost.com/"><img src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2023/08/signpost_logo_navy-1.png" alt="signpost_logo_navy" /></a>
Mia, their latest feature, uses “machine learning to eliminate the need for a traditional CRM and other forms of manual marketing.”
Given Mia's perceived intelligence, Signpost has been referring to her as a person, and apparently, she's set to change the way marketers interact with customers.
<h2>How She Works</h2>
Mia gets stuff done all by herself. Here's how:
<ul>
<li>Creates Contact Records: Mia collects email, phone, and purchase data to create contact records. She tracks customer behaviour and updates their engagement in real-time.</li>
</ul>
<ul>
<li>Automates CRM: Users just need to set objectives, such as; five-star reviews, customer referrals, generating new customers and driving loyalty. Once set, Mia endeavours to make them happen by learning and changing her behaviour with every customer interaction. She takes care of follow-up and ongoing communication through email and SMS which saves users from manually creating or managing their own campaigns.</li>
</ul>
<ul>
<li>Makes Data-Driven Decisions: Mia has data on more than 16 million US consumers across more than 6,000 Signpost customers. From this proprietary data set, she learns what types of communication work best and applies that to her email or SMS–driven targeted communication.</li>
</ul>
<ul>
<li>Displaces Existing Systems: Mia is comprehensive, so Signpost say that she can replace technologies such as Salesforce, Infusionsoft, ExactTarget, Mailchimp, Constant Contact and Square.</li>
</ul>
That last claim is a bold one indeed, but it seems as though Mia may be up to the task in some respects.
Stuart Wall, Signpost's CEO, has identified Mia as the future of CRM:
<blockquote>
“Mia is the future of communication between businesses and consumers.
B2C companies have long shied away from CRM systems, because they’re complicated, time consuming, and built for companies with dedicated sales teams. The average CRM forces users to manually upload leads, cross-reference data streams like email, text and purchases; and perhaps most onerous, they require users to curate email marketing campaigns.
Mia removes that friction by automatically capturing and optimizing every customer interaction with zero effort from the user.”
</blockquote>
<h2>The Beginnings of ACRM?</h2>
Essentially, we seem to be looking at the beginnings of ACRM (Automated Customer Relationship Management).
Yes, I know the acronyms are becoming tiresome, but sometimes they're necessary. Just as marketing automation emerged, so too will CRM automation, apparently.
However, with the lines becoming increasing blurred between the two platform types, I can see expanded ACRM becoming a standard fixture within marketing automation systems before too long. Just how much that will affect traditional power-house CRM systems is hard to tell at this stage.
In any case, it looks like Signpost is the platform to take the first plunge. I'll be keeping tabs on how it all pans out for them, and for Mia.
To find out more about Mia, check out the <a href="http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20160420005272/en/Signpost-Unveils-Mia-AI-Driven-CRM">official press release</a>, and the <a href="http://www.signpost.com/testimonials/">Signpost website</a>.
And as usual, you can explore more through the <a href="/signpost/">Signpost hub on our CRM Directory</a>.

Signpost Unveils Mia: Artificial Intelligence Meets CRM

Power your CMS on AWS

Manage your websites & apps in the most trusted cloud.

#ffffff

The latest release of MODX Revolution is now available. Version 2.5 brings PHP7 compatibility, ability to have faster performance for anonymous users, improved Manager interface when accessing from mobile or tablet devices, enhanced accessibility and much more.Some of the key improvements in this release are:<ul><li>PHP 7 compatibility (it’s coming soon to a server near you). PHP 7 performs significantly faster than any previous release before it so your sites should be able to handle more visitors and serve them more quickly, keeping them engaged and returning for more.</li><li>Accessibility improvements worked into the core Manager experience including screen reader and keyboard navigation on the Login screen. The work that is going on for the Accessible Manager theme that takes this much further, works in MODX Revolution 2.5, too.</li></ul>Additionally, some UX improvements have been made such as:<ul><li>New default content for new installs provides helpful resources and information. Instead of the empty blank page in all previous versions of MODX Revolution, you now get a nice intro page with some important links to assist and orient new users..</li><li>Much more mobile-friendly Manager. As a stepping stone towards a new Manager in the future, this allows you to make edits and access the Manager much more easily than was possible before, thanks to the <a target="_blank" href="https://github.com/modxcms/revolution/pull/12776">intense efforts of JP Devries</a>.</li><li>Add ability to unpack zip files in the file tree / media manager</li></ul><img src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2023/08/25-mobile-sim-collage.png" alt="25-mobile-sim-collage" />You can also expect improved performance with this release thanks to the following enhancements:<ul><li>Parser optimizations which improve pre-caching performance. This means visitors will be served more quickly, and Google will give your site a little more respect, which it clearly deserves.</li><li>A new anonymous_sessions setting can significantly speed up the performance for sites that don’t need to have PHP sessions or logged in users. When this setting is enabled, and a page is fully cached, having sessionless anonymous visitors eliminates the need for a database connection for that visitor on each request. If your site serves even moderate traffic, this can significantly reduce the amount of processor required to operate. This setting is enabled by default.</li></ul>For a full detailed breakdown of this release, visit the <a target="_blank" href="https://modx.com/blog/2016/04/21/modx-revolution-2.5/">announcement</a> and be sure to check out MODX in our <a href="/products">CMS directory</a>.

MODX Revolution 2.5 Released

Ah, the API. It's not just another fancy TLA (three-lettered acronym) reserved for "MarTalk."
In fact, it's fair to say that the API – <a href="https://www.mulesoft.com/resources/api/what-is-an-api#:~:text=API%20is%20the%20acronym%20for,you're%20using%20an%20API." target="_blank">Application Programming Interface</a> for the unindoctrinated – is responsible for transforming the CMS and DXP industries. Without APIs, the integrations and connections that live at the heart of modern systems wouldn't exist.
Where would brands like AWS, Stripe, Twilio, and other market-leading technology platforms be without their mountains of <a href="https://nordicapis.com/crud-vs-rest-whats-the-difference/" target="_blank">APIs calling CRUD or REST</a> functions to trigger events?
The importance of APIs cannot be overstated, nor their profound effect on businesses and organizations. Case in point: the world's biggest SaaS (Software as a Service) companies have all become "<a href="https://swagger.io/resources/articles/adopting-an-api-first-approach/#:~:text=An%20API%2Dfirst%20approach%20means,be%20consumed%20by%20client%20applications." target="_blank">API-first</a>" in their architectural practices – where APIs are treated as "first-class citizens" and central their future growth and scalability.
It's worth noting that when we say API, we're referring to web APIs, which are designed to facilitate communication between computers that are connected by the internet. But the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/API" target="_blank">acronym itself has much deeper roots</a>: the concept originated in the 1940s, but the terminology caught on in the 1960s and 70s as diverse software systems began to emerge and APIs were purpose-built for specific integrations. This included programming languages, software libraries, operating systems, and even hardware.
Fast forward a few decades, and APIs were suddenly everywhere. So abundant, it seemed, that the mantle of the "<a href="https://www.akana.com/blog/api-economy" target="_blank">The API Economy</a>" became a popular meme.
Around 2014, <a href="https://www.mulesoft.com/webinars/api/welcome-api-economy" target="_blank">Gartner predicted</a> that 75% of Fortune 500 enterprises would open an API, ushering in a sort of Golden Age of this newly-minted API Economy. Add a pandemic in 2020 – and a hyper-accelerated rush to digital transformation – and it's rare to find any large organization that isn't leveraging a multitude of APIs.
And why not? There are so many advantages to using APIs. Once again, according to <a href="http://www.gartner.com/smarterwithgartner/welcome-to-the-api-economy/" target="_blank">Gartner</a>, APIs make it easier to integrate and connect people, places, systems, data, and algorithms – as well as create new user experiences, share data and information, authenticate people and things, enable transactions and algorithms, leverage third-party algorithms, and build new products, services and business models. 
For these reasons (and there are plenty more), <a href="https://www.postman.com/" target="_blank">Postman</a> – a leading application platform for API testing – embarked on a quest several years ago to gauge the sentiment of API users and builders. Their annual "State of API" report has become a defacto standard for observing and documenting the behavioral changes in this dynamic sector, and we've broken down some of the key findings in their 2021 edition.
<h2>The pandemic's impact and the reliance on APIs to respond with digital transformation</h2>
For this year's report, Postman surveyed more than 28,000 developers and API professionals who shared their thoughts on various topics, including their organizations' development priorities, how they get their work done, and where they see the industry going. They combined this data with data observed on their Postman API Platform to build a robust picture of the current state – and future – of APIs.
Right off the bat, this year's report focuses on the persistent impact of the Covid-19 pandemic. According to the research, almost two-thirds of respondents stated that the pandemic somewhat or significantly affected their work – and almost half of those noted their organization's changes were supported by APIs. Many respondents said they had to quickly modernize their digital experiences and business systems to serve their customers, while others said they had to pivot their business entirely. 
Common areas of investment included e-commerce, customer support via chat and text, and contactless digital systems – all of which relied heavily on APIs. Thanks to the flexibility of many API solutions, organizations were able to successfully implement changes in weeks or months that would have otherwise taken years.
Here are some of the other key findings in the report: 
<ul>
<li>The API ecosystem is growing: The reliance on APIs to support business and product shifts during the pandemic was reflected through the Postman API Platform, with some significant gains across their key performance metrics. </li>
<li>Developers are spending more time with APIs: 49% of respondents said that more than half of their organizations' development effort is spent on APIs (compared to just over 40% last year), showing the prevalence of APIs in digital organizations' technology stacks.</li>
<li>API investments remain strong and steady as more companies embrace the API-first philosophy: An overwhelming 94% of respondents stated the investment of time and resources into APIs would increase or stay the same for the next 12 months.</li>
<li>The investments in an API-first philosophy are paying off: "API-first leaders" (i.e., respondents who rank themselves a 9 or 10 for embracing an API-first philosophy) produce APIs more quickly, deploy more frequently, have fewer failures, and recover more swiftly when failures occur. For example, 46% of API-first leaders indicated they could recover from API failure in less than an hour, compared to 34% of all respondents.</li>
</ul>
<h2>Tracking the global growth of APIs</h2>
Since the 2020 "State of the API" report was released, the Postman API Platform saw significant upsurges that indicate trends across the API ecosystem. Over the past 12 months, Postman users made 855 million API requests (up 56% from the prior year), created 30 million collections (up 39%), and signed in from 234 different countries and geographies—including Antarctica.
<img style="max-width:792px" src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2021/11/yea-over-year-requests-created.jpg" alt="year over year requests created" />
The global growth of APIs is driving an ever-evolving <a href="https://www.postman.com/state-of-api/tooling-for-apis-and-development/#tooling-for-apis-and-development" target="_blank">landscape of tooling for APIs and development</a> in the API Platforms category. Postman observed that many vendors in this market serve a broad range of needs across the API lifecycle, from design to testing to security. 
Additionally, they see vendors offering repositories for source code, API gateways, application performance monitoring, and CI/CD – all of which should integrate with API platforms to achieve optimal results from API initiatives within an organization.
Here is their view of the landscape today:
<img src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2021/11/postman-api-platform-landscape-e1636134691803.png" alt="postman api platform landscape" />
<h2>Which industries are using APIs the most?</h2>
It's no surprise that the tech sector is leading the way in API adoption and usage. But business, banking/finance, insurance, and healthcare sectors are following closely.
Further, API adoption is on the rise in nearly every industry. On the business side, there's been a growing trend in e-commerce businesses going headless, separating the frontend "head" from the backend "body." Tapping the omnichannel is at the core of <a href="https://www.cmscritic.com/top-headless-commerce-platforms/" target="_blank">headless commerce</a>, and content in a headless platform is delivered through APIs – allowing it to be displayed across different devices and endpoints. 
The banking/finance sector can be one of the slowest industries to adopt new technologies (core banking systems are notorious for outliving their sunset dates), but APIs have been shifting the topology, making it less cumbersome to embrace change. With more than <a href="https://www.creditcards.com/credit-card-news/online-mobile-banking/" target="_blank">62% of Americans</a> using digital services over physical bank branches, APIs are making it easier for financial systems to securely meet the needs of consumers while optimizing and streamlining internal processes.
Traditional banks are also <a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/amiyatoshpurnanandam/2021/07/21/will-banks-survive-fintechs-challenge/?sh=35ac9e4a3165" target="_blank">facing fierce competition from fintech</a>. While traditional banks offer many services, smaller financial technologies tend to specialize in specific services, disrupting the monolithic banking industry. Investment trends favor small fintech startups working on more accessible, customer-centric processes that are much less expensive than traditional banks – and are built on APIs. 
The emergence of blockchain and cryptocurrencies are also challenging the status quo. Both traditional and fintech companies should continue to embrace APIs as a bridge for connecting these emerging technology areas. 
<img style="max-width:840x" src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2021/11/who-works-with-apis.jpg" alt="industries that work with APIs the most chart" />
<h2>What it means to be API-first in a new digital era</h2>
What's abundantly clear from Postman's research is that many teams and organizations are fully embracing the "API-first" philosophy. 
In fact, on a scale of 1 to 10 for embracing an API-first strategy, 66% of this year's respondents ranked themselves as a "5 or higher." This is up from 62% in 2020. 
On that same scale, 8% of respondents ranked themselves as a "9 or 10." Postman refers to these respondents as the market's "API-first leaders." 
Understanding the philosophy of being API-first requires some deeper insight into user behaviors. According to <a href="https://www.optimizely.com/insights/the-future-of-digital-experience-platforms-na">research conducted by Forrester Wave</a>, mobile will still be the key orchestrator for a user's journey – and one that's non-linear. 
To help us understand the user journey with greater intimacy, Forrester created a diagram for the 3D-connected consumer that features devices, platforms, and channels:
<img style="max-width:830px" src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2021/11/3d-connected-consumer.png" alt="The 3D connected consumer" />
Here's where the API-first approach comes into play – where brands can be channel-agnostic as consumers use a combination of devices, platforms, and channels. 
Development Priorities
Postman asked respondents to identify the top priorities for their development teams and organizations, and there was a clear winner: quality, coming in at 80%. 
Agility, reliability, security, and development speed were also important to more than half of the respondents. "API-first leaders" were even more likely to cite quality, reliability, agility, and security as priorities.
<img style="max-width:753px" src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2021/11/development-priorities.jpg" alt="development priorities chart" />
<h2>API technologies</h2>
As far as architectural styles for APIs are concerned, a sweeping majority of respondents (94%) use REST; of those, nearly half said that that they not only use REST, but that they "use it and love it." 
The majority of participants are conscious of webhooks, WebSockets, GraphQL, and SOAP, but none of these have seen the same level of adoption as REST among the participants.
<img style="max-width:717px" src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2021/11/architectural-style.jpg" alt="architectural style" />
Specifications
Postman also asked professionals which API specifications they know, use, and prefer – and JSON Schema was by far the top specification in use cited by three-quarters of respondents. Swagger 2.0 (54%) and OpenAPI 3.0 (40%) were the next most popular specifications.
Future Technologies
Postman asked the question, "What technologies are you most excited about using over the next year?" Microservices (58%) and Kubernetes (50%) led the answers, just as they did in 2020. 
Rounding out the top five are containers (46%), serverless architecture (44%), and GraphQL (35%).
<img style="max-width:756px" src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2021/11/future-technologies.jpg" alt="future API technologies chart" />
<h2>Conclusion</h2>
There's a lot to unpack in Postman's 2021 "State of the API" report, and it's worth your time to dive in head-first. Kudos to their content team for making the research easy to digest and incredibly applicable and relevant. 
The big takeaway is astoundingly clear: the pandemic continues to change everything, and the world is responding with APIs. To reiterate, two-thirds of respondents stated that the pandemic somewhat or significantly affected their work – and for many organizations, they played a key role in keeping the businesses operating. 
As a recap, here are a few highlights from the report where APIs were the undisputed "heroes" of the digital stack:
<ul>
<li>Organizations adopted new channels or enhanced existing channels to reach and serve customers in a pandemic world, leveraging APIs to make it all happen.</li>
<li>Respondents told Postman that common areas of investment included e-commerce, customer support via chat and text, and contactless digital systems – all of which relied on APIs.</li>
<li>Many respondents had to adjust to major shifts in market demand, with some businesses completely pivoting their product offerings. For many, product rollouts relied on APIs, and organizations achieved what would typically take years in a matter of weeks or months. Some businesses were even born in the pandemic to meet new needs.</li>
<li>Working from home presented new challenges for many organizations. APIs and integrations with internal systems helped solve these challenges by automating or enabling tasks that used to happen in person – such as communication, attendance, reporting, and project management.</li>
<li>Some of the most frequently cited innovations came from healthcare, with many organizations needing to digitize and automate workflows and run telemedicine strategies. In both cases, APIs were essential to powering these solutions. </li>
</ul>
No one has a crystal ball, but Postman's data and insights around APIs are proving incredibly useful when it comes to forecasting the future. Based on what we've seen in 2021, it's safe to say that APIs continue to deliver – come rain, or sleet, or snow... or pandemics. 
If you'd like to read Postman's full report, you can <a href="https://www.postman.com/state-of-api/" target="_blank">download it here</a>.

Postman Releases 2021 "State of the API" Report, Shows Global Trend Towards API-First Digital Era

paris-tuzun

Postman featured image of an illustration of space astronauts measuring website API performance on top of a graph.

<a href="https://selz.com">Selz</a>, the ecommerce solution that can be added to existing websites and social media profiles, has unveiled store-wide discounts and free stock images for its users.
<a href="https://selz.com"><img src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2023/08/og-image.png" alt="og-image" /></a>
Selz enables you to add a fully fledged store, or simply buy buttons to existing web pages, including WordPress and Wix websites. They offer a free plan to help you do it, too.
<h2>Store-wide Discounts &amp; Free Images for Premium Users</h2>
Before this update, Selz users could only set item-specific discounts. If you wanted to give your customers a discount on all items, you would have to assign the discount to each item individually.
Now, those same discounts (which remain as; $ off, % off, totally free, or free shipping) can be applied across entire Selz stores.
Furthermore, Selz users who are benefiting from their <a href="https://selz.com/pricing/">Starter, Plus, or Pro plans</a>, or have the Design and Pages app installed, will have access to a range of free stock photos.
The photo library will come bundled as part of their Selz Theme.
I've been a fan of the relatively small yet charming project that is Selz for a while now. They've steadily improved over the last year or so, and I applaud them for that.
For more information on these two updates, check out Selz <a href="https://selz.com/blog/new-feature-free-stock-images-for-design-and-pages/">announcement for the stock images</a>, and their <a href="https://selz.com/blog/update-storewide-discounts-are-a-go/">announcement of the store-wide discounts</a>.
And as usual, you can explore more by visiting our <a href="/selz">Selz hub on our eCommerce Directory</a>.

Selz Rolls Out Free Stock Images & Store-wide Discounts

<a href="http://www.elcomcms.com/">elcomCMS</a> is a <a href="/elcomcms-cms-lms-intranets/">CMS, LMS and intranet solution</a> suited to enterprise and large-scale companies.
<a href="http://www.elcomcms.com/"><img alt="Elcom_13" src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2023/08/elcom_13-1.jpg" /></a>
The Australia-based software giant powers over 1,000 global site deployments, including Hyundai and Woolworths.
I recently had the chance to sit down with Tim Kirkman, elcomCMS' Product Director. He walked me through the core features and functions of ElcomCMS, and I got it all on video.
<iframe allowfullscreen="allowfullscreen" src="//www.youtube.com/embed/l2nuvn9hYQo"></iframe>
To find out more about elcomCMS, <a href="http://www.elcomcms.com/">check out their website</a>.

A Video Walkthrough of elcomCMS

Content management systems are an important part of business today and small to midsize businesses have a wide variety of solutions to choose from.
Today, we're going to announce the winner of the 2014 People's Choice CMS Award for Best Small to Midsize Business .NET CMS.
This year's contenders were Orchard, DNN Evoq Content, and Envisage.
The race between DNN Evoq Content and Orchard was very close but in the end, the winner was…
<img style="max-width:250px" src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2023/08/250px-orchard_logo_1_svg.png" />
Congratulations to the Orchard Project on their win!
You can learn more about their project here: <a href="http://www.orchardproject.net/">http://www.orchardproject.net/</a>

The Winner of the 2014 People's Choice CMS Award for Best Small to Midsize Business .NET CMS

As most of you know, I'm a huge Linux fan and I tend to try every distribution as it is released. Recently, I decided to give the Solus 4 distribution a try. Solus has been rapidly gaining ground in the rankings on the popular <a target="_blank" href="http://distrowatch.com/">Distrowatch</a> website and as such, I felt like now was a good time to share my thoughts with an updated Solus Review.This review has been updated and is now based on the most recent Solus 4 release.Solus is a unique distribution in that it is written from scratch, something we don't see that often anymore. Most new distributions tend to choose from either Debian, Ubuntu (technically they are the same thing to some extend), Arch or something else. Very rarely do we see a new “from scratch” distribution. Not only that, very rarely do we see a GOOD from scratch distribution.Solus has been out for a couple of years now and version 4 is the currently available version. It uses the custom built Budgie desktop as the main desktop environment.<h2>Solus Review</h2>The install tool for Solus is super easy to use and quick, I had the system installed in no time with zero issues. Boot times are very fast as well and in only a couple of seconds, I went from starting my computer to the desktop with everything loaded and ready to go.<h3>The Budgie Desktop</h3>Here's how the desktop looks running Solus Budgie 4 at the moment. I should mention that they do offer MATE &amp; Gnome desktop editions of Solus as well if you, god forbid, don't like Budgie for some insane reason.<img src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2023/08/solus-review-the-desktop_t3eqth.png" />Solus Review – The DesktopBy default, the desktop is very straight forward with a slick interface. The menu is in the bottom left (similar to Windows) while a selection of default applications (Firefox, File Manager, Gnome MPV and more) pinned to the right of it. On the far right hand side is the system tray with various icons.Budgie has support for the addition of extra applets as well. Applets are small applications that run within the panel and can be added via the Budgie Desktop Settings app which I'll get into more in a moment.The far left icon, as mentioned, is the one that expands the application menu, shown below.<img src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2023/08/solus-review-the-menu_xwo9t8.png" />Solus Review – The MenuOn the right side of the screen is Raven, the slide-in panel for notifications and applets, shown below. Here it is with the Applets tab active.<img src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2023/08/solus-review-raven_hdvcy0.png" />Solus Review – RavenThere is also a tab within Raven to view all of your notifications quickly and easily.<h3>Modifying and Customizing Solus</h3>Everything about the environment (Budgie itself, not the OS) can be configured within the Budgie Settings application, which is accessible in the App Menu. Here's how it looks.<img src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2023/08/solus-budgie-desktop-settings_bfd18p.jpg" />Solus – Budgie Desktop SettingsYou can easily add new panels and change settings here, including icon themes and more. When you click on one of your panels, such as the “Bottom Panel” shown above, you are given further customization options.<img src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2023/08/solus-budgie-desktop-settings-panel-modifications_ukel4s.jpg" />Solus – Budgie Desktop Settings – Panel ModificationsClicking on each applet within the list will load their settings on the right, if there are any, so you can customize them individually. You can also add new applets that you install or move them from here with ease.<h3>Installing Software</h3>New applications are installed via the Software Center.<img src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2023/08/solus-installing-software_jymgrn.jpg" />Solus – Installing SoftwareDue to the fact that Solus was developed from scratch, the repositories are nowhere near as large as they are on other systems such as Ubuntu and Arch but to be honest, I found everything I needed and was quite impressed to see that there was nothing I felt I was lacking.There are also some Third Party apps that are available which you can find in the Third Party section of the Software Center.<img src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2023/08/solus-third-party-apps_qhpd4b.jpg" />Solus – Third Party AppsPackage installation is crazy fast and I was super impressed with how slick and elegant the package management tool is. If you are a command line user, you can always use the terminal and “sudo eopkg install ” your way to happiness just as quickly. I find myself rotating between the two, mostly using the terminal as my installation method and the app itself to find out what is available to install.<img src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2023/08/solus-eopkg-installation_j1gwev.png" />Solus – Eopkg InstallationAll other settings can be accessed from the Settings app which is the same as the one found in the latest Gnome desktop releases.<img src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2023/08/solus-settings_qlgzf2.jpg" />Solus – Settings<h2>My Solus Review Conclusions</h2>I installed Solus in a hotel room prior to meeting with a client and after using it for only a few days, I have decided to keep it on my main laptop as my daily driver. I have had zero issues and no speed complaints whatsoever. Everything has been smooth and has worked exactly as I'd want it to. I'm actually kind of thrown off because I almost always find something that could use fixing but I have to be honest, Solus 4 is a slick and stable release. The most impressive thing about this release is the speed. It might just be me but I feel as though the system is much faster than most I've used.And luckily, if I ever need support, there is also an excellent Help Center available here for those with questions: https://getsol.us/help-center/home/To be fair to other distributions, I'm giving Solus a 4/5 but this is mostly due to the size of the software repositories which are still quite small compared with other distros. While I don't consider this an issue for most people, including myself, I do think we need to see an increase before it's the Perfect distro. I will say, however, that it's pretty damn close.I highly recommend giving Solus a try and letting me know your thoughts. I'm curious how many of you will end up using it as your main OS, like I have. To try Solus, visit them on the web at <a target="_blank" href="https://getsol.us/">https://getsol.us/</a>.For me, I'll keep running Solus and update this article if anything changes. Thanks for reading my Solus review!

Solus Review - Budgie Edition

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