Articles - Page 86

Agentic AI for Agencies in 2026

bmckeiver

It's hard to believe that October has already come and gone.Maybe we can blame Halloween and the ensuing candy coma, but last month seemed surprisingly quiet in the CMS and DXP news cycle.But that's not entirely true: rather than tracking big mergers or major releases, we were served a number of small yet significant improvements from various vendors – more like those mini-sized candy bars that still get the job done.For the record, we're big fans of Almond Joy.The e-commerce sector drove most of the trends in an otherwise not-so-spooky month, with several companies releasing more integrations designed to make online selling easier and more accessible. We're also seeing headless commerce take center stage as more brands look to grow their online sales in an omnichannel world, and it's growing in popularity every day. If you're evaluating solutions, be sure to check out our recent article on the <a target="_blank" href="https://www.cmscritic.com/top-headless-commerce-platforms/">top headless commerce platforms.</a>If you're ready to close out October's tricks and treats, keep reading.<h2>Postman's 2021 "State of API" report shows the world is moving towards an API-first digital era</h2><img src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2021/11/postman-report.jpg" alt="Postman chart image" />Forget Halloween. <a target="_blank" href="https://www.postman.com/">Postman</a>, a leading platform for building and using APIs, delivered an early Christmas gift with this year's free "State of the API" report. This baby is chock full of data and statistics about API trends across industries and has become a primer for understanding how API-first strategies are transforming everything. For the report, Postman surveyed more than 28,000 developers and API professionals who shared their thoughts on a range of topics, including their organizations' development priorities, how they get their work done, and where they see the industry going. Postman's authors combined these insights with data observed on the Postman API Platform to build a more complete picture of the current state – and the future direction – of APIs.Here are some of the key findings from the report:<ul><li>The pandemic changed the world, and the world responded with APIs: Just a short of two-thirds of respondents stated that the pandemic somewhat or significantly affected their work.</li><li>The API ecosystem is global and growing: Over the past 12 months, Postman users signed in from an impressive 234 different countries and geographies while making 855 million API requests (up 56% from the prior year).</li><li>Developers are spending more time with APIs: Exactly how much time is spent working with APIs? 49% of respondents said that more than half of the organization's development effort is spent on APIs – compared to just over 40% last year.</li><li>More companies are embracing the API-first philosophy: This year, 67% of survey respondents ranked themselves as a five or higher in terms of embracing an API-first philosophy, while only 62% ranked themselves in this way in 2020.</li></ul>Want more? Of course, you do! Let your own API consume the free 57-page report here.<h2>Mailchimp and Shopify launch direct integration</h2> <img src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2021/11/mailchimp-shopify-e1635869888639.jpg" alt="MailChimp and Shopify logos" />Monkey see, monkey shop? Yup. And it's now easier than ever. Mailchimp, a leading email and marketing automation platform, <a target="_blank" href="https://mailchimp.com/mailchimp-and-shopify-launch-direct-integration/">announced</a> that they've partnered with Shopify – a leader in e-commerce – to deliver a new integration that's available today. New and existing users of both platforms will be able to connect their Mailchimp account to their Shopify storefront through <a target="_blank" href="https://mailchimp.com/integrations/shopify/">direct integration</a>, eliminating the need for third-party tools and manual data transfers.By connecting Mailchimp and Shopify, merchants will be able to combine the power of purchase data with marketing data and use those insights to help drive conversions, increase revenue, and reach more customers at the right point in their buying journey. The new integration also makes it possible for small business customers to connect with their audiences. This integration is of critical importance right now as retailers gear up for the 2021 holiday season. According to U.S. News &amp; World Report, this year's online holiday spending is <a target="_blank" href="https://www.usnews.com/news/economy/articles/2021-10-20/adobe-forecasts-record-online-holiday-spending-season-as-supply-chain-issues-persist#:~:text=Global%20online%20spending%20is%20likewise,new%20milestone%20in%20e%2Dcommerce.">predicted to increase by 11%</a>. By connecting MailChimp and Shopify, brands and retailers can accelerate their marketing and e-commerce capabilities and capitalize on more online transactions than ever before. "Last year, Mailchimp customers generated 36 percent more orders from Thanksgiving to Giving Tuesday than they did in 2019, showing just how important having an online presence for commerce and retail businesses really is," said Joni Deus, VP of App Marketplace at Mailchimp. "We're thrilled to have partnered with Shopify again ahead of our customers' busiest season to make it easier for merchants to reach their customers, sell more stuff, and be successful.""As our merchants prepare for the holiday season and continue to adjust to the new realities of commerce, we're excited to welcome Mailchimp to the Shopify Partner Ecosystem," said Fatima Yusuf, Director of Commercial, App Ecosystem, Shopify. "The combined power of Mailchimp's suite of marketing tools and Shopify's robust commerce infrastructure will level the playing field and unlock even more opportunity for independent businesses to grow and succeed into the future."<h2>Adobe adds Workfront integrations to creative and marketing apps</h2> <img src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2021/11/adobe-workfront-featured-image.jpeg" />Talk about "working it out."Adobe has finally announced some new capabilities in <a target="_blank" href="https://www.workfront.com/integrations/adobe/experience-manager">Adobe Workfront</a>, targeting one of the most challenging aspects of delivering personalized content at both speed and scale: dynamic collaboration, communication, and workflows within creative teams and between creative and marketing teams.Of course, this has been a long-anticipated evolution. Last year, the creative experience powerhouse <a target="_blank" href="https://news.adobe.com/news/news-details/2020/Adobe-to-Acquire-Workfront/default.aspx">acquired Workfront</a> – a leading work management platform for marketers – for $1.50 billion. The goal was to integrate Workfront's capabilities into Adobe's Experience Cloud and allow customers to manage complex marketing workflows. Finally, that integration has begun to bear fruit. The new capabilities in Workfront integrate seamlessly with Adobe Photoshop, Adobe Experience Manager, and Adobe XD. As an example, the Photoshop plugin gives users the ability to work together through an embedded Workfront update screen. Creators can see tasks and issues and post and view comments related to their projects. They can also log time, export assets, and seamlessly collaborate on digital proofing, reviews, and approvals — all without ever leaving <a target="_blank" href="https://www.adobe.com/products/photoshop.html">Photoshop</a>. The integration with Adobe Experience Manager provides integrated approvals and content delivery for enterprises. You can sync metadata between projects and final assets – and keep the work flowing with advanced enterprise workflows, including auto-publishing of assets. This integration is currently available for enterprise customers.There's also an update to the <a target="_blank" href="https://www.adobe.com/products/xd.html">Adobe XD</a> plugin, empowering designers to work with internal/external stakeholders, log time, and view details on all projects, tasks, issues, and documents. They have full access to all Workfront folders and documents, can upload work, send shared links for review, attach proof workflows to assets and maintain version control. This plugin is available now on both the Adobe Marketplace and Creative Cloud Desktop.Adobe also announced additional capabilities to enhance experience delivery to B2B brands and make accessing Workfront features easier for all Adobe customers. This includes the Adobe Marketo Engage Connector for scaling customer engagement and supporting global efforts with a small team – and the Adobe Identity Service for authentication and validation of the end-users, including federation and Single-Sign-On (SSO)."The ability to align complex workflows, processes and the foundational work — especially those handoffs between marketing strategy and content development — is critical in enabling teams to get personalized content to customers faster, with greater impact, and aligned to company strategy," said Liz Miller, Vice President, and Principal Analyst at Constellation Research. "Adobe Workfront brings order to the nimble, bidirectional madness of marketing work, serving as the 'effectiveness engine' for the modern marketing machine so critical to moving digital business forward."<h2>BigCommerce launches Ads and Listings on Google, giving merchants a one-stop-shop to list and sync products for free</h2> <img src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2021/11/bigcommerce-google-ads-e1635877084866.png" />Love it or list it... on Google. There's no question that Google is drifting deeper into the e-commerce ecosystem, providing a direct path "from search to sell" for a wide range of services. A lot of this has been exacerbated by the Covid-19 pandemic and the consumer shift to online purchases and deliveries. In fact, if you've searched for, say, a new pizza place near you, Google is serving up more than options – it's allowing you to view a menu and place an order without ever leaving Google.Sure, this presents some competitive challenges to e-commerce platform providers, but Google is a ways off from consuming all storefronts. In the meantime, they present a dynamic channel for sellers and retailers to reach audiences at the point of search.To that end, BigCommerce, the <a target="_blank" href="https://www.cmscritic.com/top-headless-commerce-platforms/">popular cloud e-commerce platform</a> for fast-growing and established brands, just announced the launch of <a target="_blank" href="https://www.bigcommerce.com/dm/google-native/?utm_source=Press%20Release&amp;utm_medium=Landing%20Page&amp;utm_id=Google%20Ads%20Listings">Ads and Listings on Google</a> – a new native app that enables small to medium-sized BigCommerce merchants in the U.S. to connect their store to the Google Merchant Center and add products for free. Merchants can also take advantage of Google Ads campaigns to reach more customers and uncover performance insights and trends, ensuring a consistent brand experience.<a target="_blank" href="https://www.bigcommerce.com/dm/google-native/?utm_medium=blog&amp;utm_source=partner_google&amp;utm_campaign=keyword_launch_post">With this new integration</a>, BigCommerce merchants of all sizes will be able to easily list their products for free on Google, create ad campaigns, and review performance metrics directly in their BigCommerce store. This also means BigCommerce merchants can now integrate with Google's shopping features across Search, Shopping, Image Search, and YouTube."Ads and Listings on Google is a logical next step for our omnichannel merchants to reach further and attract new customers who rely on Google's powerful shopping capabilities to drive traffic and growth," said Sharon Gee, Vice President and General Manager of Omnichannel at BigCommerce. "As more retailers enter the e-commerce landscape, the more crowded it will be for them to reach the right shoppers across the channels they're searching in. Ads and Listings on Google give merchants a true advantage to get discovered without ever having to leave their BigCommerce store."Merchants can directly access the Ads and Listings on the Google app via the BigCommerce Channel Manager, creating a one-stop-shop experience to upload products, produce paid ad campaigns, and generate reports to track and monitor shopper activities. Key benefits include:<ul><li>Manage product catalogs from a single location: Merchants can upload product listings, create paid campaigns and track and analyze performance all from within their BigCommerce store. Any changes will automatically sync to Google, ensuring a consistent brand experience across all Google channels.</li><li>Reach new audiences and drive traffic: Merchants can connect with the right shoppers at the right moment when they're searching for products across Google Search, YouTube, Gmail, and the web to extend customer reach further.</li><li>Gain more insight: In Google's Merchant Center, merchants can measure the impact of every sale and show products to the most valuable customers to better maximize marketing efforts.</li></ul>The Ads and Listings on the Google app are now available to all small to mid-sized BigCommerce merchants and currently support USD currency with international currencies soon to follow. Learn more about the <a target="_blank" href="https://www.bigcommerce.com/dm/google-native/?utm_source=Press%20Release&amp;utm_medium=Landing%20Page&amp;utm_id=Google%20Ads%20Listings">Ads and Listings on the Google app here</a>.

CMS Monthly Recap: Mailchimp and Shopify Launch Direct Integration, BigCommerce Launches Ads and Listings on Google, and More

paris-tuzun

Featured image of CMS Critic Monthly Recap logo with background of Halloween decorations and jack-o-lantern

<a href="http://www.opentext.com/">OpenText</a>, the Canada-based business software giant, just acquired a suite of customer experience management products from HP.
<a href="http://www.opentext.com/"><img src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2023/08/download-1.jpe" alt="download" /></a>
They already offer enterprise-grade content management solutions, big data analytics, digital asset management, and plenty more.
<h2>HP TeamSite &amp; Co</h2>
OpenText spent $170 million on a number of products from HP.
These include; HP TeamSite, a web content management tool left over from the purchase of Interwoven, HP MediaBin, a digital asset management solution, HP Qfiniti, a workforce optimization solution for enterprise contact center management, as well as HP Explore, HP Aurasma, and HP Optimost.
The products all come from the HP Engage line, which has been up-in-the-air, so to speak, <a href="http://fortune.com/2015/10/30/bye-bye-hp/">ever since HP split into two companies in 2015</a>.
Although there are plenty of side dishes, it's fair to say that TeamSite is the main course. It's a highly functional CMS and CEM hybrid, and it will be interesting to see how OpenText handle it going forward.
<h2>A Bit of a Bargain?</h2>
Since these products were never really given a home after HP's split in 2015, it's pretty clear that they always intended to sell.
It also seems that, perhaps because of HP's eagerness to sell, OpenText has bagged themselves a bargain. This becomes apparent when you consider that SiteCore recently accepted over $1bn for a majority stake in its software from <a href="https://www.eqt.se">EQT</a>, a private investment firm.
According to <a href="http://www.opentext.com/who-we-are/press-releases?id=DFE27860219443C99EFEA452B6442C20">OpenText's press release</a>, the financials work out quite nicely for them indeed:
<blockquote>
“The Customer Experience software business being acquired is expected to generate between $85m and $95m of annualized revenues, be immediately accretive and be on the OpenText operating model within the first 12 months after closing.”
</blockquote>
In terms of how they will implement their newly acquired products, OpenText will likely use them to complement their existing software portfolio, particularly its Customer Experience Management and Cloud offerings.
But as I mentioned earlier, it will be interesting to see exactly how that happens.
Visit our <a href="/opentext">OpenText hub on our CMS Directory</a> for more information.

OpenText Spends $170 Million on Suite of HP Customer Experience Products

mike-johnston

<a href="https://www.drupal.org" target="_blank">Drupal 7</a> users can now make use of Ecwid on their Drupal sites, a popular and lightweight eCommerce solution.
Ecwid is shopping cart that seamlessly integrates with existing websites. It can also be added to your page on social media networks, such as Facebook or mySpace.
After securing itself as an <a href="/ecommerce-integration-arrives-for-wordpress.com-business/" target="_blank">integrated eCommerce option for WordPress.com Business users</a> as well as Joomla users, Ecwid has now entered the world of Drupal, too. The third most popular CMS around according to the statistics.
<h2>Ecwid for Drupal 7</h2>
<img src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2023/08/drupal_storefront700x0.png" alt="Eciwd Drupal 7" />
There's already an Ecwid module for Drupal 6, which Ecwid admit is “outdated”. Mostly because it wasn't compatible with Drupal 7.
The new Ecwid module for Drupal 7 inherits the functionality from the Drupal 6 module and brings a lot of the new features and improvements. Among the new features for Ecwid on Drupal 7 are:
<ul>
<li>Nice and intuitive design for module settings pages. Completely revamped plugin backend make setting up a store a piece of cake.</li>
<li>The Drupal module supports Google AJAX Crawling technology to help Google find product and category pages in your store.</li>
<li>More SEO improvements ensure better store indexation in search engines. These include:
<ul>
<li>Auto-generated meta tags (title, description, canonical) on the product and category pages</li>
<li>Microdata-formatted product descriptions to make products appear as rich snippets in search engine results pages.</li>
</ul>
</li>
</ul>
<img src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2023/08/drupal_backend700x0.png" alt="Eciwd Drupal 7" />
To download Ecwid for Drupal 7, <a href="https://www.drupal.org/project/ecwid_shopping_cart" target="_blank">check out the download page</a>.
For further information on Eciwd for Drupal 7, read their <a href="https://www.cmscritic.com/new-ecwid-module-gives-drupal-users-a-new-way-to-sell-online/" target="_blank">official blog announcement</a>. Plus, you can explore more of Ecwid via our CMS Directory.

New Ecwid Module Gives Drupal Users a New Way to Sell Online

Content Management Systems (CMS) are some of the most common targets of hacking on the Internet today.
In fact, a <a href="http://www.wpwhitesecurity.com/wordpress-news/statistics-70-percent-wordpress-installations-vulnerable/">study conducted by WP White Security </a>found that 73% of all WordPress installations contained known vulnerabilities that would have quickly and easily been found through the utilization of automated tools.
It’s these types of security holes that have resulted in cyber criminals hacking into over 170,000 back in 2012 alone – a number that is probably even higher by now.

<img src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2023/08/how-to-secure-your-cms688x0-is.jpeg" />
<h2>What makes CMS platforms vulnerable to hacking?</h2>
<a href="/key-website-builders/">CMS platforms</a> are appealing targets to hackers for a wide variety of reasons, mainly the number of weak entry points – such as the numerous plugins available for CMS like WordPress. 
Many people assume that, because CMS like WordPress and Drupal are highly popular and recognized names, there must be some form of protection. They can’t just leave all of their users vulnerable, right?
Think again.
CMS are inherently open to attack because of the fact their foundation is an open source framework. These types of shared development environments have myriad benefits, but they also come with just as many issues.
Because of the popularity of the top CMS available out there, the security holes within these systems are actively being identified and targeted, both by the good guys (security research teams) and the bad guys (cyber criminals).
Once these holes have been found, they turn that particular CMS into treasure troves of data for cyber criminals, even to the point of creating an entry point for automated attacks on a massive scale.
To add salt to the wound, there are users who use the same passwords for all of their accounts, or even just use weak passwords. These leave their admin accounts open to attacks, even if they aren’t aware of it. This can result in their websites being injected with all sorts of malware and escalating the issue beyond the point of control.
These issues can even result in the websites becoming blacklisted by Google and other search engines, which adversely affects their business or brand as a whole.
<h2>How users can secure their CMS in 5 steps</h2>
There are numerous things users can do to protect their CMS against vulnerabilities and fortify their systems from attack.
These include:
<h3>1 . Use a strong password</h3>
A vast amount of people know how to access CMS administrator backend, especially when it comes to popular sites like <a href="https://web3.com.au/logging-in-to-wordpress/">WordPress</a>.
Make sure yours is secure with a strong password to make this process harder for hackers and other cyber criminals. Additionally, you’re going to want to hash the password(s) you use by implementing a slow hashing algorithm.
BONUS: Block the IP for at least one minute after x amount of password authentication failures. Three is the recommended amount of attempts before IP blocking.
<h3>2 . Have a firewall in place</h3>
Setting up a firewall will not only further secure your CMS, but it will also help you keep an eye on suspicious activity and track them by providing a related IP address for the source of that activity.
Once you’ve detected and found suspicious activity, you can then blacklist the IP the firewall provided.
<h3>3 . ALWAYS backup your CMS</h3>
This is one of the most essential aspects of CMS security, and is actually just an overall good habit to have.
Have a backup system in place that will make it possible to recover your website in the event something happens. Always make sure your backups are updated as much as possible to avoid any security vulnerabilities or further problems down the road.
BONUS: Make sure your CMS and any extensions it may have are updated. These upgrades should be double-checked to ensure they are fully compatible with your system before you allow or make them. Of course, you’re always going to want to backup your CMS before conducting these updates.
<h3>4 . Protect against SQL-injections</h3>
An SQL-injection is a cyber attack that embeds malicious code within your CMS and its backend database. Once it’s in there, that malicious code then creates database query results and / or actions that you definitely do not want executed.
There are several types of SQL-injections, and they enable the cyber criminal to do a whole variety of things. These include:
<ul>
<li>
Editing, deleting, reading, or adding to the content of your CMS
</li>
<li>
Accessing and reading source code from the files on the CMS server
</li>
<li>
Write files to the server
</li>
</ul>
While it is true that any one of those things relies heavily upon the capabilities of the cyber criminal, any SQL-injection can still lead to you losing control of your database and web server.
In order to prevent this from happening, <a href="https://www.netsparker.com/blog/web-security/understanding-sql-injection-protection/">use prepared statements</a>, as these separate the structure and data. This allows the SQL server to interpret them without being open and vulnerable to a hacker that is trying to alter the structure of the SQL query for their own malicious purposes.
<h3>5 . Get an SSL Certificate</h3>
An SSL certificate (secure sockets layer) is the standard security technology that is used to produce an encrypted link that goes between the web server and the browser. It is this link that will ensure that the data that goes between the server and the browser will stay private and secure.
<a href="https://www.godaddy.com/help/adding-an-ssl-certificate-to-a-domain-in-simple-control-panel-2325">Adding an SSL certificate to your domain</a> will not only add an additional layer of security to your CMS, but will also help with SEO because it tends to get your website ranked higher in search engines.
<img src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2023/08/how-to-secure-your-cms-1547x0-is.jpeg" />
<h2>Final Thoughts</h2>
Website security is one of those things that can truly be considered a “Catch-22” type of situation.
The more cyber criminals are out there trying to gain access into people’s CMS, the more security researchers crack down on it and come with new methods of protection. The greater the security becomes, the harder the cyber criminals will work to gain access – and they do like challenges.
It’s really an ongoing battle that is seemingly without end.
But, where does that leave you and your CMS?
It’s hard to say for sure where your CMS lies within the cyber criminal-infested waters, but there are things you can do to ensure your CMS is as secure as you can possibly make it. These five methods of security will help reduce threats to your CMS and help keep your data out of jeopardy.

How to Secure Your CMS in 5 Steps

Today we will highlight what we consider to be the best premium Drupal themes that were released in June of this year.
Drupal theming has come along way over the last few years with more and more players stepping into the marketplace.
Here are just a few of our favourites.
There have been quite a few to choose from but these are the ones we like the most.
Diver – Themeshark
<img src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2023/08/diver_image.jpg" alt="diver_image" />
<ul>
<li>ThemeShark.com Easy Installer w/ Drupal 6.12: Setup within minutes!</li>
<li>Currently Compatible with 6.x</li>
<li>Support for CCK, Views, Imagecache, Collapsiblock and Dynamic Display Block modules</li>
<li>100% Tableless CSS Layout</li>
<li>W3C Valid XHTML Strict</li>
<li>Fixed or Fluid Width</li>
<li>Resizable Sidebars</li>
<li>Five Color Styles</li>
<li>Custom Typography</li>
<li>Suckerfish and Superfish Enchanced Menus</li>
<li>Tested with FF3, IE7, IE6, Safari and Opera</li>
</ul>
Website: <a href="http://themeshark.com">http://themeshark.com</a>
mpONE – Themeforest
<img src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2023/08/mpone-473x575.jpg" alt=" " />
<ul>
<li>Highly-customisable.</li>
<li>Available for both Drupal 5 &amp; 6.</li>
<li>20 regions.</li>
<li>5 colour schemes (Blue, teal, red, purple, and green).</li>
<li> RTL (Right to left) support.</li>
<li> W3C valid xHTMLCSS design.</li>
<li>Fully compatible with IE, Firefox, Chrome, Safari, and Opera.</li>
<li>Suitable for news websites, e-zines, article websites, and such.</li>
</ul>
Website: <a href="https://www.cmscritic.comhttps://www.cmscritic.com/themeforestitem/mpone-astonishing-drupal-theme/46474">https://www.cmscritic.comhttps://www.cmscritic.com/themeforestitem/mpone-astonishing-drupal-theme/46474</a>
NewMedia – All Drupal Themes
<img src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2023/08/newmedia_fullsize.png" alt="newmedia_fullsize" />
With the NewMedia theme, a combination of magazine-style layout and top quality web graphics form a truly impressive design. This design was engineered with an eye for perfect proportions, elegant details and endless layout and coloring possibilities.
Website: <a href="http://www.alldrupalthemes.com/drupal-themes/newmedia">http://www.alldrupalthemes.com/drupal-themes/newmedia</a>

The Best Premium Drupal Theme Releases for June 2009

If you have website idea, <a href="https://www.squarespace.com/">Squarespace</a> can now guide your hand from start to finish, thanks to the newly launched <a href="https://www.squarespace.com/domains">Squarespace Domains</a>.
<a href="https://www.squarespace.com/"><img src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2023/08/squarespace-2.png" alt="squarespace" /></a>
Squarespace is a powerful cloud-hosted website builder. It boasts a range of sleek templates, and is popular with photographers, designers and artists.
<h2>Buy &amp; Build Your Domain</h2>
By searching for a domain name on <a href="https://www.squarespace.com/domains">Squarespace Domains</a>, Squarespace will respond with the availability of it across a huge range of domain extensions. They have everything from .com to .dentist.
<img src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2023/08/sshot-2-1.png" alt="sshot-2" />
You may notice that they're selling each domain for $20 per year, which may sound pricey (because it kind of is). But Squarespace has an explanation.
<blockquote>
“Starting at $20, every Squarespace Domain includes a beautiful ad-free parking page and <a href="https://support.squarespace.com/hc/en-us/articles/205812438" target="_blank">WHOIS privacy</a> at no additional cost.
Unlike some other registrars that offer deceptively low entry points with high recurring fees, we aim for transparency. That’s why your domain will always renew at the same price.”
</blockquote>
The WHOIS privacy is a nice extra, but I'm not entirely sure that it makes up for the inflated cost. Sure, plenty of registrars hike their prices after the first year, but not all of them do.
I suppose the biggest benefit here is the start-to-finish feel that Squarespace now has.
You can find a domain, buy it, and then get to work on building it immediately. It's all in-house, and the only other thing you need to worry about is linking up with Google Apps, which Squarespace supports. After that, you have everything you need to launch a business.
As for domain transfers from other registrars, Squarespace say that feature is coming soon.
To find out more about this announcement, <a href="http://blog.squarespace.com/blog/introducing-squarespace-domains">check out the Squarespace blog</a>.
And as usual, be sure to explore more by visiting the Squarespace hub on our CMS Directory.

Squarespace Offers End-to-End Website Building with Squarespace Domains

With the enormous number of open source .NET based content management systems on the market, it can be difficult at best to weed through the various projects in search of the best one for your needs.
Today, we can hopefully make that task a little bit easier as we announce the winner of the 2014 People's Choice CMS Award for Best Open Source .NET CMS.
<img src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2023/08/best_net_open_source_cms-1200x0.png" alt="best_net_open_source_cms" />
Contenders this year were DNN Platform, Sageframe and Umbraco.
The winner this year was none other than <a href="http://sageframe.com/">Sageframe</a>!
<img src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2023/08/sageframe-logo.png" />
Sagefame is a powerful .NET CMS that offers the ability to quickly build beautiful websites using it's easy to use interface.
Congratulations to the team at Sageframe on their win. Go check them out: <a href="http://sageframe.com/">http://www.sageframe.com/</a>

The Winner of the 2014 People's Choice CMS Award for Best Open Source .NET CMS

Power your CMS on AWS

Manage your websites & apps in the most trusted cloud.

#ffffff

<img src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2023/08/cloud-intranet-multipurpose-software-1533x0-is.jpg" />
Every business, whether large or small, is facing multiple challenges at any one time. And if, for instance, you identify project management as being a pain point in your organization, it’s often tempting to go with a software solution or app that addresses that specific need. But when the challenges are multiple and each has its own solution, the situation can soon get out of hand, quickly becoming counter-productive. There was a time when having multiple business apps was almost like a badge of honor – the more you had, then the more ‘with it’ and innovative your organization had to be. But many businesses are now discovering that single-purpose apps are actually impeding rather than enhancing productivity. And so it’s time for organizations to rethink their approach. The future is, in fact, <a href="https://thenextweb.com/contributors/2017/06/06/single-purpose-apps-dead-long-live-multi-purpose-software/#.tnw_OKL8PiZ4">multi-purpose software</a> with the cloud intranet being the perfect example. Let’s explore why.
<h2>The Problems With Overspecialization</h2>
<h3>Limited Functionality</h3>
Now don’t get us wrong, there are plenty of examples of single-purpose software that do a great job. But that’s it. They address just one problem when the reality is that businesses are simultaneously juggling a range of issues.
<h3>Cost</h3>
Overspecialization can also be an expensive option. Many of these apps are subscription based and although each app in itself may seem reasonable, when you combine all the fees across all the apps, then the picture is entirely different. What’s more, you can often find yourself stuck with long contracts that are difficult to get out of, which can be a nightmare if the software turns out not to live up to expectations.
<h3>Duplication Of Effort</h3>
Having multiple apps to achieve different tasks leads to a fragmented user experience. Any one member of staff is likely to have a number of tabs, apps and programs open at one time, requiring them to flip backwards and forwards. What’s more, the software isn’t necessarily compatible either. Your project management app, for example, may not be synchronised with your human resources app which means that you have to enter the same personnel information in two different places. It’s not difficult to see that this process, as well as wasting time, can lead to errors and mistakes creeping in.
<h3>Unnecessary Distraction</h3>
The other problem with multiple apps is the interruption to the flow of work that it involves. Research suggests that it takes the average person four minutes to recover from an interruption and refocus on the task in hand. Constantly switching between apps, far from increasing productivity, is actually slowing things down.
<h3>Staff Training</h3>
It’s likely that all the single-purpose apps have their own proprietary features and operating systems which means that staff need to be trained in how to use and get the best out of them. Staff training is, therefore, a huge investment of resources and time for the organization.
<h3>Shadow IT</h3>
<img src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2023/08/shadow-it533x0-is.jpg" />
In addition, to all of the above is the very real problem of <a href="https://www.myhubintranet.com/shadow-it/">shadow IT</a>. It’s now so easy to source and download software in response to a perceived business need that, armed with a company credit card, managers are doing just that. As well as posing a potential security threat that could compromise the entire company network, such unauthorized software is causing real management headaches for organizations. In a recent survey 83 percent of respondents admitted to having some level of unauthorized cloud services on their corporate IT systems. As well as issues with compatibility, the lack of central oversight has resulted in inconsistent organizational practices.
<h2>The Solution: Multi-Purpose Cloud Intranet Software</h2>
An integrated, multi-purpose platform has a number of advantages over the single purpose app, and perhaps the most important one is its great simplicity. Instead of multiple apps, all the tools and features you need are in one, totally compatible platform with a single login. So just how good a solutions is the <a href="https://www.myhubintranet.com/category/cloud-intranet/">cloud intranet</a>? Well, let’s examine its performance against the issues we identified earlier.
<h3>Functionality</h3>
From document and content management systems, forms workflow and corporate calendars through to news blogs, collaborative workspaces and social features, the cloud intranet has the lot. You can even embed your favorite <a href="https://www.myhubintranet.com/microsoft-intranet-office-365/">Microsoft Office 365</a> program or Google App directly in the intranet page for greater convenience and enhanced joint working. Plus, there’s no need to flit from one program to another, one logon gets you access to all these great business tools.
<h3>Cost</h3>
Cloud intranets are a cost-effective option. For a very reasonable monthly fee, you get unlimited numbers of users and data storage. Instead of several monthly fees associated with a number of different apps, there’s just one monthly cost. And so if cost certainty is important in your business then a cloud intranet is the way to go.
<h3>Streamlined Business Processes</h3>
<img src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2023/08/business-workflow-forms533x0-is.jpg" />
The cloud intranet’s features and tools are all compatible and the software is supported by easy to use management tools, site permissions and rules. And so if you wanted to apply for vacation leave, instead of completing a form, emailing it to your manager for approval, entering your absence in the team’s separate calendar app and then informing human resources for reporting purposes through the HR app, the integrated nature of the intranet means that the online form is automatically routed to all those personnel that need the information.
<h3>Continuity of effort</h3>
Being able to solve all your business needs and tasks in one place, means that users won’t be facing unnecessary interruptions in their workflow. A few clicks of the mouse, rather than a process of opening up and logging in, is all that’s needed to move from tool to another. Productivity will be increased as staff are not wasting time going between different apps.
<h3>Staff training</h3>
The requirements in terms of staff training are greatly reduced. Employees only need to learn how to operate and navigate one system rather than multiple ones. The investment of time and resources the organization has to stump up is much more manageable and cost-effective with just a single platform.
<h3>Shadow IT</h3>
One major headache you can forget about with a cloud intranet is security. The cloud provider retains all responsibility for ensuring the security and integrity of your intranet using the very latest industry-standard security measures. These include SSL encryption and OKTA secure web authentication. What’s more, internal security threats are taken care of with user name and password protection, restricted access to sensitive information and role-based permissions.
In addition, management can easily maintain control and oversight of corporate IT because there’s only one platform to worry about.
And so if your company is grappling with an out-of-control proliferation of single-purpose apps then it may be time for a fresh approach. Why not take advantage of MyHub’s <a href="https://freetrial.myhubintranet.com/freetrial">free demo or trial period</a> and see for yourself what an integrated, multi-purpose <a href="/simple-intranet/">intranet platform</a> can offer your business.

Cloud Intranets: The Future Is Multi-Purpose Software

There are plenty of different options when it comes to commenting systems. For those using a CMS, there are often integrated solutions that offer commenting capabilities (such as WordPress comments for instance) but if you are looking to find the right solution for your clients and your own website, should you be using one that showcases the full engagement experience.
Today, I'm going to offer up my reasoning behind what I think is the best commenting system for your website.
When it comes to engaging a community nowadays, there are many different ways that readers and fans will interact with you. People don't just use comment systems anymore. With Twitter and Facebook, very often sharing a post can be a starting points to all kinds of discussions about your content, so why are you not capturing these discussions and sharing them with your website visitors as well?
When I moved this website from WordPress to Processwire, I made one critical mistake, I installed Disqus as the default commenting system instead of Livefyre. It's not that Disqus is a bad platform but quite frankly, it just doesn't do enough. Livefyre on the other hand, offers the ability to pull in Facebook and Twitter discussions about your post automatically and present them all in a beautiful way. As a developer of websites, not installing this for your clients is, quite frankly, doing them a disservice. Why haven't I moved to Livefyre? Sadly, once you are on Disqus, there is no reliable way to switch without losing all of your existing comments and doing that would just be foolish. (Update: I just received an email from Livefyre stating that they can in fact import from Disqus, so watch for a switch to occur here soon). Disqus still works well for me, but I've lost the ability to bring in my social engagement, a mistake I sorely regret. Fortunately if you run WordPress, Disqus syncs with WordPress comments so you can easily make the switch to Livefyre and not lose anything but for those of us who don't use WordPress, that is not a possibility.
Take my wife's blog for example. She receives well over 350,000 unique visitors each month and has an incredibly active social community. Some of her posts are discussed more on Facebook and Twitter than anywhere else. For instance, her How to Make the Best Buttercream Icing recipe has almost 700 comments.
Here's a screenshot from a recent recipe she did for <a href="http://www.thekitchenmagpie.com/classic-beef-tomato-macaroni-soup">Classic Beef &amp; Tomato Macaroni Soup Recipe</a>. As you can see, there were no normal comments left but plenty of people had something to say on Facebook:
<img src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2023/08/snapshot1.png" alt="the best commenting system for your website" />
Now let's assume you are an advertiser or someone looking to partner with her, you come to her blog and see the engagement right on one of her posts and instantly, you can tell that she has a very active social following and want to work with her. This is an invaluable asset to anyone looking to showcase the strength of their community and who doesn't want to do that?
Disqus on the other hand, while offering a good all around commenting system does not have this ability and as such, simply is an inferior product. Furthermore, if you aren't installing this for your clients, you are in my opinion, failing to offer the best bang for their buck. Livefyre won't cost them a cent and lets them see and showcase their social engagement, something that everyone should be interested in doing. Nowadays, it's hard to get comments for people. Most of the time, people aren't interested in registering for yet another account or filling in a form just to make a quick comment but they are far more willing to reply to a tweet or post with a Facebook account they already have.
There will, of course, be those that argue there are issues with Livefyre but in the many years we've run it on Karlynn's blog (and given her numbers I think it's a fairly good test case) and others, we've seen nothing but benefits. In my opinion, it simply is the best commenting system for your website.
Check it out here: <a href="http://www.livefyre.com">http://www.livefyre.com</a>
Discuss your choice with our community.

The Best Commenting System for your Website

eZPublish has long been known as a major player in the open source market, especially when it comes to the publishing world. In order to both improve their products' ease of use and to provide an all encompassing solution, they have created an all in one eZ Publish installer.
This installer packages a Mysql database, an Apache web server instance with PHP and of course <a href="http://ez.no/download">eZ Publish</a>.
Walkthrough
You can download the installer from the <a href="http://ez.no/company/news/new_installer_released_ez_publish_is_only_a_few_clicks_away">eZ Publish website</a>, it is available for Windows and Mac systems. Once downloaded, simply double click on the executable and you'll be presented with the following screen (we have only tested the windows version so screens may vary slightly on the Mac).
<img src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2023/08/ezpublish-installer1.jpg" alt="eZ Publish installer" />
Simply clicking next will take you to the component selection screen. This screen should really just be a confirmation screen as there really is no option to select anything being that it's all greyed out.. but it's a new installer so we'll go easy on them ?
<img src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2023/08/elie-auvray-100x100_eucy5e.jpg" alt="eZ Publish installer" />
Once you've chosen what options you can, proceeding you will be greeted with the screen below which identifies the versions to be installed and the necessary ports that will be used:
<img src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2023/08/ezpublish-installer3.jpg" alt="eZ Publish installer" />
You are then provided with the opportunity to create your administrator account:
<img src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2023/08/ezpublish-installer4.jpg" alt="eZ Publish installer" />
And now the installation process begins:
<img src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2023/08/knowledgetree-daniel-chalef-100x100_vvqzgp.png" alt="eZ Publish installer" />
Once the install is complete, your default browser will automatically launch the page below which provides some additional information. It is important to keep in mind that this installer does not fully install eZPublish for you but rather installs and prepares the included applications and the ezPublish installer. What this means is that clicking finish will then take you through the ezPublish installation that we're used to without prompting for database details, etc.
<img src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2023/08/ezpublish-installer6-575x400.jpg" alt="eZ Publish installer" />
Once you've clicked on Finish installation, you will then be taken through a few ezPublish install screens:
<img src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2023/08/ezpublish-installation1-575x399.png" alt="eZ Publish installer" />
Normally, the installer will download a remote site package list and present you with options, but since our test machine is behind a secured network, firewall and proxy, it was not permitted to do so. What we do at this point is open the remote repository URL provided, download the necessary packages and then upload them via this page below.
<img src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2023/08/ezpublish-installation2-575x488.png" alt="eZ Publish installer" />
You then have the option of submitting site details to eZ Systems which they will use to track the type of installs and other basic information.
<img src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2023/08/ezpublish-installation3-575x563.png" alt="eZ Publish installer" />
Now the installation is complete and you can proceed to your administrator panel or the default website.
<img src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2023/08/ezpublish-installation4-575x395.png" alt="eZ Publish installer" />
And here is the default website (providing you selected the eZ Flow template set).
<img src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2023/08/ezpublish-installation5-575x503.png" alt="eZ Publish installer" />
We won't be covering the administrative interface in this article as it is quite involved but this gives you a good idea as to how the system and the installer works. It's obvious they've done a lot of work on improving the comfort zones of their customers and they have indeed come a long way in recent years. We can only hope for more improvements and enhancements down the road.
You can read more about or download eZ Publish from their <a href="http://ez.no">website</a>.

eZ Publish Installer Overview

123-Reg has accidentally wiped out all of their VPS servers, along with all the customer websites that had the misfortune of running on them.
I hate to say “I told you so”, but I told you so; with my recent article on <a href="/avoid-123-reg/">why you should avoid 123-Reg at all costs</a>.
<img src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2023/08/158x106-123-reg-logo.png" alt="158x106-123-reg-logo" />
Unfortunately for some, sticking with 123-Reg has cost them their websites, and perhaps even their businesses.
<h2>That Wasn't In The Script</h2>
Some time on April 16th 2016, 123-Reg ran a script to show them the number of active machines against the master database. A routine event, I'm sure. But the result was anything but.
Here's what 123-Reg said happened next:
<blockquote>
“An error on the script showed ‘zero-records' response from the database for some live VPS. For those customers, this created a ‘failure' scenario – showing no VM's and effectively deleting what was on the host.
As a result of our team's investigations, we can conclude that the issues faced having resulted in some data loss for some customers.”
</blockquote>
That's an excerpt from an email they sent out to customers. Essentially, what they're getting at is; they deleted all the websites on their VPS servers. Pretty horrifying stuff.
<h2>Gone, And Maybe Forgotten</h2>
At this moment in time, nobody but 123-Reg knows how many websites were actually deleted. Their statement above seems to indicate that everybody using one of their VPS plans (Which start from $170 per year) can expect a total wipeout.
Although, the same email indicates that they may be able to restore some instances:
<blockquote>
“We have recovery running on the VPS servers and some are restoring to new disks. We have also begun copying recovered VPS images to new hosts and we expect some VPS to be back up and running throughout the night and in to tomorrow.”
</blockquote>
However, in what would appear to be a contradiction,123-Reg recently took to Twitter to urge customers with local backups to try and restore their own websites.
<blockquote>
Customers that have a local backup of their VPS are advised to rebuild their servers following these instructions <a href="https://t.co/e7y8s1q8l1">https://t.co/e7y8s1q8l1</a>
— 123-reg (@123reg) <a href="https://twitter.com/123reg/status/722005372026761216">April 18, 2016</a>
</blockquote>

A worrying sign indeed.
So if you're currently asking yourself if 123-Reg will be able to restore your lost website, I'm afraid it's looking like nobody knows the answer just yet. Not even 123-Reg themselves.
<h2>Twitter Turmoil</h2>
Following this hosting horror show, 123-Reg customers vented their frustration through Twitter. Here are some highlights.
<blockquote>
Oh. <a href="https://twitter.com/123reg">@123reg</a> appear to have managed to wipe every VPS they host, and are telling customers to do their own rebuilds: <a href="https://t.co/jPKz0gwEwE">https://t.co/jPKz0gwEwE</a>
— Jamie Hoyle (@mightyshakerjnr) <a href="https://twitter.com/mightyshakerjnr/status/722010721266110464">April 18, 2016</a>
</blockquote>

<blockquote>
Spoke with <a href="https://twitter.com/123reg">@123reg</a> earlier today regarding VPS issues. Was told a week minimum for email update and more than likely all data lost. <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/123reg?src=hash">#123reg</a>
— Outlines Design (@Outlines_Design) <a href="https://twitter.com/Outlines_Design/status/721799835607789568">April 17, 2016</a>
</blockquote>


<blockquote>
Surprise the <a href="https://twitter.com/123reg">@123reg</a> story isn't bigger – hundreds of websites offline, some businesses ruined because of hosting error <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/123reg?src=hash">#123reg</a>
— Mr Don Brown (@DonBrownEsq) <a href="https://twitter.com/DonBrownEsq/status/722017038844235776">April 18, 2016</a>
</blockquote>
 Some attempted to introduce humour into the digital disaster:
<blockquote>
<a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/123reg?src=hash">#123reg</a> Twitter cover photo – satire is a living, breathing entity <a href="https://t.co/QyBfiSYeqA">pic.twitter.com/QyBfiSYeqA</a>
— Forever Aloe Vera (@aloeveragelshop) <a href="https://twitter.com/aloeveragelshop/status/721797011654238209">April 17, 2016</a>
</blockquote>

<blockquote>
<a href="https://twitter.com/123reg">@123reg</a> With all my t-shirt selling websites offline all I can do is try to amuse myself. <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/keepthefaith?src=hash">#keepthefaith</a> <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/123reg?src=hash">#123reg</a> <a href="https://t.co/SH8nQuIsig">pic.twitter.com/SH8nQuIsig</a>
— Ryan Montgomery (@nearlyanartist) <a href="https://twitter.com/nearlyanartist/status/721737624633942016">April 17, 2016</a>
</blockquote>

Personally, I'm not sure what else can be said about 123-Reg. They have a long history of being unreliable, the Internet is filled with angry ex-customers, and now they have deleted customer data out of existence.
I didn't trust 123-Ref before today, and I doubt many people will by tomorrow.
<h2>Have You Been Affected?</h2>
At this moment in time, thousands of business and website owners are wondering about how they can move on from this fiasco.
Many have left their stories on my previous article on 123-Reg, but I'd love to hear more about what's going through the mind of 123-Reg users right now.
Are you websites gone? Has it affected business? Will you be leaving 123-Reg? Let's talk in the comments below.

123-Reg Accidentally Deletes Thousands of Customer Websites

On November 7th 2013, Liferay held their first ever UK Portal Solutions Forum. The event promised an overview of the <a href="/liferay-portal-6.2-announced-at-liferay-s-north-america-event/#.UnwZhPkvlyU" target="_blank">newly released Liferay Portal 6.2</a> along with a full day of presentations, workshops, and much more.
<a href="http://www.liferay.com/" target="_blank"> Liferay</a> are a world-renowned provider of a leading enterprise-class portal solution, which is used as a digital platform by a number of Fortune 500 companies. With a respectable past, a bright future and a brand new version of their flagship product released just a few days ago, there was plenty for Liferay executives to talk about.
Naturally then, Liferay's Solutions Forum itself – held in the heart of London, was thoroughly enjoyable and full of content. So, let's delve into exactly how it went down.
<h2>Liferay Executives Kick Off the Event</h2>
After making my way down to the Solutions Forum on a chilly London morning, I was welcomed warmly by Liferay staff, and introduced to some of the event's organisers. I then swiftly made my way over to the breakfast area, where I filled up on Tea before the main event began.
<img src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2023/08/liferay_flag2.png" alt="Liferay Portal Solutions Forum" /> 
I was going to be live-tweeting the entire event via the <a href="https://twitter.com/cmscritic" target="_blank">CMS Critic Twitter account</a>, so I made myself comfortable in the main conference room – with my Tweeting finger poised.
Eddy Dueck – Liferay's marketing associate in charge of leading the event, started the proceedings, and was followed up by an impressive presentation given by company CEO, Bryan Cheung. He spoke extensively on the importance of understanding the evolution of customer relations, as well as how information should be presented to users and customers in general.
<blockquote>“The future of Portal Technology is to provide access to the right information, within the right context.” ~ Bryan Cheung <a href="https://twitter.com/search?q=%23LPSF2013UK&amp;src=hash"> #LPSF2013UK </a>
— CMS Critic (@cmscritic) <a href="https://twitter.com/cmscritic/statuses/398398080015687680"> November 7, 2013 </a></blockquote>
Bryan Cheung delved deep into the history of company-customer relationships, discussing how time has helped evolve and shape today's customer interaction. The example of a Suit Tailor was initially given, focusing on the personal relationship a Suit Tailor would have with his or her customer.
<img src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2023/08/bryan_cheung.png" alt="Liferay Portal Solutions Forum" />
As technology advanced, Bryan Cheung said, that personal, close relationship shared between a service provider and his or her customer was lost, simply due to companies focusing on a wider reach, rather than a personal one. However, the Internet, especially in its current form, helps combine both a personal touch and a wide reach.
<h2>Networking, Consulting &amp; Expert Exchanges</h2>
Along with the continued talks from various Liferay executives and other professionals, the Liferay Portal Solutions Forum also had something to offer outide of the conference room.
On top of the Breakfast before the main event, attendees enjoyed two networking Coffee breaks, where they could grab a hot drink, a slice of cake and converse with both their colleagues, and other professionals.
<blockquote>The networking Coffee break in full motion. <a href="https://twitter.com/search?q=%23LPSF2013UK&amp;src=hash"> #LPSF2013UK </a> <a href="http://t.co/PNdqY3ZOox"> pic.twitter.com/PNdqY3ZOox </a>
— CMS Critic (@cmscritic) <a href="https://twitter.com/cmscritic/statuses/398410366256185344"> November 7, 2013 </a></blockquote>
Additionally, Liferay laid out a deliciously looking – and tasting lunch. Once again, the atmosphere was social, with attendees networking and exchanging details as they enjoyed their lunch.
<img src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2023/08/lunch.png" alt="Liferay Portal Solutions Forum" />
Following the lunch break, time was set aside for “Expert Exchange Discussions”. The idea was that each table had twenty minutes to discuss a pre-defined question, generally relating to internal company policy and approach to customer engagement.
<img src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2023/08/expert_exchange.png" alt="Liferay Portal Solutions Forum" />
Each discussion was moderated by a Liferay professional, and the event was topped off with session summary, which compiled the different opinions and ideas gathered at each table.
<h2>An Overview of Liferay 6.2</h2>
Towards the end of the Solutions Forum, Liferay made time to talk about their latest release, Liferay Portal 6.2.
Product Manager Juan Fernandez took to the stage, and began speaking about the new features boasted by their latest upgrade, made just days ago. He touched briefly on the new user interface, which he believed would help users get the most out of Liferay.
<img src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2023/08/liferay_6_2.png" alt="Liferay Portal Solutions Forum" />
He then moved on to the responsive nature of the templates supported by Liferay Portal 6.2, and how simple it now is for users to quickly and easily review and customize their responsive website via the Liferay mobile preview option.
<blockquote>“The new App Manager is now even easier to use when managing, activating and deactivating applications.” ~ Juan Fernandez <a href="https://twitter.com/search?q=%23LPSF2013UK&amp;src=hash">#LPSF2013UK</a>
— CMS Critic (@cmscritic) <a href="https://twitter.com/cmscritic/statuses/398492725659852800">November 7, 2013</a></blockquote>
After touching on the subject of Liferay's new App Manager, Juan Fernandez mentioned the enhanced multi-language options, and the ability for users to localise their URLS.
<img src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2023/08/liferay_6_22.png" alt="Liferay Portal Solutions Forum" />
Eventually, after some detailed presentations and interesting questions posed by the audience, Liferay's first ever UK Solutions Forum came to a close. A round of applause was given, and as the room emptied, you certainly got the feeling that every attendee was leaving satisfied with what they had seen, and heard.
For more information on Liferay's platform, <a href="http://www.liferay.com/" target="_blank">check out their website</a>. Additionally, you can explore more of <a href="/products/liferay/" target="_blank">Liferay via our CMS Directory</a>.
Also, if you'd like a better idea of how the events went down at the 2013 UK Liferay Portal Solutions Forum, <a href="https://twitter.com/cmscritic" target="_blank"> check out our Twitter feed</a>, where I live-tweeted all of the events directly from the Solutions Forum.

The Liferay Portal Solutions Forum UK, 2013 - #LPSF2013UK

One of my biggest pet peeves in the marketing world are inexperienced marketers that use out of date tools for website information. Rather than ask for proper analytics screenshots or reports directly from the source, they rely on third party websites with inaccurate information as their basis for whether they partner with the website or not. Let me make one thing very clear and I will pull no punches with this comment: Marketers that use tools like Alexa and similar tools as their one source of information should reassess their marketing strategies.
<h3>Alexa is obsolete</h3>
I don't believe in beating around the bush about products that produce misleading information. The simple fact of the matter is that Alexa is obsolete. Not only does it inaccurately report data, it does so in a way that can be detrimental to your ambition and drive as a website owner. I've watched many people beat themselves up because they've seen sites with far less traffic and far less presence on the web achieve Alexa rankings far lower than theirs. This has driven these people to the point of breakdowns trying to figure out “why they are failing.”
The problem with this is that this ranking system is absolutely obsolete. For years, Alexa has assigned randomly ridiculous rankings to all kinds of sites with absolutely no reasoning behind it and with no logic whatsoever. The result: websites with significantly more traffic end up with worse rankings and marketers who use Alexa as a measurement of a websites success, choose to go with less popular sites with far less reach. This means marketing money is being wasted and used inefficiently. All of this occurs thanks to misrepresentation of data.
A smart marketer is aware of these facts, they don't try to use tools like Alexa, Compete and similar because they know the data they are going to get is simply inaccurate. Those are the marketers that are on the up and up. The old school crowd that still thinks Alexa is an important source for information are the ones you want to be wary of because they are also the people that are more likely to undervalue your work and offer you far less than you are worth for projects they have in their laps.
<h3>Determining your worth</h3>
So how then do you determine your true worth? Well, it's tough to do but fortunately, companies like <a href="http://www.tapinfluence.com/">Tapfluence</a> have their own system of determining this. They pull your Google Analytics, your social profiles (including follower counts) and use it to not only determine what they feel you SHOULD be charging for your work (posts, tweets, instagram shares, etc) but they also encourage you to negotiate offers that come in through their service.
<img src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2023/08/tapinfluence_software-1024x636.png" alt="tapinfluence_software" />
I'm a big fan of the way Tapfluence encourages influencers to get more for their effort rather than accepting less. This is the type of encouragement people who own their own websites need. Tapfluence isn't the only service like this out there, they just happen to be one of the ones I'm familiar with.
<h3>How about Klout?</h3>
I'm not a big fan of services like Klout either for similar reasons. Klout uses only social media to determine value and this is a misnomer given that blogs are far more important than social media contacts. Twitter has gone downhill as far as impact goes and has turned into a jumbled mess more than something that adds a lot of value and measuring tweet performance just isn't really all that useful.
When it comes to the power of marketing, content on blogs and similar places is still king and still offers more lasting impact than a quick tweet ever will. For this reason, services like Klout that exclude things like website analytics really don't feel like the right way to go as far as I'm concerned.
<h3>Ok, what about Compete?</h3>
Compete is similar to Alexa. They take random guesses at your traffic and attempt to establish reports on how well your website is performing. The issue is that these reports are also usually very inaccurate. This, again, leads marketers who don't know any better (sadly, there are quite a few of them) to assume the data is correct and take their business elsewhere. I've seen many instances where comparisons of websites that have traffic stats I'm familiar with produce very different data through Compete.
<h3>So what's your solution Mike?</h3>
The solution is simple, if you are a marketer and are looking to determine how much traffic a website is getting and other detailed information like bounce rate, page views and the like.. approach the source. Do not attempt to use third party services to “guesstimate” how a website is performing, get screenshots from the source themselves.
A good website owner will not only be excited to provide you with this data, but they will also be eager to provide you with more information, rather than less, giving you a much better look at whether they make a good partner for your campaign. Stop using tools like Alexa, Compete and Klout to figure out things that you can find out quickly and easily just by asking the person behind the scenes. That is where the true information resides and you will find that switching to this method of acquiring business partners will not only increase campaign performance but also help you build excellent relationships you can build on in the future.

Why Alexa Can't Be Trusted

Weglot - The easiest way to translate a website

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