Articles - Page 97

The Top 10 AI Tools for Small Business: From Automation to a Coordinated Team of AI Agents

matt-garrepy

For this month's newsletter, we spoke with Vern Imrich, CTO of <a href="http://www.percussion.com">Percussion</a> to get his thoughts on the growth of the CMS market and more. Read on for some valuable insights.
CC:  Please tell us a bit about yourself and your background leading up to working with Percussion.
<img src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2023/08/lemonstand_ucvyum.png" alt="Vern Imrich" />
VI:  My formal training and degrees are all in engineering, numerical methods and computer simulations.  But all along I was heavily involved in publications, running engineering magazines and other periodicals.  I became a pro at SGML, desktop publishing systems, and even typesetting languages.  Then, while in graduate school at MIT, SGML suddenly became HTML and the Web exploded onto the scene.  I ditched the numerical simulation code and grad school altogether and went full time to the Web, building sites, doing web applications. When I arrived at Percussion in the mid 90's, it was a “data to  documents” company looking for a new market to expand in.  I spurred the company's move to the Web, and by 1999 we had adopted XML  as our new core technology.  We quickly saw the core value proposition for this technology as helping companies publish web sites and web content quickly and cost effectively, and released our first Web Content Management System in the spring of 2000.  There have been many ups and downs as the Web bubble burst, morphed several times over, was reborn with Web 2.0 and into the social media explosion of today.  My experience combining the technical rigor of engineering with the free form creative processes of content publishers and editors has allowed me to guide Percussion to keep pace with the Web market all throughout.
CC: What makes Percussion a strong option for companies to consider in the market?
VI:  What we hear from our customers and prospects is that they choose our software because its highly usable, and because we deliver functionality as a product (rather than a set of complex customizations) which make our product supportable, flexible and upgradeable. This is a fundamentally different way to deliver the CMS than what you are hearing from other vendors in the market that require far more customization services. And we offer everyone a cloud-based evaluation to prove that the demo they just saw is really out of the box functionality. If I may say, it’s really a sad commentary on the state of the CMS market that prospects are often jaded by knowing that the sexy demo’s they see so often are really just “demo-ware.” They know that the vendors show up to their kick-off with nothing more than a bag of parts and a large consulting contract.
We think there is fundamentally a better way to manage your content, drive customer engagement, and manage your content marketing. We believe that simplifying all of that complexity into a highly usable out-of-the-box product that marketers and content owners can actually use to get their job done, CM1 solves a fundamental need and drives a real business outcome. If companies can’t use their web efforts to scale their business, then they are missing out on revenue. Our products breakthrough that wall.
CC: What do you feel was your greatest technical achievement over the last two years?
VI: Without a doubt the CM1 user experience is the key breakthrough that we are most proud about and the one that our customers love us for. “Finally,” they tell us, “something that we can actually use!” Believe it or not, we just had a prospect tell us during a demo that they felt like a caveman staring at fire for the first time! Now not sure we should go THAT far, but it’s definitely been a major breakthrough.
And we really believe that user experience is not about how pretty the interface looks (though we know that ours is pretty sexy looking!). We know that design can be fleeting, you can refresh how your product looks at any time, and many vendors have, but we took the time to completely rearchitect how you use the product based on how users actually want to do work. And by users, we mean the people actually managing the content, not the technical team in charge of the app.
This is a real breakthrough in user experience. It puts the power over the content back in the hands of the content owner. It creates flexibility, allows marketers to be more agile in their activity, and gives them the flexibility to take on whatever comes next.
Further the dashboard creates a comprehensive connection between analytics and action. Now teams can go from simply reading and reporting on the analytic data to a much more powerful “Read and Act” in the moment based on what’s working, or what’s trending in the market.
CC: From a technical standpoint, how does Percussion fare for customers with multiple infrastructure types within their corporate landscape?
VI: Our core DNA since we first launched WCM back in 2000 has always been as a decoupled system. Even as we add delivery-tier services like dynamic tagging and categorization, comments, ratings, personalization etc we treat the architecture the same and keep them decoupled. This creates limitless flexibility for our customers with their infrastructure and existing applications. Move to the cloud? No problem. Integrate with a custom built delivery side database? No problem. Integrate CRM or ERP or Marketing Automation connections? Also no problem.
And as important, because we don’t require you to change your current web infrastructure, you don’t have to redesign or re-architect your site to use our product. This is a key driver for many organizations that have heavy investments in their web technologies.
CC: A fair portion of the code utilized for Percussion was derived from Open Source projects; What was the reason for choosing to build off of these projects?
VI: As with any software initiative, we know what we are good at. And where things exist already that can be leveraged to deliver a high quality experience, we would rather start there than build it ourselves. We are constantly looking for ways to expand our use of Open Source because it frees our technical team to focus on what we do best.
CC: How has Percussion given back to the open source community?
VI: We do publish our common code back to the community, but a lot of where we innovate involves pulling together all this great technology in such a way that folks can use it easily and cheaply. In other words, we're often the “last mile” to the user, so the code we publish tends to be widgets, gadgets and other plug-ins for our WCM offering.  Still, we're always looking for areas where we can share more.
CC: For customers looking to integrate with multiple third party applications such as Salesforce and ERP solutions, how does Percussion fit in?
VI: As I mentioned earlier, our hallmark has always been our ability to integrate with other applications that our customers use. Some of our most successful customers like Autotrader.com, Weather.com and BabyCenter.com have really complicated applications running their business. They appreciate our ability to easily connect to those systems.
We take a classic widget/gadget approach to integrating applications like SalesForce which allows us to frequently add new integrations either on client demand, or because we know they will be popular. Soon, we will also extend the capability to create new Widgets or Apps to our key development partners and will deploy them in an App-Store type model. This is a really exciting development because you gain true network momentum as more and more people come on line with CM1 and CM1 widgets, gadgets and Apps.
CC: Can you give us a preview of what we can expect from upcoming releases of the software?
VI: We hear from our prospects all the time that they have a very hard time managing their content and driving a true content marketing strategy with their current technologies. However, they can’t always get their senior team to understand why that matters. Some of the near term things being rolled out as part of our advanced content marketing dashboard will draw a much cleaner picture for executives on what kind of value they are getting from their content operations. By exposing data about how content is turning into revenue, or even reducing costs, we change the dynamic from “my job is hard, this will help me do it better” (which sadly is never a winning business case) to a “here is where we are driving value to the business.”
I already mentioned the concept of an App Store. This will be a really exciting development in the coming months as well.
CC: Do you have any parting comments or final thoughts?
VI: You know, I would just say that historically people thought of one-size-fits-all WCM. It was really complex, and it was really hard, and it was really expensive. Smaller companies aspired to afford it, but it was always the domain of the monied class. But we are seeing a widescale revolt against complexity. Users just want something that works, and preferably works now. And smaller companies are realizing they can get full-functioning content systems in an affordable package, they don’t need to suffer in silence any longer.
CC: Thank you for your time Mr. Imrich.

Interview with Vern Imrich, CTO of Percussion

mike-johnston

SetSeed 8 adds an all-new interface with improved mobile experience and new APIs that allow web designers and agencies to use SetSeed to power an own-branded website builder product.
SetSeed was designed by Ben Vallack to solve problems associated with WYSIWYG-based CMSs.
<blockquote>
“WYSWIG editors are simply not the right tool for the job. Websites are dynamic and responsive. Unlike print, webpages look different on different devices. Therefore, there can be no ‘What You See Is What You Get' because everyone gets something different.” Said Ben Vallack, SetSeed's designer and developer. “SetSeed uses an entirely different approach. Content is presented in a single portable list. It's presented without any of the style and layout that is shown on the actual website. This makes it really easy to work with your content in a way that works for the modern web.”
</blockquote>
Several APIs are also included with SetSeed 8 that for the first time allow SetSeed CMS to be used as a website builder.
More and more end-users are looking for a turnkey website builder product instead of shelling out for a bespoke website. As a result, web designers and agencies are looking to cash-in on this trend by offering their own website builder solution. Up until now, creating a website builder has been an extremely complex process, often requiring complete custom development to achieve. SetSeed makes it possible for web designers and agencies to launch their own website builder with very little time or cost investment.
SetSeed 8's new user interface is designed to welcome beginners from the start.
<img src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2023/08/setseed.jpg" alt="SetSeed CMS 8" />
The new side-by-side live preview system clarifies and builds on SetSeed's beyond-WYSIWYG approach and allows all dynamic content to be seen in context on the webpage. Drag-and-drop an image, contact form, gallery or product into the content ‘blueprint' and see it in the live preview straight away.
<blockquote>
“Now that SetSeed 8 can be used as an automated website builder, it's crucial that new users can start using SetSeed to manage their content without needing any training.” said Ben. “Content management for a modern, dynamic website can be very complex. But SetSeed's simple concept of Storage and Webpages makes it easy to grasp – even for novices”.
</blockquote>
SetSeed 8 also brings many improvements to the experience of editing content on mobile devices and tablets. Other CMSs often only offer feature-limited stand-alone apps to allow content management on the go. SetSeed CMS is a ‘responsive' web application that runs just as well on a small touch-screen device as it does on a large mouse-based desktop. This means end-users can enjoy the full SetSeed CMS feature-set wherever they are.
Visit setseed.com to learn more about what's available with <a href="http://setseed.com/">SetSeed 8</a>.

SetSeed CMS sees major update with version 8

Ah, Social Networking. We love it so much that we just can't stay away. Some people love social networking so much that they want to start their own and there are more and more niche networks opening up every day.
For all of this activity, you need a great platform and this year, we have several amazing solutions competing for the People's Choice Award for Best Social Networking Solution.
As a reminder, here is the list of nominees for this year:
<ol>
<li><a href="/products/dnn-evoq-social/"> DNN Evoq Social </a></li>
<li><a href="/products/phpfox/"> PHPFox </a></li>
<li><a href="/products/oxwall/"> Oxwall </a></li>
<li><a href="/products/socialcore"> SocialCore </a></li>
<li><a href="/products/social-engine"> Social Engine </a></li>
</ol>
We are very excited to announce that we've had a huge turnout this year in both the nomination stage and the voting stage and we're looking forward to even more exposure for these great products for the 2014 awards season.
The winner for this year, according to your votes, is…
<img style="max-width:150px" src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2023/08/best-social-networking-solution150x0.png" />
Social Engine!
Social Engine is a popular social network software that comes in two editions: SocialEngine Cloud and SocialEngine PHP (non-hosted). SocialEngine is completely unbranded and can be changed in any way you like. There are plenty of addons and themes and the community is large. SocialEngine Cloud, their hosted solution, is far different from the PHP edition and we’d recommend you try out the demo to get a taste for what it is and how it works.
They offer a 14-day free trial which is a great way to test out the software prior to purchasing so we’d suggest you take a look if you are considering getting social network software in the future.
<a href="/social-engine">Check out Social Engine</a>

2013 People's Choice Winner for Best Social Networking Solution

Essentially, WooCommerce by <a href="http://www.woothemes.com" target="_blank"> WooThemes</a> is just another free WordPress plugin. However, you would be extremely hard-pressed to find a similar plugin which holds the same level of potential.
Launched in late September 2011,  <a href="http://www.woothemes.com/woocommerce" target="_blank"> WooCommerce</a> now supports a sizeable slice of the ever-growing ecommerce pie, boasting over 1.6M downloads from across the globe.
The open-source platform provides users with a feature extensive, yet hugely user-friendly experience, making it perfect for ecommerce startups to get a feel for online business in a way which is easy to digest, and doesn't cost an arm or a leg.
So, let's take a look at just how WooCommerce fits the bill for budding online merchants.
<h2>1. It's Free</h2>
<a href="http://www.woothemes.com/" target="_blank"> <img src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2023/08/1.png" alt="WooCommerce" /> </a>
There is no shortage of high-quality e-commerce CMS currently on offer, all of which endeavour to help merchants sell online easily and innovatively. Most of the time, the only drawback is that they all come at a price. All except WooCommerce that is.
<a href="http://www.woothemes.com/woocommerce/" target="_blank">WooCommerce is completely free to download, right now</a>. Yet, despite being free and open-source, WooCommerce offers extensive features out of the box, whilst also being extremely flexible both by nature, and via the additional of extensions, which I will mention later.
<h2>2. Huge Flexibility</h2>
Perhaps one of WooCommerce's biggest benefit to ecommerce newcomers, is that merchants using the platform can exercise a whole lot of flexibility with their products, without having to know too much about the technical side of things.
Products can be categorized, given sale prices, independent attributes, and more. Additionally, WooCommerce stores are capable of selling physical, virtual, downloadable and even affiliate/external products.
<h2>3. More Than Ecommerce</h2>
WooCommerce doesn't force users to go beyond their comfort zone when building their online store, yet at the same time, it readily opens the door for more than just ecommerce.
For example, WooCommerce users can build a fully functioning store within a professional website, alongside an integrated blog. All of these dimensions of a business' online presence are harnessed in one place, and presented together seamlessly, and it's all thanks to WooCommerce being a WordPress based platform.
<h2>4. Familiar Friendliness</h2>
Speaking of WordPress, the hugely popular CMS <a href="http://trends.builtwith.com/cms" target="_blank">supports over 51% of the top million websites currently in existence</a>, and so it would be fair to say that many ecommerce startups will have had the pleasure of using WordPress, for similar, or unrelated online project.
With WooCommerce being a WordPress plugin, past users of the platform will benefit from being able to recognize the user-friendly WordPress interface. That kind of familiarity when building an online store could easily save time and confusion, whilst bolstering creativity.
<h2>5. Vast Customization Options</h2>
<a href="http://www.woothemes.com/" target="_blank"> <img src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2023/08/33.png" alt="WooCommerce" /> </a>
Being free hasn't made WooCommerce a rigid platform. In fact, there is a lot of room to customize and tweak your online store to a level of uniqueness.
Currently, users can choose between 39 different WooCommerce enabled themes – many of which are free, via the <a href="http://www.woothemes.com/product-category/themes/" target="_blank">WooThemes Store</a>. Once a theme has been selected, you can then get to work on changing pre-set CSS styles and colour themes, tweaking the code and experimenting with the special features which each theme offers.
<h2>6. Professional Yet Simple</h2>
Although WooCommerce is a free, user-friendly ecommerce platform, you shouldn't let that fool you into thinking it isn't a professional online store solution – because that's exactly what it is.
Built into the platform can be found detailed order tracking and customer engagement tools, which allow merchants to view past and open orders, update delivery statuses, apply discounts and so forth. In fact, tax settings, inventory management, shipping options, coupon codes and pretty much everything else you need for a professional ecommerce setup, is part of WooCommerce, right out of the box.
<h2>7. Analytics Made Easy</h2>
A core tool used by any website owner, is their analytics tool. Many ecommerce startups may not know how to apply an analytics system to their website, nor will they know what statistics need focused analysis. Thankfully, WooCommerce has such merchants covered.
The built in analytics system makes a wide array of statistics crystal clear. Figures like total sales, sales by date, average order totals, individual customer statistics and much more are all neatly presented via graphs, without the user ever having to leave their admin panel. It's that easy.
<h2>8. Apps Galore</h2>
As it is, WooCommerce has the ability to help any aspiring online merchant set up, and run his business easily, and professionally. Yet, for those looking for extra functionality, WooCommerce once again doesn't disappoint.
There are hundreds of <a href="http://www.woothemes.com/product-category/woocommerce-extensions/" target="_blank">WooCommerce Extensions</a> available, some of which are free, and some of which require a fee. From these extensions, one can find applications relating to accounting, payment gateways, marketing, reporting and more.
<h2>9. Room For Growth</h2>
As simple as WooCommerce is as an ecommerce platform, it also allows you to exercise some growth and expansion in terms of how you manage your store, products and customers.
For example, modifying templates is made easy whether users want to do so directly via the theme files, or whether you use the many hooks &amp; filters. WooCommerce also has various APIs ready to be used for building extensions, along with an extensive documentation library, so that users can get to know how WooCommerce works, inside and out.
<h2>10. Because WooThemes</h2>
<a href="http://www.woothemes.com/" target="_blank"> <img src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2023/08/3.png" alt="WooCommerce" /> 
</a> Finally, one of the very best reasons for WooCommerce being perfect for ecommerce startups, is because of WooThemes themselves.
WooThemes have been around for a while, producing stellar WordPress themes, extensions and plugins, including WooCommerce. They  have a wonderful track record of being reliable and exceedingly professional with both their products, and their support system. On top of a <a href="http://www.woothemes.com/meet-the-team/" target="_blank">myriad of real, contactable people to talk to</a>, WooThemes users can benefit from community forums, video tutorials, and more.
So there you have it, ten very good reasons for why you should strongly consider using WooCommerce to propel your first ecommerce project to success.
To learn more about how WooCommerce can benefit ecommerce startups, check out the section on <a href="http://www.woothemes.com/woocommerce" target="_blank"> WooCommerce on the WooThemes website</a>.

10 Reasons Why WooCommerce is Perfect For Ecommerce Startups

When it comes to content management systems, there's one platform that makes headless "like butter."
Of course, we're talking about <a href="https://www.cmscritic.com/dynamic-landing-pages-with-components-and-buttercms/" target="_blank">ButterCMS</a>, an aptly-named brand that's been making solid gains over the years, particularly around the rise in popularity of <a href="https://www.cmscritic.com/top-jamstack-static-site-generators-for-2021/" target="_blank">JAMstack</a> and MACH-related microservices. The platform powers static site generators like <a href="https://www.cmscritic.com/gatsby-unveils-v3-0-cloud-hosting-and-more-at-gatsbyconf-2021/" target="_blank">Gatsby</a>, for example – and makes it incredibly easy to connect their CMS to a fast, secure, high-performing frontend site.
Recently, the company announced some slick new additions to its <a href="https://buttercms.com/features/#fastcontentupdate-localization" target="_blank">content localization capabilities</a> that aim to simplify the workflow, allowing users to translate content to any language right within the Butter UI.
Not to spread it on too thickly (pun intended), but this is exactly the kind of feature that CMS platforms need to serve global initiatives. The new functionality empowers international teams collaborating on projects to access information and quickly translate it for their specific region – all with just a few clicks. It also prevents any duplication of effort, allowing projects to be completed faster and more efficiently.
We've got more details below, but we'll butter you up with a little something extra: a brief Q&amp;A with <a href="https://www.linkedin.com/in/lumetta/" target="_blank">Butter's CEO, Jake Lumetta</a>. Read what the company's founder had to say about their new localization capabilities, composable CMS, <a href="https://www.cmscritic.com/top-jamstack-static-site-generators-for-2021/" target="_blank">JAMstack</a>, and the <a href="https://www.cmscritic.com/top-free-headless-cms-platforms/" target="_blank">headless</a> frontier. So grab your toast and dig in.
<h2>A new tool for clients with international teams and topics</h2>
There's no question that the Covid-19 pandemic has exacerbated the <a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/carolinecastrillon/2021/12/27/this-is-the-future-of-remote-work-in-2021/?sh=6f9e6f441e1d" target="_blank">growth of remote work</a> – and consequently, the rise of remote teams. This has been felt on a local level, but international teams have been working from a distance for quite some time.
According to Butter, companies with growing international interests need products that make working with their remote teams easy and effective. As such, their new localization enhancements are targeted at taking the work out of managing distributed teams, specifically marketers and translators across the globe.
The expanded set of features is a big leap forward in both speed and convenience for ButterCMS customers, giving them the option to import content in English – or any other language – as a base template to work from for any project. Once this base version is created, individual users can then copy that content and translate it for any region using simple features in the navigation menu.
<h2>Butter CMS localization: process and options</h2>
On a more granular level, the process of importing and translating content in ButterCMS is designed to be very intuitive. For example, when modifying content for a specific region, a user can select “Copy From” in the menu, and import existing content from any other locale. There's also a scrollable drop-down menu that includes all the languages that have been configured in a user's account, making it easy to select options on the fly.
After the base content has been imported, the content can be translated manually by local experts, via API by Google, or through another third-party service of your choice. Another point of convenience: regions that have already been translated are highlighted for quick recognition.
<img style="max-width:706px" src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2021/09/image001.jpg" alt="localization settings - languages dropdown" />
There's no limit to the number of languages you can support. That means your team members from any corner of the world can translate content to accommodate local languages and meet cultural-specific content requirements.
From a permissions perspective, another new feature is the ability to <a href="https://buttercms.com/kb/enabling-localization-and-creating-localized-content" target="_blank">control editing privileges</a> for various regions at the user level, allowing teams on the ButterCMS Enterprise plan to ensure that only approved members in a designated region can make changes to their specified content. This feature streamlines the interface for international teams, minimizes confusion, and prevents unauthorized changes.
<img style="max-width:502px" src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2021/09/image003.gif" alt="locale access checkboxes" />
<h2>Additional CMS features and updates</h2>
For Butter, "convenience" has always been a key attribute. Their interface is familiar and intuitive, making it easy to learn and use. Along these lines, they've made several recent updates that improve the content production process – making it more flexible and less time-consuming.
For example, there’s a new <a href="https://buttercms.com/features/#fastcontentupdate-preview-changes" target="_blank">resizable preview panel</a> that lets users preview live content inside the same window where they are currently editing. You can also use the same click-and-drag functionality to control the size of the API explorer window. This prevents the hassle of toggling back and forth between windows while working.
<img style="max-width:600px" src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2021/09/image004.gif" alt="Resizable review panel" />
<a href="https://buttercms.com/features/#flexiblecontentmodeling-components" target="_blank">Reusable components</a> help keep the development process as simple as possible with a unique component picker tool, allowing marketers to build dynamic landing pages using pre-defined, pre-styled components. It’s a powerful feature for building dynamic landing pages without relying on a developer.
Another is Butter’s pre-configured <a href="https://buttercms.com/features/#flexiblecontentmodeling-blog-engine" target="_blank">blog engine</a>, which makes it really easy to add an SEO-friendly blog to an existing website or app. It supports all of the popular frontend frameworks, with drop-in SDKs for any language.
Users can also take advantage of Butter's native <a href="https://buttercms.com/features/#medialibrary" target="_blank">Media Library</a> to host all the files necessary for a blog, app, or website. The Media Library can hold images, videos, audio files, PDFs, and more – and all files are distributed securely via <a href="https://aws.amazon.com/cloudfront/" target="_blank">Amazon CloudFront’s CDN</a>.
<h2>Summary and pricing</h2>
ButterCMS has just upped its game with some great content localization enhancements. Whether you’re managing content for a mobile app, a hybrid web app, a static site, or just a blog, the platform provides an array of tools and features to improve your development and marketing efforts.
When it comes to pricing, there are several <a href="https://buttercms.com/pricing/" target="_blank">plans</a> available that meet the needs of everyone – from freelancers and startups to enterprises and agencies – and can be scaled as your organization grows.
<h2>Q&amp;A with Jake Lumetta, CEO and founder of ButterCMS</h2>
CMS Critic had a chance to connect with Butter's CEO and founder, Jake Lumetta. We asked about their growth opportunities, composable and reusable CMS trends, and what makes their headless CMS stand out in the crowd.
<hr />
CMS Critic (CC): With localization being such a key focus in your recent update, it seems fair to say that ButterCMS is growing globally. What are your core markets? Where are you seeing the most growth internationally?
Jake Lumetta (JL): Butter has customers around the globe and in every vertical you can imagine.  If you need to manage content for a modern, highly performant application, then Butter is a great fit for your team. We've seen amazing growth in e-commerce, marketplaces, SaaS, e-learning, and financial services.
CC: Composable and reusable components are becoming essential to a CMS. Can you tell us more about your component strategy? What aspects are low code/no code? And how customizable is the framework?
JL: We heard early on from our customers that they wanted to build with components in Butter.  We built a field type called Components which enables our users to group related fields together in an intuitive way. A simple example might be an SEO component that contains all SEO meta information you might want to control for a page.  Butter Components work nicely alongside the concept of reusable components for your Front-end.  Design and marketing can work hand in hand to determine and build out beautiful and customizable experiences using Butter Components. We've made using Components really intuitive for non-developer users with another concept called a Component Picker as well. This allows any marketers to build out a custom, unique page or section of a website or mobile app using any components that they need.
CC: Headless is fast becoming the focus of the CMS market. What would you say is Butter’s most unique advantage when considered against the landscape of options – particularly those that are growing rapidly in the JAMstack?
JL: One of Butter's unique advantages is our laser focus on superior customer support and experience. Our customers want to get their hands on the product and quickly get a proof of concept running with their preferred tech, and we allow every person to easily do that. Our Customer Success team aims to promptly support all folks at any stage of using Butter. We provide resources for learning, using, and scaling the use of Butter so that people can answer their own questions quickly. Our product is also simply more intuitive than most on the market – for both developers with our straightforward API and for marketers with our intuitive and clean interface.
<h2>About ButterCMS</h2>
ButterCMS offers a modern content management solution that helps companies across several markets tackle projects and manage content with ease. Their API-driven headless CMS has enjoyed strong success in several verticals, including e-commerce, agencies, SaaS, and marketplaces. Butter offers extensive documentation and a convenient API explorer interface for quick and painless integration with any application or website. If you need additional help, they offer live, personalized support for all clients.

New Content Localization Capabilities from ButterCMS: Q&A with CEO Jake Lumetta

cms-critic-staff

Forums are a common way of communicating and have become the haven for some pretty amazing communities.
In order to keep them active, we need powerful software that can handle the demands. This is where exceptional forum software comes into play.
Today, we're going to announce the winner of the People's Choice CMS Award for Best Free Forum solution.
<img src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2023/08/best_free_forum_solution226x0.png" />
This year, contenders were Vanilla Forums, MyBB and NodeBB.
The winner for this year was <a href="http://vanillaforums.org/">Vanilla Forums</a>!
<a href="http://vanillaforums.org/"><img src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2023/08/logo-vanilla.png" /></a>
The runner up this year was <a href="http://www.mybb.com/">MyBB</a> coming in a close second.
Congratulations to everyone at Vanilla on their win! Go check them out at <a href="http://vanillaforums.org/">http://vanillaforums.org/</a>

The Winner of the 2014 People's Choice CMS Award for Best Free Forum Solution

It's no surprise that website builders are so popular. Millions upon millions of people choose them every day to build amazing portfolio websites, online stores, company websites, and personal blogs and with the number of people using them, the developers have had to work hard to add functionality to keep up with demand.
This year, we had a number of excellent products in the mix for Best Website Builder and it's no surprise that the ones that ended up being nominated are the People's Choice.
As a reminder, here's the list of nominees for this year's award:
<ol>
<li><a href="/products/adobe-business-catalyst/"> Adobe Business Catalyst </a></li>
<li><a href="/products/jimdo/"> Jimdo </a></li>
<li><a href="/products/squarespace/"> Squarespace </a></li>
<li><a href="/products/ucoz/"> UCoz </a></li>
<li><a href="/products/webydo/"> Webydo </a></li>
</ol>
And the winner of this year's People's Choice Award for Best Website Builder goes to…
 <img style="max-width:150px" src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2023/08/best-website-builder150x0.png" alt="best website builder" /> 
Adobe Business Catalyst! 
Adobe Business Catalyst is really much more than just a website builder, it's a powerful hosted CMS with integrated everything. With a host of powerful tools from one of the biggest names in the industry, Adobe, Business Catalyst is the ultimate solution for all sizes of business and personal sites. It's so powerful, you can use it to run a midsize business from it without any problem at all.
<a href="/products/adobe-business-catalyst/"> Learn more about Adobe Business Catalyst </a> or visit them <a href="http://businesscatalyst.com"> on the web </a>
Congratulations to the Business Catalyst team on their win! Stay tuned to find out who walks away with the Critics Choice Award (selected by our panel of judges) coming soon.

2013 People's Choice Winner for Best Website Builder

Call Tracking + AI 

Call Tracking + AI that Turns Calls into Leads

#ffffff

Are you a DNN fan? Perhaps you are looking for tutorials to help you with your DNN installation? If so, check out <a href="http://www.dnnhero.com">DNN Hero</a>. 
DNN hero is a Video Tutorial site about the CMS called DNN (previously known as DotNetNuke). You get access to a host of awesome tutorials for a monthly subscription fee.
<img src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2023/08/cape.jpg" />
DNN Hero offers tons of tutorials such as:
<ul>
<li>How to install DNN</li>
<li>How to manage DNN modules</li>
<li>How to manage pages</li>
<li>How to work with skins</li>
<li>and much more.</li>
</ul>
To get started, visit <a href="http://www.dnnhero.com/">http://www.dnnhero.com/</a>

DNN Tutorials by DNN Hero

Today, we had the pleasure of having a conversation / interview with <a href="http://jxtended.com" target="_blank">Louis Landry</a> of the <a href="http://joomla.org" target="_blank">Joomla!</a> project. During our discussion Louis takes us on a journey through his time with the Joomla! project and his thoughts on the project and it's future. It is one of our favourite and most fascinating interviews to date.
Thank you to Louis for taking the time, enjoy the read everyone.
CC: What is your background with the Joomla! project? Can you tell us a little about your time on the project and what got you involved in the first place?
LL: I started using Mambo back in 2001, I believe. It was the 4.0.14 release and I had need for building a site for a friend… and was simply tired of doing everything in Dreamweaver. I existed around the edges of the Mambo project, harassing some of the developers with feature requests and a patch here and there right through the split to Joomla.
This coincided with Hurricane Katrina … which had a heavy blow on my life and direction.
During the split I was in close contact with a couple of the core team members and in the short period after Katrina I started working more closely with the developers and found myself spending a great deal of time working with Joomla.
I was asked onto the core team in late 2005 and joined in early 2006 and started off as a developer. I was an architect of the Joomla Framework that Joomla 1.5 was built on and was elected a Project Manager in 2007. I held the role for a little over a year, at which point i stepped down for someone else to take it on.
I have been the communications team lead and have since relinquished that role as well. Now i serve as a development coordinator and am focusing on future endeavors.
CC: Without getting too personal,  how did Hurricane Katrina come into the fray direction wise?
<img title="louis-avatar" src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2023/08/louis-avatar.jpg" alt="louis-avatar" />LL: Well i was born and raised just outside of New Orleans and was in the final stages of signing on to work for NASA as a computer security engineer at <a href="http://www.nasa.gov/centers/stennis/home/index.html" target="_blank">Stennis Space Center.</a>
I was supposed to go in for the last meeting before paper signing the Monday after Katrina hit. It was an interesting time.
I lost everything i owned as well as the job i might have had as Katrina wiped the buildings i would have worked in off the map ?
What it did for me was give me time and what i did with that was to find something positive to focus on, that was Joomla!
CC: So in a way, Joomla was somewhat of an outlet initially then for you?
LL: Ultimately i think it was just one of those situations where, to borrow a cliche, God closed a door and opened a window.
Joomla is something i was loosely involved with before  but it was something i could grasp on to. It helped me keep my mind sharp and there was obviously no programming jobs or work to do.
I graduated the year earlier with a computer science / history degree and i wanted to stay sharp. it was an outlet the people were great, the coding was fun and the purpose was positive.
CC: How do you feel about it's progression since you came aboard? Do you have any regrets or wish you had not left some of your previous roles?
LL: Thats a good one ? I think for me, I don't particularly have a lot of regrets… and I have tried to give as much as I can along the way. Project Manager was a tough role when i held it. I was dealing with project issues 14-16 hours a day most days… which seriously cut into my ability to make a living. I was glad to do it and I think I achieved most of the things I set out to achieve along the way.
I feel the progression is good, its in the right direction, but as with anything as big as Joomla… change happens slowly. We are still a very young project and it's easy to forget that because of the scale of things. We are going through growing pains, and finding our best processes as we go.
None of us have really done this stuff before, and I think given the amount of time people have to give… and the overall direction of things I believe we have done a good job. I would say, we are on the right path… with the right direction.
There are lots of changes happening in the project and not all of them are readily apparent I would say, and some of them require mindset changes so they will take a while to really sink in. Culture change is the hardest to come by ?
CC: You speak of changes coming to the project, are you referring to directionally or within the people themselves?
LL: I think Joomla is going through an evolution of sorts. What we are seeing right now … from the inside-out is a transformation where we are looking for ways to bring more people in and open up previously closed processes we are working through ways of solving problems in more of an “open” approach.
I'll give you an example.
Traditionally, development has been done by a relatively small group of people. Patches have always been “accepted” but in practice have never really been a part of our process. It's always been about a group of around 15-20 people with commit access just hammering away at the core code base and of those people there are generally about 5 that are highly active and driving the direction. We've had closed mailing lists and while the source was open, the process wasn't.
We've been actively trying to change that culturally and it takes a while. We have opened up 3 new development mailing lists and have published processes for getting feature patches accepted into the core and are looking to change the model altogether.
We are currently working on another initiative that will hopefully help to open up development even further by providing a sort of “playground” for joomla developers to play with technology in a common sandbox. This process is something that is happening all over the project, and will take time to implement and grow but i do think its in the right direction.
Oh and as for people… there is always an ebb and flow
CC: It sounds like somewhat of a maturing of the organization as a whole, which takes time like any good project. What can be said for sure is that it's remarkable how much of an impact Joomla! has had on the open source market. Exposure wise, I doubt anyone could have expected where it would be today in comparison to some of the other players.
LL: I think i would agree with that characterization and the shock in that impact is certainly not lost on the project leadership. I am personally looking beyond CMS because I think the traditional CMS is probably not going to be the focus of the web in the near future.
CC: As you are aware, there was a lot of opinionated commentary on my recent article entitled “What everyone ought to know about Joomla!” What points did you most strongly disagree with and why?
LL: In reference to #1, Poor out of the box SEO: I think that evidence will show that the SEO out of the box is actually not poor, but then again I think SEO is such a generalized term that you could say it is poor of any system depending on how you frame the topic. I would say that our standard markup is less than ideal and certainly not semantic there is a good reason for that.
The URLs you mention, very nice URLS can be achieved “out of the box” in Joomla 1.5 (1.0 was a mess), but I would certainly agree that improvements can be made. One of the biggest issues we have with that is that we do not have a unified content model with Joomla. All components are black boxes with respect to each other and with respect to the Joomla application, because of this it is difficult to solve the problem “correctly” in a complete way.
Its something we are certainly aware of and are working towards but I would say that there are lots of Joomla sites all over the web that are very well search engine optimized out of the box without needing hacks.
Again though, I would certainly acknowledge that improvements need to be made
#2 with respect to the vulnerability causing plugins, I would say that this is the danger of any open platform accepting third party plugins. I will say this though, we do need to do a better job of educating people about best practices and security. I think one of the odd positives that I see in this is that amateurs feel comfortable developing on our platform.  Granted, they should learn best practices.
We do unpublish all extensions as soon as a vulnerability is reported. We need better systems and we know that, but there is only so much you can do with a distributed model like that
#3. We do not have a figure head, we have a body of leaders. I don't think we would be comfortable as an organization with a figure head. I actually think culturally this may have arisen out of the mambo/miro fiasco.  If you have a group of open source developers and they have an overlord, even if its percieved, and they are decieved by that overlord they will be really weary of having anyone take on that role again.
I liken it a little to the US government i guess. When the colonies revolted, they didn't have a king, so many of the leaders didn't want one. Largely I think because of the bad experiences they had under one.
Whether thats true or not I don't know, but we do seem to generally work pretty well as a team and we build consensus around things. We do need to do a better job of having contact/press details. We used to have a page for that i think on joomla.org and in the redesign last year, it got lost.
I don't believe we need to have a figurehead
Who is behind joomla? The community, not a person. A collective.
We get flack for not living up to that all the time but its what we strive for.
CC: It is indeed an interesting arguement. I think one of the things that people seemed to come under the impression that I was implying is that there needs to be a central figure for Joomla! as a whole. More so, I was attempting to point out that without someone at who people can point and say “that's the man to talk to”.. for someone new to the organization or project, it can be a little confusing and discouraging trying to find the right people. I agree that Joomla! needs to be a community and as a community that is how it has gotten to where it is today..
LL: I do think we don't do a fabulous job of directing traffic like that its sort of luck of the drawbut at the same time most of us don't do Joomla full time. I mean… the president of our non-profit is a university professor in sociology and she gives more time than she should ?
One of the most passionate contributors I've ever had the pleasure of working with. Most of us should make ourselves more available. I think on some level we see it right now as not a big priority. I guess i should speak for myself but right now my principle concern is sorting out any organizational issues we have to facilitate the growth of the project and the evolution of culture. Outreach isn't something most of us have been involved in lately and as you rightfully point out to our detriment.
At the very least we should have a more available contact us form or something ?
LL: #4 Ease of use. This is such a difficult topic. I've heard so many people scream to the rooftops how much easier Joomla is than Drupal.
I think you hit on one of my biggest gripes in usability for #4 . Just adding a page takes too many steps. Its on our minds for sure but as far as what is easy or not i think thats more attuned to what flavor ice cream you like.
There are people who think Joomla is dead simple. People who think Drupal is and EVERYONE thinks wordpress is ?
Ultimately its all about the mental model you have and how that maps to the software. If joomla was exceptionally hard to use we wouldn't have the download numbers and the installed userbase.
As they say, people talk with their feet but… again, you hit the nail on the head in a couple of areas where we could really use some improvement.
What is not spelled out well is that the “menu manager” is really closer to a “page manager” than it is a menu manager. It's just somewhere in the middle, in limbo.
CC: Rewind 1 year. What would you change about a) Your current situation within the project b) The project itself?
LL: One year ago we were a month or so past the 1.5 release. If i were to do it all over again, I would probably have tried to rally the troops more. 1.5 was an epic release, it was 2+ years in the making and most everyone was just exhausted and took a long (and deserved break).
I think we lost a lot of momentum there and i think from a development perspective we didn't pick up quickly enough and get back into the saddle. Maintenance processes have been great, our Joomla Bug Squad is spectacular but as far as innovation and building to the next releases it all sort of stagnated and it didn't have to.
I guess if i had it to do over again i'd have likely gotten more dirty with development and helped encourage new things for the next release and tried to rally people around that.
CC: What areas of the project do you feel need the most focus at the moment? I ask on the chance that someone reading may wish to contribute in some way.
LL: Well, I am single minded at the moment… and that is development. I think we need to focus on building the platform such that it can stay relevant and innovative in the years to come, and for that we need developers.
CC: What is the biggest change forthcoming in 1.6?
LL: By and far the biggest change in 1.6 is the much anticipated access control system.
CC: Can you elaborate on the access control system for us?
LL: Certainly.
The system is inspired in design by phpGACL and has an inherited model. With 1.6 we have not exposed the entirety of the system because we don't believe it to all be necessary but all the power is underneath, and we believe that third party developers may come in and provide interfaces to it to do more complex things.
It adds configurable user groups that inherit permissions, assets, rules and asset groups. What we have done is provide an easy way for third party developers to attach the ACL system to their existing systems and built it to scale such that many things other than just the Joomla CMS can use it.
CC: Can you provide me an example of how you envision this being used?
LL: The way your average user will use it is that they will create “access levels” in the member manager. An access level will have a name and some number of user groups. When managing content or menu items they will apply that access level and only people in those user groups will be able to view those items.
Its much akin to how Joomla currently has the hard coded access levels of “public, registered, and special.” There will also be a provision for site administrators to choose which user groups can edit and/or manage different areas of the site.
CC: Will it offer tie ins to more traditional systems such as AD (active directory)?
LL: Great question! One of the things we are doing with this system is allowing you to sync up user groups via plugins in the same way you can sync up users in 1.5 via plugins. This is being built specifically so taht you could manage your users/usergroups in AD or LDAP and then that will be mirrored in Joomla.
Thats the extent of it as i know it, but with plugins, anything is possible
CC: Do you see yourself taking on any other roles in the future?
LL: I don't think so. I am pretty well happy in where I am and what I want to do. I suspect I may emerge as more of a platform advocate in the future but that will likely be still within my role as development coordinator.
Traditionally i have gone where the pain is. ?
CC: Does Joomla have any financial backing?
LL: Nothing formal. We have google adsense on our sites, some of them. We get some donations from individuals and we have a great hosting partner that donates so much time and infrastructure.
CC: If someone wanted to donate, how would they?
LL: Well the most important donation we can ask for is time

A Conversation with Louis Landry of the Joomla! CMS Project

With the myriad of commercial forum solutions on the market, it can be challenging to figure out which one might be the best and our goal is to make that decision easier.
Businesses everywhere rely on powerful community solutions that offer flexibility, affordability and customization capabilities in order to provide powerful solutions for their customers and audience.
This is where forum solutions come into play. Today, we're announcing the 2014 People's Choice CMS Award for Best Commercial Forum Solution.
<img src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2023/08/best_commercial_forum_solution220x0.png" />
Contenders this year were Vanilla Forums, NinjaPost and IP.Board.
The winner this year was none other than <a href="http://vanillaforums.com">Vanilla Forums</a>.
<img src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2023/08/logo-vanilla.png" />
Looks like Vanilla has cleaned up this year with both free and commercial forum wins!
Congrats to the team at Vanilla. Check them out here: <a href="http://vanillaforums.com">http://vanillaforums.com</a>

The Winner of the 2014 People's Choice CMS Award for Best Commercial Forum Solution

This week, via the Liferay Symposium event being held in San Francisco, Liferay Portal 6.2 was officially announced.
Liferay, Inc, provider of the world's leading <a href="http://www.liferay.com">enterprise-class open source portal</a>, which is trusted by numerous Fortune 500 companies, have now enhanced their flagship product with a number of direct changes and additions, making it easier for enterprises to engage with their audience.
Attendees of the North America Liferay Symposium event are getting their hands on Liferay Portal 6.2 for the first time, with live demos on the floor and sessions tailored to highlighting key uses of new features. Let's explore exactly what those attendees will be experiencing.
<h2>More Modern, Intuitive &amp; Flexible</h2>
Liferay Portal 6.2, which is now available as part of the Liferay Enterprise Subscription, has introduced a higher emphasis on flexibility, by offering modernized support for both mobile and web apps.
All websites and content created with Liferay Portal 6.2 will now automatically display correctly on mobile devices in a responsive fashion. Administrators can make use of  mobile device previews right from the interface, enabling them to quickly see how pages look on smaller screens. Different rules can also be defined to handle specific devices and families in various ways.
To compliment these mobile enhancements, a new mobile Software Developer Kit (SDK), currently in the works for 6.2, will help developers build custom native apps that incorporate Liferay Portal functionality, including collaboration applications and integrated back end systems.
Accompanying these announcements, the Liferay CEO, <a href="http://www.liferay.com/about-us/leadership/bcheung" target="_blank">Bryan Cheung</a>, had this to say:
<blockquote>“Today’s enterprises need to interact with their customers, partners, and employees through compelling, seamless experiences across several channels. Liferay Portal 6.2 is a modern, intuitive platform designed to help enterprises understand and reach their customers across mobile, web, and live contexts.”</blockquote>
<h2>Better Mobile Engagement, Smoother Interfaces &amp; More</h2>
With increased mobile readiness with responsive layouts, one-click mobile previews, mobile device rules and a Mobile App SDK, Liferay have certainly added a new dimension to their Portal's mobile engagement. But there's more.
On top of these flexible mobile enhancements, Liferay Portal 6.2 users will also get to enjoy an entirely new, smoother interface with Twitter Bootstrap theming. Users also have access to the Bootstrap theme library, plus a new Control Panel theme with streamlined site administration features.
<img src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2023/08/liferay_-_liferay_portal_6_2_app_manager700x0.png" alt="Liferay Portal 6.2" /> 
Additionally, the update brings about an improved web management experience, thanks to Site Hierarchies for managing both content and users across multiple sites, along with Application Display Templates, which allow developers to quickly customize the look and feel of their applications.
Multi-Language support has also been enhanced for content, URLs and applications.
<img src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2023/08/lifeary_-_liferay_portal_6_2_control_panel700x0.png" alt="Liferay Portal 6.2" />
Finally, Liferay Portal 6.2 also brings increased platform stability through portlet sandboxing, and greater modularity in Liferay Portal architecture with ability to manage multiple versions of libraries. This improved modularity also makes it easier to share libraries across multiple plugins, upgrade and rollback portlets from version to version.
To find out more about what Liferay Portal can offer you, check our <a href="http://www.liferay.com/products/liferay-portal/overview" target="_blank"> Liferay's official breakdown of their popular product</a>. If you want more information on Liferay's current North America event, including agendas and speakers, you can find everything you need to know right here.
Additionally, you can learn more about <a href="/products/liferay/" target="_blank"> Liferay via our CMS Directory</a>.

Liferay Portal 6.2 Announced at Liferay's North America Event

Adobe is introducing new features to its Adobe Experience Cloud, including headless content management system (CMS) capabilities in their industry-leading <a href="https://www.adobe.com/marketing/experience-manager.html">Adobe Experience Manager</a> (AEM) and updates to their Commerce Integration Framework (CIF).
The features were announced at the <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sOVtXt-xx4c&amp;ab_channel=AdobeDevelopers">Adobe Developers Live</a> Conference, giving their community a first glimpse of how these dynamic enhancements will streamline the development of headless content delivery via GraphQL APIs, as well as enable users to create shoppable, app-like experiences that combine content and commerce.
The announcements were made just as the <a href="https://www.cmscritic.com/key-takeaways-from-gartners-2021-magic-quadrant-for-digital-experience-platforms/">Gartner 2021 Magic Quadrant for DXPs</a> and the <a href="https://go.forrester.com/blogs/agile-cms-moves-the-market-beyond-headless-forresters-just-released-wave-evaluation/">2021 Forrester Wave for Agile CMSes</a> were being released. Both reports position Adobe as the top vendor, and the addition of these new features reinforces their leadership role in a rapidly-evolving market landscape.
<h3>What is Adobe Experience Cloud?</h3>
<img src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2021/03/adobe-journey-diagram.png" alt="Adobe Journey Diagram" />
<figure class="kg-card kg-image-card kg-card-hascaption"></figure>
Adobe Experience Cloud is a comprehensive collection of integrated cloud applications and services that give enterprises the best-of-breed tools for marketing, analytics, advertising, and commerce. Adobe Experience Cloud also integrates with <a href="https://www.adobe.com/creativecloud.html">Adobe Creative Cloud</a>, which features an industry-standard suite of digital publishing and experience design tools – including <a href="https://www.adobe.com/products/photoshop.html">Photoshop</a>.
Heading up the Leader quadrant of this year's Gartner MQ, Adobe reigns over the DXP landscape. Over the course of 2020, the Covid-19 pandemic elevated competition across the enterprise marketplace, forcing the CMS and DXP industries to accelerate their own transformation goals.
Adobe has remained in a solid leadership position because of its ubiquitous brand presence and continued commitment to innovation. The most recent enhancements to Adobe Experience Cloud reflect current market trends and elevated demand for headless and API-driven strategies – as well as a heightened need for integrating with customer data.
So, what’s new with Adobe Experience Cloud?
<h3>New Headless CMS Capabilities</h3>
Headless platforms have seen a dramatic rise in the CMS and DXP enterprise market over the last few years. This includes <a href="https://www.cmscritic.com/contentstack-and-gatsby-announce-partnership-to-power-ultra-fast-websites-with-headless-cms/">Contentstack</a> – which was positioned as a <a href="https://www.contentstack.com/company/press/forrester-named-contentstack-strong-performer-agile-cms/?utm_source=facebook&amp;utm_medium=organic_social">Strong Performer</a> on the 2021 Forrester Wave Report for Agile CMSes.
To enable developers to distribute content across multiple touchpoints, Adobe is now introducing <a href="https://graphql.org/">GraphQL APIs</a> for headless content delivery. GraphQL is a data query language developed by Facebook and open-sourced in 2015 and is trusted by many big tech brands – including Pinterest, GitHub, Netflix, Shopify, Twitter, and more.
Facebook initially developed GraphQL because they needed a more powerful data-fetching API for their mobile applications. REST API has its limitations because whenever data requirements change, more endpoints are needed. GraphQL is typically served over HTTP via a single endpoint, which expresses the full set of capabilities of the service without the need for additional endpoints.
GraphQL also makes personalization much easier. For instance, using a REST API to retrieve a customer’s information (like recently viewed products and purchases), you need to send a fetch request for three endpoints: USER, USER_PURCHASE, and RECENTLY_VIEWED. This makes data fetching slow and cumbersome. With GraphQL, all you need to do is fetch the user object to gather all the data.
By leveraging GraphQL, Adobe is giving developers the power to deliver content to any touchpoint and access data across the Adobe ecosystem. For example, a mobile app developer can query marketing content from Adobe Experience Manager and have personalized results sent to the app, which renders in its UI. From there, a marketer can use Adobe Experience Manager’s authoring capabilities to add or edit marketing content across multiple devices and touchpoints – saving time and resources.
Siloing has been a significant problem in experience platforms. In the customer data (CDP) layer of the stack, Segment has been working to unify customer data from fragmented corners of the ecosystem. That’s why Twilio dropped a whopping $3.2 billion to <a href="https://www.cmscritic.com/twilio-acquires-segment-for-3-2b-adds-market-leading-cdp-for-building-data-driven-apps/">acquire Segment</a> to build data-driven apps.
Likewise, Adobe has also recognized the deep gaps around siloed data. They are working to enhance their platform capabilities for creating personalized app-like experiences and leverage customer data from end to end.
<h3>Easy Integrations with Commerce Integration Framework</h3>
In addition to the headless capabilities, Adobe Experience Manager can now integrate and extend commerce services from <a href="https://magento.com/">Magento</a> and other commerce solutions through Adobe’s Commerce Integration Framework (CIF). CIF is built on rich APIs that can be easily extended, enabling a seamless storefront authoring experience in Adobe Experience Manager with faster-time-to-market at a lower cost.
Headless is quickly becoming a necessity for commerce platforms because it enables marketers and merchants to deliver world-class commerce experiences without the engineering burden. Nearly all the vendors who earned a place on the Gartner 2021 Magic Quadrant for DXPs offer headless capabilities; in fact, Adobe’s largest competitors – <a href="https://www.cmscritic.com/acquia-digital-commerce-unifies-data-content-commerce-and-digital-merchandising/">Acquia</a> and <a href="https://www.cmscritic.com/sitecore-updates-experience-platform-and-experience-commerce-releases-new-sitecore-content-hub/">Sitecore</a> – have been successfully advancing in the DXP Leaders quadrant by offering a headless play.
<h3>Headless in a hybrid world</h3>
While Adobe’s addition of headless isn’t a shocker, it represents the challenges that CMS and DXP platforms face. Content operators have multiple channels to contend with, and each consumes content in a different way. While one may access HTML, another requires JSON, and so on. These channels are also independent of one another, creating the aforementioned silo effect around content and data.
Adobe has always lead the way in CX and personalization, and headless is essential to every part of their experience ecosystem – specifically commerce. There are significant challenges with maintaining brand, message, and price consistency, as well as the cost of duplicating content from channel to channel. Now, Adobe provides more of a complete solution for managing the chaos.
One of the biggest issues that pure headless platforms face is the ability for content owners and marketers to visualize their channels. Adobe has clearly stated that developers are struggling to deliver cohesive content across every touchpoint (modern web, smartwatches, native apps, etc.) – and the limitations of headless are a big part of the pain.
By offering a hybrid platform, Adobe addresses some of the "multiverse" that exists by bringing websites and applications together with headless capabilities. That said, even Adobe doesn't have a solution for presenting digital signs, IoT devices, or other form factors within their CMS. At least not yet.
The real challenge for Adobe? Staying in the leadership position.

Adobe Experience Cloud Adds Headless CMS Capabilities, Updates to Commerce Integration Framework

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BrowserStack Review: Make Your Website and App Testing Simple and Scalable

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