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

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Salesforce CMS Review: Evolving a CRM Powerhouse into a DXP Challenger

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If you asked today’s web designers which wireframing or prototyping tool is best, you’re likely to get a few different answers. Well, maybe more than a few.As you might have guessed, there are plenty of choices out there: free tools, SaaS apps, and even some that aren’t purpose-built for the job (think <a target="_blank" href="https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/microsoft-365/powerpoint">PowerPoint</a>). With so many options to choose from, it may prove challenging to find a single tool that meets your needs.While most platforms offer similar features, few bring the entire design process into a unified experience. That’s where UXPin is changing the game. In this review, we’ll explore the benefits of their all-in-one wireframing and prototyping tool, which offers some slick, integrated capabilities – and is designed to work across every device.<h3>Wireframing and prototyping: what’s the difference?</h3>Building a website or mobile app without wireframes is like building a house without blueprints. Wireframes save significant time in the design process and help bring ideas and concepts into laser focus.But what exactly is a wireframe? Quite simply, it’s a low-fidelity “skeleton” of a website. Wireframes show the general layout of web pages, the elements on those pages, and the size and placement of those elements. Since it is meant to convey a website’s architecture, it is intentionally devoid of any colors or graphics.Wireframes are lightweight and fast to produce, allowing for ample design thinking, lean UX development, and iterative feedback. A lot of designers still start their wireframing on paper, sketching out digital components and entities in the most analog way.Prototypes, on the other hand, are medium-to-high fidelity views of a website or application. They offer more detail, showcasing visual elements such as colors, graphics, and font types. In essence, a prototype is a preview of what a working website or mobile application will look like to a user.<h3>A brief history of wireframes and prototypes</h3>Wireframes and prototypes have certainly been around the block. Wireframing has its roots in magazine mockups for galleys and layouts, while prototyping evolved from software product development with visual UI requirements – and a need for rapid testing and feedback.While wireframes are elemental in nature – using simple shapes and objects to detail the flow and structure – designers have often relied on different tools when moving into prototyping. The first ones emerged in the 1980s with <a target="_blank" href="https://www.adobe.com/products/illustrator.html">Adobe Illustrator</a>, <a target="_blank" href="https://www.adobe.com/products/photoshop.html">Photoshop</a>, and <a target="_blank" href="https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/microsoft-365/visio/flowchart-software/">Microsoft Visio</a>.But it wasn’t until IBM introduced RAD (Rapid Application Development) in the 90s that the concept of minimum viable prototypes (MVPs) took off – and so did the focus on design experience. By the early 2000s, <a target="_blank" href="https://www.omnigroup.com/omnigraffle/">Omnigraffle</a>, <a target="_blank" href="https://www.gliffy.com/">Gliffy</a>, and <a target="_blank" href="https://balsamiq.com/">Balsamiq</a> were changing the way designers think about wireframing and prototyping by giving them more options to choose from. By 2010, UXPin and other solutions were hitting the market. The rest, as they say, is history.<h3>What is UXPin?</h3>UXPin is a comprehensive cloud-based design prototyping tool that works on any operating system. It brings developers and designers together even if they use Mac and Windows – because UXPin is fully powered by the cloud.With UXPin, you can move seamlessly through every phase of your project – from low-fidelity wireframes to high-fidelity prototypes – with access to rich features like interactive elements and animations. In addition, UXPin allows you to add conditional interactions, variables, and expressions to get your prototypes closer to real, coded apps.One of the best things about UXPin is that it's designed with both individual designers and teams in mind. It's flexible enough for a freelancer working on their own – or a squad collaborating to develop new products or experiences. UXPin offers some dynamite capabilities for enterprise customers to manage their teams and libraries with advanced permissions, making it an awesome platform for an ecosystem of users.<h3>Features</h3>Components<img src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2023/08/uxpin-components.jpg" />Components save you plenty of time by minimizing repetitive and tedious work – allowing you to reuse existing parts across your designs. A button, a footer, an icon, or even a cell in a table can be a Component. UXPin comes with a handy library of pre-made components, but it also allows you to create your own components. You can also share them across your projects through UXPin’s Design System Libraries.Built-in Design Libraries<img src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2023/08/uxpin-expressions.jpg" />Apart from your own libraries, UXPin offers built-in iOS, Material Design, Bootstrap, Foundation, and User Flows libraries – each with interactive elements, colors, text styles, and icons.Design system libraries are the place for shared design patterns (such as colors, text styles, assets, and Components) that allow teams to build high quality, consistent prototypes. This empowers users to save time while keeping projects steadily on-brand. With DS libraries, you can also create a fully-documented Design System.Data For a lot of designers, Lorem Ipsum is still a go-to placeholder for text. Still, for some projects, Latin copy isn't preferable – even at the mockup stage.Another great feature of UXPin is that enables users to add real content to their wireframes and prototypes using the <a target="_blank" href="https://www.uxpin.com/studio/blog/replace-lorem-ipsum-with-real-data/">Data</a> feature. Upload JSON, CSV or URLs and demo a prototype that's even closer to the finished product. If you're early in the process and want to use filler for placement, UXPin also has a database of placeholder components, from mock names to dummy credit card numbers.One other notable feature is stock photography. Most platforms don't provide direct access to image libraries, which can be essential to developing a finished prototype. UXPin lets you upload photos directly from their partner, <a target="_blank" href="https://unsplash.com/">Unsplash</a>. This integration may seem like a small thing, but it can accelerate the entire design process from idea to execution by enabling users to work fluidly in a single, unified platform.<img src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2023/08/uxoin-unsplash-integration.gif" />Make Your Designs Interactive Once you build the static version of your prototype, you can use states to add interactive elements such as text fields, checkboxes, and radio buttons.In UXPin, each element can have several states with a different set of properties and interactions. For example, you’ll be able to create a single button that has a default, hover, active and disabled state – and then switch between these states once a specific action is triggered. States also let you build complex components like drop-down menus or navigations.For each state, you can determine an alternative set of properties. In the case of a button, it could be a different fill and content. The important fact is that you’ll still have the same elements, just with various styling options.<img src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2023/08/uxpin-element-states.gif" />Import from Sketch One cool feature of UXPin is its ability to import from <a target="_blank" href="https://www.sketch.com/">Sketch</a>, which is an incredibly popular design tool. It seems like the UXPin team really understands the value that other applications play in the design ecosystem, and they’ve made it easier to build meaningful connections.Importing designs from Sketch to UXPin is just a simple drag-and-drop. UXPin keeps all of your layers intact, so you can pick up exactly where you left off and turn them into fully interactive online prototypes.Easy Collaboration UXPin is a cloud-based tool that works on any operating system – so you and your teammates can collaborate in real-time. As we've already mentioned, it effectively "unites" designers and developers, even if they use Mac and Windows systems. You can even take your collaboration to the next level with in-app commenting, allowing you to tag your teammates in comments and keep them in the loop when you're working on the same prototype.You can also make the most of your collaborative design process and invite your team, stakeholders, and reviewers to work with you. It's incredibly simple to set their permissions via User Management and control what they can see and do.Preview Designs on Mobile With the UXPin Mirror app, you can effortlessly preview your prototypes on mobile devices to see how they look and behave. As you make changes in the editor, the prototype on your mobile device will update on the fly.Another nifty feature: you can download the UXPin app from <a target="_blank" href="https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.uxpin.mirror">Google Play</a> or <a target="_blank" href="https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/uxpin-mirror/id1446596008?ls=1&amp;mt=8">App Store</a> and see exactly how your designs look on mobile devices.<img src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2023/08/uxpin-preview.png" /><h3>Pricing</h3><img src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2023/08/uxpin-pricing-annual.jpg" />UXPin offers two types of pricing: monthly and annual. There are four tiers:Basic Plan Get everything you’ll need for wireframing and prototyping, including animations, interactions, and states. Basic also offers:<ul><li>Version history for saving iterations of your designs and retrieving them at will.</li><li>Export function for moving your designs to PDF, PNG, and HTML.</li><li>Stakeholder approval for sharing your prototypes with your team or customers, gathering feedback, and obtaining the all-important "OK" to proceed.</li></ul><img src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2023/08/uxpin-custom-workflows.png" /><ul><li>Comments and assignments for keeping your team and stakeholders connected around feedback and assigning specific tasks.</li><li>Password-protected views for securing your prototypes with a password.</li></ul>The Basic Plan is $24 per month but offers a discounted rate of $13 per month with an annual plan.Advanced Everything from the Basic plan, plus:<ul><li>Contextual documentation to set up guidelines or leave notes – and pin them to specific elements on your prototype.</li><li>Conditional logic for setting rules around custom interactions.</li><li>Expressions, which use Javascript to create computational components like shopping carts or validate user inputs such as emails.</li><li>Variables that dynamically update text elements, capture data from inputs, or store user preferences for later use on your prototype.</li></ul>The Advanced Plan is $39 per month. But like the Basic Plan, it offers a discounted rate of $29 per month with an annual plan.Professional Everything from the Advanced Plan, plus:<ul><li>Design systems: package your design, code, and other elements to create reusable Components and style guides.</li><li>Roles &amp; permissions: define what team members can do and what projects they have access to. Each team member has one role – “creator”, “manager”, “owner”, or “collaborator” – and you can control the state and privileges.</li><li>Priority support: get help when you need it via email, phone, or Zoom.</li><li>Advanced security: trust that anything you design is securely encrypted and fully backed-up by UXPin.</li></ul>The Professional Plan is $89 per month with a discount to $69 per month with an annual plan.Enterprise UXPin’s Enterprise plan is perfect for large organizations with dedicated design teams and product development squads. Used by Fortune 500 companies, Enterprise provides unlimited users, unlimited design systems, and advanced security – all of which allows you to facilitate the design process at scale.The Enterprise Plan has custom pricing based on the size and needs of your organization.<h3>Conclusion</h3>UXPin really earns the “UX” part of its name by focusing on the user experience. It’s the perfect blend of features for both wireframing and prototyping, and it brings team collaboration to the next level by working across platforms and operating systems. It definitely feels like an enterprise-grade product, but it’s also a solid tool for freelancers with its affordable Basic Plan.If you’re curious how UXPin stacks up against their competition, check out their “tale of the tape” comparison on their website. They proudly display how they rate against other similar platforms such as Figma, Invision, Framer, Adobe XD, Sketch, Axure, Balsamiq, Zeplin, Marvel App, and Proto.io. They even provide a <a target="_blank" href="https://get.uxpin.com/uxpin-vs-sketch/">checklist of differences</a>.One of the biggest advantages of UXPin is that it’s cloud-based. This allows users to design, prototype, and test ideas together – whenever, wherever. This is a big advantage over Sketch (for example), which only works on macOS. Someone using a Windows system can’t use Sketch, nor do they have access to files sent by other team members using it. Still, with Sketch being such a popular design tool, UXPin lets you import Sketch files and templates directly into their app – so you can get the best of both worlds.There is one con with UXPin: as a SaaS product, you’re on the hook to pay in perpetuity. With tools like Sketch, you only pay for the product once and renew when you’d like to upgrade. Your files belong to you – and aren’t locked into a third-party system. But what if you want to cancel your UXPin subscription? Well, if you want to maintain your libraries and components, you’ll need to “park your account” and keep an active profile. That costs $5 per month and only lets you preview your projects or export them. You can reactivate at any time, but it might be worth considering when you decide to sign up.If you’d like to see some examples of projects done with UXPin, they have a prototype showcase: <a target="_blank" href="https://showcase.uxpin.com/">https://showcase.uxpin.com/</a>You can also <a target="_blank" href="https://www.uxpin.com/sign-up">try UXPin for free</a> for 14 days without a credit card. You’ll be limited to 2 projects, but it’s still a great way to take it for a test drive and experience it yourself as a user.<h3>About UXPin</h3><a target="_blank" href="https://www.uxpin.com/">UXPin</a> is a design platform that for building mockups and wireframes, interactive prototypes, UX document creation, and collaborating with both design and development teams. Features include variables, conditional interactions, expressions, interactive states, and a data generator integrated with Unsplash to get free stock photos directly in UXPin.Unlike in other image-based design tools, anything you create in UXPin is based on html, css and js code. Since it's the same technology developers will work with, their code will match your design perfectly.Why code-based design? Since 2010, UXPin has been on a mission to enable the best user experiences by merging design and engineering into one world of better, faster product development.

UXPin Review: Elevate Design with All-in-one Prototyping and Wireframing

Hackers love websites. Maybe that's overstating the obvious, but in today's hyperconnected digital world, it can't be understated. <a target="_blank" href="https://www.webarxsecurity.com/website-hacking-statistics-2018-february/">According to McAfee</a>, hackers produce 300,000 new pieces of malware daily – and on average, 30,000 new websites are hacked every single day.The fact is, websites are easy targets. Not only are they abundant, but they're frequently built using open source technologies – meaning they're littered with holes that can be easily exploited.Most website owners have no idea how vulnerable they are until they've been hit. And with hackers sinking their teeth into financial data, patient records, IP, and more, a single breach can significantly damage a brand or even sink a business.While <a target="_blank" href="https://www.cmscritic.com/gutenberg-2-years-later-is-wordpress-better-off/">WordPress</a>, Joomla, and <a target="_blank" href="https://www.cmscritic.com/drupal-8-8-0-released/">Drupal</a> continue to own the open-source content management (CMS) market, they also represent the largest collection of security vulnerabilities. In fact, according to the 2020 <a target="_blank" href="https://www.dimensiondata.com/en-gb/insights/global-threat-intelligence-report-2020">Global Threat Intelligence Report</a> from Dimension Data, almost 20% of all website attacks targeted these platforms – with WordPress owning the lion's share.Regardless of what software you're using, web security can feel like a never-ending game of "hide and seek." Hackers find holes in both modern and legacy web applications, and developers scramble to patch them as soon as possible – and the cycle repeats. But the biggest vulnerabilities often exist in layers that website owners take for granted like HTML5, Single Page Applications (SPA), and even password-protected web assets.The sharks are always circling. That's why security has become an essential part of any serious website or web application strategy. Historically, this required an expensive, multi-layered approach, combining both hardware and professional services. But now, you can automate your security processes with Netsparker: a powerful yet easy-to-use solution that's purpose-built for websites and web applications.In this review, we'll take a deeper look at Netsparker and how it can help website admins identify weak spots in their service. We'll tour its crawling and scanning tools and how it's designed to help maintain governance with domains, certificates, compliance, and more – so you can stay one step ahead of the threats.<h3>What is Netsparker?</h3>Netsparker is an automated yet fully configurable Enterprise DAST (Dynamic Application Security Testing) utility that enables you to scan websites, web applications, and web services to identify security flaws. Netsparker can scan all types of web apps – regardless of the platform or language they're built with – making it incredibly extensible.Netsparker operates on what they call "Proof-Based Scanning," which automatically verifies detected vulnerabilities and confirms whether they're false positives by exploiting them in a safe, read-only manner. Here's a video overview of how it works:<figure class="media"><div data-oembed-url="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uF9eGAfBh8A"><div style="position:relative;padding-bottom:100%;height:0;padding-bottom:56.2493%"><iframe src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/uF9eGAfBh8A" style="position:absolute;width:100%;height:100%;top:0;left:0" frameborder="0" allow="autoplay; encrypted-media" allowfullscreen></iframe></div></div></figure>With Netsparker's scanning technology and automatic verification, you don't have to be a seasoned security professional to conduct thorough scans. You always know which results are actionable issues and not false positives, so you can prioritize your response.Netsparker is designed with productivity in mind. For example, you can send notifications and automatically assign vulnerabilities to developers, allowing you to patch web applications in real-time to maintain security. Bypassing expensive SecOps staff also means you save time and money on conducting regular scans, letting the cybersecurity pros focus on more complex issues.<img src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2023/08/eliminate-the-uncertainty-of-false-positives.png" /><h3>Features</h3>There are a lot of security utilities on the market, but few that make vulnerability scanning at the web layer as streamlined as Netsparker. Not only is it easy to navigate and manage, but it gives both an individual user and an enterprise team access to integrated data and insights. We'll talk more about that when we cover Netsparker's product editions, but their central repository is one of the features that sets it apart within the cybersecurity landscape.First, let's cover some of the core capabilities that really stand out.Dashboard Security data can get complex – and fast. But this is where Netsparker really shines. With their visual dashboard, you get a holistic snapshot of your websites, scans, and active vulnerabilities in a single window. Intuitive graphs allow your team to track the severity of threats, assess your overall threat level, and automatically categorize the nature of your vulnerabilities from low to critical.<img src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2023/08/netsparker-featured-image.png" />From the dashboard, you can also manage permissions for your users and groups, as well as assign team members to specific security tasks or establish security policies for your organization.Proof-Based Scanning™ As previously mentioned, Netsparker’s "Proof-Based Scanning" safely exploits any found vulnerabilities and automatically creates a proof-of-exploit or proof-of-concept to validate that it's real – and not a false positive. The process is further streamlined with automated notifications that assign vulnerabilities to developers, and patch web application firewalls in real-time to help maintain security.Vulnerability Scanning Identifying vulnerabilities is the most important mission for any web vulnerability scanner. Netsparker can spot all types of web application vulnerabilities, including multiple variants of the most common weaknesses such as <a target="_blank" href="https://www.netsparker.com/blog/web-security/sql-injection-cheat-sheet/">SQL injection</a> and <a target="_blank" href="https://www.netsparker.com/blog/web-security/cross-site-scripting-xss/">cross-site scripting (XSS)</a>. Most direct-impact vulnerabilities are also automatically confirmed, so you can be confident that these results are not false positives.Vulnerability Details and Reporting<img src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2023/08/blind_sql_injection.png" />Every vulnerability uncovered by Netsparker is accompanied by detailed reporting that helps security teams and developers to not only fix issues but understand them. Vulnerabilities are also automatically tagged with a security severity level, denoting the potential damage they can do – and the urgency required to fix them.While Netsparker offers a number of out-of-the-box reports with different visualization options, you can also render your own custom report templates. Additionally, you can generate compliance reports that cover ISO27001, HIPAA, and other critical regulatory benchmarks – and you can have your PCI DSS reports <a target="_blank" href="https://www.netsparker.com/pci-vulnerability-scan/">validated by third-party entities</a> to ensure governance requirements.Armed with rich, in-depth information and remediation guidance, your experts can eliminate the root causes of vulnerabilities, write more secure code in the future, and meet fierce compliance with dynamic reporting.Built-In Assessment Tools<img src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2023/08/http_request_builder.png" />To help teams optimize scanning and manual testing, Netsparker features a number of advanced web security tools that work with modern and legacy web languages and technologies.<ul><li>HTTP Request Builder: You can use the <a target="_blank" href="https://www.netsparker.com/blog/docs-and-faqs/http-request-builder-penetration-testing-tool/">HTTP Request Builder</a> to create your own HTTP requests and modify imported requests. This is extremely useful for performing manual vulnerability assessments and troubleshooting complex issues like identifying logical vulnerabilities.</li><li>Encoding and Decoding Tools: Text encoding and decoding is a vital feature when manually crafting and modifying test payloads. To save precious time during manual vulnerability assessments, Netsparker includes a text encoder and decoder that supports multiple encoding schemes, including URL, HTML, Base64, UTF7, MD5, SHA1, SHA256, SHA512, and others.</li><li>ViewState Viewer: When security scanning ASP.NET and modern .NET web applications, Netsparker extracts ViewState data from HTTP requests and responses generated during scanning. The ViewState data is displayed in a separate preview tab for easier troubleshooting.</li><li>Asset Discovery: Another proactive security measure, Netsparker's Asset Discovery service continuously scans the Internet to discover your assets based on numerous variables – including IP addresses, top-level and second-level domains, and even SSL certificate information.</li></ul><h3>Plans</h3>Netsparker offers a few different plans based on your needs: Standard, Team, and Enterprise. The naming is fairly intuitive – and so is the pricing – but we'll explore each tier in more detail below.One quick note worth mentioning: Netsparker Standard and Netsparker Enterprise are actually designed to <a target="_blank" href="https://www.netsparker.com/support/integrating-netsparker-standard-with-netsparker-enterprise/">integrate with each other</a>. This basically means that Enterprise includes Standard, and can synchronize and share data using a central repository. Use whichever edition best suits your needs – from one desktop scanner for a single site to hundreds via API – and share the results with your entire team.And one more thing: Netsparker provides 24-hour email, phone, and remote screen support Monday through Friday. They boast a 98% customer satisfaction rating on their website FAQ, and their product reviews seem to reflect that.Netsparker Standard Netsparker Standard is perfect for small and medium-sized businesses. The on-premises desktop scanner helps protect commercial and open-source web products, websites made by third parties, and custom web applications. If you have websites built on a popular CMS, an eCommerce shop on a platform solution, or a home-grown web application, Netsparker Standard is an ideal choice for up to 20 websites.Netsparker Standard is available as a Windows application with built-in penetration testing and reporting tools, many of which allow for fully automated security testing. You also get access to their crawling and scanning features, reporting, policy tools and more.Netsparker Team Netsparker Team is made for larger organizations seeking a complete vulnerability assessment and management solution with collaboration in mind. Netsparker Team helps streamline workflows for up to 50 websites, and unlike Standard, it's all accessed via Netsparker's REST API.Netsparker Team includes all of the essentials from Standard, like crawling, reporting, and tools – but also provides a multi-user platform with native CI/CD, messaging, and business workflow systems. It also features Netsparker's PCI Compliance Scanner, which brings greater value to websites with significant paycard data transactions.Netsparker Enterprise Netsparker Enterprise is a comprehensive security platform designed for large organizations with significant web properties and assets. Like Team, it is an API-driven, multi-user scanning solution with dynamic built-in workflow tools. The big difference is scalability: if you have over 50 websites you're managing, Enterprise brings hosted account options to the table that empower your teams with dedicated support and resources. You also get access to custom authentication for OAuth2, Single Sign-On (SSO), client-side certificates, and more.Netsparker Enterprise is really designed to <a target="_blank" href="https://www.netsparker.com/online-web-application-security-scanner/sdlc-integration/">integrate seamlessly into the software development lifecycle</a>, allowing DevOps and SecOps teams to scan thousands of web applications and services as they are being developed, tested, or running in production. This makes Enterprise an ideal tool for software teams as they push new products and features to market, ensuring that they meet security and compliance requirements from end to end.<h3>Pricing</h3>Netsparker is an incredibly well-reviewed product, and based on our own experience, it delivers both the functionality and simplicity it claims. They also get points for a cool slider on their <a target="_blank" href="https://www.netsparker.com/plans/">Product &amp; Plans</a> page, which helps recommend a tier based on the number of websites you're scanning. This makes it easy (and maybe even a little fun) to determine which product is right for your needs.Here's how the tiers break down:<ul><li>1-20 websites: Standard plan</li><li>21-49 websites: Team Plan</li><li>50 + websites: Enterprise Plan</li></ul>Unfortunately, that's all you get: a recommendation. They don't provide a price, but it's reasonably clear that it's based in part on the tier itself and the number of websites you'll be scanning. Each plan progressively builds on the previous, allowing you to scale seamlessly. And as mentioned, the Enterprise edition includes the Standard edition desktop scanner as part of the suite.OK, so no price transparency. That requires a demo and a phone call for a custom quote. But the good news is that you can try Netsparker for free today with just a few basic steps. And once you're using it, you'll worry less about price – and wonder how you ever got by without it.<h3>About Netsparker</h3><a target="_blank" href="https://www.netsparker.com/">Netsparker</a> is the leading Enterprise DAST (Dynamic Application Security Testing) solution and the only product that delivers automatic verification of vulnerabilities with exclusive pre-scan automation and Proof-Based Scanning™ technology. Netsparker scans any type of web application, provides actionable results, and integrates with company workflow tools to close the loop between IT and developers. It identifies vulnerabilities from the early stages of application development through production. With global headquarters in London and North American headquarters in Austin, Texas, Netsparker serves customers worldwide in the technology, professional services, banking, and government markets, including many Fortune 500 companies. Netsparker is part of <a target="_blank" href="https://c212.net/c/link/?t=0&amp;l=en&amp;o=2947090-1&amp;h=30600359&amp;u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.invicti.com%2F&amp;a=Invicti+Security">Invicti Security</a>, the leading global provider of dynamic application security testing products.

Netsparker Review: Web Application Security and Vulnerability Scanner

“To code, or not to code, that is the question…”Indeed. And Shakespeare would have loved the drama that followed. This fiery debate around code versus no-code web design has led to some pretty heated arguments. Here’s a snarky Tweet from Jeffery Zeldman, a heavyweight design influencer, from way back in 2009:<img src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2023/08/jeffrey-zeldman-tweet-1024x404.png" />And another scathing transmission from Elliot Jay Stocks:<img src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2023/08/elliott-jay-stocks-tweet-1024x457.png" />That one poked one too many bears, spurring Stocks to pen a looong blog post explaining his opinion. If you’re curious, you can read it <a target="_blank" href="https://elliotjaystocks.com/blog/web-designers-who-cant-code/">here</a> – but the gist of it is this: to understand design, you need to understand the medium. That makes a lot of sense, but it doesn’t negate the fact that many great web designers barely touch code.Even at the tail end of 2020, this philosophical disagreement continues. But as UI continues to abstract the complexities of code (think simple consoles in front of command line interfaces) the battle between coders and designers – and what constitutes a “web designer” – has grown a little less contentious. Or has it?<h3>A Brief History of Web Designers</h3>Before the dawn of the modern web, software interfaces were stark and cumbersome, lacking the visual elegance and intuitiveness that came later. Engineers ran the show, and front-end experience was often an afterthought.Print and visual designers helped mend the fence, bringing the tenants of their trade from pages to screens – evolving the medium to what might be called “high art.” Developers learned to value UI design, adapting to the principles of the process. Many designers also learned HTML to gain greater control over the experience.Coders learned design. Designers learned to code. And all was right in the universe.Well, not really…With traditional designers wanting to (you guessed it) focus on design, applications began to answer the call. <a target="_blank" href="https://www.adobe.com/products/dreamweaver.html">Dreamweaver</a> and <a target="_blank" href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Microsoft_FrontPage">Frontpage</a> started as clunky editors with development tools and preview capabilities, but eventually became drag-and-drop builders. And as code started disappearing, designers started relying more on pre-built templates and off-the-shelf libraries.Fast-forward to 2020, and ultra-slim SaaS platforms like <a target="_blank" href="https://www.squarespace.com/">Squarespace</a> and <a target="_blank" href="https://www.wix.com/">Wix</a> can turn almost anyone into a “web designer.” The problem: they lack the ability to truly customize with code. And the code they produce is always messy – resulting in slow, low-ranking websites that aren’t always responsive.But what if you could have the best of all worlds: a sleek, drag-and-drop website builder that’s perfect for no-code designers, but a platform that still gives developers access to code, so they can customize at will?In this review, we’ll take a look at Webflow: a platform that claims to do just that – and more.<h3>Enter Webflow</h3>Webflow has become one of the most popular website builders on the market. It provides a drag-and-drop user experience that puts out clean code, creates responsive websites that work well on every device, and doesn’t take a side in the design versus code debate. In essence, it caters to everyone that considers themselves a “web designer” and bridges the design/code chasm.<img src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2023/08/webflow-interface.png" />What makes Webflow unique is that it’s a hybrid of a cutting-edge website builder and a sleek content management system (CMS). It brings together a complete site designer, e-Commerce solutions, and even hosting – all with the ability to choose what you need, and customize with code at almost every turn.Let’s explore some of the noteworthy features of Webflow.<h3>Webflow Designer</h3><img src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2023/08/webflow-designer.jpg" /><img />As Webflow’s flagship product, Designer is where you create websites and visually manipulate HTML, CSS, and other interactions. When you create any elements in Webflow, the code is automatically generated behind the UI.On the left side, there’s the Elements panel where you create elements, the pages panel where you can organize and manage page settings, the Webflow CMS for accessing your collections and dynamic content, and the asset manager where you can upload and organize your stuff. At the bottom of the toolbar, you have more granular controls for working with elements – as well as links to video lessons, help, and keyboard shortcuts.In the middle, there’s the “canvas” where you can interact with your page in real-time. You can select elements, move them at will, and edit the content right on the page.<img /><img src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2023/08/webflow-ui-editor.png" />Now, we’ve already mentioned Webflow’s capacity to produce clean code – and it’s true. The platform adheres to modern web conventions, using real HTML elements like divs. When you create a navigation bar, for example, you don’t draw a rectangle; you select a div element and then adjust its height, width, and other properties.Like some other web builders, Webflow uses a box model. All elements are boxes, and they naturally sit next to each other or stack on top of one other depending on their properties. Like Photoshop, Webflow allows you to position boxes anywhere on a given layout while providing responsive actions with clean, production-ready code.At any time, you can export your code or publish your changes instantly without having to worry about FTP or file versions. One immensely useful feature is the preview, which allows you to see and interact with your project as if it was already published.Finally, on the right, there’s the style panel, which is very similar to Photoshop (in fact, it looks eerily close). Here, you can access granular control over your elements. If the left panel is where you organize the structure of your pages with HTML, the right panel is where you control CSS for styling your elements.You can also create custom interactions with the Javascript control panel. Webflow's animation tools bring all the power of CSS and JavaScript into a completely visual tool, empowering designers to build complex, rich animations. You can easily create scroll-based parallax animations, progress bars, or whatever else you dream up – all without touching code.<h3>Webflow CMS</h3><img src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2023/08/webflow-cms.png" />Most websites rely on some kind of a CMS. Webflow takes their design capabilities a step further by integrating a rock-solid CMS into their platform. This enables web designers to build and dynamically manage their websites in one place.With Webflow CMS, you can create the content structures you need, add content (by hand, from a CSV, or via Webflow API), and then design it all visually. This makes the Webflow CMS work for editors, designers, and developers alike. In many ways, they’ve simplified the experience of other all-in-one platforms, even the <a target="_blank" href="https://www.cmscritic.com/gutenberg-2-years-later-is-wordpress-better-off/">WordPress Gutenberg</a> editor.Webflow CMS also allows you to create custom content types with their “CMS Collections.” For example, you can have a collection of blog posts, authors, clients, projects, and so on. For eCommerce projects, that can include products and categories.<h3>Webflow eCommerce</h3><img src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2023/08/webflow-ecommerce-scaled.jpg" />The latest addition to the Webflow’s feature set is their eCommerce suite, putting them squarely in the ring with <a target="_blank" href="https://www.cmscritic.com/shopify-review-ecommerce-only-simpler/">Shopify</a> and <a target="_blank" href="https://www.cmscritic.com/10-reasons-why-woocommerce-is-perfect-for-ecommerce-startups/">WooCommerce</a>. The strength of Webflow’s eCommerce is that you can fully customize the online shopping experience without being constrained by built-in templates. You can customize everything from product pages to shopping carts to checkout.eCommerce also comes with its own set of pricing plans, which we’ve outlined later in this article.<h3>Webflow Hosting</h3><img src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2023/08/webflow-hosting.png" />We all know that hosting can be a hassle. You have to find the right platform that works with your website and CMS, then deal with endless technical considerations such as domain setup, FTP, cPanel... the list goes on.Webflow makes it easy by hosting directly through their platform. It’s all powered by Amazon Web Services (AWS) and Fastly – a content delivery network (CDN) that accelerates the performance, security, and redundancy of your website. You get fast-loading pages and you never have to pull your hair out updating PHP on your server.Webflow’s hosting also comes with these features:<ul><li>Backups and versioning: Preview and restore your site from ongoing, automatic backups, or create save points to mark progress and track changes.</li><li>Password protection: Gate individual pages or your entire website to protect in-progress work or restrict access.</li><li>Custom forms: Create unique forms to collect data from customers and connect them with marketing automation platforms as needed.</li><li>SEO management: Keep your SEO in check with 301 redirects and a customizable XML sitemap.</li><li>Integrations: Easily add Google Analytics, Google Optimize, and other marketing tools by dropping custom code snippets in your site template.</li><li>Site search: Create a custom search engine for your site with full control over the look and feel of your search results page.</li><li>Zero maintenance: No updates to run or packages to install. Just publish your site and Webflow will take care of the rest.</li></ul><h3>Pricing</h3>So far, Webflow offers a lot of value as a website builder, CMS, eCommerce, and hosting platform for almost any kind of web designer. But from a pricing perspective, things can get a little tricky.There are basically two types of plans on Webflow: Account Plans, which allow you to design and publish websites using a Webflow domain (like “yourwebsite.webflow.io “) – and Site Plans, which let you connect a custom domain.Sure, you can build a killer website with just an Account Plan. But if you want to publish a website on your own domain, you’ll need a Site plan for every website – and that requires hosting as well. Each tier places a cap on the number of pages you can build and form submissions you can receive – unless you go full enterprise, where everything’s included.Account PlansFor all intents and purposes, everyone starts out with an Account Plan. But now, there are two types of Account Plans to choose from.Individual plans are great for solo designers like freelancers and gig workers. You can start for free and upgrade for additional features.<img src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2023/08/webflow-account-plans-individual-plans.png" />Team plans are designed for orgs that want to work collaboratively.<img src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2023/08/webflow-account-plans-team-plans.png" />All account plans include:<ul><li>Unlimited hosted projects: With Webflow, your hosted projects don’t count against your plan limits, so you can build as many websites as you want.</li><li>Client billing: Charge your client for your bill instead of paying out of pocket – or charge any amount and make a profit.</li><li>Interactions &amp; animations: Create custom interactions and animations to make your site stand out, all without coding Javascript.</li><li>100+ responsive templates: Don’t want to start from scratch? Select from hundreds of pre-built templates.</li><li>3D transformations: Change positioning, add skews, and rotate objects in 3D space.</li><li>Global swatches: Define key colors as variables, so every instance of that color updates whenever you change it.</li><li>Custom fonts: Upload your own fonts or add free Google Fonts.</li><li>Flexbox: Build flexible, responsive layouts with the power of flexbox in a visual interface.</li><li>Reusable symbols: Turn any recurring element into a reusable symbol that you can update across your site in one edit.</li></ul><h3>Site Plans</h3>With site plans, you can choose from the standard package for personal, blog, and business websites, or the eCommerce plan that enables advanced shopping cart capabilities.Here’s a rundown of what Webflow Site Plans offer:<ul><li>Basic – At $12/month, it’s a solid solution for simple websites that don’t require a CMS. You also get CDN availability, 500 form submissions, free SSL certificate connection, domain connection, and more.</li><li>CMS – For $16/month, you can uplevel your blogs and other content-driven projects with the Webflow CMS. Includes 2000 CMS items, site search, 1000 form submissions, limited CMS API, and up to 3 content editors.</li><li>Business – Coming in at $36/month, this is a great pick for high traffic marketing projects or full-featured blogs. Includes unlimited form submissions, full CMS API, advanced global CDN, up to 10 content editors and more.</li></ul><img src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2023/08/webflow-site-plans.png" />All Site Plans include:<ul><li>Backups &amp; versioning: Automatically save and create restore points – so you never lose your work.</li><li>Password protection: As noted before, you can gate your whole site or individual pages.</li><li>Advanced SEO controls: Generate automatic sitemaps and customizable 301 redirects for complete SEO control.</li><li>Fast page loads: Accelerate your performance with Webflow’s Tier 1 Content Delivery Network solutions.</li><li>SSL and security: Get 24/7 hosting, monitoring, and SSL certificates to keep your site secure.</li><li>Immediate scaling: Webflow provides scaling and bursting regardless of how many concurrent users you have on your website.</li></ul>As we said earlier, Webflow’s eCommerce are add-ons to their Site Plans:<ul><li>Standard – At $29/month, this is a perfect starting place for new businesses. You get all the features of the CMS plan plus custom checkout and shopping cart, email customization, a 2% transaction fee, integrated CMS for blogs, and more.</li><li>Plus – For $74, Plus provides a solid solution for higher volume businesses that need more features and capacity. Includes everything in the Business plan plus unbranded emails, 10 staff accounts, and zero transaction fee.</li><li>Advanced – If you’re serious about eCommerce, then $212/month will get you all of the most advanced features on top of the Business plan. Also includes 15 staff accounts, unlimited yearly sales volumes, and more.</li></ul><img src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2023/08/webflow-ecommerce-plans.png" />Finally, if you want to go full Enterprise, Webflow has some custom options that require a phone call. That can include specialized dashboards, enterprise-grade scalability and support, and more.If you’re ready to kick the tires, you can <a target="_blank" href="https://webflow.com/dashboard/signup">sign up for a free version</a> without giving your credit card – and Webflow will let you build 2 projects (meaning 2 websites) for free. These unhosted projects will have a two-page limit, but you can purchase a site plan on a per-project basis to unlock up to 100 static pages and additional CMS pages.<h3>Conclusion</h3>Whether you prefer drag-and-drop over code or vice versa, web designers of any kind can get a lot out of Webflow. It’s a really impressive platform – and does more to unite the ideals of pure web design with coding than ever before. It also manages to bring the power of CMS, eCommerce, and hosting into a single, integrated platform. That simplifies things for a lot of users but might prove too monolithic for others who want to build a custom stack.Webflow offers almost everything you need to launch beautiful, responsive, fast, and secure websites. The only downside is its steep learning curve. In a sense, it almost has its own proprietary or tribal knowledge for cracking the usability. It’s not as simplistic as say Squarespace, and it can take a while for the unindoctrinated user to fully understand.  Thankfully, they do offer a lot of tutorials – another aspect of their product that reminded us of Adobe.If you’re a developer, some users have found Webflow to be a bit confusing – but it still manages to provide a solid platform for building custom apps. With a JSON API for the CMS, it also delivers the hub for connecting and integrating with external data sources.Maybe the loudest complaint across the feedback channels is with pricing. Many users find it too difficult to understand, and more than few suggest that it’s on the expensive side. All things being equal, Webflow provides a lot of flexibility and choice for any web designer (whatever that means) to find the right plan – and start building.<h3>About Webflow</h3><a target="_blank" href="https://webflow.com/">Webflow</a> is a web design tool, CMS, and hosting platform in one. Webflow allows users to design, build, and launch responsive websites visually, while writing clean, semantic code.

Webflow Review: Hybrid Website Builder and CMS Bridges the Design/Code Chasm

If you’re a child of the 1980s – or just a fan of <a target="_blank" href="https://www.netflix.com/title/80057281">Stranger Things</a> – you might remember the directory sign at your local mall. It was the one place you could find exactly what you were looking for in a sea of stores, and they’re still a fixture to this day.Unfortunately, most site searches can’t even get you to the food court. In many cases, you’re left sifting through a morass of results, wondering if you’ll ever find your way to that rad new pair of acid-washed jeans.Like malls, site search has been around for a long time. But now, it’s becoming an even more vital part of the digital experience. After all, <a target="_blank" href="https://www.nngroup.com/articles/search-and-you-may-find/">more than half of people are now “search dominant</a>”, meaning they will use a website’s search over the navigation to find what they’re looking for.From an SEO perspective, navigation is key. But modern search tools can add a complementary layer of insights and analytics. These cutting-edge, AI-driven technologies can energize your marketing by understanding how your customers are searching – not just what they’re searching for.One of the best site search tools we’ve seen is Swiftype, which was <a target="_blank" href="https://techcrunch.com/2017/11/09/elastic-acquires-swiftype/">purchased by Elastic in 2017</a>. This powerful SaaS platform has positioned itself as a clear leader in the site search landscape and has evolved to include app search and a host of other features.In this article, we’ll take a close look at Swiftype’s features and explore how you can customize your search results, leverage analytics, and even build marketing strategies within the platform. It’s like a mall for best-of-breed site search capabilities – and we’ll show you exactly where to shop.<h3>Goodbye, Google Search</h3>Back in the day, Google Site Search was the defacto standard. Not only was it easy to implement, but it brought the world's leading search technology down to the website level. Unfortunately, Google deprecated the service in 2018, forcing thousands of websites to scramble for a new solution.Quite a few niche players answered the call, including <a target="_blank" href="https://www.algolia.com/">Algolia</a>, <a target="_blank" href="https://www.cludo.com/">Cludo</a>, and others. Enterprise brands also muscled their way into the game, with <a target="_blank" href="https://aws.amazon.com/cloudsearch/">Amazon CloudSearch</a> and Google Search Console offering alternatives.What was missing was the best of both worlds – a cost-effective, cloud-based service that offered core site search with scalable enterprise features. That’s where Swiftype comes in.<h3>What is Swiftype?</h3>Swiftype is a cloud-based SaaS platform that enables organizations of all sizes to create and manage a tailored search experience with real-time feedback, user insight, and search trend analytics. Users are able to monitor which content visitors are searching for and which results they’re engaging with as they browse your website.<img src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2023/08/swiftype-analytics-dashboard.png" />Swiftype is incredibly easy to install and customize. Once you sign up and enter your website’s address, Swiftype automatically indexes your site and renders your custom search engine in real-time. In addition to providing a “marketer friendly” no-code experience, Swiftype also gives advanced developers access to resources including their API.Swiftype offers two main products – Site Search and App Search – which can be added to websites and CMS platforms. We’ve explored both in more detail below.<h3>Swiftype Site Search</h3>Swiftype Site Search provides all the tools you need to deliver more relevant search results for your website users. It's simple to set up and use, and has some dynamite out-of-the-box features, including:<ul><li>Autocomplete: Guide users to the content, answers, or products that matter most with real-time results – right as they type.</li><li>Search Refinements: Dynamically expand on simple search, allowing your users to refine results by attributes such as date, price, author, location, or content type.</li><li>Comprehensive Documentation: Swiftype has clear and simple guides that can help you build the perfect search experience. You'll have all the materials you need to become a master of high value search experiences.</li><li>Advanced Search Algorithm: Powered by AI/ML, Swiftype Site Search is built on an advanced search algorithm that delivers relevant results for even the most complicated queries.</li></ul><img src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2023/08/swiftype-site-search-features.png" /><ul><li>Search Controls and Analytics: Site Search surfaces the most important data points and performance indicators for your search. It also gives you the tools to take action and improve performance, including patented technologies that allow you to tweak your search engine’s output globally or on a per-query basis.</li></ul><img src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2023/08/search-controls-and-swiftype-analytics.png" /><ul><li>Developer Tools: One of Swiftype’s strengths is its ability to appeal to marketers with a no-code experience. But it also provides a robust, developer-friendly API for creating custom record schemas, indexing data in real-time, embedding search into any user interface (such as a website or CMS), and programmatically tracking events. You can view the API documentation <a target="_blank" href="https://swiftype.com/documentation/site-search/overview">here</a>.</li><li>Real-time Search Analytics: Swiftype allows you to see what your users are searching for, clicking on, and engaging with as it happens – so you have more actionable insight about their behaviors. With its powerful real-time search analytics, you can track the highest performing content on your website or app, assess which autocomplete queries are most popular, and learn what content was most commonly chosen from autocomplete suggestions.</li></ul><img src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2023/08/real-time-search-analytics.png" /><ul><li>Tracking conversions and autocompletes: Search conversions tell you where your users go after performing a search.</li></ul><img src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2023/08/tracking-conversions-and-autocompletes.png" /><ul><li>Find out What Users Aren’t Finding: Swiftype shows you common searches that return no results – so you can optimize your content strategy. Swiftype’s custom result ranking feature lets you add results to these search terms to help visitors find more of what they’re looking for.</li></ul><h3>Swiftype App Search</h3><img src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2023/08/swiftype-app-search.jpg" />While Site Search provides a powerful solution without a steep learning curve, Swiftype App Search goes deep with developers. You get access to a robust set of APIs that allow you to customize your search experience – all backed by the <a target="_blank" href="https://www.elastic.co/elastic-stack">Elastic Stack</a>.Swiftype App Search harnesses the power of Elasticsearch, built on the constantly improving foundation that Elastic provides. It includes features like typo-tolerance, stemming, bigram and phrase matching – as well as search customization capabilities like Curations, Weights, Boosts and Synonyms.Together, these tools help you fine-tune relevance based on your business objectives in conjunction with data from App Search’s Analytics platform.Other key features include:<ul><li>Real-time Analytics: Measure how users interact with your search engine and track everything in real-time, revealing unique insights into user behavior.</li><li>Relevance Tuning: The App Search Dashboard makes relevance tuning as simple as point-and-click. Make customizations in the web-based interface and preview their impact in real-time – all with no code.</li><li>Schemaless Indexing: App Search supports dynamic schemas and real-time reindexing. Simply send JSON to the API and Swiftype analyzes it for whatever search application you build.</li></ul>You can see the full list of App Search features <a target="_blank" href="https://swiftype.com/app-search/features">here</a>.<h3>How to Add Swiftype Site Search to Your Website</h3>One of Swiftype’s main selling points is its ease of installation – and based on our experience, it delivers as billed.Swiftype’s website claims it takes as little as five minutes, and for the essentials, that was pretty much spot on. The tools were a quick study, and the interface is clean and lightweight, making it pleasant to work in.To set up Swiftype on your website, you first need to <a target="_blank" href="https://swiftype.com/users/sign_up">create your account</a>, then an Engine (short for “Search Engine”). After beginning your Site Search trial, enter your website's URL when prompted.<img src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2023/08/swiftype-create-engine.png" />Once the scan is successful, provide your Engine with a name and select its default language. You can choose from over 13 different languages, including English, French, Chinese, Japanese, Korean, Russian, and German. For the full list, see Swiftype’s documents on <a target="_blank" href="https://swiftype.com/documentation/site-search/crawler-configuration/language-optimization">language support</a>.<img src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2023/08/swiftype-choose-engine-language.png" />The final step is adding the search experience to your website. Once you click on the Installation button, you’ll need to configure the design of your Search Field and Result Container. From there, you can choose how to style your results, configure autocomplete, and tune an array of options.<img src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2023/08/swiftype-style-your-results-and-other-configurations.png" />Once you have the basic configuration in place, you’ll receive an embeddable JavaScript snippet. Place that snippet on each webpage to enable the search. The snippet will look like this:<img src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2023/08/swiftype-javascript-snippet.png" />And that’s it. If you’re savvy and committed, it can take just a few minutes – and that’s pretty slick.<h3>How to Add Swiftype Site Search to Your CMS</h3>Content management systems often miss the mark on their own search capabilities. By adding Swiftype, you can instantly improve a CMS experience and add your CMS content automatically using Swiftype’s <a target="_blank" href="https://swiftype.com/documentation/site-search/tutorials/add_search_to_any_cms">Site Crawler</a>.On the more advanced end, you can even set up callbacks that can be used to hook into content, alerting Swiftype that new content is available to index.While the installation process is relatively straight-forward – and works well for most CMS platforms based on their documentation – there are a few more steps involved. But Swiftype offers some great <a target="_blank" href="https://swiftype.com/documentation/site-search/tutorials/add_search_to_any_cms">step-by-step guidance</a> to build out the experience.<h3>Customer Support</h3>Swiftype offers broad customer support, and <a target="_blank" href="https://www.g2.com/products/swiftype/reviews">according to the reviews</a>, it offers one of the best experiences around.Swiftype Standard and Pro support is focused on making sure your Swiftype Engine is working as expected – and is fully available. To that end, they offer:<ul><li>Analysis of the state of your engine</li><li>Actions you can perform to stabilize or tune your engine</li><li>Pointers to Swiftype documentation or forums if your question is outside the scope of the platform itself</li></ul>Elastic reported their response time and hours below:<img src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2023/08/swiftype-customer-support-plans.png" />In addition, they provide a lively community of support for Swiftype users. With the community forums, you can get your more in-depth questions answered.<h3>Pricing</h3>Swiftype has two separate plans for Site Search and App Search. The Site Search plan starts at $79/month and App Search starts at $49/month.Site Search:There are three plans for site search: Standard, Pro, and Premium.The standard plan gives you all the core search features and analytics, as well as multilingual support.With the Pro plan, your website gets crawled twice a day instead of once per week. Additionally, you get cross-domain search and PDF/document indexing.The Premium plan is their enterprise-level search and security.<img src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2023/08/swiftype-site-search-plans.png" />App Search:Just like the Site Search plans, Swiftype’s App Search plans offer Standard, Pro, and Premium Packages.<img src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2023/08/swiftype-app-search-plans.png" /><h3>Conclusion</h3>While good navigation is important, people always seek the path of least resistance. That’s why site search is so essential: it enables more control over intent, allowing a user to search for specific content quickly and easily – and even discovering new stuff along the way. In that sense, it’s another layer in your personalization strategy.While Swiftype is easy to set up, marketer- and developer-friendly, and offers a broad range of tools, it’s not the cheapest solution on the market. But if you’re looking for a platform that makes search a more strategic part of your experience, Swiftype is at the top of the list. It offers unmatched control and scalability, and brings more power and presence to site search as a strategic asset. With world-class customer support to boot, it’s really a solid platform on every level.You can start a <a target="_blank" href="https://app.swiftype.com/signup?product=ss">free</a> trial today. Acid-washed jeans not included.<h3>About Swiftype</h3><a target="_blank" href="https://swiftype.com/">Swiftype</a> is a search and index company based in San Francisco, California, that provides search software for organizations, websites, and computer programs. Notable customers include AT&amp;T, Dr. Pepper, Hubspot and TechCrunch. Swiftype's site search can be used for faceted search, full text search, real-time search, and concept search queries. The company's plans offer on-demand and live recrawls and indexing of websites. Other features include drag-and-drop result customization, real-time analytics and adjustable weights. In an effort to further grow outside of site search, Swiftype introduced an enterprise search service in February 2017.<h3>About Elastic</h3><a target="_blank" href="https://www.elastic.co/">Elastic</a> builds software to make data usable in real time and at scale for search, logging, security, and analytics use cases. Founded in 2012, the company develops the open source Elastic Stack (Elasticsearch, Kibana, Beats, and Logstash), X-Pack (commercial features), and Elastic Cloud (a SaaS offering). Elastic is used by organizations including Cisco, eBay, Goldman Sachs, NASA, Microsoft, Mayo Clinic, The New York Times, Wikipedia, and Verizon to power mission-critical systems.

Swiftype Review: Add Powerful Elastic Search to Websites, Apps and CMS Platforms

The principle of “think global, act local” has been used in a wide variety of contexts, from tackling environmental issues to managing business strategies. At its core is a simple, perhaps even algorithmic idea: that solving big problems requires an understanding of the smaller components.There’s no question that we live in a global economy – one where international companies are thinking across time zones and driving supply chains that stretch across our planet. While digital transformation has made our world more accessible, websites have struggled to provide a truly localized language experience.Translation: we want to think global, but often miss the local.That’s where Weglot comes in. The France-based translation solution is providing a dynamic alternative to the deprecated (but now resurrected) Google Translate, and elevating the role of localization. With over a hundred languages and a bevy of backend features, this easy-to-use service will have you saying “thank you” (or merci, gracias, dankie) in no time.In this review, we’ll explore Weglot, dive into its pros and cons, and touch on some of the CMS and eCommerce plugins available on the market. But let's start with some of the foundational concepts that impact website translation – and how Weglot is answering these challenges.<h3>The Value of Website Translation</h3>It goes without saying that English has become a global language for many applications, particularly in business and technology. But it’s simply not enough to have your website content available in a single language. Again, this is part of the charter to “act local” even if you’re connecting or selling on a global scale.Take eCommerce as an example. If the details for a product are in a language you don’t understand, are you more inclined to buy it… or seek out another source?The fact is, if you can’t communicate with your customers, you’ll be losing out on sales. With so many diverse languages being spoken across the globe – or even across the street – it’s clear that translation is no longer a luxury. It’s a necessity.Here are a few more reasons why you should add translation to your website:<ul><li>Attract new customers: Simply put, a multilingual website can help you reach a broader audience. While most content online is written in English, <a target="_blank" href="https://www.statista.com/statistics/262946/share-of-the-most-common-languages-on-the-internet/">only 25% of internet users are native English speakers</a>. By adding more languages to your website, you’ll reach a larger segment of customers both in new regions and within your own. As an example, Spanish is the second most spoken language in the U.S. – so by going multilingual, you could expand your reach both domestically and internationally.</li></ul><img src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2023/08/weglot-website-audience-stats-per-language.png" />Source: Statista<ul><li>Increase sales: As noted above, people are more likely to buy products when they’re presented in their own language. When you provide a translation for your customers, you’ll make it easier for them to search and find the products or content they’re looking for. You’ll also build trust and enhance loyalty.</li><li>Reduce bounce rates and increase conversions: According to CSA, 72.1% of users spend all their time on websites that are in their own language – and <a target="_blank" href="https://csa-research.com/More/Media/Press-Releases/ArticleID/31/Survey-of-3-000-Online-Shoppers-Across-10-Countries-Finds-that-60-Rarely-or-Never-Buy-from-English-only-Websites">60% of people never buy from English-only websites</a>. Based on these stats alone, it’s clear that your website visitors are less inclined to bounce – and more inclined to convert – if they have access to their own language.</li><li>Improve SEO: In almost every case, Search is what brings people to your website. With a multilingual SEO, your website will be indexable and optimized in multiple languages. And if your competitors aren’t offering translated content, you have even more of an advantage from a search perspective.</li></ul><h3>What about Google Translate?</h3>Historically, there have been two options for translating websites in multiple languages: build and maintain separate websites, or add a translation tool like Google Translate.While the former solution provides significant manual control over the frontend experience, it also requires more management. This might be OK if your products are markedly different depending on the region or country – or if you’re maintaining only two languages. But what about 50? And how do you track hundreds of changes across different dialects without losing control?For this reason, many companies have relied on Google Translate to provide a quick, easy, and free solution for translating content at the browser layer. While Google Translate features a wide range of language options, there’s no manual control over the translation itself. Further, the rendering on a webpage is clumsy at best, making the frontend expression less desirable.To confuse the matter, Google deprecated their Translate service in early 2019, meaning it was no longer available for new applications. With no sunset date in sight, companies were scrambling to find an alternative solution. <a target="_blank" href="https://www.searchenginejournal.com/google-translate-widget-is-free-again-for-some-websites-to-use/370104/#close">But according to Search Engine Journal</a>, Google is resuming support as of May 2020 in an effort to support the global response to COVID-19.<h3>The difference between translation and localization</h3>While translation typically refers to the automated process of converting text on a website or webpage (like Google Translate), localization is the ability to adapt your website’s content to a specific region through language, design, and even cultural elements.Localization can go much further than altering the dynamic text on your website’s frontend. In a truly localized application, the entire customer experience is geared to a user’s regional and linguistic preferences. That might include landing pages, emails, logo graphics – multiple dimensions of their journey.Obviously, automating all of these components requires varying degrees of human support. For that reason, translation serves as the bedrock, and companies can elect to further enhance their localization posture as desired. But the more localized you can get, the more relevant and compelling the experience.<h3>What is Weglot?</h3>Weglot is a platform-independent website translation tool that helps users and organizations transform their websites into multilingual experiences. Weglot finally delivers the best of both worlds, allowing you to have both manual and automatic states for your translations.Easy to use and quick to install, Weglot is designed to work with almost any kind of content management system (CMS) or website. It’s also unique in that it provides professional translation and multilingual SEO services as part of their offerings.<h3>Features</h3>Here are some of the top features you get with Weglot:<ul><li>Quick installation: Weglot is compatible with all CMS and website technologies. All you need to do is install the plugin to your website and configure it all with no code.</li><li>100+ languages: Weglot features one of the most robust libraries of language translations.</li><li>Team collaboration: Invite your team members and collaborate on translations together inside Weglot.</li><li>Context Editor: When translating a page, you need to see where the content resides and what kind of content it is (e.g. title or text). Weglot’s context editor allows you to translate inside an editor and see the website design and structure.</li><li>Automatic, manual, and human translation: In addition to rapid, automatic translation, you can edit translations manually. If you need help or additional bandwidth, you can order professional translation services and get the translated content in 48 hours.</li><li>Visitor auto-redirection: Weglot can detect a user’s language and redirect them to feature content in their language – automatically.</li><li>Localized all along the way: Weglot can translate everything from your landing page to the e-mail confirmation in your customers’ language, providing a deeper level of localization.</li><li>Dedicated customer service: Problems? Weglot offers world-class customer support via email.</li></ul><h3>Optimized SEO</h3>As we mentioned before, SEO is crucial to driving visitors to your website. With Weglot, you can optimize your SEO across your translations and improve your search performance. Here’s how:<ul><li>Create a unique URL for each version of your page. For example, with a Spanish version of your pages, you will have an “/es/” subdirectory.</li></ul><img src="https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/kjC8q74LcJtKtkzYNEqNexSnTX4xvyFW3zAXwF6yfVMQueY-be6UAYAKkTeqIgNIO1c5ZP2oT-m1aCS2BfYr0ab5RKe_nQkn4FkQIu6nBaMxvko_h3Kks1awOUcvP34ffp7u6vsPlVTShnaGqw" /><ul><li>Adding hreflangs in your source code. These tags let Google know you have different versions of the same page and favor indexing of these pages.</li></ul><img src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2023/08/weglot-hreflang-attributes.png" /><ul><li>Have your content translated into the source code and not just dynamically. Weglot translates the content on the server side so your content is translated in your source code – not at the browser layer.</li><li>Detect and translate SEO tags. For example, here are two websites in English and Kazakh:</li></ul><img src="https://lh5.googleusercontent.com/vkJycrQRCjUJU2z7YsR5zP6rg-jtWjiXffKj1WNc3DQXqJmogDfaSBW0b2I46ylirY1s-Iuqomv9zT6laPcskgtXGRSFRX4ENrDEmsu2aqa5vfXxWTXT1jdqByQNj1BCoxdszig4VXy1IG0K7A" /><img src="https://lh5.googleusercontent.com/_BQHkMVhzi8K_SWuOXsgbDkPfm1LsUKD5c-xXZkUh6PLrkHdy_nFSnVvio2Vs3fNH0Dcr7IOtIlOqFFHtZn8nur40WqlU0_qtX-d3I3hxM9lkTPSheNstpuLV65mzjTiRe_KNNiETf5y7kiTZg" /><h3>How to add Weglot to your website or CMS</h3>Integrating Weglot is very easy – and it doesn’t even require touching any code. All you have to do is install the plugin and configure Weglot to start translating.When you install the app, you’ll get an API key from your Weglot account. Copy paste the API key in your CMS and you’re good to go:<img src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2023/08/how-to-add-weglot-to-your-website-or-cms.png" /><h3>Pricing</h3><img src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2023/08/weglot-princing.png" />With Weglot, pricing is generally based on how many languages you want to offer, and the number of words you need translated. Pretty simple to understand, and very easy to upgrade in the future.It’s worth noting that Weglot offers a free plan that translates up to 2000 words for one language. Not bad if you have a very small site with a single additional language.Weglot offers monthly and annual pricing plans. With the annual, you get an extra 2 months of free translation, which is a nice bonus. Each monthly plan offers a 10-day free trial, and there are 5 tiers:<ul><li>Starter: € 9.90 / month for 1 translated language and up to 10,000 words</li><li>Business: € 19 / month for 3 translated languages and up to 50,000 words</li><li>Pro: € 49 / month for 5 translated languages and up to 200,000 words</li><li>Advanced: € 199 / month for 10 translated languages and up to 1,000,000 words</li><li>Enterprise: € 499 / month for unlimited translated languages. The word limit is not listed on the website but you can contact Weglot to learn more about your custom translation needs.</li></ul>You can sign up for a trial for <a target="_blank" href="https://dashboard.weglot.com/register?fp_ref=solodev">Weglot</a> here.<h3>Final Thoughts</h3>There’s no question that Weglot is one of the most practical, user-friendly translation solutions on the market today. It supports 100+ languages with automatic, manual, and professional translation capabilities. It’s incredibly easy to install on both websites and in CMS, and it’s currently available as a plugin for platforms such as <a target="_blank" href="https://wordpress.org/">WordPress</a>, <a target="_blank" href="https://www.shopify.com/">Shopify</a>, and <a target="_blank" href="https://www.wix.com/">Wix</a>.Like any software, there’s always room for improvement. Weglot's translations can sometimes be a bit fickle when it comes to dynamic content – specifically anything that loads via Javascript. iFrames can also be a little difficult to troubleshoot, and there seems to be a lag time of a day or two before you can manually override a translation. The good news is that their support is incredibly responsive.When it comes to pricing, Weglot can get a little pricey for websites with lots of pages. For an enterprise, this is more than manageable. But for mid-tier sites going from free Google Translate, there could be some sticker shock.That said, it might just be worth every penny. Or centavo.<h3>About Weglot</h3><a target="_blank" href="https://weglot.com/">Weglot</a> is a SaaS tech start-up that helps businesses turn their websites multilingual. They offer a fast, simple and user-friendly way to translate and display your translations without bothering your developers.

Review: Weglot brings powerful translation for multilingual websites and CMS

Notepin (Notepin.co) is a note taking and <a target="_blank" href="https://www.cmscritic.com/minimalist-blogging-platforms/">blogging platform</a> that launched in 2017, and has been growing in popularity. The web-based system has a minimalist approach, which provides for a distraction free platform for users to enjoy. For such a simple service, it is really able to offer a lot to its users. Whether you are looking for an easy place to take notes that you can access from anywhere, or you want to launch your own blog, this is a good option to consider.The founder of Notepin, Osman Ahmed, said this about his platform, “it is a note-taking platform which comes with the optional ability to transform your notebook into a public blog.” Quite an interesting concept, and one that many people have been taking advantage of.<h3>Getting Started with Notepin</h3>One of the biggest perks of using Notepin is that you don’t need to make an account to use the service. When you browse to the site, you simply click the ‘or write anonymously’ to begin taking notes, writing a blog post, or just having fun. It will generate a random notepin.co URL that you can then access from anywhere.<img src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2023/08/notepin-get-started.png" />If you want something more memorable, you can create your own notepin.co URL using any available word or phrase. Even taking this route does not require you to create an account, verify an email, or take any other action. If you want to make sure that you’re the only one who can read or edit your page, you simply add a password (which still doesn’t require an account). To put it simply, this is the fastest and easiest way to start typing up notes or blogging you’ll find.<img src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2023/08/notepin-create-url.png" /><h3>Extremely Minimalist Approach</h3>As soon as you access the Notepin site you’ll see that it is a distraction-free environment, and that continues on to the writing &amp; editing pages as well. There are virtually no menus, very few editing features, and nothing to get in the way of your focusing on the writing. This is ideal for people who want to create quick posts, take notes for themselves, or quickly publish content to their site.When browsing a page as a viewer there won’t be much besides the text that was posted by the author. There can also be basic images but most pages don’t even have that. The full focus of this platform is on the content and making it as easy as possible to access.<h3>Free Features</h3>Anyone can use the Notepin system free of charge. The free plan comes with just one theme. Free users will also be restricted to posting text only with no images or video. All users, including those on the free plan, will have the option for visitors to share the posts on Twitter and like the posts on the site itself. These options can be disabled by the author if they don’t want this type of social interaction.Free users can create a unique custom URL where their content will be posted. The URL to access content will be formatted like this: <a target="_blank" href="http://notepin.co/ExampleNotes">http://notepin.co/ExampleNotes</a>. Users can choose whatever they want (as long as it is unused) to replace the ‘ExampleNotes’ portion of the URL. This not only makes it very easy to remember, but also allows authors to have some level of branding. Authors who want to have their content published to their own domain will have to upgrade to one of the two premium plans.<img src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2023/08/notepin-create-unique-url.png" /><h3>Premium Features</h3>If you want to take your page to the next level, you can sign up for one of the two premium feature packs. The ‘Pro’ plan is just $11 per year, and the blogging plan is $19 per year. Both of these plans add multiple different themes to help improve the look of your page. The themes are still relatively basic, which goes well with the overall minimalist approach to the service. The premium services also allow higher quality images to be used, ambient sounds to be added to the site, text to speech options, and more.The benefit of using the blogging plan is that you can have email subscriptions, a custom domain, Google Analytics information, custom SEO options, private posts, and the branding from Notepin is removed. Given the fact that both of these premium packages are quite inexpensive, it is a great deal for those who want to start their own blog.<img src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2023/08/notepin-premium-features.png" /><h3>Is Notepin a Good Platform?</h3>While Notepin is certainly not for everyone, it has some unique features that make it a really interesting platform that many people love. If you’re looking for a fast and easy way to get started with publishing your content, or you just need a convenient place to take notes, this is clearly an excellent choice. For those who want to run a minimalist blog, <a target="_blank" href="https://notepin.co/">Notepin </a>may be the ideal solution. It really is extremely fast and extremely easy not just to get started, but to continue publishing long into the future.

Notepin Review

michael-levanduski

<a target="_blank" href="https://zorinos.com/">Zorin OS</a> has been gaining in popularity as of late as a good alternative for Windows users making the migration to Linux but is it a worthy option? Read on to find out in this Zorin OS Review.There are several ways you can get started with Zorin OS; the first is to download <a target="_blank" href="https://zorinos.com/download/#core">Zorin OS Core</a> which is the free edition of the distro. If you prefer the XFCE desktop environment, you can try their <a target="_blank" href="https://zorinos.com/download/#lite">lite edition</a>  which includes this as a default instead of Gnome.There is also a paid version which is called <a target="_blank" href="https://zorinos.com/download/#ultimate">Zorin OS Ultimate</a> and includes some additional layouts for the desktop as well as over 20 different games for $39. This is a great way to help the developers cover some of their costs. (Side note: Zorin OS Ultimate is also available in Lite and 32 bit editions)For the purposes of this review, I'll be focusing on the Gnome editions (Ultimate and Core) but if you are interested in seeing what the lite editions is like with XFCE, I've covered that here: <a target="_blank" href="https://www.cmscritic.com/zorin-os-lite-review-15-1-version/">Zorin OS Lite Review.</a>The installation process is pretty much identical to every other Ubuntu based distro out there so I'm going to skip screenshots for it and just tell you that it went off without a hitch and within a few minutes, I was greeted with the desktop.<h2>Zorin OS Ultimate</h2>As I mentioned earlier, Zorin OS Ultimate is available for $39 and includes a number of games as well as some additional layouts. Here is what the default Gnome desktop looks like.<img src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2023/08/zorin-os-review-1.png" />Zorin OS Review - Default Desktop (Gnome)As you can see, it's a clean and easy on the eyes look and feel they are going for.  This is the default layout that you start off with but as you'll see shortly, there are several others you can try if you prefer something else.<img src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2023/08/zorin-os-review-2.png" />Zorin OS Review - The MenuThe menu is pretty self explanatory and contains a number of great default applications for pretty much every purpose. The styling and theming should be pretty easy to adapt to for transitioning Windows users and help make them feel at home.As you can see, the Ultimate release includes a number of games to get you started. Of course, you can always download more within the repositories, from <a target="_blank" href="https://store.steampowered.com/">Steam</a> or the ever popular <a target="_blank" href="https://www.gog.com/games?page=1&amp;sort=popularity&amp;system=lin_ubuntu,lin_mint,lin_ubuntu_18">GOG</a> which includes tons of great Linux game options.<img src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2023/08/zorin-os-review-14.png" />Zorin OS Review - Ultimate Edition - Included Games<h2>Desktop Layouts</h2>There are numerous desktop layouts included with the Ultimate edition which let you basically alter the look of your desktop. With Zorin OS Core you get three options but with Ultimate, there are a total of six.<img src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2023/08/zorin-os-review-15.png" />Below, I've included a gallery of the additional layouts you get. I'm not going to bother with layout #2 as it's basically just changing the task bar from showing icons to showing window names so it's not much of a change.<img src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2023/08/zorin-os-review-19.png" /><img src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2023/08/zorin-os-review-16-1.png" /><img src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2023/08/zorin-os-review-17-1.png" /><img src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2023/08/zorin-os-review-18.png" />Zorin OS Review - Additional Layouts<h2>Zorin Appearance</h2>Zorin OS also includes a few interesting theme options within their exclusive theme app, Zorin Appearance. From here you can select between light and dark modes as well as a transitioning theme which will switch between light and dark automatically at whichever times you set. The logic here is that it should make it easier on your eyes in the evenings.<img src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2023/08/zorin-os-review-4.png" /><img src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2023/08/zorin-os-review-5.png" /><img src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2023/08/zorin-os-review-6.png" />Zorin OS Review - Theming OptionsYou can also adjust accent colors and fonts, etc from within the Zorin Appearance app as well.<h2>Zorin Connect</h2>Zorin Connect is another application included with the distro, the purpose of which is to allow you to connect your smartphone to the desktop in order to review alerts and notifications. If you are familiar with <a target="_blank" href="https://community.kde.org/KDEConnect">KDE Connect</a>, this is a similar concept.<img src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2023/08/zorin-os-review-7.png" /><img src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2023/08/zorin-os-review-8.png" />Zorin OS review - Zorin Connect<h2>Software</h2>Installing software is as easy as using the terminal or going through the included Software app which is organized by category and includes a search option.<img src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2023/08/zorin-os-review-9.png" />Zorin OS Review - Software<h2>Settings</h2>Settings for your system can be modified within the Settings app, which is a control center similar to the control panel within Windows. This and the software app above are not exclusive to Zorin but rather are part of the <a target="_blank" href="http://gnome.org/">Gnome desktop environment</a> that Zorin OS uses by default.<img src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2023/08/zorin-os-review-10.png" />Zorin OS Review - Settings<h2>Web Browsing</h2>When it comes to web browsing, the included Firefox web browser, which is generally the default browser on the majority of Linux desktops is included. There's even a custom search page for Zorin OS.I don't quite get why the search font has to be so massive but hey, to each their own.<img src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2023/08/zorin-os-review-12.png" />Zorin OS Review - Web Browsing<h2>Performance</h2>During my testing, Zorin OS Core and Ultimate running the Gnome desktop environment, a terminal, the file manager and Firefox with two tabs clocks clocked in at about 1.3-1.5 gigs of ram on average.It definitely feels like a better performing Zorin OS than prior versions. It seems to have lost the sluggishness I used to experience with Zorin. I'd love to hear your personal experiences, so please do leave a comment below and share.<h2>Conclusion</h2>Zorin OS Ultimate and Core are very elegant interpretations of the Gnome desktop and with the performance improvements, it feels pretty snappy compared to previous releases. I didn't experience any hiccups or issues during my testing and it seemed to handle whatever I threw at it without issue.If you are looking for a slick Gnome based distro, I'd recommend giving it a try and seeing if it suits your needs. Not sure? Check out our <a target="_blank" href="https://www.cmscritic.com/zorin-os-lite-review-15-1-version/">Zorin OS Lite Review</a> (XFCE based) and see if it suits your needs.You can download Zorin OS here: <a target="_blank" href="https://zorinos.com/">https://zorinos.com/</a>

Zorin OS Review - 15.1 Ultimate and Core Editions

techcto2

Zorin OS Lite is a new XFCE edition of the popular Linux distribution. The main desktop environment we're accustomed to seeing with Zorin OS is Gnome but recently, they decided to start offering a Lite edition as well - a smart move that is sure to expand their install base.For this review, I'll take you through Zorin OS Lite and show you around. If you want to see what the Gnome edition, read my <a target="_blank" href="https://www.cmscritic.com/zorin-os-review/">Zorin OS Review</a>, which I just just updated for 15.1 Ultimate and Core.Installation of Zorin OS hasn't changed with the Lite edition and there's not much to see other than the standard stuff so I won't focus on that aspect, just know that it went off without a hitch.<h2>The Desktop</h2>Zorin OS Lite uses the <a target="_blank" href="https://xfce.org/">XFCE desktop environment</a> and the developers have definitely done a great job of keeping the look and feel of Zorin OS pretty consistent. It's almost hard to tell it's not Gnome.<img src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2023/08/zorin-os-review-1.png" />Zorin OS Lite Review - The XFCE DesktopJust like Zorin OS Core and Ultimate, there are also a number of desktop layout options included, which we'll take a look at in a moment.The menu, which you'll find in the bottom left, is well laid out and shows the default applications. The third party apps installed are the same ones you'd find in any other edition of Zorin OS. The only difference here are the DE specific ones (ie: Gnome desktop comes with it's own set of default apps as does XFCE).  In other word's, you'll find differences in the terminal, file manager and settings but apps like Firefox, etc are all standard in each edition.<img src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2023/08/zorin-os-lite-review-1.png" />Zorin OS Lite Review - The Menu<h2>Zorin Appearance</h2>Just like the Ultimate and Core editions, Zorin OS Lite includes the Zorin Appearance app which allows you to modify the theme, fonts and desktop layouts.<h3>Desktop Layouts</h3>Let's take a look at the different desktop layouts offered in the Lite edition now. I've put together a gallery below for you showing them all off.<img src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2023/08/zorin-os-lite-review-3-1.png" /><img src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2023/08/zorin-os-lite-review-4-1.png" /><img src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2023/08/zorin-os-lite-review-5-1.png" /><img src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2023/08/zorin-os-lite-review-6-1.png" />Zorin OS Lite Review - Desktop Layouts<h3>Theme Options</h3>In addition to the desktop layouts, you can also select between light and dark themes as well as a new option which allows your desktop to automatically switch between light and dark modes depending on the time of day (which you can set). This is intended to be easy on the eyes and reduce eye strain.<img src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2023/08/zorin-os-lite-review-7.png" />Zorin OS Lite Review - Zorin Appearance<h2>File Management</h2>The included file manager is Thunar which is the default for XFCE. It's themed nicely (I particularly like it in dark mode) and is a fantastic file manager.<img src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2023/08/zorin-os-lite-review-8.png" />Zorin OS Lite - File Management<h2>Settings</h2>Settings for your system can be found within the Settings tool. Here's you'll find everything from display and bluetooth options to wifi and more.<img src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2023/08/zorin-os-lite-review-9.png" />Zorin OS Lite Review - SettingsThere are also a number of nice included backgrounds for your desktop should you wish to change it to something other than the default. You can find these by right clicking on the desktop and choosing desktop settings.<img src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2023/08/zorin-os-lite-review-12.png" />Zorin OS Lite Review - Backgrounds<h2>Oops, found a mistake!</h2>I did find one mistake but chance while I was exploring Zorin OS Lite. When I went to click on the XFCE Terminal within the menu, it launched the XFCE terminal preferences instead.<img src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2023/08/zorin-os-lite-review-10.png" />Zorin OS Lite Review - XFCE Terminal PreferencesThis is due to a misplaced --preferences flag that has been added by mistake within the menu as you can see below. It's a minor mistake but one to be aware of and it's easy to change. Just remove --prefern<img src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2023/08/zorin-os-lite-review-11.png" />Zorin OS Lite Review - XFCE Terminal - Minor Bug<h2>Conclusion</h2>Overall, this new Lite edition is very slick and well put together. It's definitely one of the better looking XFCE desktops I've seen and I'm impressed with how the devs managed to match it up with the other edition's look and feel.Performance wise, I found everything fast, even when running multiple apps at a time with numerous tabs open in Firefox. It just works well and I highly suggest giving it a try if you love XFCE.You can download your own copy of Zorin OS Lite here: <a target="_blank" href="https://zorinos.com/">https://zorinos.com/</a>Don't forget to check out our <a target="_blank" href="https://www.cmscritic.com/zorin-os-review/">Zorin OS Review</a> to see what the Gnome edition looks like.

Zorin OS Lite Review - 15.1 Lite Edition

Elementary OS is a Linux distribution based on Ubuntu that features the custom developed Pantheon desktop environment. One of the key aspects, aside from the  unique look and feel, are the custom coded apps and paid app store that are available with Elementary.  Today, we're going to take a look at the  whole picture in this Elementary OS Review.I'm not going to get into the Installation process here as it's  pretty much identical with every other Linux distro out there and there's not much to see. It worked without issue in all of my testing on multiple devices so I'm going to call it stable and solid.<h2>Elementary OS Review – The Desktop</h2>On  boot-up, we're greeted with the Elementary OS Pantheon desktop, which you can tell took inspiration from Mac OS. That's not a bad thing  however as many people are fond of the look and feel and it just works.<img src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2023/08/elementary-os-review-1.png" />Elementary OS Review - The Desktop (Elementary OS 5.1)<h2>Welcome Screen</h2>There is now a new welcome screen with the recent 5.1 release. It walks you through some basic options such as enabling location reporting, setting up Night Light which reduces eye strain at specific times and more.<img src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2023/08/elementary-os-review-01.png" />Elementary OS Review - New Welcome ScreenAlong the top we have the Applications menu on the left, the date centered in the top panel and the system tray on the right side. At the bottom, the dock where you can launch and pin apps that you use most frequently.<img src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2023/08/elementary-os-review-2.png" />Elementary OS Review - The Menu and Dock<h2>The Applications</h2>When it comes to the default apps, the developers tend to go with  those ones that are geared towards simplicity and minimalism. For  example, the default web browser that is installed is Epiphany.<img src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2023/08/elementary-os-review-8.png" />Elementary OS Review - The Web Browser (Epiphany)The issue here, however, is that this web browser simply isn't good enough by today's standards. It froze up on numerous websites I tried it on causing the whole system to lock up.While it's not a terrible web browser, it's certainly not something that's commonly used or up to par when compared to the standard Firefox  and Chrome/Chromium browsers. Sure, you can install different ones from  the app store but I think it's a waste to install something most new users are going to find less than adequate. Epiphany is not in the same league as the big boys and is likely going to not be able to correctly be able to display complex sites as well.<h2>Email</h2>Originally forked from Geary, Mail is now developed under the  Elementary banner and is slowly being rewritten to allow for more robust capabilities (<a target="_blank" href="https://www.reddit.com/r/elementaryos/comments/8a7nc0/pantheon_mailgeary/">source</a>) but it's suitable for most users.<img src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2023/08/mail.png" />Elementary OS Review - MailOther included apps are Video, Music, Files, Calendar, Terminal and  Photos to name a few. All of these are custom to Elementary OS.<h2>System Settings</h2>Taking a look at the system settings, we see there are numerous icons to help you configure your new environment:<img src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2023/08/elementary-os-review-3.png" />Elementary OS Review - System Settings<h2>Limited Options?</h2>While system settings do exist, the one thing that I personally dislike is the limited flexibility of the environment. The entire distro focuses too much on restricting flexibility with the pretense that it's helping users. The issue, however, is that it's not allowing new users to experience one of the best benefits to using Linux - variety and customization.An example of this is the fact that you simply cannot theme Elementary with any of the default tools without installing a third party (and unsupported) app such as <a target="_blank" href="https://github.com/elementary-tweaks/elementary-tweaks">Elementary Tweaks</a>.For example; take a look at the limited selections available when you click on Desktop within System Settings.<img src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2023/08/elementary-os-review---10.png" /><img src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2023/08/elementary-os-review---11.png" />Elementary OS Review - Desktop SettingsAs you can see above, you can change two toggles and the text size and that's it for appearance options.<img src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2023/08/elementary-os-review---9.png" />Elementary OS Review - Changing the BackgroundYou can also change the background, but that's about it.Some may disagree on this but I feel like Elementary is trying too hard to be like Apple - limiting people to very few choices because they feel that it's for the greater good of the user and that the user shouldn't have flexibility because they might break something.Part of Linux is about breaking something. In fact, breaking something is one of the only ways people learn how to do things. Look at Windows, it's breaking all the time and most of what I learned came from fixing things. Believe me, Mac OS has just as many issues so let's not assume that because things are limited, breaking won't occur but one shouldn't hold people back from discovering what their OS can do, otherwise we're just encouraging sheep to join the flock.Now that I've got that off my chest, let's continue.<h2>Additional System Settings</h2>There are a few key items here that I feel need to be pointed out, notably Parental Controls and Online Accounts.Online Accounts only provides operating system integration for FastMail, Last.fm and Email which is pretty limiting.<img src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2023/08/elementary-os-review---12.png" />Elementary OS Review - Online AccountsParental controls are also available within Elementary OS and it's a great addition.<img src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2023/08/parental-controls.png" />Elementary OS Review - Parental Controls<h2>AppCenter</h2>AppCenter is Elementary OS' answer to a software store. It's one of  the only one's I've seen that functions on a Pay-What-You-Want model.<img src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2023/08/appcenter.png" />Elementary OS Review - App CenterThis has actually worked out quite well for the Elementary OS team  and there are now plenty of developers offering paid apps through the  store. You can, of course, also download free ones, not everything is  paid (just to be clear).Here's what the team had to say about the AppCenter:<blockquote>AppCenter is our built-in app store where users can download free and  paid apps that are purpose-built for elementary OS. With AppCenter we’re  doing things a bit differently from our competitors.</blockquote><blockquote>First, every  single app in AppCenter is open source because we firmly believe in the  world-changing power of freely-licensed code and open source software.  Second, all paid apps are offered with a developer-provided suggested  price, but are ultimately pay-what-you-want. Users choose what to  pay — if anything at all — when they download paid apps.</blockquote><h2>Issues I've Encountered</h2>For some reason, the recent 5.1 update seems to have caused more issues than previous releases for me. I found the system freezing up more often than prior releases.I also noticed that when I went to mirror my display to my TV via HDMI, everything scaled to twice the size and wouldn't display correctly no wonder what I tried. Furthermore, I couldn't get sound to output properly either, and finally I just gave up trying.<h2>Elementary OS Review – My Conclusions</h2>First let me state that the intent of these reviews is to cover the quick and dirty basics that a new user will experience on first use. They are not power user reviews or benchmarked ones. My goal is to give those new to the OS a general overview and some points to consider.There's not much that a new user to Linux can actually customize in Elementary OS. While they do offer easy-to-use apps and an interface that is simple and easy to use, as I mentioned,  I found it quite limiting in capabilities without replacing major apps with better and more mainstream options from the AppCenter. Epiphany seemed to do an OK job but it doesn't support extensions. It does, however, offer Firefox Sync capabilities but it's just not good enough in my opinion.I feel like the Elementary team went a bit too far in being  restrictive with the OS but at the same time, limiting things is something Apple has turned into a successful experience and given that Elementary seems to take inspiration from Apple; perhaps it's not a bad thing. I wouldn't recommend trying to use Elementary if you are like me and love customizing things because you won't be satisfied. If you want a “just works” OS and aren't concerned about this, it's a decent option.I'm giving it a 3/5 on the basis that it's a bit too limiting for new users and with the recent 5.1 update, I experienced more freeze-ups and annoyances than before. I'm basing this on what it comes with by default. Is it a great choice for the minimalist? Absolutely.I'd rather recommend something like <a target="_blank" href="https://www.cmscritic.com/ubuntu-mate-review/">Ubuntu Mate</a>, <a target="_blank" href="https://www.cmscritic.com/mx-linux-review/">MX Linux</a>, or <a target="_blank" href="https://www.cmscritic.com/reviews/solus-review/">Solus</a>.Interested in trying it out for yourself? <a target="_blank" href="https://elementary.io/">Grab it from here</a>. What do you like about Elementary OS?

Elementary OS Review

mike-johnston

<a target="_blank" href="https://flextype.org/">Flextype</a> is an open source flat file CMS that was developed in 2018 by <a target="_blank" href="https://romanenko.digital/">Sergey Romanenko</a>. It's purpose is to provide a lean, open source solution without the complexities found in many other content management systems. Today, we're going to take a look at Flextype and see what it's made of and what the administrative interface looks like.Before I get started, let me just explain a bit more about Flextype for those who are unfamiliar. If you aren't familiar with the concept of a flat file CMS, what it means is that this system does not require a database but rather stores everything in files within a directory structure. This may not be suitable for every type of website; such as one with thousands of complex pages; but it does work for the majority of them. To learn more about flat file CMS and how they work, read my <a target="_blank" href="https://www.cmscritic.com/static-site-generators-vs-flat-file-cms-is-there-a-difference/">Static Site Generators vs Flat File CMS post</a>.The advantage, of course, is that should you need to change hosting providers, it simply requires you to zip up the contents of your website and extract them somewhere else. No messy database exports to deal with. There are numerous flat file CMS out there (see our <a target="_blank" href="https://www.cmscritic.com/flat-file-cms/">Flat File CMS list</a> for instance) and Flextype is simply one of the options.Flextype uses a number of technologies to achieve it's simplicity and overall functionality.Some of these key technologies include:<ul><li><a target="_blank" href="http://www.slimframework.com/">Slim PHP</a>: Framework for powerful web applications and APIs.</li><li><a target="_blank" href="https://twig.symfony.com/">Twig Templating</a>: Flexible, fast, and secure template engine for PHP.</li><li><a target="_blank" href="https://www.doctrine-project.org/">Doctrine Project</a>: A set of decoupled and reusable PHP libraries for powerful web applications.</li><li><a target="_blank" href="https://thephpleague.com/">The PHP League</a>: The League of Extraordinary PHP Packages well tested and using modern coding standards.</li><li><a target="_blank" href="https://respect-validation.readthedocs.io/">Respect Validation</a>: The most awesome validation engine ever created for PHP.</li><li><a target="_blank" href="https://github.com/thunderer/Shortcode">Thunderer Shortcode</a>: Advanced shortcode (BBCode) parser and engine for PHP.</li></ul>Now that we've covered that, let's move on with the review.<h2>Getting Started with Flextype</h2>To get started with Flextype, you'll need to download the latest release from their <a target="_blank" href="https://github.com/flextype/flextype/releases">GitHub repository</a>. Once downloaded, simply upload the zipped file to your web host and extract it. Copy the files and directories within the extracted directory to /public_html/ if you want everything accessible on your root domain and visit the domain to get started.You should see something like this:<img src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2023/08/flextype-review---1.png" />The initial welcome pageIf for some reason you don't see this, you may want to check out their <a target="_blank" href="https://docs.flextype.org/en/basics/requirements">requirements page</a> to make sure your server is compatible and / or has the right requirements installed.<h3>Creating an admin user</h3>Once you've managed to sort things out and are ready, visit the admin panel by following the link on the homepage. This will prompt you to create a user account for the CMS.<img src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2023/08/flextype-review---create-a-user-account.png" />Creating a user account<h2>The Flextype Admin Panel</h2>Once you've created your user account and logged in, you'll be greeted with the admin panel.<img src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2023/08/flextype-review---the-admin-panel.png" />Flextype Admin PanelAs you can see, the admin panel has been designed to minimize complexity. It's very simple, straight forward and easy to navigate within. Let's check out some of it's functionality.First, we'll take a look at Entries.<img src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2023/08/flextype-admin---entries.png" />Flextype EntriesClicking on the three dots to the right of the Home entry, you'll get a context menu where you can add, edit, preview, delete, etc. Clicking on edit will launch the editor.<img src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2023/08/flextype-editor.png" />Flextype EditorFrom here, you can make modifications to the individual entries (in this case the home page) and change some of it's settings. The integrated editor works well and provides plenty of functionality to do the job.<img src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2023/08/flextype-entry-settings.png" />Flextype Entry SettingsWithin the settings you can modify pretty much everything about your entry, from the meta description to the template that's being used for it, visibility, the Url and more.The next tab in line is the media tab which, you guessed it, let's you upload media to be used with your entry. The odd part here, however, is that once you upload it and go back to the editor to insert it, there's no means to select the image.Instead, you have to copy the URL from the media upload tab to your clipboard, switch to the editor tab, click the image insert button and paste it in.<img src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2023/08/flextype-editor---inserting-media.png" />Flextype Editor - Inserting an Image into the editorPersonally, I feel that this method is a bit cumbersome and can be improved on and I'd recommend the developers take it into consideration. It's a minor inconvenience, but since Flextype is focused improving productivity and ease of use, it's definitely something that needs correcting.Moving along. On the source tab you'll fine the source for the entry which you can modify and save if you prefer working with the code rather than a WYSIWYG editor.<img src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2023/08/flextype---source.png" />Flextype Entries - Viewing the sourceNext up are Fieldsets. According to the <a target="_blank" href="https://docs.flextype.org/en/fieldsets/fieldsets">Flextype documentation</a>, fieldsets can best be described as configuration files written in YAML for Admin Panel to  create publish forms. They establish your content model. Essentially, a  schema that defines your fields, data types, and the interface used to  manage them.You can create new fieldsets and modify their source just as you would an entry. Here's a look at the structure:<img src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2023/08/flextype-fieldsets.png" />Flextype FieldsetsSnippets are rather self explanatory. You use them for certain things such as inserting your Google Analytics code into your website and other types of code that you'd typically find within your websites' header.<img src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2023/08/flextype-snippets.png" />Flextype SnippetsUnder the Tools menu you will find three items; information about your server, a cache tab where you can clear your cache and a registry tab showing all of the keys that Flextype uses. I won't get into all of them but here's what the cache page looks like. As you can see, it's very simple and just lets you clear your cache should you need to. Cache settings themselves are a bit further on and I'll show you those in a moment.<img src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2023/08/flextype-tools---cache.png" />Flextype ToolsUnder the Settings tab is where you'll find the main settings for your CMS (and website). Everything from your site title and description to managing your robots.txt file are done from within this page.<img src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2023/08/flextype-settings.png" />Flextype SettingsYou can also manage your cache settings from the cache section of the settings tab. Here's how it looks:<img src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2023/08/flextype-cache-settings.png" />Flextype Cache SettingsLast but not least, there's one killer feature that you won't want to miss. Dark Mode.<img src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2023/08/flextype-dark-mode.png" /><h2>Conclusion</h2>A solid new entry into the Flat File CMS space, Flextype accomplishes what it set out to do; offer simplicity and ease of use to users. Where it's lacking at the moment is in themes and plugins. While I'm sure most developers won't require them for the majority of websites, they do make life easier for non-developers that are interested in using the CMS.There are links to a plugins page on the Flextype website but it's a bit weird how they have it organized. Plugins are listed under issues for some reason instead of just in an organized manner on homepage itself. I'm sure there was some logic to it but it's not super obvious unless you are stubborn and tend to click through every link like I am. You can find them here: https://github.com/flextype/plugins/issuesThemes are organized in a similar manner and you can find them here: https://github.com/flextype/themes/issues. I'd recommend a restructuring to make these easier to locate in the future.I'm looking forward to seeing what the future brings for Flextype. There is no doubt the development team is on the right path, they just need to keep plugging away and hopefully, expanding their community as the word spreads.You can check out Flextype yourself on their website: <a target="_blank" href="https://flextype.org/">https://flextype.org/</a>

Flextype Review

Write.as is a no-frills ad-free publishing platform that lets you write down your thoughts, even if you don’t have an audience in mind. You can keep your posts private or share them anonymously, but you can also create a public blog. That being said, Write.as isn’t suitable for more complex blogging, content marketing, or building a website. Read on for our full review on Write.as below.<h2>Getting Started</h2>Getting started with Write.as is easy. You don’t even need to register for a member account. Simply click on the “Start Writing” button on the homepage to create a blog post without an actual blog.When you publish your post, it will open up in a web browser with a unique and anonymous URL. You can keep this URL to yourself or share it with others. Write.as automatically saves everything that you write, regardless of whether you have an account with them or not.<img src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2023/08/write-1691172472611.png" />When you’re ready to start a blog, select “Get Started” to begin your free trial or buy the Pro plan. Either way, you don’t have to give your email address (but you can if you want to). Once you sign up, you can sync your anonymous posts to your account.<h2>Design</h2>Write.as has a clean design and interface, with zero unnecessary features. The text editor lets you write in plain text only, and you can choose from just three different fonts (serif, sans-serif, monospace). There’s also a word count function and a light/dark toggle.<img src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2023/08/write-1691172472698.png" />To format your text, you need to use <a target="_blank" href="https://daringfireball.net/projects/markdown/">Markdown</a>, a plain text formatting syntax that lets you add headers, bold text, links, images, and so on. There’s no way to preview the post, which is annoying.Write.as is committed to simplicity, but it still lets you customize your blog. With Write.as, you can:<ul><li>Change the title of your blog.</li><li>Add a blog description.</li><li>Pick a preferred URL (write.as/username/, username.writeas.com, or your own domain if you’re on the Pro plan).</li><li>Add static pages like an “About Me” or “Contact”.</li><li>Group your posts with hashtags.</li><li>Select your desired publicity level (unlisted, private, password-protected, or public).</li><li>Customize how plain text renders on your blog (Markdown or MathJax).</li><li>Enable custom CSS and Javascript.</li></ul>Change the format of your site from a blog to novel (oldest posts, with no dates, are shown first) or notebook (latest posts, with no dates, are shown first).<h2>Usability and Support</h2>Write.as is minimalist in design and is therefore super easy to navigate. When you log into your account, Write.as brings you to a blank page so that you can start writing immediately.In terms of support, Write.as has detailed writing guides that cover everything from sharing your posts to formatting quotes to adding images to your blog. There’s also a Write.as <a target="_blank" href="https://discuss.write.as/">community forum</a>.<img src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2023/08/write-1691172472758.png" />You can also ask for help on social media (Write.as is on Twitter, Instagram, and LinkedIn) or via email (Write.as support hours are Monday to Friday, 9 AM to 5 PM Eastern US time). Customer support representatives typically respond very promptly — I received a reply to my query within four hours on a Monday morning.<h2>Key Features</h2>Write.as focuses heavily on privacy and security, which is why all blogs are unlisted by default. However, you can make your blog public and cross-post your posts to other social media sites (like Twitter or Tumblr) or read.write.as, a separate “read stream”.You can also see the number of people that visit your blog and where they come from, as well as determine your most popular posts, via the statistics function.<img src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2023/08/write-1691172472813.png" />With Write.as, you can write a post via email and then send it to your blog. In this case, the subject line becomes the title of the post, and the body of the email becomes the post. This feature, which is only available to paying members, is useful if you want to post to your blog from your phone (Write.as has an app for Android and iOS, but they don’t support blogging).Speaking of email, Pro users get access to Write.as Letters, a beta feature that lets readers subscribe to your blog updates. New posts are sent out in the form of a beautiful email 15 minutes after publishing or when scheduled.Pro members can also host their photos via Snap.as, a Chrome and Firefox browser extension. The extension pops up a window to drag a photo to, irrespective of where on the web you are.When the photo is uploaded, the Markdown for it is copied to your clipboard. You can then paste it wherever you want the photo to appear.Additionally, <a target="_blank" href="https://snap.as/">Snap.as</a> lets you create shareable photo galleries and photo essays. Here is an example from Write.as founder’s, Matt Baer’s Snap.as account:<img src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2023/08/write.png" />Write.as also offers <a target="_blank" href="https://submit.as/">Submit.as</a>, a paid add-on that enables you to collect submissions, review them, and then publish them straight onto an online publication.<h2>Pricing</h2>Write.as has three pricing tiers:<ul><li>Free</li><li>Pro</li><li>Teams.</li></ul>The free plan brings with it basic publishing features, total anonymity, and unlimited monthly views. It supports Markdown and MathJax and lets you publish three Write.as posts per month to social media channels like Twitter and Tumblr. However, you only get one free blog (you can purchase as many additional blogs as you want for just $12 a year).Write.as Pro ($5 per month when billed annually or $6 month-to-month) comes with a built-in audience, full customization features, and Snap.as image hosting. It also gets you three free blogs and early access to new features.Teams ($9 per user per month) supports unlimited writers and group publishing. It also comes with priority support. However, it doesn’t let you add extra blogs, cross-post to social media sites, or publish to read.write.as. If you have multiple teams, Write.as can create a custom enterprise plan for you.Payment options include credit card, PayPal, and cryptocurrencies. There’s a 14-day refund policy.<h2>Final Verdict</h2>Write.as is a distraction-free publishing platform that is less about the social media aspect of writing (the likes and follows that we all inadvertently seek) and more about getting your thoughts down fast. The platform’s simplicity is refreshing, but not ideal for complex blogging, especially if you don’t know any code. On the other hand, because <a target="_blank" href="https://write.as/">Write.as</a> is open source, technically-minded individuals can change it to suit their needs.

Write.as Review - No Frills, Ad-Free Publishing

laura-martisiute

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