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Concrete5 Article

After the <a href="https://www.cmscritic.com/concrete5-5.7-released-and-updated/" target="_blank">major release of Concrete5 5.7</a>, the Concrete5 team has just unveiled a new batch of updates concerning Grid Framework improvements, theme customization, and so forth.
<a href="http://www.concrete5.org/" target="_blank">Concrete5</a> is a popular open-source content management system with a reputation for flexibility and its strong community. So strong in fact, that Concrete5 has just been awarded the <a href="https://www.cmscritic.com/2014-best-free-php-cms/" target="_blank">2014 People's Choice CMS Award for Best Free PHP CMS</a>.
Let's take a look at what version 5.7.2.1 of Concrete5 brings to the table.
<h2>Feature Block Linking, Improved Public Profiles &amp; More</h2>
According to Concrete5, this new version, “fixes lots of bugs, enables linking in the feature block, improves grid framework support, adds Zurb Foundation grid support for theme developers, improves and fixes public profiles and much more.”
Here's what you can expect to find:
<ul>
<li>Feature blocks can now link to pages and external links.</li>
<li>Improvements to Grid Framework for use with frameworks that require two class names on columns.</li>
<li>Theme Developer Feature Update: Zurb Foundation Grid Framework now available.</li>
<li>Improvements to Theme Customizer for developers who don’t want to create multiple presets, they just want to make their theme customizable.</li>
<li>Members directory has been brought back for sites with public profiles.</li>
<li>Added Most Popular to Remote marketplace search results.</li>
</ul>
Concrete5 5.7.2.1 hasn't forgotten about developers either:
<ul>
<li>Added GridFrameworkServiceProvider and GridFrameworkManager. New Manager class will be used going forward. Allows easy binding and registration of driver-based classes.</li>
<li>Miscellaneous content importer improvements.</li>
<li>Updates to MenuItem classes for more flexibility.</li>
<li>Attempting to set time limit to zero when adding packages.</li>
<li>New LinkAbstractor class now contains methods used to abstract links and import content (instead of being included in the content block controller).</li>
<li>Miscellaneous fixes to content importer and content swap.</li>
</ul>
For more information on this new update, <a href="http://www.concrete5.org/about/blog/core-releases/concrete5-5-7-2-1-now-available/" target="_blank">check out the official blog announcement</a>, as well as the <a href="http://www.concrete5.org/documentation/developers/5.7/background/version-history/5-7-2-1/" target="_blank">full release notes</a>.
And of course, you can explore more of <a href="/products/concrete5/" target="_blank">Concrete5 via our CMS Directory</a>.

Concrete5 5.7.2.1 Released With Numerous Features

mike-johnston

The Concrete5 Marketplace consists of a <a href="http://www.concrete5.org/marketplace/themes/" target="_blank">Themes marketplace</a> and an <a href="http://www.concrete5.org/marketplace/addons/" target="_blank">Add-ons Marketplace</a>. Both have now been upgraded to include dedicated Concrete5 5.7 sections.
The open-source content management system has a strong history and a firm community. Recently, <a href="/concrete5-5.7-released-and-updated/" target="_blank">version 5.7 was released, and then swiftly upgraded</a> with a further two minor updates.
From amongst these latest updates to the marketplace though, merchants offering add-ons and themes within the Concrete5 marketplace have enhanced capabilities. For example, developers can sell 30 day support windows and offer upgrades from one add-on/theme to another.
<img src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2023/08/sshot-13700x0.png" />
Here's a video explaining all the new Concrete5 Marketplace upgrades:
<iframe src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/LonNkW_KQ8I?feature=oembed" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen="allowfullscreen"></iframe>
The announcement was made via the <a href="http://www.concrete5.org/about/blog/core-releases/some-updates-to-concrete5-org/" target="_blank">Concrete5 blog</a>.
To learn more, check out <a href="/products/concrete5/" target="_blank">Concrete5 via our CMS Directory</a>.

Concrete5 Introduces Marketplace Improvements

The <a href="http://www.concrete5.org/" target="_blank"> Concrete5 </a>  team has been busy recently, releasing version 5.7, before updating it twice. They've also released some developer resources for anybody wanting to delve into the code.
Concrete5 is an open-source content management system with a reputation for flexibility and its strong community.
Version 5.7 brought about a myriad of updates, and Concrete5 has continued to add to it since. The result? A long, long list of new stuff for Concrete5 users to enjoy.
<h2>“Deep Changes” with Concrete5 5.7</h2>
Concrete5 5.7 has enhancements for a long list of areas. Users will find that content editing, theme customization, and so forth have all been optimized.
Regarding the release, Concrete5 CTO Andrew Embler had this to say:
<blockquote>“For the first time in 6 years, we’ve decided to not put backward compatibility first and foremost. We really wanted to have a clean slate, so we could embrace ideas that involved deep changes to the system.”</blockquote>
Here's a breakdown of what's new with Concrete5.
<h3>Editing</h3>
<ul>
<li>A completely new layout engine allows for inline editing of content, layouts and style customization. Blocks can be dragged into the page and easily rearranged.</li>
<li>Inline content editing uses the Redactor editor, a beautiful editor with deep integration to concrete5, and full bootstrap 3 interface integration.</li>
<li>The Dashboard user interface is completely updated. Navigating it is much easier, and the interface is much more attractive.</li>
<li>concrete5’s user interface is now powered by Bootstrap 3.</li>
</ul>
<h3>Themes and Blocks</h3>
<ul>
<li>Concrete5 now ships with the all-new and better looking Elemental theme.</li>
<li>The concrete5 Dashboard, main toolbar and Elemental theme are all fully responsive.</li>
<li>Themes can optionally refer to grid frameworks, and can have full grid support built-in. Layouts have been substantially updated to support these grid frameworks (as well as be fully responsive.)</li>
</ul>
<h3>Pages and Architecture</h3>
<ul>
<li>Page types and page templates are now two separate concepts. Page types refer to pages as objects – Blog Entry, Empty Page, Project, Product – and page templates refer to templates that actually appear in themes. The same page type can be run in multiple themes.</li>
<li>concrete5’s Composer is now a very flexible form builder that can route attributes and blocks into different page templates. Each page type has its own custom instance of Composer.</li>
<li>A Feed Object is available in the Dashboard (and created through the Page List block), giving Page Lists the ability to create RSS feeds that are permalinked.</li>
</ul>
<h3>Files</h3>
<ul>
<li>A completely new image editor is now built-in. Resize and crop images, and add filters.</li>
<li>File manager thumbnails are now completely extensible. Multiple thumbnails at different breakpoints can power the picture tag in a theme that supports it.</li>
<li>File storage locations are now pluggable. An adapter for Amazon S3 is coming shortly.</li>
</ul>
<h3>Conversations</h3>
<ul>
<li>Conversations are now built-in, with the Conversations block replacing the Guestbook block. Conversations is a reusable, object-oriented way to build conversations throughout a site, and use the same system for powering a guestbook as ultimately powering a forum. Conversations features threading, asynchronous loading, file attachments, spam filtering, flagging, rating and more.</li>
</ul>
And that's not even half of it. To find out more about Concrete5 5.7, <a href="http://www.concrete5.org/documentation/background/version_history/5-7-0/" target="_blank"> check out the release notes</a>.
<h2>Developer Resources, Versions 5.7.0.1 &amp; 5.7.0.3</h2>
Since the release of version 5.7, Concrete5 has rolled out some <a href="http://www.concrete5.org/about/blog/concrete5-sightings/5-7-developer-resources/" target="_blank">developer resources</a>, along with two patches in the form of <a href="http://www.concrete5.org/documentation/background/version_history/5-7-0-1/" target="_blank">versions 5.7.0.1</a> and <a href="http://www.concrete5.org/documentation/background/version_history/5-7-0-3/" target="_blank"> 5.7.0.3</a>.
That's a lot of activity to keep up with, so here are all the highlights, along with the download link to the very latest Concrete5 release.
<h3>Concrete 5.7 Architecture Video (Developer Resource)</h3>
<iframe src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/vcIIM5ZgzP8?feature=oembed" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen="allowfullscreen"></iframe>
<h3>Feature Updates</h3>
<ul>
<li>Broke out debug settings into two separate settings: Display errors and Error Detail level (message vs. stack trace.) Defaulting to show error messages in a nice way (not the detailed stack trace).</li>
</ul>
<h3>Behavioral Improvements</h3>
<ul>
<li>Helpful error notice for users attempting to use topics attribute without a topic tree created</li>
<li>Improved page list and page, users and file date filtering with time zone support</li>
<li>Help overlay in dashboard starts lower, doesn’t obscure default buttons.</li>
<li>Improved My Account Navigation</li>
<li>Page drafts no longer say “Warning, this is a system page” when you try and delete them.</li>
</ul>
<h3>Miscellaneous Improvements</h3>
<ul>
<li>Form submissions “today” now respects user’s local time zone</li>
<li>Fixed some untranslated strings and dates</li>
<li>Added detail error message when attempting to use grid methods on areas in themes that don’t support them.</li>
<li>Fallback to GD if Imagemagick is older than version 6.2.9 (which previously triggered errors)</li>
<li>Context menu on sitemap, file manager and more moves to the right if there isn’t enough room to display top or bottom</li>
</ul>
I told you it was a long list.
The Concrete5 blog has <a href="http://www.concrete5.org/about/blog" target="_blank">all of this information, and much more</a>. Yep, this long list isn't even complete, as the bug fixes are plentiful.
Also, be sure to explore more of <a href="/products/concrete5/" target="_blank"> Concrete5 via our CMS Directory</a>.

Concrete5 5.7 Released and Updated

<a href="http://www.portlandlabs.com/" target="_blank"> PortlandLabs</a>, the company behind <a href="/products/concrete5/" target="_blank"> Concrete5</a> CMS, has released new tools and pricing to serve enterprise organizations that want an easy way to edit their website.
Thanks to a simple point-and-click interface and editing toolbar, Concrete5 has become a popular choice for users who want a CMS that helps manage websites easily. And now, enterprise users can get in on the action.
Let's take a look at what larger companies can now enjoy.
<h2>Internationalization to Centralization</h2>
PortlandLabs have outlined four key tools that make up this enterprise release:
<ul>
<li> Multi-Step Content Workflow:  Enforces custom multi-step, multi-path content approval steps while maintaining concrete5's intuitive editing experience.</li>
<li> Internationalization:  Adds collaboration tools to increase efficiencies for a team managing a multilingual localized web presence.</li>
<li> Centralized Digital Asset Management:  Creates a single source of truth for data that can be repurposed across print, mobile, and multiple micro-sites.</li>
<li> HTML Exporter:  Takes a complete copy of a website’s latest content and creates a set of files that can be hosted on any web server or CDN.</li>
</ul>
Regarding this release, Franz Maruna, PortlandLabs CEO, made these comments:
<blockquote>“These tools, along with our support SLA’s, dedicated hosting, and services really provide a rich set of solutions for organizations considering concrete5 for their web presence. There’s no reason that the user experience of web builders like SquareSpace and Wix can’t be enjoyed by larger organizations with complex needs. With concrete5, we’ve eliminated the gap between publishing and editing for mission critical business websites.”</blockquote>
Many organizations have already used Concrete5 to build public-facing marketing sites and secure intranets, but these new tools will undoubtedly make those projects easier and more powerful.
To accommodate larger websites, Concrete5 boasts a broad permissions model that lets site administrators control access down to individual parts of specific pages on the site. Every change is tracked with versions that can be rolled back.
Yet, Concrete5 users enjoy simplicity more than anything else. Their straightforward user interface and easily accessible editing mode is a stark contrast to the average enterprise CMS. So, it will be interesting to see the response.
For more information, check out the <a href="/products/concrete5/" target="_blank"> Concrete5 website</a>.
Also, be sure to explore more of <a href="/products/concrete5/" target="_blank"> Concrete5 via our CMS Directory</a>.

Concrete5 Releases New Enterprise Tools & Pricing

Concrete5 has finally slapped a <a href="http://www.concrete5.org/about/blog/core-releases/5-7-beta-release-date/" target="_blank"> date on the beta release of version 5.7</a> of their open-source CMS. That date, is July 21st, 2014.
Users of Concrete5 have been waiting a long time to get their hands on version 5.7, particularly because <a href="http://www.concrete5.org/about/blog/core-releases/concrete5-5-6-0-now-available/" target="_blank">version 5.6 was released way back in August 2012</a>.
Concrete5 is a CMS that helps users manage websites easily, via a simple point-and-click interface and editing toolbar.
This announcement also comes a couple of months after Concrete5 gave users a <a href="/concrete5-offer-up-developer-sneak-peak-of-version-5.7/" target="_blank"> developer sneak peek of version 5.7</a>.
<h2>What's on Offer?</h2>
Concrete5 have revealed that version 5.7 will contain the following:
<ul>
<li>New editing UI design.</li>
<li>General code cleanup.</li>
<li>Composer 2.0.</li>
<li>Twitter &amp; Facebook Single Sign On (SSO).</li>
<li>New image editor.</li>
<li>Mobile responsive toolbar.</li>
<li>Multi-file uploading.</li>
<li>Calendar &amp; content scheduling.</li>
<li>iOS /Android App.</li>
<li>New core themes.</li>
</ul>
More updates and further detail on the updates listed above can be <a href="http://www.concrete5.org/about/blog/core-releases/5-7-developer-snapshot-available/" target="_blank">found here</a>.
You can find out more about Concrete5 via their <a href="http://www.concrete5.org/" target="_blank">official website</a>.
Also, be sure to explore more of <a href="/products/concrete5/" target="_blank">Concrete5 via our CMS Directory</a>.

Concrete5 5.7 Beta Release Date Announced

<a href="http://www.concrete5.org/" target="_blank">Concrete5</a> has put together a detailed developer sneak peek video for their upcoming 5.7 version.
The free and open-source CMS allows you to build a variety of website types, including online stores, government websites, small business websites, online magazines, and more.
Below are some of the features of version 5.7 confirmed this week:
<ul>
<li>New jQuery 1.x</li>
<li>JS &amp; CSS precedence loading and minifying</li>
<li>New authentication types</li>
<li>New model view controller approach</li>
<li>Namespaced core (psr4)</li>
<li>Core &amp; Override directory moving to the same level</li>
<li>Docterine and steps towards total ORM</li>
</ul>
To get a real sneak peak at version 5.7, check out the developer sneak peak video below. Included in the video is a brief look at things like the enhanced file manager interface, the improved model view controller system, and much more.
<iframe src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/x_W0lCi-pyo?feature=oembed" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen="allowfullscreen">﻿</iframe>
You can find out more about Concrete5 via their <a href="http://www.concrete5.org/" target="_blank">official website</a>.
Additionally, be sure to check out <a href="/products/concrete5/" target="_blank"> Concrete5 via our CMS Directory</a>.

Concrete5 Offer up Developer Sneak Peak of Version 5.7

If you've been waiting to cast your vote for your favorites in the People's Choice Awards, now is the time to do so.Voting has officially opened and you may now <a href="/cms-critic-awards/">cast your vote</a>! So head on over to our <a href="/cms-critic-awards/">awards page</a> and submit your favorites.If you are in the running, we have created a handy badge you can use to spur interest...Simply download the graphic (shown below) and link it to <a href="/cms-critic-awards/">https://www.cmscritic.com/critics-choice-cms-awards/</a>.For those who missed it, here are the nominees in each category:<h3><a href="/cms-critic-awards/">Best Open Source CMS</a></h3>2013 Nominees ( <a href="/announcing-the-peoples-choice-for-best-open-source-cms-nominees">read the announcement </a>):<ol><li><a target="_blank" href="https://modx.com/">MODx</a></li><li><a target="_blank" href="https://www.dnnsoftware.com/">DNN Platform</a></li><li><a href="/products/liferay">Liferay</a></li><li><a href="/products/processwire/">Processwire</a></li><li><a target="_blank" href="https://e107.org/">e107</a></li></ol><h3><a href="/cms-critic-awards/">Best Free CMS</a></h3>2013 Nominees ( <a href="/announcing-the-peoples-choice-for-best-free-cms-nominees/">read the announcement </a>):<ol><li><a target="_blank" href="https://processwire.com/">Processwire</a></li><li><a target="_blank" href="https://tiki.org/HomePage">Tiki</a></li><li><a href="/products/concrete-cms">Concrete5</a></li><li><a href="/products/wordpress/">WordPress</a></li><li><a href="/products/umbraco/">Umbraco</a></li></ol><h3><a href="/cms-critic-awards/">Best Small to Midsize Business CMS</a></h3>2013 Nominees ( <a href="/announcing-the-people-s-choice-for-best-small-to-midsize-business-cms-nominees/">read the announcement </a>):<ol><li>Adobe Business Catalyst</li><li><a href="/products/ingeniux/">Ingeniux</a></li><li><a href="/products/kentico/">Kentico</a></li><li><a target="_blank" href="https://www.percussion.com/">Percussion</a></li><li><a target="_blank" href="https://www.progress.com/sitefinity-cms">Sitefinity</a></li></ol><h3><a href="/cms-critic-awards/">Best Enterprise CMS</a></h3>2013 Nominees ( <a href="/announcing-the-peoples-choice-for-best-enterprise-cms-nominees/">read the announcement </a>):<ol><li><a target="_blank" href="http://www.adobe.com/solutions/web-experience-management.html">Adobe Experience Manager</a></li><li><a target="_blank" href="https://www.hannonhill.com/products/cascade-cms/index.html">Cascade Server</a></li><li><a target="_blank" href="https://www.optimizely.com/">EpiServer</a></li><li><a href="/products/liferay/">Liferay</a></li><li><a href="/products/sitecore/">Sitecore</a></li></ol><h3><a href="/cms-critic-awards/">Best eCommerce Solution </a> (New for 2013!)</h3>2013 Nominees ( <a href="/announcing-the-people-s-choice-for-best-ecommerce-solution-nominees/">read the announcement </a>):<ol><li>3dcart</li><li>Aspxcommerce</li><li><a href="/products/bigcommerce/">BigCommerce</a></li><li><a target="_blank" href="https://business.adobe.com/products/magento/magento-commerce.html">Magento</a></li><li><a href="/products/shopify/">Shopify</a></li></ol><h3><a href="/cms-critic-awards/">Best Website Builder</a></h3>2013 Nominees ( <a href="/announcing-the-people-s-choice-for-best-website-builder-nominees/">read the announcement </a>):<ol><li>Adobe Business Catalyst</li><li><a target="_blank" href="https://www.jimdo.com/">Jimdo</a></li><li><a href="/products/squarespace/">Squarespace</a></li><li><a target="_blank" href="https://www.ucoz.com/">UCoz</a></li><li><a target="_blank" href="https://www.webydo.com/">Webydo</a></li></ol><h3><a href="/cms-critic-awards/">Best Forum Solution </a> (New for 2013!)</h3>2013 Nominees ( <a href="/announcing-the-peoples-choice-for-best-forum-solution-nominees">read the announcement </a>):<ol><li><a target="_blank" href="http://vanillaforums.org/">Vanilla Forums</a></li><li><a target="_blank" href="http://nodebb.org/">NodeBB</a></li><li><a target="_blank" href="http://www.simplemachines.org/">Simple Machines Forum</a></li><li><a target="_blank" href="https://www.vbulletin.com/">VBulletin</a></li><li><a target="_blank" href="http://www.invisionpower.com/">Invision Power Board (IPBoard)</a></li></ol><h3><a href="/cms-critic-awards/">Best Social Networking Solution</a></h3>2013 Nominees ( <a href="/announcing-the-people-s-choice-for-best-social-networking-solution-nominees/">read the announcement </a>):<ol><li><a target="_blank" href="https://www.dnnsoftware.com/products/evoq-engage">Evoq Social</a></li><li><a target="_blank" href="https://www.phpfox.com/">PHPFox</a></li><li><a target="_blank" href="https://www.oxwall.com/">Oxwall</a></li><li><a target="_blank" href="http://www.socialcore.com">SocialCore</a></li><li><a target="_blank" href="https://socialengine.com/">Social Engine</a></li></ol><h3><a href="/cms-critic-awards/">Best Hosted/Cloud CMS </a> (New for 2013!)</h3><ol><li><a target="_blank" href="http://acquia.com/products-services/acquia-cloud">Acquia Cloud</a></li><li><a target="_blank" href="https://agilitycms.com/">Agility CMS</a></li><li><a target="_blank" href="https://www.paperthin.com/products/commonspot-cms.cfm">CommonSpot</a></li><li>Gutensite</li></ol>Best of luck to all who are in the running!

It's Official! Voting is Now Open for the People's Choice Awards!

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This year has been an amazing one and we've had tons of nominations for all kinds of great projects in all of our categories. Over this month until voting begins on September 1, 2013, we're going to announce the nominees for each category in the awards.  Without further delay, here are this year's Peoples Choice Nominees for Best Free CMS  in our <a href="/cms-critic-awards/"> Critics Choice CMS Awards</a>.
<h3>Processwire</h3>
Build bigger, faster, stronger, easier. ProcessWire is a free PHP5 open source CMS built to save you time and make development fun at any scale. It works the way you do.
<a href="/products/processwire/"> Visit their profile page. </a>
<h3>Tiki</h3>
Tiki is the Free and Open Source Web Application with the most built-in features. So whatever feature you can imagine running in your browser window, chances are Tiki does it.
<a href="/products/tiki-wiki-cms-groupware/"> Visit their profile page. </a>
<h3>Concrete5</h3>
concrete5 is a building material for the web. Working with a web designer or pre-existing theme, a site owner can create and easily change the content and structure of a website.
<a href="/products/concrete5/"> Visit their profile page. </a>
<h3>WordPress</h3>
WordPress CMS started in 2003 with a single bit of code to enhance the typography of everyday writing and with fewer users than you can count on your fingers and toes. Since then it has grown to be the largest self-hosted blogging tool in the world, used on hundreds of thousands of sites and seen by tens of millions of people every day.
<a href="/products/wordpress"> Visit their profile page. </a>
<h3>Umbraco</h3>
Umbraco is an open-source content management system (CMS) platform for publishing content on the World Wide Web and intranets. It is written in C# and deployed on Microsoft based infrastructure. The open-source backend is released under an MIT License while the UI is released under the Umbraco license.
<a href="/products/umbraco"> Visit their profile page. </a>
Congratulations to all of these fabulous nominees. Voting begins on September 1, so be sure to check back and vote for your favorites!

Announcing the Peoples Choice for Best Free CMS Nominees!

This year’s winner of the People’s Choice Award for Best Open Source CMS goes to the ever popular Concrete5!
<img style="max-width:200px" src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2023/08/koken-620x361_muxhsx.png" />
Congratulations to everyone at Concrete5 for their awesome work. It was a hard fought battle with CMS Made Simple for first place but Concrete5 took over in the end and won this year with the most votes.
Concrete5 makes running a website easy.
Go to any page in your site, and an editing toolbar gives you all the controls you need to update your website. No intimidating manuals, no complicated administration interfaces – just point and click.
What can you build with concrete5?
<ul>
<li>Online magazines and newspapers.</li>
<li>eCommerce sites.</li>
<li>Extranets and Intranets.</li>
<li>Government websites.</li>
<li>Small business websites.</li>
<li>Non-profit and organization websites.</li>
<li>Community-based portals.</li>
<li>Church, club, and team websites.</li>
<li>Personal or family homepages.</li>
<li>Marketing-focused sites for a corporation.</li>
<li>Any school, college, or university website.</li>
<li>Many online communities.</li>
<li>Anything else you can dream up!</li>
</ul>
Check out Concrete5 on <a href="http://www.concrete5.org">their website</a> to learn more about this great CMS.
Our runner up for this year was CMS Made Simple, which fought a hard battle and did a commendable job of making Concrete5 work for their win.
This isn’t the end of the awards, however, as the Critic’s Choice portion of the awards which will be selected by CMS Critic will be announced soon.
<ol>
<li>Concrete5</li>
<li>CMS Made Simple</li>
<li>Liferay</li>
<li>ProcessWire</li>
<li>Textpattern</li>
</ol>
Thanks to all for really driving hard for the votes and don’t forget to stay tuned to our site to find out which of our five shortlisted competitors below takes the <a href="/cms-critic-awards/">Critic’s Choice Award</a>, to be announced soon.

People's Choice Winner for Best Open Source CMS is...

We last reviewed Concrete5 in 2009 when it came onto the scene with a bang. Designers everywhere reacted to this new CMS with mixed feelings. Most of the people who tried it, were blown away and loved it. Today, we've gone back and put together a more current Concrete5 Review for you.
There were a lot of WordPress and Joomla fans who were unimpressed with the way the system was being marketed at the time. Concrete5's fearless leader, <a href="/concrete5-founder-franz-maruna-interview/" target="_blank">Franz Maruna</a>, was quick to point out that his system was better than the big two (Drupal and Joomla) and wasn't mincing words about it. This, of course, set off a lot of people on a “how dare you?” tirade that only served to market Concrete5 further and peak people's interest.
Whatever side you were/are on, there is no denying that 2 years later, this system is thriving and still seeing large numbers of people converting to it.
How does Concrete5 stack up? Let's take a look.
First off, Concrete5 has a couple of options for those interested in using it. You can get it hosted on their own servers for pricing ranging from $45 / month and up. Alternatively, you can just download it and put it on your own server. It's always good to have options.
<h3>Working with the System</h3>
When you first use Concrete5, you will be presented with your standard page once you've logged into their admin interface. Being that Concrete5 was primarily designed to allow you to work with the page as you see it, all of the tools are available in a toolbar along the top of your site.
<img src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2023/08/screen-shot-2011-04-16-at-6_52_41-am-580x322.png" alt="Concrete5 Review" />
Clicking on the Edit Page button on the toolbar enables edit mode which lets you begin working with the content and layout.
Edit mode is shown below:
<img src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2023/08/screen-shot-2011-04-16-at-6_53_23-am-580x299.png" alt="Concrete5 Review" />
As you can see, the toolbar along the top has changed to provide you with options available for edit mode. Hovering over an editable area (defined by the red outline around the content) and clicking will bring up a context menu which options to work within that area.
<img src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2023/08/gutensite-about-the-company-700-620x435_tangne.jpg" alt="Concrete5 Review" />
Clicking Edit brings up the applicable properties page (or editor if you have selected a text area) with which you can modify the area in question. In this case, we're going to take a look at the navigation bar.
<img style="max-width:521px" src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2023/08/gutensite-what-makes-us-unique-700-620x442_bpmpur.jpg" alt="Concrete5 Review" />
For this area, we're given options to work with and modify the navigation of the site. Any time you click on the edit when working with C5, you'll be given the applicable dialog box depending on the type of area you select.
For instance, should you choose to edit a content area that contains a slider of images, you'll see a dialog such as the one below:
<img style="max-width:561px" src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2023/08/gutensite-sign-up-info-700-620x529_rhvetm.jpg" alt="Concrete5 Review" />And of course, choosing a content area will give you a pop up WYSIWYG (what you see is what you get) editor window:
<img src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2023/08/gutensite-sign-up-design-700-620x484_v6dbtl.jpg" alt="Concrete5 Review" />
Accessing the Page Properties button on the toolbar opens the settings for the page you are on.
<img src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2023/08/gutensite-control-panel-dashboard-700-620x544_qlpxjy.jpg" alt="Concrete5 Review" />
Concrete5 has implemented meta tag functionality on a per page basis, so if you want to edit the Meta Keywords, Description or Title you can do so on the Custom Attributes tab of the above window. You can also add your own attributes should you choose to do so.
On the Speed Settings tab, you can modify your caching options to either full or off and how much time the page is cached for. What's nice is that you can set this on each and every page at will.
On the Design button on the top toolbar, you are given the ability to modify the page type and/or choose a theme to apply to the page.
<img src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2023/08/gutensite-control-panel-tour-content-700-620x457_ffkzqt.jpg" alt="Concrete5 Review" />
The Permissions button is pretty obvious and allows you to modify who can and cannot see the page. C5 also has built in versioning, meaning you are able to work on a page but revert to an old revision if you need to do so. This is an extremely useful function and has been well implemented. You can access your revisions from the Versions button on the toolbar.
<img src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2023/08/gutensite-control-panel-basic-page-700-620x550_wmavj9.jpg" alt="Concrete5 Review" />
Concrete5 also has a dashboard where you can make modifications to global settings and see site statistics. It can be accessed using the Dashboard button on the toolbar and looks like this:
<img src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2023/08/gutensite-basic-page-700-620x899_os6lbs.jpg" alt="Concrete5 Review" />
Look familiar? For some of you who've used WordPress, you'll note that the C5 dashboard is very reminiscent of the popular blogging platform. Is this a bad thing? Not at all, if you see something that works, then follow suit and there's no harm in that.
On the dashboard, you can instantly see site statistics and a number of other areas that you can navigate. Starting from the top, the Sitemap button is pretty straightforward and gives you a birds-eye view of your site in a sitemap. Next in line is the File Manager where you can upload and work with the various files on your site.  The Reports button should show you any data from forms or logs you may have on your site. When attempting to use it on our demo system, it told us we had created no forms. It wasn't immediately obvious how to do so, but thanks to C5's great documentation, we quickly found out the process. If you want to know, here's the how-to: (<a href="http://www.concrete5.org/documentation/general-topics/add_a_form" target="_blank">Creating forms in C5</a>).
Users and Groups lets you modify access rights and privileges to the site and worked as expected.
<img src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2023/08/gutensite-profile-list-700-620x466_tnkasn.jpg" alt="Concrete5 Review" />
Next down the list are Scrapbooks which is a rather interesting feature. Here's a video explaining how they work: <a href="http://vimeo.com/3023508" target="_blank">Concrete5 – Scrapbooks</a>.
In a nutshell:
<blockquote>Everyone on the site gets their own “clipboard” if you will, we call it the scrapbook. When you roll over any block in edit mode, you can Copy to Scrapbook on it and save it to your personal scrapbook.
Later, if you're on another page and want the same block, instead of adding a new block you can choose Paste from Scrapbook and see a list of all the blocks you've saved for later.
When you add a block from your personal scrapbook you are making a new instance of that block. That means this is totally not useful if you want to have the same block show up in many placed but be editable from a single location.</blockquote>
Pages and Themes are pretty obvious. Here you can access and apply various page templates and themes to your site.
The Add Functionality option lets you connect your site to the Concrete5 marketplace. The marketplace is a community addons repository where you can search and purchase / download addons and theme for the system.
Under System and Maintenance, you are able to perform backups, see scheduled jobs, and more.
<img src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2023/08/gutensite-control-panel-profile-700-620x550_o0rshi.jpg" alt="Concrete5 Review" />
Last but not least, Sitewide Settings does just what it says and lets you configure your site to your hearts content.
<h3>Conclusions</h3>
In testing the demo on Concrete5, we found the system to be sleek, responsive, and easy to use. What's interesting is how it's akin to what you would find inexpensive commercial products but you can get it for free. The inline editing is a pleasure to work with and the system seems powerful and responsive. Can it be compared with Joomla and Drupal? I think it's a different type of CMS. One that is in a different realm from these two and as such, comparing them would be fruitless. Concrete5 was designed to be easy, you can see it in the way the system works and the logical way everything just does what is expected.
It's a fun system to use and with the growing number of add-ons and themes, it's getting better all the time.
One thing that should always be considered is how well the pages generated by the system are coded and whether or not they validate properly. One small concern we found is that when submitting the demo system we were using with no modifications by us to the W3C validator, it came back with an error.
<img src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2023/08/gutensite-profiles-details-700-620x829_ehwhem.jpg" alt="Concrete5 Review" />
Now, before you jump to conclusions, this is a pretty minor validation error. Hopefully, the team at C5 see this and quickly correct it. Having said that, it would have been more reassuring to see none at all but this wouldn't be a major fix.
Overall, we think C5 is definitely a top contender for those looking for easy customization and a great community. If you want to try it out, you can do so on their <a href="http://www.concrete5.org/about/trial/" target="_blank">demo site</a>.
You can download the system from here: <a href="http://www.concrete5.org/" target="_blank">Concrete5</a>

Concrete5 Review

This month's edition of CMS Critic recommends… brings you our suggestions for the most versatile content management systems. This can mean a lot of things so let's first clarify how we have made our selections.
First, the CMS must be able to be expanded upon, must be flexible, and be used for multiple purposes.
Without further adieu, here are our recommendations for the most versatile CMS (to date):
<ol>
<li>Drupal 
It's not possible to speak about versatility and expandability and not include Drupal. Drupal is perhaps one of the most flexible platforms available, both in the commercial and free marketplaces. A large part of this is due to the fact that it really is a content management framework from the get-go and can function in a myriad of manners. Some common uses of Drupal include Intranets, Project Management Platform, Publishing Platform, External facing Website management, and Social networking platform to name a few. Learn more: <a href="https://www.cmscritic.com/?s=drupal+6">Drupal Review</a>, <a href="https://www.cmscritic.com/drupal-founder-dries-buytaert-interview/">Drupal Founder Interview</a>, <a href="https://www.cmscritic.com/tag/drupal/">Drupal News</a> 
Website: <a href="http://www.drupal.org/">http://www.drupal.org/</a></li>
<li>MODx 
MODx is incredibly flexible. This is especially so with their latest release, MODx Revolution, which can be used for pretty much anything and has a number of ways with which it can be expanded.MODx is effectively an application framework with a CMS built on top of it. While Drupal is also known as a framework, MODx does not have as steep a learning curve (in our opinion). Learn more: <a href="/modx-review/">MODx Review</a>, <a href="https://www.cmscritic.com/tag/modx/">MODx News</a> 
Website: <a href="http://www.modxcms.com/">http://www.modxcms.com/</a></li>
<li>Plone 
Plone is based on Python and Zope and is another open-source CMS that offers multiple uses. Plone offers exceptional security (and a fair learning curve if you are not familiar with the Zope management interface). Learn more: <a href="https://www.cmscritic.com/tag/plone/">Plone News</a> 
Website: <a href="http://www.plone.org">http://www.plone.org</a></li>
<li>Concrete5 
Concrete5 has been widely adopted by a number of web development firms due to its flexibility and ease of use. Amongst the competition, Concrete5 is perhaps the most user-friendly with inline editing, plenty of plugins to extend its functionality, and very good support. Learn more: <a href="https://www.cmscritic.com/concrete5-review/">Concrete5 Review</a>, <a href="https://www.cmscritic.com/concrete5-founder-franz-maruna-interview/">Concrete5 Founder Interview</a>, <a href="https://www.cmscritic.com/tag/concrete5">Concrete5 News</a> 
Website: <a href="http://www.concrete5.org/">http://www.concrete5.org/</a></li>
</ol>
Obviously, everyone has their own preferences but these are our personal favorites.
Do you have a favorites that you feel we missed? Add your comments below, we'd love to hear them.
Read previous editions of CMS Critic Recommends…

CMS Critic Recommends... August Edition

concrete CMS was commercial software that went open source in late 2008, quickly winning project of the month on SourceForge and much attention from a community of open source fans used to dealing with painful user experiences and scattered code. During the last year the core team behind concrete5 has been flushing out features in their CMS, along with building an active community and marketplace at <a href="http://concrete5.org" target="_blank">concrete5.org</a>. Now with the release of version 5.4 concrete5 has really hit its stride and the core team expects continued great growth this summer.
concrete5 powers over 35,000 websites today, with a developer community some 18,000 members strong. “We've grown very quickly since going open source,” says CTO Andrew Embler. “The core application has always been very stable, but in the past we knew there were a few areas we wanted to clean up. With the sitemap improvements and even faster AJAX editing in 5.4 we've really covered the big items on my radar. “
Some architectural changes to better support the needs of enterprise level clients have already allowed some larger organizations to choose concrete5 over Drupal, Joomla!, and WordPress. The additional changes to fully embrace the Zend framework by using Zend Cache and Zend Translate has proven well worth the investment.
“It was great fun showing off the release candidate of 5.4 at SXSW:Interactive this year,' says Franz Maruna, CEO. “We met a lot of Joomla! and Drupal developers who begrudgingly gave us 5 minutes to see the competition, only to walk away 20 minutes later lamenting about time they'd wasted on other systems. I think we showed quite a few people that you can build big powerful sites with concrete5 that really are easy to use.”
See the complete feature list in 5.4 here:<a href="http://www.concrete5.org/documentation/background/version_history/version-5-4-0/" target="_blank">http://www.concrete5.org/documentation/background/version_history/version-5-4-0/</a>

concrete5 Launches Version 5.4 With a Trip to SXSW

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