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Opinion: Universal CMS? From a pragmatist, it’s not yet so "Universal"

andrew

<hr /> <a target="_blank" href="https://preston.so/">Preston So</a> is an institution in the CMS world. A vanguard of the hallowed halls of content.It's not hyperbole. He's been at it for a long time and made incredible contributions to the industry. Not only is So a gifted leader and communicator who's helped drive the product roadmap at places like <a target="_blank" href="https://www.oracle.com/">Oracle</a>, <a target="_blank" href="https://cmscritic.com/products/gatsby">Gatsby</a>, and <a target="_blank" href="https://cmscritic.com/products/acquia">Acquia</a>, but he's also an adept writer who's penned multiple books on an array of CMS-related topics (it's worth noting that he's also an accomplished <a target="_blank" href="https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/polyglot">polyglot</a>). Now, after a recent break, he's continuing his journey with a platform that's also somewhat of an institution: <a target="_blank" href="https://www.dotcms.com/">dotCMS</a>, a leading hybrid-headless content management system first released in 2009.“Having worked in the<a target="_blank" href="https://www.linkedin.com/feed/hashtag/?keywords=cms&amp;highlightedUpdateUrns=urn%3Ali%3Aactivity%3A7168650435443019776"> CMS</a> world for 17 years, I've seen my fair share of market players come and go,” he remarked in a recent <a target="_blank" href="https://www.linkedin.com/posts/prestonso_headless-cms-decoupleddays-activity-7170423703070035968-YQ80?utm_source=share&amp;utm_medium=member_desktop">LinkedIn post</a>. “But dotCMS has always struck me from the beginning as a formidable source of inspiration and innovation in the space.”Today, the company announced that So has joined the company as Vice President of Product. In this role, he will be responsible for scaling the dotCMS product team and driving its product management, strategy, and design efforts. According to the company's press release, So will also be tasked with building a developer relations team as the company continues to grow its customer base and product portfolio. “We are delighted to welcome Preston to dotCMS," said <a target="_blank" href="https://www.linkedin.com/in/zainishaq/">Zain Ishaq</a>, CEO at dotCMS. "Preston is a visionary leader in the CMS space who we have admired for a long time,”  “We are deeply focused on innovation as we solve complex content management challenges for our customers. Preston’s experience will help us bring cutting-edge products to our customers."<h3 id="a-visionary-voice-in-the-cms-realm">A visionary voice in the CMS realm</h3>Preston So is a senior product leader with two decades of experience in software and 9 years of leading product, design, engineering, and developer relations at leading technology and media organizations. As mentioned, he is also the author of multiple books, including <a target="_blank" href="https://preston.so/books/immersive-content">Immersive Content and Usability</a> (A Book Apart, 2023), <a target="_blank" href="https://preston.so/books/voice-content">Voice Content and Usability</a> (A Book Apart, 2021), <a target="_blank" href="https://preston.so/books/gatsby">Gatsby: The Definitive Guide</a> (O'Reilly, 2021), and <a target="_blank" href="https://preston.so/books/decoupled-drupal">Decoupled Drupal in Practice</a> (Apress, 2018).A globally recognized authority on the intersections of content, design, and code, he is an editor at <a target="_blank" href="https://alistapart.com/author/preston-so/">A List Apart</a> and has <a target="_blank" href="https://preston.so/speaking">delivered keynotes</a> around the world in three languages. So is also the founder of <a target="_blank" href="https://www.decoupleddays.com/">Decoupled Days</a>, the first and only non-profit headless CMS conference, held in New York and Albuquerque since 2017. “I’m truly excited to join the dotCMS team and to contribute to an organization that has long been at the vanguard of the CMS industry,” said So. “dotCMS has always been a formidable innovator in the space, and I’m humbled by the opportunity to support and learn from our customers’ success with best-of-breed headless APIs like <a target="_blank" href="https://graphql.org/">GraphQL</a> and established core capabilities like no-code page building and structured content modeling.” <h3 id="building-on-a-legacy-of-success">Building on a legacy of success</h3>dotCMS has established a clear position in the market as a hybrid solution, providing headless CMS capabilities alongside marketer-focused tools like a page builder. That platform was designed to be flexible and developer-friendly, so users can architect around their requirements with an API-first model, allowing for easy integration with an existing tech stack. It's also a multi-site solution, providing simplified management for a broad ecosystem of experiences. As a content management system, dotCMS is focused on helping global enterprises with sophisticated content requirements. It's best suited for organizations across industries that manage multiple brands, websites, workflows, and content types across multiple languages. The blending of secure and scalable tools for a development team with intuitive editing tools for content and marketing teams makes it a comprehensive offering. dotCMS counts notable brands such as Dairy Queen, Newell, Greensky, Chewy, and Comcast have chosen dotCMS as customers. <hr /><h3 id="upcoming-conferences">Upcoming conferences</h3> <img style="width:29.67%" src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2024/01/cms-connect-2024-logo.png" alt="CMS Connect 24 logo" /><h4 id="cms-connect-24"><a target="_blank" href="https://www.boye-co.com/conferences/cmsconnect24">CMS Connect 24</a></h4>August 6-7, 2024 – Montreal, CanadaWe are delighted to present our first annual summer edition of our prestigious international conference dedicated to the global content management community. Join us this August in Montreal, Canada, for a vendor-neutral conference focused on CMS. Tired of impersonal and overwhelming gatherings? Picture this event as a unique blend of masterclasses, insightful talks, interactive discussions, impactful learning sessions, and authentic networking opportunities. <img style="width:29.58%" src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2024/01/cms-kickoff-2025-logo.png" /><h4 id="cms-kickoff-25"><a target="_blank" href="https://www.boye-co.com/conferences/cmskickoff25/tickets">CMS Kickoff 25</a></h4>January 14-15, 2025 – Tampa Bay Area, FloridaJoin us next January in the Tampa Bay area of Florida for the third annual CMS Kickoff – the industry's premier global event. Similar to a traditional kickoff, we reflect on recent trends and share stories from the frontlines. Additionally, we will delve into the current happenings and shed light on the future. Prepare for an unparalleled in-person CMS conference experience that will equip you to move things forward. This is an exclusive event – space is limited, so secure your tickets today.

Preston So Joins dotCMS as Vice President of Product

cms-critic-staff

Roadmaps have long been regarded as the "vision blueprints" for a software's lifecycle. Companies share them with their users in an effort to build anticipation while demonstrating their commitment to innovation.
For every roadmap, customer interaction is essential. Product managers and marketers rely on users to provide critical feedback – good and bad – to help remediate issues, shape new features, and enhance future versions. Some enterprise software platforms even utilize voting systems to prioritize the development of certain features, thus elevating community engagement to a more interactive level. 
When it comes to roadmaps, having an "ear to the ground" seems like a high priority for <a href="https://www.dotcms.com/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">dotCMS</a>, an open source content management system. The company just launched its new <a href="https://www.dotcms.com/roadmap" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Interactive Roadmap</a> to encourage user influence and increase transparency around the development of its products and features. 
According to its press release, the roadmap will allow both customers and the CMS community to submit product ideas, comment on ideas submitted by other users, and even prioritize the importance of an idea by tagging it at different levels ("nice-to-have," "important," or "critical").
<h2>Three goals for a more interactive product roadmap</h2>
In the press release, dotCMS outlined three goals for its Interactive Roadmap. The first is to welcome product feedback and ideas from customers as well as the broader CMS community. dotCMS will use this input to help shape and prioritize future product development.
The second stated goal is all about communication. With its roadmap, the company aims to cultivate a more engaging relationship with its customers, prospective customers, users, and fans by providing the latest news on its product and feature development. It also suggested that while not all feature plans are substantial enough to be listed, key items will be continually added.
The third and final goal is to promote transparency around its product development roadmap itself. Though already an open source platform, it seems that dotCMS is doubling down on its community roots – reinforcing its responsibility to its users by highlighting its development plans and priorities.
<h2>Redefining the roadmap experience for open source CMS</h2>
While roadmaps are far from novel, dotCMS is rethinking the role of its own roadmap to the development process. Given how quickly CMS (or any software) needs to change and adapt – particularly as more <a href="https://www.cmscritic.com/top-free-headless-cms-platforms/#:~:text=As%20the%20name%20implies%2C%20a,it%20to%20be%20displayed%20across">headless</a> and <a href="https://www.cmscritic.com/the-future-is-composable-a-conversation-with-new-mach-alliance-president-casper-rasmussen/">composable</a> features take center stage – a roadmap can represent strategic value as a living, breathing conduit to the user. In the end, it's all about gathering relevant customer data and using it to improve performance, enhance loyalty, and even accelerate outcomes.
"As our client base grows and the pace of our product development accelerates, we want to inform our clients of our product development roadmap and give our community the chance to directly voice their needs," said Jack Diego, dotCMS Product Manager. "That's why we're excited to publish our product release highlights and our roadmap in the same online space and collect valuable feedback at the same time."
When it comes to providing a transparent development process, dotCMS already has a leg up as an open source platform. Its codebase is freely available on <a href="https://github.com/dotCMS" target="_blank" rel="noopener">GitHub</a>, giving its users and community a clear line of sight to the software's capabilities. In many ways, it's the ultimate expression of trust and accountability that a software vendor can provide. 
"With this, dotCMS welcomes the opportunity to strengthen client relationships," said Diego. "Both by highlighting our near-term accomplishments and by giving greater visibility into our long-term product vision."
If you're interested in perusing the dotCMS roadmap, you can find it at <a href="https://www.dotcms.com/roadmap" target="_blank" rel="noopener">https://www.dotcms.com/roadmap.</a>
<h2>About dotCMS</h2>
Built on leading Java technology, dotCMS is an open-source, hybrid-headless content management system that gives developers the flexibility of a headless CMS while equipping marketers with no-code visual content authoring. Founded in 2003, dotCMS is a privately held US company with a global network of certified development partners and an active open source community. dotCMS has generated millions of downloads and more than 100,000 implementations and integration projects worldwide. Notable customers include: Telus, Standard &amp; Poors, Hospital Corporation of America, Royal Bank of Canada, Comcast, Thomson Reuters, Dairy Queen, City Furniture, Varo Bank, Lennox International, Firstmac, and Newell Brands.

dotCMS Launches Interactive Roadmap to Engage with Customers and Community on Product Development

Image of dotCMS logo against a dark purple background.

It's July, and the world feels like it's melting. Literally. 
As entire continents experience <a href="https://www.axios.com/2022/06/21/heat-wave-records-europe-north-america-summer" target="_blank">record-breaking summer temperatures</a> in the Northern Hemisphere, we're doing what we can to stay cool – and bring you cooler stories from across the CMS and DXP landscape.
This month was hot for a lot of reasons, including <a href="https://www.cmscritic.com/wix-to-host-first-ever-developers-conference-wix-devcon-2022/">Wix's DevCon 2022</a> – the company's first-ever developer's conference – and of course, the annual epic that is <a href="https://www.cmscritic.com/reflections-on-wordcamp-europe-2022/">WordPress WordCamp Europe</a>. Cool stuff indeed.
On the ever-present investment side of the ledger, we covered <a href="https://www.cmscritic.com/kontent-ai-raises-40-million-to-bring-the-power-of-ai-to-content-management/">Kentico's spinoff of Kontent.ai</a> – and the new company's stellar raise of $40 million. Kontent plans to use the funds to further juice its platform with AI innovation, which has been a key focus area since its inception. We also covered <a href="https://www.cmscritic.com/storyblok-launches-1-5m-partner-fund-to-help-agencies-shape-the-future-of-digital-storytelling/">Storyblok's launch</a> of a $1.5 million partner fund to help agencies shape the future of digital storytelling and GraphCMS' announcement that it is <a href="https://www.cmscritic.com/graphcms-rebrands-to-hygraph-launches-new-federated-content-platform/">rebranding to Hygraph</a> and what this means for its future growth. 
Just under the wire for July, Magnolia sent a thunderous boom across the CMS market with news that <a href="https://www.cmscritic.com/genui-acquires-majority-stake-in-magnolia-and-invests-in-future-growth/">GENUI is acquiring a majority stake</a> in its company, with plans to inject significant growth capital. While details were thin, GENUI has forged quite a reputation over the years as a growth engine for technologies, so we'll be watching as things unfold. 
There are a few other stories from July that you might have missed – so turn down the air conditioning and settle in more for more cool stuff. 
<h2>dotCMS Launches Enterprise Cloud Hosting for Single Page Applications</h2>
<img style="max-width:1000px" src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2022/07/dotcms-interface.webp" alt="dotCMS interface" />
<a href="https://www.cmscritic.com/?s=dotcms" target="_blank">dotCMS</a>, an enterprise <a href="https://www.dotcms.com/blog/post/migrating-headless-cms-hybrid-headless-cms" target="_blank">hybrid-headless CMS</a>, has <a href="https://www.dotcms.com/company/news/dotcms-launches-enterprise-cloud-hosting-for-single-page-applications" target="_blank">announced</a> that <a href="https://www.dotcms.com/videos/enterprise-spa-hosting" target="_blank">the enterprise cloud SPA hosting</a> feature will be available as part of its standard <a href="https://www.dotcms.com/product/dotcms-cloud" target="_blank">dotCMS Cloud</a> offering.
For businesses running multi-channel content-driven sites, one challenge when spinning up a new single-page application (SPA) is where to host it. By leveraging dotCMS' Enterprise SPA hosting, based on AWS Amplify and backed by the global <a href="https://www.dotcms.com/company/news/dotcms-announces-dotcdn" target="_blank">dotCDN</a>, enterprises can speed up development and content delivery for global marketing campaigns without being forced to contract with a third-party vendor.
dotCMS' cloud offering includes features such as:
<ul>
<li>24/7 critical care</li>
<li>Annual core dotCMS upgrades</li>
<li>Up to 99.98% uptime</li>
<li>No API-rate limiting or throttling</li>
<li>Automated security fixes</li>
<li>Native Web Application Firewall (WAF)</li>
<li>Native dotCDN Content Delivery Network to mitigate DDoS attacks</li>
<li>Secure access with Oauth or SAML-based authentication and with IP Whitelisting</li>
</ul>
"We are providing organizations with a way to quickly deliver their content applications to customers around the world," said CTO of dotCMS, Will Ezell. "This latest offering exemplifies our commitment to security and scalability."
With enterprise SPA hosting, development teams can focus on innovation and building engaging applications to support the business outcomes instead of managing the underlying infrastructure. Enterprises can leverage the new service to save hundreds of thousands of dollars annually that they would otherwise spend on administrative and hosting costs.
<h2>Acquia Partners with Workato to Power Enterprise Connectivity to Acquia CDP, Adds Data Subject Deletion Request Features</h2>
<a href="https://www.acquia.com/" target="_blank">Acquia</a>, a leading digital experience company, has made several important updates to its CDP this month. 
First, they <a href="https://www.acquia.com/newsroom/press-releases/acquia-partners-workato-power-enterprise-connectivity-acquia-cdp" target="_blank">announced</a> a partnership with the integration and workflow automation platform <a href="https://www.workato.com/" target="_blank">Workato</a> to power enterprise connectivity to Acquia Customer Data Platform (CDP). They also added new data subject deletion request features that will help their customers comply with the GDPR regulations and privacy laws. Using a new self-service interface, organizations can rapidly process "Right to Erasure" (otherwise known as "Right to be Forgotten") requests associated with regulations such as GDPR, CCPA, and more from their customers. 
Partnership with Workato 
Acquia's partnership with Workato will allow organizations to integrate Acquia CDP with hundreds of external cloud services via secure, enterprise-grade APIs through out-of-box connectors. As the company noted: "The connectivity powered by Workato will help customers achieve even faster time-to-value by reducing the time it takes to get their data from their preferred cloud services into and out of Acquia CDP."
Workato is a leading enterprise automation platform that enables businesses, and IT teams to integrate their apps and automate their business workflows. It has been <a href="https://discover.workato.com/gartner-ipaas-mq/p/1" target="_blank">selected as a Leader in Gartner's Magic Quadrant for Enterprise Integration Platform as a Service</a> for 4th year in a row.
"We're pleased to partner with Workato to add hundreds of integrations between Acquia CDP and marketing, analytics, and commerce applications," said Mark Picone, SVP and General Manager, Marketing Cloud, at Acquia. "The connectivity powered by Workato will help customers achieve even faster time-to-value by reducing the time it takes to get their data from their preferred cloud services into and out of Acquia CDP."
As a part of the <a href="https://www.cmscritic.com/acquia-launches-new-open-digital-experience-platform/" target="_blank">Acquia Marketing Cloud platform</a>, Acquia CDP enables marketers to aggregate and activate data from technologies of their choice into a unified, 360-degree customer profile. From there, marketers can use Acquia CDP to orchestrate personalized, AI-powered campaigns across the entire omnichannel customer journey.
"We're seeing a continued trend around the growing needs for SaaS connectivity, and our partnership with Acquia will allow their communities of partners and customers to keep up with the accelerated demand," said Bhaskar Roy, CMO at Workato. "Not only will they be able to build and leverage robust connectors to their preferred applications, but they will also be able to connect to these applications and automate workflows across them. We're excited to be partnering with Acquia, who has become a leading force in the future of digital experiences by embracing the power of automation."
David Wallace, Research Director, Customer Intelligence and Analytics at IDC, commented: "Digital-first brands must focus on quality, speed-to-value, and agility to deliver the personalized experiences expected by their customers. Customer data platforms help brands achieve their goals not only with productized integrations and APIs but also enterprise-grade, pre-built connectors across an array of digital channels for the flexibility for multiple use cases. Acquia, through its partnership with Workato and inherent low-code tooling enables this increased flexibility."
New Regulatory Compliance Features
Soon after the partnership with Workato, Acquia also <a href="https://www.acquia.com/newsroom/press-releases/acquia-adds-data-subject-deletion-request-features-acquia-cdp" target="_blank">announced</a> they added new regulatory compliance features that help organizations using <a href="https://www.acquia.com/products/marketing-cloud/customer-data-platform" target="_blank">Acquia Customer Data Platform (CDP)</a> to comply with data subject requests and privacy laws in general. 
"This feature for legal and compliance workflows is the latest in a series of self-service updates we're making to Acquia CDP," said Janessa Worrell, Director of Product Management at Acquia. "Our goal is to make it simple for organizations using Acquia CDP to process deletion requests from their own customers, ensuring that these requests are handled quickly. Customers can expect more self-service features in the coming months, removing friction and making common Acquia CDP workflows simpler to execute."
Other recent self-service updates include secure credentials management for Acquia CDP out-of-the-box connectors. Organizations can now generate and manage their own credentials for pre-built connectors to external services such as Facebook or Google.
<h2>WordCamp US 2022 Tickets Sold Out, All Sessions to be Livestreamed</h2>
Two months after the most popular WordPress event, <a href="https://www.cmscritic.com/reflections-on-wordcamp-europe-2022/" target="_blank">WordCamp Europe</a>, has ended, WordCamp US will be hosting its two-day event in San Diego, California, from September 9 through September 11. Like WordCamp Europe, this will be the first in-person event since 2019. 
With the COVID-19 still looming and to allow for adequate social distancing, this year's WordCamp US event is designed as a smaller event - limited to 650 attendees - compared to the previous years. Since it is the first in-person event in two years, the demand was extremely high, and the <a href="https://us.wordcamp.org/2022/tickets/" target="_blank">tickets</a> are already sold out but don't worry. You can watch all the WCUS 2022 sessions <a href="https://us.wordcamp.org/2022/livestream/" target="_blank">online </a>without having to purchase any tickets.
WCUS has also begun<a href="https://us.wordcamp.org/2022/speakers/" target="_blank"> announcing its speakers</a>. This year they are making an increased effort to give more opportunities to underrepresented speakers. 
The opening remarks will begin at 9:00 am on Friday and Saturday, and the sessions will run from 9:15 am to 5:30 pm. The last day of the event will be the "Contributor Day" on Sunday.
You can follow the updates via the <a href="https://paper.dropbox.com/?q=%23WCUS" target="_blank">#WCUS</a> hashtag on Twitter.
<h2>Sitecore Experience Manager Cloud (XM Cloud) Now Available</h2>
<img style="max-width:1000px" src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2022/07/xmcloud-ui.jpg" alt="SiteCore XM Cloud user interface " />
<a href="https://www.sitecore.com/" target="_blank">Sitecore</a>, a global leader in end-to-end digital experience software, <a href="https://www.sitecore.com/company/news-events/press-releases/2022/07/sitecore-experience-manager-cloud-now-available" target="_blank">announced</a> that it has released its <a href="https://www.sitecore.com/products/xm-cloud" target="_blank">Sitecore Experience Manager (XM) Cloud</a>. This latest product release will provide brands with unrivaled speed to market in implementing customer experiences, simplifying design and deployment, eliminating upgrades, and dramatically decreasing ownership costs. With XM Cloud, marketers can instantly create, manage and deliver engaging omnichannel experiences with an industry-leading enterprise-ready CMS.
According to a <a href="https://www.sitecore.com/company/news-events/press-releases/2022/05/us-brand-authenticity-report" target="_blank">recent survey by Sitecore</a>, online interactions play an outsized role in driving engagement between brands and customers. The digital experience, while valued by consumers, creates a scalability issue for marketers to meet demand. <a href="https://www.sitecore.com/products/xm-cloud" target="_blank">Sitecore XM Cloud</a> provides a comprehensive SaaS CMS for the Enterprise solution for brands by overcoming global scaling problems, including variable traffic, supporting multi-brand architectures, and site security.
For business users, <a href="https://www.sitecore.com/products/xm-cloud" target="_blank">XM Cloud</a> offers the ability to build pixel-perfect digital experiences via a WYSIWYG authoring experience that can access content anywhere, with embedded testing, personalization, and integrated visitor analytics. For developers, <a href="https://www.sitecore.com/products/xm-cloud" target="_blank">XM Cloud</a> can be used with headless development techniques, working with modern frontend frameworks and supporting all deployment scenarios.
"Consumer behavior has changed rapidly over the past two years. Audiences have become very digitally savvy and have an expectation from brands to deliver highly personalized customer experiences," said Dave O'Flanagan, chief product officer, Sitecore. "This puts marketers in the unenviable position of trying to meet this expectation, but with tools and solutions that don't deliver, and in some cases hamstring, the needed agility to meet demand. Sitecore XM Cloud provides marketers with a truly end-to-end, SaaS-based solution that not only helps brands meet consumer expectations but also delivers a best-of-class omnichannel customer experience."
Through <a href="https://www.sitecore.com/products/xm-cloud" target="_blank">Sitecore XM Cloud</a>, the company's entire <a href="https://www.sitecore.com/products/sitecore-experience-platform" target="_blank">Digital Experience Platform</a> can now be delivered through a modern cloud architecture, providing brands and marketers with:
<ul>
<li>Continued innovation – new features and capabilities will be automatically delivered and integrated</li>
<li>Elastic scaling – "set-and-forget" traffic volume demands</li>
<li>Composability – all of Sitecore's platform solutions can now be purchased independently and will fit in a best-of-breed marketing technology stack</li>
<li>On-the-Fly Engagement – rapidly create experiences to meet constantly evolving market needs</li>
<li>Multi-channel content management - create content once and reuse across any channel and experience</li>
<li>Simplicity for marketers – business-focused tools and intuitive content authoring workflows</li>
<li>Agility for developers – customized builds with modern frameworks</li>
</ul>

CMS Monthly Recap: dotCMS Launches Enterprise Cloud Hosting, Acquia Partners with Workato, Sitecore Releases Experience Manager Cloud, and More

Image of beach with CMS Critic Monthly Recap logo over water

As fireworks pocked the night skies across the U.S. this past weekend (a celebratory signal that summer has arrived), we had a chance to reflect on a busy June. Needless to say, it was a scorcher – especially in the CMS and DXP sector. Once again, we saw platform vendors holding major events around the globe, with several piling up on one another. 
One standout we covered at the very end of May was <a href="https://www.cmscritic.com/reflections-from-sanitys-structured-content-2022-conference/">Sanity's Structured Content 2022 Conference</a>, which offered some unique perspectives on the position of content as data. The substance was unique, relatable, and truly applicable to attendees – with some terrific keynotes from the likes of Dirk Voetberg from Spotify, Kusum Kanwar from Shopify, and Carrie Hane from Sanity. We took a snapshot of the event's sessions, which were held live in San Francisco and virtually in Oslo and London. Definitely worth checking out. 
While economic uncertainty continued to obscure the horizon for enterprise software vendors, companies like Strapi bucked the trend by <a href="https://www.cmscritic.com/strapi-secures-31-million-in-series-b-funding-plans-to-enhance-open-source-headless-cms-and-deliver-cloud-platform/">securing $31 million in Series B funding</a> to enhance its headless CMS. We also tracked <a href="https://www.cmscritic.com/visual-content-management-platform-boom-acquires-visual-production-company-lemonone/">acquisition news from BOOM</a>, a visual content management platform, as it announced the purchase of LemonOne – a visual production vendor. Along with updates from <a href="https://www.cmscritic.com/craftercms-releases-version-4-0-adds-api-powered-git-capabilities-and-composable-features/">CrafterCMS</a> and <a href="https://www.cmscritic.com/proventus-as-announces-release-of-relatude-cms-and-e-commerce-version-6/">Relatude CMS</a>, it was a busy 30 days.
As always, there were a few more stories sizzling on the backburner – right next to your hot dogs and burgers. So grab an ice-cold lemonade, light up a sparkler, and keep reading...
<h2>Shopify invests in Sanity, connecting commerce with content</h2>
We've already mentioned Sanity's fantastic Structured Content 2022 event, but the news doesn't end there. In June, the content platform <a href="https://www.sanity.io/blog/shopify-invests-in-sanity-connecting-commerce-with-content" target="_blank">announced</a> a partnership with <a href="https://shopify.com" target="_blank">Shopify</a> that includes a strategic investment from the e-commerce juggernaut. Sanity is the first CMS partner to launch an app for Shopify’s headless commerce framework, <a href="https://hydrogen.shopify.dev/" target="_blank">Hydrogen</a>, and is Shopify’s only public investment in a content platform company to date. The combo will offer Shopify’s millions of merchants new capabilities to improve shopping experiences by significantly "inspiring" product and brand content. 
As noted previously, Sanity approaches content from a unique angle by treating content as data. At the same time, storytelling lies at the heart of Sanity's vision – something that permeated the themes of its Structured Content 2022 event. One of the conference keynotes featured Kusum Kanwar, Senior Product Lead at Shopify, who talked about how content makes commerce "human." Both companies share a common focus on this expanded value of content – and now, by joining forces, Shopify and Sanity aim to bring commerce and content together so merchants can tell their stories, inspire audiences, and flexibly adapt product information, brand assets, and other content faster than ever. 
Shopify’s investment codifies Sanity’s potential as a complementary resource for sellers. The <a href="https://www.sanity.io/shopify" target="_blank">Sanity Connect </a>for Shopify app was purpose-built to operate with Shopify’s headless commerce stack, which features both Hydrogen and Oxygen. Armed with these capabilities, merchants building custom storefronts on Shopify can also deploy immersive product content with rich media, embed product content on external channels, enable one-click ordering anywhere on a website, orchestrate promotions to email and social media, and much more.
 
<img src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2022/07/dotcms-image.jpg" alt="Image of dotCMS logo over a screen shot of the CMS user interface" />
<h2>dotCMS unveils major updates to its content authoring experience</h2>
<a href="https://www.dotcms.com/" target="_blank">dotCMS</a>, a leading hybrid-headless content management system, has <a href="https://www.dotcms.com/company/news/dotcms-unveils-major-updates-to-the-content-authoring-experience" target="_blank">announced</a> the latest edition of its platform. The new update includes a drag-and-drop content palette and story-like block editor, along with other enhancements to the overall content authoring experience. These product enhancements come on the heels of what dotCMS calls its "best year yet" in 2021, with that momentum driving a positive outlook for 2022.
In an effort to remain nimble around digital transformation, enterprise organizations are embracing <a href="https://www.cmscritic.com/mach-alliance-releases-study-on-adoption-of-mach-technologies-by-tech-leaders-qa-with-sonja-keerl/" target="_blank">MACH architecture and composability</a>. While microservices-based headless architecture brings many benefits and allows developers a great deal of freedom, brands cannot ignore the needs of their content authors – who are often forgotten in the shift to headless. 
The new dotCMS drag-and-drop content palette makes page building easier and improves the flow of content editing. In addition, the <a href="https://www.dotcms.com/docs/latest/changelogs" target="_blank">latest LTS version of dotCMS (22.03)</a> features a JSON-Based Content Store and improved content search results. 
<h2>Acquia Partners with Workato to power enterprise connectivity to Acquia CDP</h2>
<a href="https://www.acquia.com/" target="_blank">Acquia</a>, a leading digital experience platform, announced a partnership with integration and workflow automation platform <a href="https://www.workato.com/" target="_blank">Workato</a> to power enterprise connectivity to the <a href="https://www.acquia.com/products/marketing-cloud/customer-data-platform" target="_blank">Acquia Customer Data Platform (CDP)</a>. Organizations can integrate Acquia CDP with hundreds of external cloud services via secure, enterprise-grade APIs through out-of-the-box connectors.
With Workato-powered integrations like this (and others), marketers can achieve a faster path to connectivity with the services they already use. As a part of the <a href="https://www.acquia.com/products/marketing-cloud" target="_blank">Acquia Marketing Cloud</a> platform, Acquia CDP enables marketers to aggregate and activate data from technologies of their choice into a unified, 360-degree customer profile. From there, marketers can use Acquia CDP to orchestrate personalized, AI-powered campaigns across the entire omnichannel customer journey.
 
<img src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2022/07/wpe-img-chianti-1024x512-v01.png" alt="Image of WP Engine plugins from Delicious Brains" />
<h2>WP Engine acquires popular Delicious Brains WordPress plugins, including developer favorite Advanced Custom Fields</h2>
<a href="https://wpengine.com/" target="_blank">WP Engine</a>, a leading <a href="https://wordpress.org/" target="_blank">WordPress</a> digital experience platform for websites and apps, <a href="https://wpengine.com/blog/wp-engine-acquires-delicious-brains-plugins-including-advanced-custom-fields/" target="_blank">announced</a> it will acquire five of the most popular developer-centric tools for WordPress from <a href="https://deliciousbrains.com/" target="_blank">Delicious Brains</a> – strengthening the company’s offerings for both traditional and headless managed WordPress. 
The plugins have a total installed base of approximately 4 million users and are widely adopted by WP Engine’s customers. The acquired software includes <a href="https://deliciousbrains.com/wp-migrate-db-pro/" target="_blank">WP Migrate</a>, <a href="https://deliciousbrains.com/wp-offload-media/" target="_blank">WP Offload Media</a>, <a href="https://deliciousbrains.com/wp-offload-ses/" target="_blank">WP Offload SES</a>, <a href="https://wordpress.org/plugins/better-search-replace/" target="_blank">Better Search Replace</a>, and a preferred developer go-to called <a href="https://www.advancedcustomfields.com/" target="_blank">Advanced Custom Fields</a> (ACF).
The acquisition of these widely-used WordPress plugins will expand WP Engine’s portfolio of market-leading developer tools, including WP Engine’s <a href="https://localwp.com/" target="_blank">Local</a>, the #1 Local WordPress development tool; <a href="https://wpengine.com/genesis/" target="_blank">Genesis</a>, the #1 WordPress theme framework; and <a href="https://wordpress.org/plugins/atlas-content-modeler/" target="_blank">Atlas Content Modeler</a>, which simplifies the development process of creating content models for headless WordPress sites.

CMS Monthly Recap: Shopify Invests in Sanity, dotCMS Updates Content Authoring Experience, WP Engine Acquires Plugins, and More

Monthly Recap with fireworks in background

Following an <a href="https://www.cmscritic.com/cms-critic-interviews-dotcms-ceo-tim-brigham/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">interview with dotCMS CEO Tim Brigham</a>, Mike Johnston sat down with the company's CTO Will Ezell for a detailed walkthrough of dotCMS 3.2.
dotCMS is a rapidly growing open source Java platform. It's also the most recent winner of the <a href="https://www.cmscritic.com/2014-critics-choice-award-winner-best-cloud-cms-for-smb/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Critics' Choice Award for Best Cloud CMS for SMB</a> — which is no mean feat.
So without any further ado, let's continue dotCMS' featured week by taking a look at dotCMS 3.2 in action.
<iframe src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/zKPvquUnHak?feature=oembed" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen="allowfullscreen"></iframe>
To find out more about dotCMS, <a href="http://dotcms.com/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">visit their website</a>, or explore more <a href="https://www.cmscritic.com/2014-critics-choice-award-winner-best-cloud-cms-for-smb/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">via our CMS Directory</a>.

A Walkthrough of dotCMS 3.2 with CMS Critic

mike-johnston

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It's the beginning of another featured week here at CMS Critic, and this time we're focusing on another quality product in the form of <a href="http://www.dotcms.com/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">dotCMS</a>.
dotCMS is a popular Java, open source, content management system, which recently won the <a href="https://www.cmscritic.com/2014-critics-choice-award-winner-best-cloud-cms-for-smb/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">2014 Critics' Choice Award for Best Cloud CMS for SMB</a>.
Mike Johnston recently had a chance to sit down with the company's CEO, Tim Brigham, discussing dotCMS both as a product and as a company. To get a feel for dotCMS, check out the Interview video below.
<iframe src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/mPw9DNNqzB0?feature=oembed" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen="allowfullscreen"></iframe>
So, with another featured week now kicked off, stay tuned for more dotCMS coverage.
To find out more about dotCMS, <a href="http://dotcms.com/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">visit their website</a>, or explore more <a href="https://www.cmscritic.com/2014-critics-choice-award-winner-best-cloud-cms-for-smb/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">via our CMS Directory</a>.

CMS Critic Interviews dotCMS CEO Tim Brigham

<a href="http://www.dotcms.com/" target="_blank">DotCMS</a>, the popular Java, open-source, content management system, has released its latest version.
This update brings about pages-as-content, enhanced workflows, and more. <a href="/dotcms-3.0-brings-in-enhancements-tailored-for-java-web-developers/" target="_blank">DotCMS 3.0 was released</a> in early December 2014.
<img src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2023/08/dotcms-3-1-release.png" />
<h2>“More Power &amp; Creativity”</h2>
DotCMS' new “Pages-as-Content” feature allows you to extend DotCMS content concepts to pages, including; custom Page types, different versions for different language and the ability to create custom attributes per HTML page.
Pages are also able to be used in queries and searchable like other content types in the dotCMS Authoring Environment. Also added with this feature is the ability for pages to have any extension i.e., .html, .json, .dot, or even have no extension at all.
Since DotCMS' Pages are now handled as content, Custom Workflows can work with HTML Pages and you can include “whole pages” in a workflow. This capability will help user experience designers use dotCMS custom workflows more effectively and efficiently, with less code.
Furthermore, by popular demand, Pages can now be added to the root of a website (host), whereas previous versions would allow files only.
DotCMS has also made some improvements to their Elastic search system and now supports UTF-8 encoding in URLs.
The company has said that DotCMS 3.1 will, “bring more power and creativity in delivering dynamic, content-driven user experiences across devices and platforms.”
For all the details on DotCMS 3.1, <a href="http://dotcms.com/blog/post/fresh-release-dotcms-3-1" target="_blank">check out their official blog announcement</a>.
And of course, you can explore more of <a href="/products/dotcms/" target="_blank">DotCMS via our CMS Directory</a>.

DotCMS 3.1 Released

<a href="http://dotcms.com/" target="_blank">dotCMS</a>, the popular Java, open source, content management system, has rolled out version 3.0. Java and Web developers in particular will want to take note.
The update brings about advanced tools and features, including Cluster Auto-scale and Auto-wire, eliminating manual configuration of dotCMS server clusters. This also means that servers can be automatically provisioned or de-provisioned in response to peaks in traffic, making dotCMS more powerful than ever before at enterprise scale.
<h2>Targeted Toward Java Developers &amp; System Administrators</h2>
<img src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2023/08/clustering-nodes_700x0.png" />
dotCMS 3.0's new enhancements have been targeted toward Java developers and system administrators, with an aim to maximize efficiency and reduce maintenance efforts.
Such enhancements include standard WAR based deployments, moving to modern build and code management tools (Github, etc), and deployment on almost any application server including Tomcat, Weblogic, Websphere, Jboss, etc.
Furthermore, the new built-in Sass and Less Auto-compiler is a unique feature for helping Web developers build modern CSS-driven web applications efficiently. The addition of Multi-type Containers is another example of building features into dotCMS that give developers the freedom and flexibility to build sites the way they want to.
Will Ezell, CTO of dotCMS Services LLC made these comments regarding the release:
<blockquote>“With all the new features in dotCMS 3.0 that help developers move forward, faster, it may not be evident that many of the changes and improvements in version 3.0 have taken place in the background, enhancing the core code. Importantly, this release is a strong step towards building our foundation for delivering more sophisticated and powerful capabilities in upcoming releases. With dotCMS 3.0 we are certainly making our software a powerful delivery system in content management, and the perfect hub at the center of the Internet of Things (IoT).”</blockquote>
My <a href="/a-preview-of-dotcms-3.0/" target="_blank">preview of dotCMS 3.0</a> goes into further detail regarding the specific features of the update.
You can download dotCMs for yourself here: <a href="http://dotcms.com/download/">http://dotcms.com/download/</a> or you could try out the online demo at: <a href="http://dotcms.com/explore/demo/">http://dotcms.com/explore/demo/</a>
To find out more about dotCMS, <a href="http://dotcms.com/" target="_blank">visit their website</a>.
Also, you can discover more of <a href="/products/dotcms/" target="_blank">dotCMS via our CMS Directory</a>.

dotCMS 3.0 Brings In Enhancements Tailored For Java & Web Developers

<a href="http://dotcms.com/" target="_blank">dotCMS</a> is a widely popular open-source enterprise CMS, and it's extremely close to a major update – dotCMS 3.0.
Available in two primary forms, the community and enterprise edition, users can choose between <a href="http://dotcms.com/download/" target="_blank">self-hosting DotCMS</a>, making use of the <a href="http://dotcms.com/products/server/" target="_blank">dotCMS server</a>, and using the <a href="https://dotcms.com/products/cloud/" target="_blank">dotCMS cloud-hosted service</a>.
Now, after being <a href="/announcing-this-years-nominees-for-the-2014-peoples-choice-cms-awards/" target="_blank">nominated in two categories in the 2014 CMS Awards</a> – Best Free Java CMS and Best Open Source Java CMS – dotCMS 3.0 is on the horizon, and it's set to introduce a wide range of enhancements.
<h2>Multi-type Containers, New Enterprise Support Portal &amp; More</h2>
<img src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2023/08/multi-container700x0.png" alt="Multi Container dotCMS 3.0" />
dotCMS 3.0 will be a major release, with updates coming in large numbers. Having said that though, the following three aspects of dotCMS 3.0 are definitely the most important.
1) Multi-type Containers
Perhaps the most powerful improvement for site and web app builders within the dotCMS fanbase is the new Multi-type Containers available in dotCMS 3.0.
Previously, containers in dotCMS could only support a single content type (structure). But with version 3.0, you can design Containers to include and render multiple of content types, with no limit. For instance, you can have a single container that allows a content contributor to choose any kind of content object to display, be it News items, Events, Promos or even a widget, all in the same content area.
For those of you using the outstanding multi-site capabilities of dotCMS, Multi-type Containers add extreme flexibility to what content a template can render. Plus, you’ll be able to greatly reduce the number of templates you maintain and improve thanks to the ability to re-use container code.
2) Cluster Auto-scale &amp; Auto-wire 
<img src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2023/08/clustering-nodes700x0.png" alt="dotCMS nodes" />
This next item is cool, especially if you are involved with system administration on a dotCMS cluster or large-scale dotCMS implementation. DotCMS 3.0 includes auto-scaling &amp; auto-wiring of clusters. Built right into 3.0, the auto-scale and auto-wire features eliminate much of the headache associated with configuring a cluster of dotCMS servers.
Gone are the days of diving into properties files to configure your server – now you can provision servers, add or remove them from a cluster, and respond to peaks in traffic with additional capacity right from the dotCMS server management UI.
Further to this, all new dotCMS servers will automatically detect other nodes in the cluster on startup, and set up their clustered network settings and indexes automatically. This is definitely an update to make life easier for dotCMS users.
3) New Enterprise Support Portal and enterprise licensing 
dotCMS Enterprise customers, take note.
A new self-service support portal and new server licensing protocol (1 server, 1 license) will be in place following the release of dotCMS 3.0, allowing Enterprise customers to retrieve, renew and manage their licenses at will.
With the release of dotCMS 3.0, you’ll want to be sure can log into the Support Portal to pick up your keys in advance. So, no more waiting on the dotCMS team to deliver your keys.
<h2>Sass, LESS &amp; Lots of REST</h2>
Developers are also in for a real treat with dotCMS 3.0 Here's a look at what's in store code-wise.
1) Sass and LESS auto-compiler
Front-end developers will be loving this announcement.
With the release of 3.0, dotCMS becomes the first Java open-source CMS to build the power of CSS preprocessors directly into our CMS. You’re probably familiar with how CSS preprocessors can speed development and enhance the performance of modern CSS-driven sites.
With dotCMS 3.0 you harness all the power of Sass and LESS without the headache and hassle of local set-up or compiling – your web developers just “Edit &amp; Refresh” on the fly. If you're interested in this particular update, be sure to <a href="http://dotcms.com/videos/sass-and-less-auto-compilation-life-just-got-easier" target="_blank">check out the sneak peek webinar</a>.
2) Ace Editor
For enhanced readability and performance, while using the text editor in dotCMS, version 3.0 comes with a built-in the Ace code editor. For example, you would be using the Ace editor in the authoring environment for modifying a CSS file.
Ace is a renowned high-performance code editor and highlighter for that offers improved stability, performance, and productivity for those modifying code using the authoring environment in dotCMS 3.0. dotCMS HTMLers will be pleased to hear that this addition includes many popular features such as code folding, line wrapping, and auto-indentation.
3) Get more REST with dotCMS
Developers, take a deep breath. Everybody else, take an even deeper one. This is one highly technical, yet highly important upgrade.
JSONP is set to become a proud member of the dotCMS RESTful API family. JSONP provides cross-domain access to an existing JSON API, by wrapping a JSON payload in a function call and so it's easy to understand why dotCMs has decided to adopt it into their API family.
Also included in 3.0 is RESTful support for simple HTTP form POSTs (Maybe the easiest way to get content into dotCMS!) and support for anonymous content contribution – think discussion posts or job/resume submittals. So, developers can look forward to far more REST with dotCMS.
<h2>But That's Not All…</h2>
<img src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2023/08/dotcms-starter-mobile-app.png" alt="dotCMS native app" style="max-width:498px" />
Further to the major updates above, dotCMS 3.0 has even more to offer.
For example, with version 3.0, dotCMS has moved away from a bundled Tomcat installation and have moved to a standards-based WAR file deployment. This means that while dotCMS is easier than ever to install, the file structure and landscape has shifted a bit.
dotCMS have also opted for a more modern build and code management tools, adopting Github, Artifactory, Maven, and Gradle.
And last but not least, a new native dotCMS mobile app demo based on the dotCMS demo starter site is <a href="https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.dotcms.starter" target="_blank">currently available on the Google Play store</a>, with an iOS release pending.
In preparation for the release of dotCMS 3.0, keep your eyes squarely on the <a href="http://www.dotcms.com/" target="_blank">dotCMS website</a>.
Also, don;t forget to explore <a href="/products/dotcms/" target="_blank">dotCMS via our CMS Directory</a>.

A Preview of dotCMS 3.0

<a href="http://dotcms.com/">DotCMS</a>, a renowned open-source Enterprise Content Management System, has <a href="http://www.azulsystems.com/press-2014/dotcms-and-azul-systems-partner-to-enhance-online-experience-of-web-scale-content-management-systems" target="_blank">partnered up</a> with <a href="http://www.azulsystems.com/"> Azul Systems</a> an award-winning Java runtime solution.
<a href="http://www.azulsystems.com/products/zing/whatisit"> Azul Zing </a> ® is the Azul Systems product in question. Zing is now certified with DotCMS, enabling DotCMS users to benefit from vastly improved scalability, consistent response times and improved reliability.
DotCMS has been <a href="/announcing-this-years-nominees-for-the-2014-peoples-choice-cms-awards/" target="_blank">nominated in two categories in the 2014 CMS Awards</a>; Best Free Java CMS and Best Open Source Java CMS.
<img src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2023/08/400.png" alt="DotCMS" />
<h2>Speed Behind the Scenes</h2>
DotCMS and Azul Systems made this partnership official following a successful Proof of Concept (POC) at a leading healthcare provider.
The healthcare provider was hosting more than 1,000 websites on a cluster of dotCMS servers running with 40 GB heaps, but was experiencing application pauses of up to 170 seconds. That's a problem.
Now, thanks to the introduction of Azul Zing, the healthcare company is experiencing dramatically improved throughput performance, higher availability and increased reliability. Problem solved.
Regarding the newly formed alliance, Will Ezell, CTO of dotCMS, had this to say:
<blockquote>“Our enterprise customers implement demanding use cases with dotCMS and depend on it to run their business. Deploying on Azul’s Zing enhances the scalability, responsiveness and reliability of dotCMS and assures deployments can deliver consistent, low latency response times regardless of user load.”</blockquote>
The CEO of Azul Systems, Scott Sellers, also chimed in:
<blockquote>“Companies depend on their online presence for revenue and customer service. One of Zing’s design goals was better performance for interactive web-scale applications like dotCMS, particularly those implementing rich, engaging features. By deploying dotCMS on Zing, enterprises can deliver the best possible customer experience, grow online usage without worry, and take advantage of all the advanced capabilities of dotCMS.”</blockquote>
To test Zing with dotCMS, you can request a <a href="http://www.azul.com/trial" target="_blank">free evaluation copy right here</a>.
Plus, be sure to explore more of <a href="/products/dotcms/" target="_blank"> DotCMSvia our CMS Directory</a>.

DotCMS Partners With Azul Systems to Improve Scalability & Reliability

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