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Well, 2021 is almost at an end. The holidays are upon us, and merrymaking is in full swing (at least as far as Omicron will let us swing). Before we wrap things up and officially start the festivities, there's one last piece of business to attend to...
NOMINATIONS!
That's right: it's time to kick off our annual CMS Critic Awards – and it all starts with our 2021 People's Choice Nominations! Starting today, you can submit your favorite platform in a variety of categories such as Best DXP, Best Headless CMS, and more. Based on your input, we choose the top three contenders in each category – and let you vote for the best of the best. 
The 2021 People's Choice Nominations will be open until January 15th, 2022. Once we've tallied your submissions, we'll open voting on the top three platforms in each category.
Here's some exciting news: this year, we've added Best Composable System and Best Headless Commerce Platform to the nomination list. We covered the rise of both categories throughout the year – now you can tell us which platforms are doing it best!
To learn more about the CMS Critic Awards, keep reading. Ready to submit your nominations? <a href="https://www.cmscritic.com/2021-cms-critic-awards-nominations/">Click here!</a>
<h2>What are the CMS Critic Awards?</h2>
OK... so maybe our program is a little less visible than the Oscars, but it fills an important gap in our industry by celebrating the contributions of CMS, DXP, and the related ecosystem of vendors.
Since 2012, the CMS Critic Awards have been something of an institution. Not only do they give our panel of thought leaders an opportunity to "chime in" on the general direction of the industry, but they also give individuals a chance to vote for their favorite platform. It's a fun way to engage with our communities and create more visibility around the importance of this technology sector.
To provide a fair shot to all vendors, we offer two unique programs:
<img src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2021/12/criticschoice_logo-1024x173.jpg" alt="CMS Critic's Choice Awards Logo" />
Critic's Choice Awards
Hand-selected by our CMS Critic editorial staff, vendors receive the coveted Critic's Choice Award for each category based on our internal research and criteria.
<img src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2021/12/peoplechoice_logo-1024x173.jpg" alt="CMS People's Choice Awards Logo" />
People’s Choice Awards 
As previously mentioned, these community-based awards are designed to engage with readers through an open forum. The top three vendors with the most nominations will be featured on our website for voting, and the platform with the most votes in each category is declared the winner. The rules are simple, and focus on fairness and integrity: participants may nominate or vote only once, and companies that offer incentives of any kind will be disqualified.
<h2>2021 People's Choice categories for nominations</h2>
This year's categories include:
<ul>
<li>Best Enterprise CMS</li>
<li>Best DXP</li>
<li>Best Free CMS</li>
<li>Best Flat File CMS</li>
<li>Best Open Source CMS</li>
<li>Best ECM (Enterprise Content Management)</li>
<li>Best E-Commerce Solution</li>
<li>Best Headless CMS</li>
<li>Best Headless Commerce Platform</li>
<li>Best Website Builder</li>
<li>Best Static Site Generator</li>
<li>Best Composable System</li>
</ul>
Both the Critic's Choice and People's Choice Award results will be announced at the same time in mid to late February of 2022.
<h2>Submit your nominations!</h2>
Go on... tell us what platforms you love! Fill out the form below and submit your nominations. You can only vote once and a valid email address is required with each entry. Companies that offer incentives of any kind will be disqualified.
We can't wait to see your nominations. Cheers – and happy holidays!

Submit Your Nominations for the CMS Critic 2021 People's Choice Awards

cms-critic-staff

CMS Critic 2021 People's Choice Award logo

Top Flat File CMS Platforms for Building Simple Websites Fast

paris-tuzun

A flat–file CMS is a platform that  does not require a database but rather, saves it's data to a set of text  files. There are many advantages to using flat-file CMS as opposed to  database driving systems, read on to find out what we consider to be the  best flat file CMS on the market.
Most content management systems tend to use databases to store their  content but lately, there's been a trend of flat file CMS coming to  market. With solid state drives and increased internet access speeds,  database driven solutions may not always be the best choice. Today, I'm  going to share with you a selection of actively developed and popular  flat file CMS systems to explore.
As a side note, there are many more solutions out there, I'm aiming  to only list ones that have been updated within the last year as there  are numerous that still have websites but have seen no activity or  updates in quite some time.
<h2>Grav</h2>
Website: <a href="https://getgrav.org/">https://getgrav.org/</a>
A recent winner of our CMS Critic award for <a href="/awards/">Best Open Source CMS</a>,  Grav is a popular flat file CMS developed by the folks from  RocketTheme. It's fast, has a very sweet looking admin plugin and has a  nice selection of available themes to choose from.
<figure class="kg-card kg-image-card kg-card-hascaption"><img src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2023/08/flat-file-cms---1.png" alt="Grav - Flat File CMS Dashboard" /><figcaption>Grav Dashboard</figcaption></figure>
<h2>Kirby</h2>
Website: <a href="https://getkirby.com/">https://getkirby.com/</a>
Kirby offers a nice looking interface that should feel familiar to  those accustomed to WordPress and the like and is another great choice  for flat-file CMS. The difference between this and the others on this  list is that Kirby is a commercial product that is available for  purchase for a one time fee of less than $20 (US pricing). It's well  worth the investment if you want an easy to use CMS for basic websites.
<figure class="kg-card kg-image-card kg-card-hascaption"><img src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2023/08/flat-file-cms---2.png" alt="Kirby - Flat File CMS - Admin" /><figcaption>Kirby Admin</figcaption></figure>
<h2>Monstra</h2>
Website: <a href="http://monstra.org/">http://monstra.org/</a>
Monstra is an XML based flat file CMS that is fast, extensible and  has a nice selection of plugins to extend the system. Monstra is  multi-user and very customizable as well. You can also check out their  website for a free demo of the interface to see if it's right for you.  From my testing, it was very responsive and has a well designed  administrative interface.
<figure class="kg-card kg-image-card kg-card-hascaption"><img src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2023/08/flat-file-cms---3.png" alt="Monstra - Flat File CMS - Dashboard" /><figcaption>Monstra Dashboard</figcaption></figure>
<h2>razorCMS</h2>
Website: <a href="http://www.razorcms.co.uk/">http://www.razorcms.co.uk/</a>
razorCMS is an easy to use flat file CMS that provides you with easy  in-page editing as opposed to having to modify your content from within  an admin panel. It's been around for many years and has forums you can  use to get support should you need it, although at last check, they  didn't appear to be very active in the last year.
<figure class="kg-card kg-image-card kg-card-hascaption"><img src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2023/08/flat-file-cms---4.png" alt="Razor - Flat File CMS - Admin" /><figcaption>Razor CMS Admin</figcaption></figure>
<h2>GetSimple</h2>
Website: <a href="http://get-simple.info/">http://get-simple.info/</a>
GetSimple has been around for many years and is another great option  to consider. It is a flat file XML based CMS that has plenty of plugins,  themes available for you to use. With an easy to use admin interface  and content editor (as well as a demo on their website for you to try)  it's a good option to consider.
<figure class="kg-card kg-image-card kg-card-hascaption"><img src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2023/08/flat-file-cms---5.png" alt="GetSimple - Flat File CMS - Admin" /><figcaption>GetSimple Admin</figcaption></figure>
<h2>HTMLy</h2>
Website: <a href="https://www.htmly.com/">https://www.htmly.com/</a>
HTMLy is an open source blogging platform that focuses on simplicity  and speed. It's a great option to consider if you are looking to start a  blog or simple CMS and is easy to install and set up. Unfortunately, I  wasn't able to find a screenshot of the admin interface so I'm sharing a  screenshot of a theme instead.
<figure class="kg-card kg-image-card kg-card-hascaption"><img src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2023/08/flat-file-cms---7.png" alt="HTMLy Flat File CMS - Admin" /><figcaption>HTMLy Admin</figcaption></figure>
<h2>Automad</h2>
Website: <a href="http://automad.org/">http://automad.org/</a>
Automad is a file-based flat CMS that offers a two step caching  system makes your site extremely fast. A web-based user interface makes  it easy – even for beginners – to manage a website. The template engine  enables designers to build custom themes and templates without PHP  knowledge. The extension interface allows developers to create plugins  for all kind of functionality. It is also possible to put a whole site  under version control using Git or Mercurial.
<figure class="kg-card kg-image-card kg-card-hascaption"><img src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2023/08/flat-file-cms---8.jpg" alt="Automad Flat File CMS Admin" /><figcaption>Automad Admin</figcaption></figure>
<h2>WonderCMS</h2>
Website: <a href="https://www.wondercms.com/">https://www.wondercms.com/</a>
WonderCMS is an open source CMS (Content Management System) built  with PHP, jQuery, HTML and CSS. It doesn't require any configuration and  can be simply unzipped and uploaded to your hosting provider. The  database is a text file which is easily copied, moved, backed up and  restored.
<figure class="kg-card kg-image-card kg-card-hascaption"><img src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2023/08/flat-file-cms---9.png" alt="Wonder CMS - Flat File CMS Admin" /><figcaption>WonderCMS Admin</figcaption></figure>
<h2>Typesetter</h2>
Website: <a href="http://www.typesettercms.com/">http://www.typesettercms.com/</a>
Typesetter is another flat file content management system that lets  users create rich and flexible Web sites with a simple and easy-to-use  interface. True WYSIWYG takes the guesswork out of editing page content  while auto-saving makes sure none of your work is lost.
<figure class="kg-card kg-image-card kg-card-hascaption"><img src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2023/08/flat-file-cms---10.png" alt="Typesetter Flat File CMS Admin" /><figcaption>Typesetter Admin</figcaption></figure>
<h2>BatFlat</h2>
Website: <a href="https://batflat.org/">https://batflat.org/</a>
Batflat is a Polish content management system that is simple, light  and fast. It was first released in May 2016. It requires no  installation, is chock full of features to make your website fast and  efficient and uses no database, like other flat file CMS.
<figure class="kg-card kg-image-card kg-card-hascaption"><img src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2023/08/flat-file-cms---11.png" alt="BatFlat Flat File CMS" /><figcaption>BatFlat</figcaption></figure>
<h2>FlexType</h2>
Website: <a href="https://flextype.org/">https://flextype.org</a>
Flextype is an open source flat file CMS that was developed in 2018 by Sergey Romanenko.  It's purpose is to provide a lean, open source solution without the  complexities found in many other content management systems. You can read more about it over on our <a href="/flextype-review/">FlexType review.</a>
<figure class="kg-card kg-image-card kg-card-hascaption"><img src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2023/08/flat-file-cms---12.png" alt="FlexType Flat File CMS - Admin" /><figcaption>FlexType Admin</figcaption></figure>
Are you aware of any that I am missing in this list? If they are  actively maintained (meaning updates within the last year), please feel  free to point them out in the comments below.

A List of the Best Flat File CMS

mike-johnston

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

Flextype Review

techcto2

Flextype, a Open Source flat file content management system, is now available for download.
Flextype claims to be easy to install, upgrade and use and offers API's for plugin, theme and core developers.
Here are some of the features of this new CMS:
<ul>
<li>No installation needed, just copy files to your server!</li>
<li>No database required, flat files only!</li>
<li>Use your favorite editor to write your content with Markdown syntax.</li>
<li>Lets you define custom fields for any of your pages.</li>
</ul>
Check it out here: <a href="http://flextype.org/">http://flextype.org/</a>

Flextype - A New Flat File CMS has been Released

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