Articles

Magnolia CMS Article

<h5>TL;DR – Recently, there was an epic but friendly debate in the Boye &amp; Company CMS Experts Slack channel about the confusion surrounding DXC as a category. We asked the three main voices in the conversation – Rasmus Skjoldan, Andrew Kumar, and Sana Remekie – to discuss their thoughts on Zoom. Matt McQueeny helped moderate the conversation.</h5>
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Of the great mysteries that scientists, philosophers, and theologians grapple with, one question is often overlooked:
What, exactly, is professional wrestling?
I’m not referring to school leagues or Olympic competitions – I’m talking about the <a href="https://www.wwe.com/" target="_blank">WWE</a> and its brand of sportstainment. And I don’t mean to be glib or insulting with any comparisons; heck, I’ve been to a live wrestling event many moons ago, and it was kinda fun (particularly the people watching). 
But really, what is it? Is this a legitimate sport replete with feats of athleticism? Or is it truly just performance art following a well-oiled script? If you ask <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hulk_Hogan" target="_blank">Hulk Hogan</a>, the iconic figurehead of the modern experience, he might say, "Well, let me tell you something, brother…" and launch into a dissertation about sport versus stage. 
As humans, we’re classically conditioned to put things in boxes so they’re easier to understand. Sometimes, that’s not so simple. This has long been the case in the software industry, where confusion often precedes clarity when new ideas takes the mat – like <a href="https://www.boye-co.com/blog/2023/1/whats-the-real-story-about-digital-experience-composition" target="_blank">Digital Experience Composition (DXC)</a>. 
A short while ago, members of <a href="https://www.boye-co.com/groups/cms-experts" target="_blank">Boye &amp; Company’s CMS Experts</a>, a peer group focused on content management, were treated to a sort of WWE-styled “Smackdown” in the community’s Slack channel. In truth, it was a friendly exchange of ideas, with no bodyslams or half-nelsons to report (those are wrestling moves, BTW).
Still, it was spirited. And for several days, this epic “Slackdown” generated significant interest from across the DXP and DXC spectrum. It all started with a simple, poignant question from <a href="https://www.linkedin.com/in/rasmusskjoldan/" target="_blank">Rasmus Skjoldan</a>, Chief Evangelist at <a href="https://www.magnolia-cms.com/?mgcid=19746730468&amp;utm_campaign=&amp;utm_content=&amp;utm_campaign=brand-protect-jf_us_2023&amp;utm_medium=cpc&amp;utm_source=google&amp;utm_content=19746730468&amp;utm_term=magnolia%20cms&amp;gad=1&amp;gclid=CjwKCAjw0ZiiBhBKEiwA4PT9z53dpcpsB0M2J-tIRhHdpnwYRHUwbjghkhAGI6_Azq8wWtHBU4ic8xoC4N0QAvD_BwE" target="_blank">Magnolia</a>, a leading DXP:
“I feel like some of the Digital Experience Composition positioning going on isn’t super helpful to customers, to be very blunt about it. What’s genuinely in it for them?”
This drew several DXC defenders to the ring, but the most vocal participants were <a href="https://www.linkedin.com/in/andrewkumarxyz/" target="_blank">Andrew Kumar</a>, VP of Customer Solutions at <a href="https://uniform.dev/" target="_blank">Uniform</a>, and <a href="https://www.linkedin.com/in/sana-remekie/" target="_blank">Sana Remekie</a>, CEO of <a href="https://conscia.ai/" target="_blank">Conscia.ai</a>. It was entertaining to watch these adroit leaders wrestle with a red-hot topic, but it was incredibly informative for the fans in the stands – so much so that I partnered with <a href="https://www.cmscritic.com/critics/matthew-mcqueeny/">Matt McQueeny</a> at <a href="https://konabos.com/" target="_blank">Konabos</a> to take the show on the road.
A few days later, we invited Rasmus, Sana, and Andrew to join us for an informal follow-up on Zoom to wrestle down some answers.
<img src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2023/04/dxc_boye_debate_debrief_720.png" alt="Zoom photo of Matt Garrepy, Matt McQueeny, Rasmus Skoldjan, Andrew Kumar, and Sana Remekie" />
<h2>In this corner… DXP</h2>
<a href="https://www.forrester.com/analyst-bio/joe-cicman/BIO14164" target="_blank">Joe Cicman</a>, an analyst at Forrester, has been on a quest to decipher the Digital Experience Platform. As he noted <a href="https://www.forrester.com/blogs/dxp-you-keep-using-that-term-i-dont-think-it-means-what-you-think-it-means/" target="_blank">in a recent blog</a>, DXP is still misunderstood from a compositional perspective. The definition can be nebulous based on whether it’s delivered by a single vendor or assembled by an enterprise – or, in some cases, both.  
I like Joe's observation in the same post: “Every day I asked myself, ‘How is it possible for one vendor to create one product that works across multiple industries and grows in scope as a company’s digital remit grows?’ After talking to the vendors, turns out … it’s not possible.”
That might be the vein Rasmus tapped: confusion is everywhere. While DXC is emerging, DXPs continue to evolve in their own space. As he pondered in Slack, would it not be better to reenergize, modernize, or even reinvent the more established DXP label and category than trying to teach customers about another new acronym?
Add this to the confusion: Magnolia was included in an early DXC report by <a href="https://www.gartner.com/analyst/56850" target="_blank">Mike Lowndes of Gartner</a> as a vendor in this emerging field. So how does this color Magnolia’s positioning?
“When I speak to our composable die-hard customers, they are much more passionate about getting projects done, getting rid of the worst legacy apps, and reaching business goals than they are in the vendor/analyst-centric views on what’s in or out of categories,” Rasmus said. “Magnolia is seen as a DXC by some – which is fine, of course. We definitely cover that space with our own twist. To me, it just feels more like a use case than a real software category.”
That might be true. But vendors and buyers still refer to those MQ reports with biblical reverence.
Gathered in our cozy Zoom room, Matt McQueeny asked Rasmus why he felt compelled to engage with the community around these opinions.
“I'm very focused on looking at all this from the customer's perspective,” he said. “Every time I see a proposal for a category change, I'm just always asking myself, 'okay, who's actually behind this and who's to benefit from it?' Even for DXP, I sometimes have question marks around whether that really helps customers. So I felt that introducing new variations would be a significant sort of – not a disruption – but more confusion. And that's what I’m quite passionately against because I want to keep the focus on what has real value for customers.”
<h2>DXC enters the ring</h2>
TLAs (three-lettered acronyms) might be the bane of our technology existence. When I was consulting at IBM GTS, we were unpacking a catchy new triptych every week from across the cybersecurity theater. Heck, even “IBM” is an acronym... it's a bit like <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Inception" target="_blank">Inception</a> with TLAs. 
I asked Sana Remekie about her take on this acronym acrimony – and how she perceived Rasmus’ call to quell the challenges by refocusing on the established DXP category.
“There's lots of three-letter acronyms popping up all over the place,” she said. “I think the movement towards composability and having that best-of-breed architecture is real. Customers are asking for a choice in terms of all the packaged and business capabilities that they need to build their overall architecture, and there's agreement across Gartner and Forrester on that. They may call it different things, but everybody’s starting to agree that we should give customers the ability to create and assemble their own solutions.”
So how does this momentum towards composability and DXC impact the more traditional definition of DXP – particularly as an established category? 
“Some folks are saying very clearly that a single DXP – what they call a monolithic DXP – should no longer be a thing at all,” she added. “Customers should be able to create their own DXPs by picking best-of-breed applications from across the ecosystem. With this phenomenon, we're now giving choices to the customer and power to the SIs to make those choices for the customer. Sometimes it's an IT team within the organization making those choices with, hopefully, the business in mind. And sometimes they say, ‘alright, Deloitte, Accenture, Valtech, go make that choice for me – go directly to those vendors and put together a solution that is composable.’ That happens a lot as well.”
<h2>Finding the right place to “poke the DXP bear”</h2>
As the wrestling match commenced, we turned to Andrew Kumar for more insight on what ignited the debate on Slack. He took us on a brief trip in the wayback machine to his days at <a href="https://www.telus.com/en" target="_blank">Telus</a>, where the company assembled what we now call a composable or <a href="https://www.cmscritic.com/the-future-is-composable-a-conversation-with-new-mach-alliance-president-casper-rasmussen/">MACH</a> architecture. 
“There weren’t these sexy marketing terms that exist today,” he said. “But in 2016, we [already] had this concept, and we created our own internal site builder on top of Contentful – and that's now part of DXC.”
Andrew also talked about the importance of the different roles and responsibilities that DXC needs to support and the tendency to lump the audience of potential users under a generic “business user” mantle. This might be a limiting descriptor, as the pool could include a wide range of team members from marketing, content ops, merchandisers, UX designers, product managers, or even data analysts.
Clearly, there’s room to improve the positioning and messaging around the DXC terminology – to find the right TLA, so to speak. And this confusion makes sense when we’re still in the early growth phases.
“Adoption and demand are still very, very nascent, but it's starting to get viral,” he said. “Despite being so nascent, it is disrupting and really ‘poking the bear’ on the big players in DXP. It's really shaping and adding maturity to headless and MACH – and these kinds of technical terms are now growing in maturity.”
Poking the bear sounds dangerous, but that’s what market challengers do. TLAs aside, Andrew went on to say that he would not recommend a “rip and replace” from DXP to DXC, but to take incremental steps towards composable.
“There are some bridges in place,” he said. “Uniform has one that can help Sitecore and AEM customers start to make those leaps. But there’s still a place for a DXP.”
<h2>What’s old is new</h2>
By this point in the match, we had wrestled multiple messages from our participants. Without question, DXC is the shiny new object blazing trails. At the same time, DXPs are evolving their posture to remain marketable. Andrew noted, “They’re decoupling and decomposing themselves, playing ball with others and having that multi-manufacturer style where you can build with OEM parts from all over the place.”
Pivoting back to Rasmus in the DXP corner, we inquired about his response to Andrew regarding the long history of APIs connecting different platforms – and how there are even use cases of Contentful feeding into Magnolia.
“I can totally back up that it's not really anything new,” he remarked to Andrew. “Magnolia has been producing a solution that is fundamentally a composable DXP for a very long time, since 2013 or 2014. We've had clients compose platforms out of multiple best-of-breed applications they put together in a joined platform for a long time.”
While Rasmus reinforced his criticism of a new TLA being injected into the ecosystem, he did express his support for how the narrative was being projected.
“If I look at some of the stuff I felt Uniform did super well, it was just a very clean story they came out with,” he said. “I totally love that. And it felt like a really novel spin that they would be the glue between all these different applications and allow the marketer the freedom to assemble, curate, and aggregate all their content and put together experiences based on many different services. I do see really good stuff about DXC. It's just not a category – and I don't think it will become a category.”
OK, so if it’s not destined to be officially blessed, where do we go from here? As Andrew pointed out, the roadmap might rest with user behavior.
“In some enterprises, there could be 60 times more technical folks that don't write code, but they're still making meaningful contributions to digital experiences. That is a huge user base. And that's where the DXC is really going to make its mark, and really going to – and this is probably an unpopular opinion – start to take over the DXP. It's serving so many more users in a more democratic low code, no code interesting way. It's empowering to that user base.”
<h2>A DXC by any other name is a… DXCP? DXO? EDP?</h2>
While pondering the future of a DXC category, Andrew quickly pointed out one basic flaw with the acronym: <a href="https://dxc.com/us/en" target="_blank">DXC Technology</a> is the name of a well-established global agency (which happens to sponsor <a href="https://dxc.com/us/en/manutd" target="_blank">Manchester United</a>). To that end, he feels “DXCP” might be a more suitable mantle – which Uniform has already been using across its communications.
He also talked about the long shadow cast by large competitors and the importance of establishing authority as a new category. “It’s really a challenge for new players to enter [the DXP market]. There's just so much <a href="https://www.cmscritic.com/adobe-experience-cloud-adds-new-headless-cms-capabilities-updates-to-commerce-integration/">Adobe</a>, <a href="https://www.cmscritic.com/optimizely-partners-with-google-cloud-to-take-experimentation-to-the-next-level/">Optimizely</a>, or <a href="https://www.magnolia-cms.com/" target="_blank">Magnolia</a> dominance. They've been around for so long. There’s no space for new entrants without a large insurmountable challenge.”
Sana also shared her perspective on the DXC category conundrum, which echoed my recent conversations with other vendors under the DXC umbrella. While <a href="https://www.cmscritic.com/occtoo-dives-deep-to-unify-data-and-kill-integrations-a-conversation-with-ceo-niclas-mollin/">Niclas Mollin at Occtoo</a> is positioning around the Experience Data Platform, Sana is building a beachhead for Conscia as Digital Experience Orchestration.
“Conscia's not a DXC, even though we're playing in the space,” she explained. “There's a lot of confusion, so we said, you know what? We don't want to call ourselves a DXC because that would mean that we're tied too closely to a specific front end. So we’re going to act as the central piece of the composable ecosystem, which connects all the dots from the back end to the front end and is agnostic of both – and we’re able to orchestrate API's and experiences.”
<h2>And the winner is…</h2>
Er… not clear. We’re still wrestling with the answers, and the analysts have yet to canonize anything. But if we can smell what <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dwayne_Johnson" target="_blank">The Rock</a> is cookin', we might be in for more confusion as DXC continues to find its footing. 
What’s abundantly clear to us, however, is that DXC is building real momentum, and DXP continues to drive demand. With the advent of AI and other innovations, the DXP market is still predicted to grow to over <a href="https://www.grandviewresearch.com/industry-analysis/digital-experience-platform-market" target="_blank">$30 billion by 2030</a>. While our guests shared strong opinions about DXC's future as a category and the underlying challenges, each seemed committed to demonstrable value over category woes.
At the end of our session, Matt McQueeny noted that we ended up where we always end up: with a clear mandate to focus on the business and the customer. 
The best part of this conversation was each participant's undeniable respect and reverence for one another, despite their competitive position or conflicting ideologies. Collectively, this industry powers millions of websites, apps, and experiences. Yet, the top minds shaping its trajectory represent a tightly-knit community of shared innovation – and we had three of the best participating in this forum.
We'll give Andrew Kumar the final word: “It’s definitely a fun time to be in this space. It can be confusing, but there's a lot of innovation and disruption happening – and it's ultimately for the business and end customer's benefit.”
I can hear Hulk Hogan saying, “Amen, brother…”
<hr />
Big thanks to: 
<ul>
<li>Rasmus Skjoldan. Andrew Kumar, and Sana Remekie for participating</li>
<li>Matt McQueeny for helping to moderate, facilitate, and transcribe this session</li>
<li>Janus Boye for creating a community to host these kinds of debates</li>
</ul>

Wrestling with Category Confusion in the DXC "Slackdown"

matt-garrepy

<a href="https://www.cmscritic.com/magnolia-announces-new-6-2-release-with-first-ever-headless-digital-experience-hub-2/">Magnolia</a>, a leading software vendor in the global digital experience and content management markets, just announced that investment firm <a href="https://www.genui.de/en/" target="_blank">GENUI</a> will acquire a majority stake in Magnolia and inject significant growth capital into the company.
Magnolia is an emerging vendor pioneering the vision of “composable” Digital Experience Platforms (DXPs). DXPs sit on top of content management systems (CMS) and enable brands to orchestrate compelling digital experiences across multichannel customer journeys and devices. The global market for DXPs is forecast to reach 23 billion US dollars by 2028, with an average annual growth rate of above twelve percent from 2021 to 2028.
Magnolia already serves clients in more than 100 countries through nine regional offices – and counts many global brands such as The New York Times, Sanofi, Sainsbury’s, Ping An, and Bechtle as its trusted customers. With the additional funding, the company will continue the expansion of its global sales and marketing footprint including its technology and channel partner ecosystems, accelerate product innovation and increase global market awareness.
<h2>Driving growth with a composable DXP</h2>
Traditionally, DXPs have been purchased as a complete suite of marketing software from one vendor. These have proven to be slow, expensive, and restrictive. Magnolia aims to change that by continuing to invest in its composable DXP.
“Magnolia is uniquely positioned to allow customers to integrate their key applications and platforms - from legacy to modern APIs - and compose a powerful digital experience architecture enabling the overall ease-of-use and agility now expected of modern cloud solutions,” said Magnolia CEO Tim Brown. “With GENUI's support, we will now be able to fully leverage our recognition as a 'Visionary' in the 2022 Gartner Magic Quadrant for DXP to help an increasing number of marketers, authors, and developers deliver fantastic multichannel digital experiences."
"By significantly strengthening the capital base, we are putting Magnolia in a position to even better exploit its market potential and sustainably increase its growth," said Boris Klenk of GENUI. 
Upon completion of the transaction, the entrepreneur Amit Shah, an established expert in the digital experience industry, will become Chairman of the advisory board of Magnolia. “We are seeing a shift away from monolithic application solutions toward modular approaches. This is an exceptional strategic opportunity for Magnolia, which offers a future-proof composable digital experience platform for the enterprise," said Shah.
Exiting investor Elvaston Capital Management GmbH secured a majority stake in Magnolia in 2017, which GENUI is now acquiring. "We have accompanied Magnolia during an extremely positive and high-growth phase in recent years," says Dr. Oliver Thum, Managing Partner at Elvaston. "We are pleased that the company will now take the next steps with GENUI."
The purchase price and other details of the transaction were not disclosed. GENUI was advised on this transaction by CMS (Legal) and Baer &amp; Karrer (Structuring), while Morrison Foerster (Legal Germany) and Walder Wyss (Legal Switzerland) acted as advisors to Elvaston.
<h2>About Magnolia</h2>
Founded in 1997 with a vision to create the first truly open content management system, <a href="https://www.magnolia-cms.com/" target="_blank">Magnolia</a> is a world-leading digital experience company. Brands who want to move fast and stay flexible choose Magnolia because the company blends the power of an enterprise DXP solution with headless agility. Magnolia operates globally with offices on five continents and more than 200 Magnolia-certified partners around the world.
<h2>About Elvaston</h2>
<a href="https://www.elvaston.com/en/" target="_blank">Elvaston</a> is an investment company specializing in small-to-medium-sized enterprise software companies in Europe. Elvaston accompanies profitable companies in various segments of enterprise software and focuses on organic growth as well as buy &amp; build strategies.
<h2>About GENUI</h2>
<a href="https://www.genui.de/en/home-en/" target="_blank">GENUI</a> is a company founded by renowned entrepreneurs and investment professionals who believe in “Good Entrepreneurship”. GENUI exclusively makes long-term commitments to companies with the goal of creating sustainable growth and social value. Companies are given professional governance by getting access to entrepreneurs with industry-relevant expertise and their corresponding networks.

GENUI acquires majority stake in Magnolia and invests in future growth

paris-tuzun

Image of Magnolia and Genui logos against a green background

<a href="https://www.magnolia-cms.com/">Magnolia</a> today announces the opening of a new office in Shanghai,  confirming its long-standing commitment to China and Asia.
The  new office adds to Magnolia’s already well-established presence in  Asia, with two offices having previously opened in Singapore and  Vietnam. The company also has certified  partners serving customers in North Asia and India.
Through  the new Shanghai office, Magnolia looks to expand its offering of  content management and digital experience technologies to the rapidly  growing APAC market.
To coincide with the office opening, Magnolia has also launched its first <a href="https://www.magnolia-cms.com/zh_CN/">Chinese website</a> to meet the growing demands for best of breed enterprise  CMS platforms in the region.
<blockquote>Commenting  on the office opening, Don Lee, Managing Director, APAC at Magnolia  said, “Having recognised a need for intensive personalisation to provide  unparalleled,  unique experiences to customers, Chinese brands are now investing in  marketing technology designed to improve digital experiences.</blockquote>
<blockquote>“This  evolving market opens up major opportunities for Magnolia, with growing  demand for platforms and tools that can help businesses manage their  expanding marketing  ecosystems.”</blockquote>
<blockquote>He  added: “Our global business is growing rapidly, and we see huge  potential to drive further growth through this expansion into Shanghai.  And with an extremely attractive  talent pool in Shanghai, we’re looking forward to extending our  offering to the Greater Chinese markets.”</blockquote>
To find out more about Magnolia’s global offering, visit <a href="https://www.magnolia-cms.com/">https://www.magnolia-cms.com/</a>

Magnolia expands in China with new Shanghai office

cms-critic-staff

When hunting for a new web content management system, exploring your options can feel exhilarating. After all, with new software, comes new possibilities.
However, things take a serious turn when it comes to assessing the flexibility of your short-listed platforms in terms of integration options.
Most businesses will be looking at a long list of tools that need to be integrated with their new CMS. This includes databases, third-party or legacy apps, a CRM, an eCommerce system – and sometimes all of the above.
Not to mention, future technologies will also need to work seamlessly with the new CMS as and when they release.
In other words, the CMS needs to be compatible with what is already in place, and future-proof at the same time.
No platform can truly offer such flexibility right out of the box. Unless of course, it comes without a box.
<h2> Why Open Suite? </h2>
Magnolia has recognized that a one-size-fits-all solution is unrealistic. So instead, they ship their CMS without the confines of a conventional “box”, taking the Open Suite approach instead.
Magnolia’s Open Suite approach, along with its totally open source nature, gives users the power to choose their own tools and applications, and to decide for themselves exactly how they are integrated.
Users can combine the best available tools without any vendor restrictions, and with all the benefits of Magnolia’s enterprise-grade Java foundation.
Here’s a quick summary of the benefits brought about by Magnolia’s open suite approach:
<ul>
<li> Tool Freedom: Maximize choice by using best-of-breed tools.</li>
<li> Cost Effectiveness: Pay only for components you need and will use.</li>
<li> Seamless Integration: Reduce disruption by integrating with existing business know-how and processes.</li>
<li> Intelligence &amp; Flexibility: Upgrade parts of the suite at different speeds, depending on current needs.</li>
<li> Risk Reduction: Lowering costs and adding flexibility means less risk.</li>
</ul>
For further details on what Magnolia’s open suite approach brings, you can check out my previous coverage: <a href="https://www.cmscritic.com/magnolias-open-suite-approach-maximizing-choice-future-proofing-digital-investments/"> Magnolia's Open Suite Approach: Maximizing Choice &amp; Future-proofing Digital Investments </a> .
Development teams however, will want to dig a little deeper into the technicalities of Magnolia’s open suite approach. So, let’s take a look at exactly how it works.
<h2>Getting Technical</h2>
Magnolia’s open suite approach is all about integration – on a whole new and ultra-inclusive level.
Magnolia's Open Suite approach is based on an enterprise-grade stack, best-of-breed open source tools and a framework that balances best practices for content, configuration and templates.
Complete freedom can be exercised with every aspect of the CMS, from which templating engine you choose to which analytics provider you integrate. It’s entirely under your control.
Magnolia’s combination of open APIs, open standards and open source code allow developers to swap out components or build custom components as needed. In fact, <a href="https://app.magnolia-cms.com/"> Magnolia's App repository is growing all the time </a> .
This complete openness makes Magnolia a highly adaptable and interoperable CMS. It simplifies the building of custom suites, all of which can be specific to your organization’s needs.
Below is a handy developer transit map that gives you a birds-eye view of the integration options available, illustrating which technologies are best suited for your requirements.
<h2> Combating Common Obstacles </h2>
Magnolia’s open suite approach is as practical as it is intelligent. Here are some common obstacles faced by enterprises, along with Magnolia’s solutions.
<h3> Access your website content from other applications </h3>
 JCR: Magnolia CMS stores all content (web pages, images, documents, configuration, data) in a Java Content Repository (JCR). JCR is an open standard. This makes custom development of content-based applications easier.
<a href="http://documentation.magnolia-cms.com/display/DOCS/Content%2Bstorage%2Band%2Bstructure"> Read more about how Magnolia stores and structures content </a> .
 REST: Magnolia CMS also offers a REST API, which allows you to read and modify website content over HTTP. The content can be pages, components, contacts or anything else that is stored in Magnolia’s content repository. You can also execute commands to activate, export and import content.
<a href="http://documentation.magnolia-cms.com/display/DOCS/My%2Bfirst%2BREST%2Brequest"> Read more about Magnolia’s REST API </a> .
 PHPCR and WebDAV: Coming to Magnolia CMS from the world of PHP? No problem. You can also access JCR content with PHPCR, the DavEx module and the PHP Jackalope implementation. And you can use Magnolia's built-in WebDAV support to let users easily create, edit and manage templates on the Magnolia CMS server.
Check out Magnolia’s <a href="http://www.magnolia-cms.com/home/resources-directory/webinar-recordings/phpcr.html"> PHPCR webinar </a> and <a href="http://www.magnolia-cms.com/resources-directory/screencasts/webdav.html"> WebDAV screencast </a> . 

<h3>Create workflows that reflect real-world business processes</h3>
 Apps: Magnolia CMS Apps are browser-based applications that run inside Magnolia CMS and help enterprises integrate content authoring with business process workflows.
With Apps, users can control and manipulate data stored in the CMS. Magnolia's Apps work equally well on mobile and desktop devices, and can therefore be used on the move. Apps can be connected with databases, Web services, workflows and notifications.
Magnolia provides an App framework to quickly bootstrap new Apps, and you can use Vaadin and GWT to build the user interface for your Apps.
<a href="https://www.cmscritic.com/the-best-practices-for-designing-a-magnolia-app/"> Read more on Magnolia apps </a> .
 jBPM: jBPM workflows can be used to connect common Magnolia CMS actions, such as content activation or versioning, with your business processes.
Out of the box, Magnolia CMS comes with a <a href="http://documentation.magnolia-cms.com/display/DOCU/Workflow+configuration"> “four-eye” workflow </a> , and you can also create your own custom workflows. Workflows can also be integrated with Magnolia’s messaging hub, <a href="http://www.magnolia-cms.com/product/features/interface/the-pulse.html"> “The Pulse” </a> , for real-time notifications and messaging.
<a href="http://documentation.magnolia-cms.com/display/DOCS/Workflow"> Read more about Magnolia’s workflow functionality </a> .
 Observation: Using Magnolia's content observation mechanism, you can trigger customized actions in response to content changes.
Event listeners can monitor changes in content and trigger pre-defined responses when changes are detected. Common examples include automatic publishing or deactivation of content and sending emails.
<a href="http://documentation.magnolia-cms.com/display/DOCS/Observation%2Bmodule"> Read more about Magnolia’s Observation module </a> .
<h3>Give your website a consistent look and feel, even on mobile devices.</h3>
 Templating: Magnolia CMS uses templates to give structure to rendered content. Out of the box, Magnolia CMS understands Freemarker and JSP templates, but you can also plug in your own custom engine. Microformats and JSTL tags are supported as well.
<a href="http://documentation.magnolia-cms.com/display/DOCS/Templates"> Read more about Magnolia templates </a> . 
 
STK: Magnolia's <a href="http://www.magnolia-cms.com/product/features/development/stk.html"> Standard Templating Kit (STK) </a>  is a production-ready collection of templates for common use cases. It implements the principles of RESS: Responsive Web Design + Server-Side Components.
Web pages rendered with the system are compliant with HTML5 and CSS3, as well as modern accessibility guidelines.
<a href="http://www.magnolia-cms.com/stk"> Read more about Magnolia’s STK </a> .
For even more information on the technical workings and benefits of Magnolia’s open suite approach, check out this white paper.
The white paper also holds Magnolia's solutions to other common obstacles, including security, performance, using external documents and assets, and adding custom functionality via Spring or Grails.
Also, be sure to check out <a href="https://www.cmscritic.com/products/magnolia-cms/"> Magnolia CMS via our CMS Directory </a> .

A Deeper Look at Magnolia's Open Suite Approach

mike-johnston

As you may know, I was in attendance at the Magnolia Conference last month in Basel, Switzerland and was asked to participate in a roundtable called “Mastering Customer Experience Management.”
Magnolia captured this on video and did a great job of putting it together so I thought I'd share for those who may have missed it or were not in attendance. This roundtable discussion features myself, Tim Walters from Digital Clarity Group, Janus Boye, Adriaan Bloem and Christopher Justice from Magnolia.
Here it is for your viewing pleasure:
<iframe src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/q3d8R1mk0WY?feature=oembed" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen="allowfullscreen"></iframe>
To learn more about Magnolia, <a href="/products/magnolia-cms/">check them out in our directory</a>.

Watch Mike and some Industry pros discuss Customer Experience Management

After discussing the many ways in which <a href="/6-ways-magnolia-cms-makes-content-creation-easy/"> Magnolia CMS makes things like content creation easy</a>, it's time to focus in on one of these features in particular – Magnolia Apps.
Magnolia Apps allow you to focus on one particular task at a time. Apps come in a variety of forms. Magnolia CMS is shipped with Apps like Pages, Assets and Contacts – but the true potential of Magnolia Apps as a whole lies within the Magnolia community.
Using <a href="http://documentation.magnolia-cms.com/display/DOCS/App+framework"> Magnolia's App framework</a>, individuals and enterprises alike can create Magnolia Apps of all types, with the option to share them with the Magnolia community. So, with a little imagination, the Magnolia community can produce all kinds of different Apps at will.
Since that's the case, lets take a look at some of the most important guidelines for building Magnolia Apps.
<h2>Choose the Right App Type</h2>
Magnolia's App framework provides ready-made App types, giving your App some functionality right out of the box.
There are two App frameworks available; the Content App and the Custom App. Both of App types have their differences, and so it’s vital that you select the best option for your App.
Here is a quick breakdown of both App types.
<h3> Magnolia Content Apps </h3>
A content App is a specialized App type that manages custom data sets. The content App provides a user interface that consists of a browser subapp and a detail subapp.
<img src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2023/08/magnew700x0.png" alt="Magnolia Apps" /> 
Content Apps make it easy to organize items such as contacts or products. Many native Magnolia 5 Apps such as “Pages” and “Contacts” are good examples of content Apps. Because this App style is used often, the framework provides convenience classes to make building a content App faster.
<h3> Magnolia Custom Apps </h3>
If you need to implement things like graphs or charts into your App, you will find the content App framework is too rigid. Instead, you can use a custom App.
<img src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2023/08/magnew2700x0.png" alt="Magnolia Apps" />
A custom App is also the right choice building certain types of simple Apps, such as displaying some system information or providing a simple configuration tool. However, while you can still configure a lot right out of the box, you will need to write custom App program code yourself. So, if you need flexibility to build your App, selecting a custom App type would be the right choice.
Find out more about <a href="http://documentation.magnolia-cms.com/display/DOCS/Choose+the+right+app+type"> choosing Magnolia App types</a>.
<h2>Highlight Important Actions &amp; Features</h2>
An App’s user friendliness is hugely important, so your App’s most commonly used features should be easy for the user to see and select.
With Magnolia 5, the action bar – the grey menu found on the right-hand side of App interfaces – holds all the key features and functions. It’s wise to organise these features in a way which is helpful to the user.
<img src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2023/08/mag2.png" alt="Magnolia Apps" /> 
One simple yet effective way to achieve user friendliness in this sense, is to put commonly used actions at the top of the action bar. If they are to be used often, they must be available quickly.
Also, constructive options such as “Add Page” should be placed above destructive actions such as “Delete Page”.
Find out more about <a href="http://documentation.magnolia-cms.com/display/DOCS/Make+important+actions+quick+to+pick"> how to highlight important actions</a>.
<h2>Give Users a Full Screen Option</h2>
Sometimes, users want to minimize distractions and focus in on certain tasks. Giving your App full screen functionality allows that to happen.
For example, writing site copy is creative work that requires concentration. Magnolia’s rich text editor helps the publisher in this case, by expanding to cover the entire dialogue width and height. This leaves only the white canvas in focus, allowing the text to take centre stage.
<img src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2023/08/mag3700x0.png" alt="Magnolia Apps" /> 
Users will also benefit from a full screen mode when working on tasks which require long periods of time to complete. After all, nobody enjoys spending hours working within a small windowed interface.
Find out more about <a href="http://documentation.magnolia-cms.com/display/DOCS/Allow+users+to+go+full+screen"> full screen Magnolia Apps</a>.
<h2>Take Care With Colors</h2>
Within the Magnolia App Launcher page, Apps which have something in common are grouped together as boxes, with colours helping to differentiate them.
Each App group box can be assigned a specific color, and those colors have a big impact on the way users first experience Apps. Poor color contrast in the App group can make an otherwise great App appear unprofessional.
<img src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2023/08/mag5700x0.png" alt="Magnolia Apps" />
For example, white text on a yellow background is a colour pairing which you should avoid, as such colors make text difficult to read.
Instead, opt for safer colours like red or dark purple which won’t clash with text or other page elements.
Find out more about <a href="http://documentation.magnolia-cms.com/display/DOCS/Choose+a+safe+app+group+color"> selecting safe Magnolia App colors</a>.
<h2>Don’t Forget About Mobile Devices</h2>
Magnolia 5 is a <a href="/magnolia-the-worlds-first-mobile-optimized-cms/"> mobile-optimized content management system</a>, which is something you should consider when you design your App.
Providing the same functionality for both tablet and desktop users is therefore important, although there will always be slight differences in the user’s experience.
<img src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2023/08/mag4.png" alt="Magnolia Apps" /> 
For example, only the first action in an action group is displayed right away on tablets via the action bar. The remaining actions are displayed only after a long press. Make sure that the first action in every group is an action that users need often.
Other useful differences, however, such as drag and drop functionality, can actually improve tablet user experiences, so use such features well.
Find out more about <a href="http://documentation.magnolia-cms.com/display/DOCS/Be+a+good+tablet+citizen">designing Magnolia Apps for mobile devices</a>.
Using these simple practices as a guideline, you can create some truly excellent Magnolia Apps that are not just useful, but also user-friendly.
For even more guidelines on how to create a brilliant Magnolia App, check out <a href="http://documentation.magnolia-cms.com/display/DOCS/Designing+an+app"> Magnolia's “Designing an App” guide</a>.
Also, be sure to check out <a href="/products/magnolia-cms/"> Magnolia CMS via our CMS Directory</a>.

The Best Practices for Designing a Magnolia App

Magnolia International, the company behind the <a href="http://www.magnolia-cms.com/" target="_blank">Magnolia CMS</a>, today announced record global growth figures along with news of a newly appointed Chief Financial Officer and Chief Marketing Officer.
Used in more than 100 countries across the world by governments and leading Fortune 500 enterprises, Magnolia CMS is an  Open Source, Enterprise Content Management System with rapidly growing ambitions.
From amongst Magnolia's customers include Nissan, Virgin America, Al Arabiya, Sony, Allianz, and Airbus Group.
<h2>Growth &amp; Expansion</h2>
Since 2012, Magnolia has doubled global revenue. This growth was a result of significant sales increases in all Magnolia offices. Worldwide headcount has also doubled during this period.
In 2013 alone, Magnolia's global customer base grew by 25%. The U.S. market is the fastest growing market, accounting for 30% of new licenses in 2013. U.S.-based customers include Nissan, Virgin America, Abbott Diabetes, US Navy, and Vision Service Plan.
Magnolia's revenue and client growth has spurred additional global expansion in Beijing, and satellite offices in Gothenburg and Helsinki. Office expansion and additional headcount is occurring in every office, including Miami, U.S., Madrid, Spain, and Kromeriz, Czech Republic.
Due to this record growth, Magnolia will soon run out of space in the current Basel, Switzerland headquarters. As a result, the company is building a new headquarters in Basel, with move-in scheduled summer 2015.
Pascal Mangold, CEO and co-founder of Magnolia, made these comments regarding the growth announcement:
<blockquote>“Our goal at Magnolia is to have extremely satisfied customers. We empower our customers by providing a platform to develop mission-critical websites that guarantee an optimized customer experience on all devices. Our growth in the US with recent wins like Nissan and Virgin America speaks to our potential for additional growth in the U.S. market.”</blockquote>
<h2>Executive Team Additions</h2>
To complement their impressive growth figures, Magnolia also announced key additions to the executive management team, adding a Chief Financial Officer and Chief Marketing Officer.
The two key hires were Christopher Justice coming on as the Chief Marketing Officer and Alain Kugelmann as the Chief Financial Officer.
Justice, a serial entrepreneur and advisor to multiple U.S. tech startups, has designed, developed, and marketed enterprise software and content management solutions since 1996 with Computer Associates, IBM, Vignette, and with the United States Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). He will champion Magnolia's brand through effective marketing, community management and technical communications.
Kugelmann spent the last 14 years in various financial positions with the French multinational conglomerate Alstom. At Magnolia, Kugelmann will oversee the accounting, controlling, treasury, investor relations, insurance, and tax functions.
Boris Kraft, CTO &amp; Co-Founder at Magnolia, had this to say regarding the new executive appointments:
<blockquote>“The addition of Chris and Alain is another step in our goal of assembling a world-class management team. Culture and experience are the pillars of what has driven Magnolia’s growth since its inception, and these executives have the best of both qualities. These key additions to our management team position Magnolia to enable more engaging and personalized customer experiences with Magnolia solutions.”</blockquote>
To find out more about Magnolia CMS, <a href="http://www.magnolia-cms.com/" target="_blank">visit their website</a>.
Also, be sure to check out  <a href="/products/magnolia-cms/"> Magnolia via our CMS Directory</a>.

Magnolia Adds Key Members to Executive Team & Reports Record Growth

Webflow - Build with the power of code

Build with the power of code – without coding

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A content management system is only as good as the content it enables you to create.
Previously, I touched upon how <a href="/products/magnolia-cms/"> Magnolia CMS</a> makes life easy for publishers on the move thanks to being <a href="/magnolia-the-worlds-first-mobile-optimized-cms/">mobile-optimized</a>. Now it's time to dig deeper into just how well Magnolia empowers its users when it comes to content creation.
Magnolia CMS makes content creation easy through a range of features like Favorites, which helps to manage and organize tasks, and The Pulse which enables team members to collaborate effortlessly.
These Magnolia features – and many more like them – all come together to make editing and publishing content a piece of cake.
Let's now explore six of these features in a little more detail.
<h2>1. Create Content, Using a Beautiful &amp; Efficient Interface</h2>
<img src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2023/08/mag1700x0.png" alt="Magnolia Editing Interface" />
Magnolia's user-friendly interface makes it simple to start editing content quickly and easily, with no need for prior training or coding knowledge.
All of Magnolia's menus and pages are neatly designed and easy to understand, making navigation effortless. For example, the “Action Bar” found on the right-hand side on the interface, offers quick access to various options such as page duplication, renaming, and so forth.
This sleek user interface came as a result of the release of Magnolia 5 in 2013. Leading up to its release, Magnolia worked tirelessly through over 3000 mock-ups to arrive at the beautiful and efficient interface as it is today. 
 
 Another extremely useful feature, is the ability to edit content directly on a web page. This ensures that your visitors see your content exactly the way they're meant to. You can even preview web pages as they would appear to visitors on both desktops and mobile devices.
Also, Magnolia enables you to reorder page content with an easy to use drag and drop function, which lets you place content and page elements like text blocks and images efficiently.
<h2>2. Manage Content from Anywhere</h2>
<img src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2023/08/mag2.png" alt="Magnolia Tablet Interface" />
Thanks to <a href="/magnolia-the-worlds-first-mobile-optimized-cms/"> Magnolia's mobile-optimization</a>, you don't need to be in the office or even on a desktop computer in order to create and manage content.
As well as the interface responding to tablet screens, Magnolia CMS boasts specific features which tablet users can enjoy exclusively.
This includes touch-friendly menus, gesture support, responsive Action Bars which are optimized for tablet usage, along with the ability to take photos via your tablet, upload them to Magnolia, and then use them within content. This feature in particular is ideal for journalists and other workers who are always on the move.
<h2>3. Streamline Workflows with Favorites</h2>
<img src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2023/08/mag3700x0.png" alt="Magnolia Favorites" />
With Magnolia's “Favorites” – which is a feature easily accessed from the top of the Magnolia CMS interface – you can quickly create shortcuts to important pages, tasks and admin areas.
These shortcuts can be organized into groups, which means you can even create to-do lists for yourself and other team members. Also, you can access the Favorites you create across devices, meaning that Favorites created on a desktop computer can later be accessed with a tablet.
Not only does the Favorites feature enhance team collaboration, but it also streamlines workflows, helping you and your team get tasks done faster.
<h2>4. Keep Tabs on the Team with The Pulse</h2>
<img src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2023/08/mag4123700x0.png" alt="Magnolia Pulse" />
Thanks to Magnolia's communication hub, “The Pulse”, you can stay updated when it comes to things like content status, comments, requests, warnings, as well as offering content statistics. It even lets you send messages to other team members.
Further teamwork features include the ability for team members to edit the same content at once, compare the edits of different page versions, and more. What's more is, all this can be achieved simply through web browsers, with no client installations or platform dependencies to worry about.
<h2>5. Overcome Language Barriers</h2>
<img src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2023/08/mag5700x0.png" alt="Magnolia Language" /> 
If your publications are intended for a continental or even a global audience, language will certainly be an issue. Unless you're using Magnolia CMS of course.
With Magnolia, you can easily assign different languages to different websites or simply allow different websites to share the same site structure, with only certain areas or sub-sites served in different languages.
Additionally, Magnolia makes life easy for content authors, offering its user interface in over 15 languages, including English, Russian, Chinese, French, German and Spanish.
<h2>6. Focus on Tasks Using Apps</h2>
<img src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2023/08/mag6700x0.png" alt="Magnolia Apps" />
A Magnolia App is built to serve one specific function, like editing a page with the Pages App for example. With each App, you can work on one task or one data set at a time, bringing clarity to your work day.
Magnolia comes with a range of useful Apps including Pages, Contact and Assets, all of which offer their own unique functions. However, perhaps the most exciting aspect of Magnolia Apps, is the potential of what can be created by the Magnolia community.
You and your organizations will almost certainly have some very specific everyday tasks that could benefit from being made into an App. Now, those Apps can not only be created, but also shared with the wider Magnolia community.
So there you have it, Magnolia's six simple yet effective ways to make content creation easy, flexible and functional – wherever you are.
To see for yourself how Magnolia CMS enables users to unleash their creativity, check out their <a href="http://www.magnolia-cms.com/product/features/teamwork-collaboration.html"> authoring and teamwork collaboration features page</a>.
Also, be sure to check out <a href="/products/magnolia-cms/"> Magnolia via our CMS Directory</a>.

6 Ways Magnolia CMS Makes Content Creation Easy

Just as <a href="/how-magnolia-cms-responds-to-the-evolving-call-of-multi-channel-content-management/#.UzWeNvl_vvU"> Magnolia CMS responds to the ever-changing call of multi-channel content management</a>, so too has it adapted to the mobile revolution.
With mobile devices becoming such a crucial part of everyday life and business, managing content and staying connected when out and about is now absolutely necessary.
Magnolia ensures that their users can create, manage and publish content for multiple channels on tablet devices, just as easily as they can on a desktop.
<h2>Moving with the Mobile Revolution</h2>
Mobile devices have become increasingly vital to the workings of all modern organizations. Because of this, the Magnolia team felt that they needed to react, as Boris Kraft, CTO of Magnolia, explains in his <a href="/interview-with-boris-kraft-cto-of-magnolia/#.UzVIVvl_vvX"> recent CMS Critic interview</a>:
<blockquote> “When the mobile revolution and the rise of tablets came to the equation, we knew we had to drop how user interfaces of enterprise software are usually done and take a radical new approach. 
 We started from scratch and did more than 3000 mock ups for Magnolia 5. The result is an enterprise software unlike any other, which fulfils all our wishes regarding usability and extensibility.” </blockquote>
The results of these efforts came in the form of Magnolia 5, released on June 20 th 2013. On that day, Magnolia became the first software to bring full CMS capabilities to tablet devices.
Since then, Magnolia users have benefited from touch-optimized usability along with some handy mobile-specific functions, which I will soon discuss.
<h2>More Than Responsive</h2>
Magnolia isn't just responsive to tablet screens. It also boasts specific functions and features which tablet users can exclusively enjoy.
First up, the Magnolia Apps launcher offers a touch-optimized navigation point between content management Apps like pages and assets. This interface is similar to that of most smartphones, making it easy to find your way around.
<img src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2023/08/cmscritic1700x0.png" alt="Magnolia App Launcher" />
Apps are the centrepiece of Magnolia CMS. Each App allows you to focus on the task at hand, only offering the functionality you need to complete the task. Yet, multi-tasking on tablets is easy, with only a three-fingered swipe across the screen being needed to switch from one App to another.
All features and functions – like page creation and content editing for example – work in the same way as they do on the desktop version of Magnolia.
Further usability options include a simple and intuitive action bar displayed on the side of the tablet screen. The action bar automatically highlights available actions, depending on what you are working on. Optimized for mobile devices, you can easily expand and collapse the action bar with a swipe of your finger.
<img src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2023/08/cmscritic3700x0.png" alt="Magnolia Tablet Interface" />
Furthermore, Magnolia's mobile-optimized Asset App enables you to manage assets like photos and videos. Within the Asset App, you can zoom in and out of assets to get a clearer view before making a selection.
Meanwhile, images can be resized, cropped, rotated, flipped and so forth, all via the on-screen action bar.
<img src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2023/08/cmscritic4700x0.png" alt="Magnolia Tablet Image Editing" />
Additional image management features on tablets include the ability to capture, edit, manage and publish pictures and videos taken directly from the tablet camera.
This feature is unique to Magnolia's mobile-optimized CMS, and allows for increased freedom when it comes to tasks like news publishing on the move in ways which are unseen on other platforms.
<h2>Staying Connected, Staying Familiar</h2>
One of the main purposes of a mobile device is to help you stay connected and in control even when on the move, and Magnolia recognizes this.
The Pulse contains information items, warnings, error notifications or workflow items, and is easily accessible at the top of every page on tablet devices. This four-tiered notification system helps mobile professionals assess messages and take action quickly, maintaining control of their processes, even when travelling.
Another useful feature which is maintained on the mobile version of Magnolia, is the Favorites feature.
With it, users can easily create shortcuts for common tasks and group them into semantic “to-do” lists or “recipes”. Authors on mobile devices can work faster, thanks to the luxury of a two-click access route to these tasks, which may include creating a new page or adding a new special offer.
Favorites are also portable across multiple devices and browsers, so Favorites created on your desktop can also be accessed via your tablet.
Along with other features like page editing, the Pulse and Favourites features are just two more examples of how Magnolia has seamlessly introduced their platform for the mobile market by keeping features identical between desktop and tablet.
This means that users will find Magnolia on tablets extremely familiar, with no need to learn any drastically new controls.
To find out more about Magnolia CMS visit their <a href="http://www.magnolia-cms.com/">official website</a>. Also, check out their informative white paper, “<a href="http://www.magnolia-cms.com/resources-directory/white-papers/the-tablet-publishing-revolution.html">The Tablet Publishing Revolution</a>”.
Additionally, you can explore more of <a href="/products/magnolia-cms/"> Magnolia via our CMS Directory</a>.

Magnolia: The World's First Mobile-optimized CMS

In the world of digital channel development – with mediums such as mobile devices and online publications, nothing stands still. New technologies, devices and ideas are constantly emerging to help bring different types of content to the end users in innovative ways.
Thus, matching that innovation with equally evolved publishing and marketing strategies is vital to reaching new audiences, and maintaining ties with existing ones.
<a href="http://www.magnolia-cms.com/"> Magnolia CMS</a>, an open source enterprise content management system initially released in 2003, has taken – and is continuing to take – monumental steps forward when it comes to managing and publishing content across these different channels.
<h2>Create Once, Publish Everywhere</h2>
Traditionally, separate channels often required separately produced content, but that's not necessarily the case with Magnolia CMS.
Instead, Magnolia takes your original content and applies style ‘variations', making it suitable for all channel types without the need to re-create it. So, content duplication becomes a thing of a past, and future channel variations can be created and published to with much less effort.
This opens the door to publishing content across all devices and mediums, including tablets, smartphones, newsletters, ebooks and so on.
Desktops, tablets and smartphones are catered for by default, including a mobile preview functionality with landscape and portrait modes, which gives content publishers complete control over the appearance of web pages and other publication types like ebooks and newsletters on various devices.
A great example of this strategic content delivery can be found within <a href="http://www.magnolia-cms.com/clients/case-studies/airbus-group.html"> Magnolia's case study on Airbus Group</a>. The world-renowned aerospace corporation demonstrated how enterprise content can be published seamlessly across a wide range of mobile devices, based on Magnolia CMS.
<h2>Supreme Multi-channel Flexibility</h2>
For a variety of reasons, customizing content for certain channels can be vital when it comes to successfully connecting with different audiences with a tailored approach. Thankfully, Magnolia CMS provides such flexibility.
Magnolia's built-in multi-channel management system allows publishers to configure which content appears where, for whom it appears, and how it appears. For example, a page containing content specifically for a smartphone users, can be excluded from appearing on tablet and desktop devices, focusing the content entirely on the smartphone audience.
Additionally, custom channel resolvers enable content tailored for certain regional markets to be published exclusively for those markets, whilst other regions are excluded, or served different content. For example, a page containing content specifically produced for a North American audience, can be excluded from appearing in all parts of the world except for North America.
Custom channel resolvers such as these can be defined in a range of different ways to customise content delivery. Different pages, or even single page areas can be specifically delivered to end users based on a number of factors, including location, device, time, and so forth.
This ability to deliver content specifically allows for better tailored marketing offers and a greater chance of communicating the right message to the right person in the right way.
Looking to the future, Magnolia version 5.3 – which is to be released in the Summer of 2014, will add to the platform's capabilities with further personalization options and enhanced mechanisms to help deliver content to audiences even more specifically than ever before. More information on Magnolia 5.3 can be obtained via the <a href="http://www.magnolia-cms.com/product/roadmap.html"> Magnolia Roadmap</a>.
<h2>Evolving with the Call</h2>
Magnolia's capabilities in the face of the ever-changing nature of digital channels is precisely what forward-thinking enterprises are looking to take advantage of.
Failure to take advantage of such capabilities would mean losing access to a range of different audiences, many of which are looking to experience content in newer, more personal forms.
So, customizing web page and publication presentation, defining custom channels, and delivering targeted content is not merely a luxury in today's every-changing market – but a necessity.
Magnolia's recognition of this fact is built-in to its multi-channel management features. They are simply evolving with the call.
To find out more about Magnolia CMS, visit their <a href="http://www.magnolia-cms.com/"> official website</a>, where you can read and watch more about their <a href="http://www.magnolia-cms.com/product/features/multichannel.html"> multi-channel publishing features</a>.
Additionally, you can explore more of <a href="https://www.cmscritic.com/products/magnolia-cms/"> Magnolia via our CMS Directory</a>.

How Magnolia CMS Responds to the Evolving Call of Multi-channel Content Management

During my <a href="/my-visit-to-magnolias-offices-in-basel-switzerland/">recent visit to the Magnolia CMS Headquarters in Basel, Switzerland</a>, I was given the opportunity to sit down and have a (lengthy but informative) chat with Boris Kraft, CTO and CoFounder of Magnolia CMS.I promise, there will be some solid video interviews coming soon where you'll actually be able to see us chat but due to unforeseen circumstances (a camera that broke while we were in Paris), I had simply a microphone and a laptop available. I turned our interview into a video just to make it easier for everyone to be able to listen.While it is a lengthy interview, I think you'll find our discussion interesting. It shows the passion that Boris has for his product and I found the entire chat quite informative and interesting. I hope you feel the same way after listening to it.http://youtu.be/a2enpJmSLogFor more info on Magnolia, visit the <a href="/products/magnolia">Magnolia CMS</a> page in our CMS Product Directory.

Interview with Boris Kraft, CTO and CoFounder of Magnolia CMS

This month, I had the pleasure of visiting the head office of the popular open source enterprise CMS, Magnolia in beautiful Basel, Switzerland.Their offices are situated on one of the longest rivers in Europe, the Rhine River, which runs over 1200 kilometers through Switzerland, Germany and the Netherlands.It was an absolutely gorgeous view from the balcony outside their offices.<img src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2023/08/magnolia18.jpg" alt="Rhine River" />When <a target="_blank" href="http://www.thekitchenmagpie.com/about">my wife </a>and I first arrived, we were greeted with a smile by Boris Kraft, CTO &amp; Co-Founder, and Ben Price, Marketing Communications Manager for Magnolia International. Of course, we did the obligatory pose for the camera (that's Ben on my left and Boris on my right).<img src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2023/08/magnolia.jpg" />We had a tour of the offices, which were really well set up in a beautiful old building that, according to Boris, were previously a dorm for students.  For your viewing pleasure, here are some pictures of their head office and their awesome team.<img src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2023/08/magnolia14.jpg" />Natascha Natum, Management Assistant and HR Coordinator.<img src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2023/08/magnolia13.jpg" />(left) Ben Price, Marketing Manager, (centre left) Isabelle Dubach, Marketing Manager, (centre right) Gavan Stockdale, Technical Writer, (right) Laura Gambell, Marketing Assistant<img src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2023/08/magnolia19.jpg" />Magnolia CMS Core Developers<figure class="image"><img src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2023/08/magnolia21.jpg" /></figure>Magnolia CMS Core Developers<figure class="image"><img src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2023/08/magnolia16.jpg" /></figure>(left) Sebastian Stang, Senior Sales &amp; Partner Manager and (right) Samuel Schmitt, Technical Account Manager.<img src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2023/08/magnolia2.jpg" />Alain Kugelmann, Head of FinanceAfter my tour, I had a chance to sit down with Boris while he gave me a tour of the latest release, Magnolia 5.2.2 on both iPad and Desktop:<img src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2023/08/magnolia6.jpg" alt="Boris Kraft and Mike Johnston" />What makes this release unique is the amazing new interface they developed for it. The entire backend and CMS has been redesigned from the ground up to be completely functional on mobile devices such as smart phones and tablets. There's even a beautifully designed touch interface.Here's a great video showcasing the interface on the iPad: And here is another showing content authoring from the desktop: As we walked through the interface, I couldn't help but be impressed with the slick implementation. I know, I've said before in my “<a href="/how-to-find-the-perfect-cms">How to Find the Perfect CMS</a>” article that you should always be careful about being “wowed by the interface” but in this case, it's not just a pretty face with no functionality. Not only is the interface one of the best I've seen, it truly is amazingly simple yet functional on all devices.As Boris explained during our discussion, their goal with Magnolia 5 was to offer a CMS that actually doesn't just manage your content but rather provides a framework where users can build their website quickly and easily using a flexible system that is expandable through apps. They also wanted to ensure that this same system worked on the latest technologies such as tablets like the iPad.<img src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2023/08/magnolia8.jpg" alt="Boris Kraft and Mike Johnston" /><img src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2023/08/magnolia10.jpg" alt="Boris Kraft and Mike Johnston" />They were so concerned with the interface being functional but not overwhelming that they went through three major redesigns before finally feeling like they hit the nail on the head with the Magnolia 5 interface. I have to agree. It truly is an amazingly slick interface.If you haven't had a chance to play with it yet, I strongly suggest you <a target="_blank" href="http://www.magnolia-cms.com/">head over to their site</a> and try out the free demo (scroll down and fill in your details, it takes about 1 minute and it's well worth it to see what they've done here).Want to learn more about Magnolia? Check out the <a href="/products/magnolia-cms/">Magnolia CMS page</a> in our CMS directory.

My visit to Magnolia's Offices in Basel, Switzerland

<a href="https://www.magnolia-cms.com/">Magnolia</a> is an open source company that produces the popular enterprise content management system, Magnolia CMS. Recently, we were given an opportunity to interview Magnolia co-founder and CTO, Boris Kraft. For those unfamiliar with Magnolia CMS, <a href="http://www.betterfasterbigger.com/2007/03/magnolia-not-so-brief-history.html">this brief history</a> of the product (and company) will get you up to speed.
<h2>Who is Boris Kraft?</h2>
<img style="max-width:200px" src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2023/08/363f874.jpg" alt="Boris Kraft" />
Cofounder of Magnolia International Ltd., the Swiss company that develops Magnolia CMS, a commercial open-source Content Management System used by leading organizations around the world.
His goals are simply to develop the world's best Content Management System by building a company that attracts world-class talent and focuses on people first, technology second.
In summer 2007 he launched the New-York-based Magnolia Americas, Inc., to establish a stronger presence for Magnolia in the American market. He has won new clients like Sony Latin America, Johnson &amp; Johnson, J2 Global (efax) and the US Navy.
At Magnolia International, his current responsibilities include product management, business strategy, and marketing.
His experience as a speaker include the keynote speech at Magnolia Conference 2009, 2010, and 2012, talks about Magnolia for the Web Content Mavens, Washington, 2008, the Server Side Java Symposium in Barcelona 2006, Innovation &amp; Transformation, Washington DC, 2006, at OSCOM 2004 and at LOTS (Lets open the source) in 2004 and 2005. Earlier experiences include teaching computer science at the University of Cooperative Education Loerrach and presenting his parallel real-time simulation environment at the 8th Workshop on Parallel and Distributed Simulation in Edinburgh.
His career in IT includes object-oriented software development under NeXTSTEP, several years of active involvement in a leading Internet security company, the development of a distributed real-time simulation environment, the use of Oracle web technology, databases and CASE tools as well as programming the first ever intranet solution for Roche Vitamins AG.
Since 2002 he has been focusing on the development of Magnolia from a strategic and marketing perspective.
He likes to blog about all things Magnolia and regularly publishes articles in print magazines as well.
He lives in Switzerland with his wife and three kids.
<h2>The Interview</h2>
What do you think makes Magnolia unique in the industry?
That depends on the direction from which you look at us. From a business perspective, I think it is interesting to see that the company is led by its two founders (Pascal Mangold &amp; Boris Kraft), who make all strategic decisions jointly. It is also amazing to see that Magnolia has had no outside funding, no VC, no debt. Magnolia is independent in its best sense. We have found a business model that is sustainable: software licenses subscriptions – which in turn means that we can execute on our vision of building the worlds best CMS. This is no small endeavor, but given that that is no VC breathing down our necks, and that the business model works, we can move forward one step at a time and produce a product that is second to none in its quality, usability and focus.
Magnolia doesn’t compete with its partners. We don’t do project implementations – they do. That is why we have a rapidly growing partner network and a lot of trust between the implementation partner, us and our clients. It is a nice separation of concerns that is beneficial for our customers and our partners.
Technically, Magnolia 5 is the world’s first major CMS that has been rethought from the ground up to work on tablets as well as desktops. This opens up new horizons for its deployment for our customers, like its use for field services and intranet apps. We also happen to sport the world’s best Spring framework integration, something our high end customers benefit greatly from in their need to bring business logic &amp; applications to the web, for instance in the travel, finance or telecoms industry.
Magnolia also has a technological advantage by providing a sophisticated best practice templating framework called STK (<a href="http://www.magnolia-cms.com/stk" target="_blank">http://www.magnolia-cms.com/stk</a>) which reduces project risk and speeds up implementation time. It allows pixel-perfect sites both on mobile and desktop and is the reason many large enterprises see a very low TCO in their projects.
There is also the aspect that Magnolia is open source but vendor-driven, so you get the best of the proprietary support &amp; sales bundles with the quality and transparency of open source software.
What made you, as a company, choose to be an open source product?
Pragmatic decision, see <a href="http://www.betterfasterbigger.com/2007/03/magnolia-not-so-brief-history.html">history</a>. No ideology behind it. We originally wrote Magnolia because we wanted a product that focuses on usability and scales to enterprise requirements. There was no intention to sell the product, so why not open source it. In 2006 we started selling an Enterprise Edition, which at the time was a novum for an application. It changed our future.
What is the biggest advantage to using Magnolia over other products?
Our customers would say its flexibility and ease-of-use. Indeed given our history as a service provider and personal interest in usability, design &amp; architecture, this is understandable. When we started out we were clear in our ambition: write the world’s best CMS. Build something that is user-friendly and enterprise-grade. This has resulted in a highly flexible, usable and focused content management product, which is starting to be rare these days.
With the latest release of Magnolia, there seems to be a heavy focus on the user experience, can you address that?
Magnolia 5 has been on our minds for years, and when the mobile revolution and the rise of tablets came to the equation, we knew we had to drop how user interfaces of enterprise software are usually done and take a radical new approach. In our case, we were starting from the question “What would software (a CMS…) look like if we would write it for a tablet computer?”. This was an almost heretical approach. We started from scratch and did more than 3000 mock-ups for Magnolia 5. The result is an enterprise software unlike any other, which fulfills all our wishes regarding usability and extensibility. It is a platform for years to come, and in fact I believe that all enterprise software will  eventually take a similar path. At the core is its reduction to task focused apps – like on your smartphone. We have added to it a way to communicate between the system, apps, and users (called “the Pulse”) and a smart way to create custom task lists called “Favorites”. The result is outstanding and blows our customers away in its simplicity, flexibility, and usability.
With many vendors shifting their focus to online marketing, what changes are you making to stay competitive?
Vendors have always been shifting their focus. That is part of the problem. If you try to build the world’s best limousine and then realize that people are now starting to spend money on private planes, will you buy a wing manufacturer, attach the wings to your car and call it a plane? That is pretty much what the competition does. Except they wouldn’t call it a plane, they’d call it “airborne transportation vehicle” or “ATC”?
But back to us. Content Management is hard to do right. We have been on it for more than 10 years now. The web has developed rapidly, and so have our clients’ needs. You rightly point out a shift to marketing – that is understandable because much of the business now happens on the web. But what about the business part of it? How can you integrate those back end applications and bring them to the web and mobile?  You still need to pull that off. So I think the heart of your infrastructure should be able to do the right things right. That is what we work on with Magnolia.
There are a myriad of tools available for online marketing, and every day we see new ones pop up. Our approach to deal with that is what we call “open suite” – with Magnolia at the core, customers have the ability to plug in any new tool for marketing or business needs using Magnolia’s integration capabilities. With Magnolia 5, these third party tools can then be exposed as an app. This approach is unlike your typical “customer experience management” lock-in suite. Magnolia allows you to take one step at a time and add whatever is most relevant for your next digital endeavors.
Over the years our customers have added pretty much any marketing tool on the planet to Magnolia, and thus proven that it is great to have such an open platform.
If you were to choose the ideal target customer for a Magnolia deployment, who would it be, what industry would they be in and why?
Well, customers chose us, not the other way around. We are strong in the financial industry, travel, retail etc. Typically, our customers create considerable revenue from their online offerings. They have a strong java team in place which is valued and respected by business (and marketing) because they understand that these are the guys that provide their online offering with unique advantages. Whenever technicians with a need for Java evaluate the CMS space, Magnolia will be on their shortlist.
What do you consider your biggest accomplishment as a company?
Having survived for 16 years now, attracting great talent, making our customers happy.
Your biggest failure?
To educate more people out there why Magnolia really is the better choice.
What are your favorite Magnolia CMS-based websites that are still running it today and why?
The Ticket websites (Ticket.se and Ticket.no), which are the largest online travel retailer in Scandinavia. This is not our largest customer by any means, but the innovation that went into developing these sites, the work with the implementation partners, and the customers, shows the true strength of open source and collaboration.
By working with the customer to integrate Magnolia with the Spring Java Framework, we found one of our most talented new developers and created a new product, Blossom, which is currently one of our strongest selling points.
With Blossom, customers that have back-end systems created using the Spring Framework (and there are a lot at the high-end) can now just drag this code into Magnolia to expose them as secure services on the web and mobile devices.
What is the most under-rated feature of Magnolia CMS?
Simplicity. People confuse simplicity with a lack of power, but it is about delivering powerful features, efficiently, where and when they are needed. The effect this has on creativity and efficiency can be astounding.
Our customers typically are well aware of all the benefits Magnolia brings. One feature that is often overlooked by prospects and implementation partners are Magnolia's on-demand image manipulation capabilities. This is a very powerful feature referred to as image variations, and is asset management functionality to generate different format images for different use cases, e.g. From one base image we automatically generate a smaller one for a teaser and yet other formats for mobile devices. This saves editors a lot of time because they can simply rely on Magnolia to generate all formats requested by the various output channels.
What can we expect to see from Magnolia in the coming 1-2 years?
Several commerce engine integrations; the productizing of personalization and content pool functionality. We also expect a lot of interesting apps to come out of our partner’s development efforts. In fact, some will already be presented at this year’s Magnolia Conference in September.
Do you have any parting comments?
With the launch of Magnolia 5, we are at the start of a new era for Magnolia. The whole app-based approach, has opened up the user experience to new levels of input and innovation. As an open source community, we cannot wait to see where our customers and partners take this new platform. We certainly have our own vision, but the joy is in combining this with the ideas and real-world needs of our customers and partners.
<h2>Want to learn more about Magnolia?</h2>
Check out <a href="http://www.magnolia-cms.com">their website</a> or read our related articles (see the right sidebar on this site) to learn more.

Interview with Boris Kraft, CTO of Magnolia

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