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Let's be honest: there's nothing quite like Awards Season. Just ask Moira Rose.
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And it's not because of the glitz, the glamour, or even the drama (although last year's Oscars did deliver the <a href="https://www.cnn.com/2023/02/23/entertainment/oscars-crisis-will-smith/index.html" target="_blank">slap heard 'round the world</a>).
No, we love Awards Season because it's a celebration. An opportunity to cheer for the things we love. From film to music, actors to performers. Heck, even our favorite technologies.
Each year, CMS Critic is proud to feature our People's Choice Awards: a unique, one-of-a-kind platform for celebrating our industry. Since 2012, the People's Choice Awards have provided an opportunity for you – our community of digital professionals and stack fanatics – to tell us which platforms you love the most.
The People's Choice Awards are always fun and engaging, and the results never fail to surprise us. We put the power in your hands to nominate and vote, so it reflects your community participation. No matter how you feel about the outcomes, this is a win for every platform involved and your passionate users and fans.
This year, we had record participation from around the globe for both the nominations and final voting, and we're thrilled to share the winners you selected!
<h2>And the Oscar goes to...</h2>
But first, a quick reminder about the contest and how it worked:
<ul>
<li>In <a href="/nominate-your-favorite-platforms-for-the-2022-cms-critic-peoples-choice-awards/">December 2022</a>, we invited readers to nominate platforms across a set of categories on our website.</li>
<li>Nominations closed at the end of January.</li>
<li>The top five nominees (in the case of a few ties, the top six) were selected for voting in each category.</li>
<li>General voting began in early February and closed on February 20.</li>
<li>Participants could vote only once, and companies that offered incentives of any kind were disqualified.</li>
</ul>
And that's it! Without further ado, here are the winners of the 2022 People’s Choice Award winners:
<h4>Best Enterprise CMS: Contensis</h4>
<a href="https://www.contensis.com/" target="_blank"><img style="width:300px" src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2023/03/contensis-logo.jpg" alt="Contensis Logo" /></a>
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<h4>Best DXP: Adobe Experience Cloud</h4>
<a href="https://business.adobe.com/" target="_blank"><img style="width:300px" src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2023/02/adobe-edited.jpg" alt="Adobe Experience Cloud Logo" /></a>
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<h4>Best Free CMS: Joomla!</h4>
<a href="https://www.joomla.org/" target="_blank"><img style="width:300px" src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2023/02/joomla-edited.png" alt="Joomla! Logo" /></a>
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<h4>Best Flat File CMS: Statamic</h4>
<a href="https://statamic.com/" target="_blank"><img style="width:300px" src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2023/02/statamic-edited.jpg" alt="Statamic Logo" /></a>
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<h4>Best Open Source CMS: Umbraco</h4>
<a href="https://umbraco.com/?gclid=CjwKCAiAr4GgBhBFEiwAgwORrRdPATQsqJ5M2tqVIMIHVlkjBnO2Cl29dGTXI9dhb9_BNa9pqdulIhoCK40QAvD_BwE" target="_blank"><img style="width:120px" src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2023/02/umbraco-edited.png" alt="Umbraco Logo" /></a>
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<h4>Best ECM (Enterprise Content Management): Microsoft SharePoint</h4>
<a href="https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/microsoft-365/sharepoint/collaboration" target="_blank"><img style="width:300px" src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2023/02/sharepoint-edited.png" alt="Microsoft SharePoint Logo" /></a>
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<h4>Best E-Commerce Solution: Shopify</h4>
<a href="https://www.shopify.com/free-trial?term=shopify&amp;adid=565872334073&amp;campaignid=15436644439&amp;branded_enterprise=1&amp;BOID=brand&amp;gclid=CjwKCAiAr4GgBhBFEiwAgwORrQTcMx9LwHQNvRFM6fN3NdS4GIn0wcvVgK3LdPDmBWiVFRhMOA64HxoCZEQQAvD_BwE&amp;cmadid=516586854;cmadvertiserid=10730501;cmcampaignid=26990768;cmplacementid=324494812;cmcreativeid=163722649;cmsiteid=5500011" target="_blank"><img style="width:250px" src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2023/02/shopify-edited.png" alt="Shopify Logo" /></a>
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<h4>Best Headless Commerce Solution: commercetools</h4>
<a href="https://commercetools.com/resources/booklet/microservices?utm_source=Paid%20Search&amp;utm_medium=Google%20Search&amp;utm_content=microservices-bookle-CA&amp;utm_campaign=MACH&amp;utm_term=commercetools&amp;utm_campaign=MACH%20retargeting%20AMER&amp;utm_source=adwords&amp;utm_medium=ppc&amp;hsa_acc=9131799125&amp;hsa_cam=19415290532&amp;hsa_grp=145609670540&amp;hsa_ad=643141341485&amp;hsa_src=g&amp;hsa_tgt=aud-1945381266863:kwd-366236213007&amp;hsa_kw=commercetools&amp;hsa_mt=p&amp;hsa_net=adwords&amp;hsa_ver=3&amp;gclid=CjwKCAiAr4GgBhBFEiwAgwORrbE7RUL47caWM3RyFkC6b649F5PR5Z6DHNnToZTeBOWkTjGjxOL6IBoCGAMQAvD_BwE" target="_blank"><img style="width:300px" src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2023/02/commercetools-edited.png" alt="Commercetools Logo" /></a>
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<h4>Best Headless CMS: Contentful </h4>
<a href="https://www.contentful.com/" target="_blank"><img style="width:260px" src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2023/02/contentful-edited.jpg" alt="Contentful Logo" /></a>
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<h4>Best Website Builder: YOOtheme</h4>
<a href="https://yootheme.com/" target="_blank"><img style="width:250px" src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2023/02/yootheme-edited.png" alt="YOOtheme Logo" /></a>
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<h4>Best Static Site Generator: Next.js</h4>
<a href="https://nextjs.org/" target="_blank"><img style="width:200px" src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2023/02/next-js-edited.png" alt="Next.js Logo" /></a>
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<h4>Best Composable System: Uniform</h4>
<a href="https://uniform.dev/" target="_blank"><img style="width:250px" src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2023/02/uniform-edited.jpg" alt="Uniform Logo" /></a>
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<h4>Best Digital Experience Composition (DXC): Occtoo</h4>
<a href="https://www.occtoo.com/" target="_blank"><img style="width:250px" src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2023/02/occtoo-edited.png" alt="Occtoo Logo" /></a>
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<h2>Congratulations to our People's Choice Winners!</h2>
There you have it, folks! Thank you again for participating in our Awards this year, and always, we welcome your feedback and your votes for next season!

Let's Celebrate the Winners of the 2022 CMS Critic People’s Choice Awards

cms-critic-staff

More big news from Umbraco, right on the heels of <a href="https://www.cmscritic.com/umbraco-cms-acquired-by-software-investor-monterro-interview-with-ceo-kim-sneum-madsen/" target="_blank">their recent acquisition</a> by Monterro: the launch of <a href="https://umbraco.com/products/umbraco-cms/umbraco-9/" target="_blank">Umbraco 9</a>.
As the company claims on its website, "with every new release of Umbraco, you get a CMS that's simpler." That seems central to this new version, which promises a simpler experience for editors, developers, and web agencies that rely on their user-friendly, flexible, and fully customizable content management system.
Umbraco 9 features a complete update of their CMS technology stack, with a move from .NET Framework to now running completely on .NET 5 (previously known as .NET Core). According to the company, this transformation will offer enhanced performance and scalability, a cleaner architecture, and compatibility with macOS, Linux, and Microsoft Windows – opening up Umbraco to a larger pool of web developers.
“Moving Umbraco completely to the latest version of .NET future proofs the platform, providing a robust CMS on the most relevant and modern technology familiar to—and expected from—today’s web developers,” said Kim Sneum Madsen, CEO of Umbraco. “Making Umbraco cross-platform as well means web agencies struggling to find developers will have even more options as Linux and macOS developers – and not just those working on Windows – recognize the benefits Umbraco offers.”
Founded in 2005, Umbraco’s CMS "family" includes its flagship, open-source Umbraco CMS, as well as Umbraco Heartcore (a headless CMS), Umbraco Cloud, and Umbraco Uno – a one-stop platform for non-technical marketers and creative agencies. 
With help from its active community of more than 220,000 members, including a large “best-of-breed” partner network that offers customized solutions that integrate with Umbraco, the company now counts more than 700,000 websites worldwide—the majority in Europe and the U.S.—running live on its solutions.
<h2>Umbraco provides cadence for major new version releases, taps community for validation</h2>
The launch of Umbraco 9 also kicks off the company's plan for steady releases of new major versions. This cadence is aligned with Microsoft .NET Long Term Support (LTS) releases, which means users can be confident that future Umbraco LTS versions are always updated to the latest Microsoft technology.
“With Umbraco now on .NET 5, not only do we get some significant baseline improvements from the framework, but we can finally take advantage of some of the huge performance gains available in these latest .NET releases,” said Benjamin Carleski, senior developer, ProWorks Corporation. ”Umbraco 9 brings the latest advances to the CMS, such as string and Regex optimizations, and is fully compatible with .NET 6, with its round of further enhancements, when it releases later this year. Umbraco developers will also get access to an improved config system, Lucene.NET 4 enhancements, better member/user integrations, and so much more that has been added to Umbraco in v9.”
With help from long-time users like Carleski – and thousands of members of their open-source community – Umbraco 9 is “clearly ready for global use,” Madsen added. He went on to say: “Developers and their web agencies can be confident using Umbraco 9 for new projects today and long into the future, all without worrying about multiple frameworks or running multiple versions in tandem. They get a user-friendly and up-to-date CMS on modern and secure technology with a clear upgrade plan, making it even easier to create new digital experiences for themselves and their clients.”
To learn more about Umbraco 9, <a href="https://umbraco.com/products/umbraco-cms/umbraco-9/" target="_blank">visit Umbraco's website</a>.
<h2>About Umbraco</h2>
Danish Umbraco was founded in 2005 with the vision of making the complex simpler. The company offers a user-friendly best-of-breed platform for content management (CMS) based on open-source technology. With more than 700,000 installations, Umbraco is one of the most deployed Web Content Management Systems on the Microsoft stack. Its success lies in the open-source model, a unique community of more than 220,000 developers and users, and a well-established partner network of digital agencies. Umbraco has 100 employees and is headquartered in Odense, Denmark, with a branch office in Charlotte, North Carolina. For more information, visit <a href="https://umbraco.com/" target="_blank">www.umbraco.com</a>

Umbraco 9 "Future Proofs" CMS with Complete Move to .NET 5/ASP.NET Core

Image of Umbraco 9 logo in space illustration

There's nothing quite as sweet as ice cream on a hot summer's day. And speaking of hot, the last month has been a blaze of activity in the CMS and DXP markets. Grab something cold and we'll break it all down for you.
The heatwave started with <a href="https://www.cmscritic.com/what-contentfuls-175m-investment-round-means-for-the-future-of-cms/" target="_blank">Contentful's $175 million investment round</a>, making the headless unicorn the latest platform to broadcast a big money moment over the past 18 months. But they weren't alone: <a href="https://www.cmscritic.com/umbraco-cms-acquired-by-software-investor-monterro-interview-with-ceo-kim-sneum-madsen/" target="_blank">Umbraco</a> CMS also announced their acquisition by software investment firm Monterro, signaling a bold new chapter for the platform player. 
<a href="https://www.cmscritic.com/wix-launches-new-branded-app-builder-for-creating-code-free-native-mobile-apps/" target="_blank">Wix</a> also made waves with the release of a new code-free app builder, making it easier for users to add a native iOS or Android app to their digital strategy. It's another innovative move for the website builder, and we'll be following up with a closer look in the coming months. 
We also blew out the candles for <a href="https://www.cmscritic.com/joomla-cms-turns-16-celebrates-with-long-awaited-release-of-version-4-0/" target="_blank">Joomla!'s 16th birthday</a>. Still want a slice of their open source layer cake? Check out <a href="https://www.cmscritic.com/joomla-cms-turns-16-celebrates-with-long-awaited-release-of-version-4-0/" target="_blank">Joomla!'s Version 4.0</a>, which was released just prior to the festivities. Nine years in the making, the new upgrade offers a host of features that are worth sampling. 
Despite the glut of negative news, we also had a chance to hear from <a href="https://www.cmscritic.com/solodev-selected-as-cloud-consulting-partner-of-the-2022-special-olympics-usa-games/" target="_blank">Solodev</a> about their partnership with the <a href="https://www.solodev.com/news/solodev-selected-as-cloud-consulting-partner-of-the-2022-special-olympics-usa-games.stml" target="_blank">Special Olympics 2022 USA Games</a>. The CMS-turned-cloud-app-ecosystem has built the first-ever serverless infrastructure for the non-profit, which will power a fan engagement experience for athletes and spectators. It's a feel-good story, and a great one to end your week on.
No plain vanilla in this stack. Keep reading for a few more scoops. 
 
<h2>Zoho launches Canvas, a design studio that rethinks the CRM Experience for enterprises</h2>
<h2><img src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2021/08/zoho-canvas.png" alt="Zoho Canvas user interface" /></h2>
Zoho recently <a href="https://www.zoho.com/news/zoho-launches-canvas-design-studio-to-re-envision-crm-experience.html" target="_blank">announced</a> Canvas for Zoho CRM, a design studio for CRM personalization. Canvas brings simplicity to the CRM user experience through a no-code design studio that helps customers craft their own personalized experiences. Businesses can now create their own CRM interfaces that are better suited to the role of each employee without IT or developer involvement.
Canvas looks and works just like a CMS but with drag-and-drop functionality. You simply click on an element in a list of fields, i.e., Full Name, email, and drag it onto the canvas. Once you drag the data on the canvas, you can customize the look of it however you prefer. You can adjust the shapes of elements, spacing, colors, and font styles; basically every visual detail you can think of. If creating a style from scratch is overwhelming for you, Canvas also comes with a library of templates crafted by their in-house designers.
"A lot of CRM software already offers an abundance of personalization for customer experiences, but the same is not true for employee experiences. As a result, everyone's using the same system and paying the productivity tax for no reason." said Mani Vembu, COO of Zoho, "Imagine a reality where the system is tailor-made for each employee's role. That is true all-around for personalization, and that's what we're bringing to market with Canvas. We believe it's a more natural solution to the challenge of software adoption. Our ultimate aim is for businesses to create enterprise-wide software experiences with consumer-grade simplicity."
Canvas Capabilities Include:
<ul>
<li>Drag-and-drop editor: facilitate designing without the need to write a single line of code.</li>
<li>Template gallery: customers can pick a preset template that speaks to them and their industry and dive right in.</li>
<li>Industry-relevant views: companies can create views that are relevant to their industry, their work culture, their sales process, and more.</li>
<li>Self-service portals: customers can share Canvas creations over portals to create a better experience for vendors, stakeholders, and more.</li>
<li>Role-based assignment: admins can assign different Canvas views based on roles, responsibilities, and teams in their company.</li>
<li>Extensive formatting: Canvas houses a wide range of formatting options to edit the finer details of a view and loads styles dynamically based on conditions.</li>
</ul>
Canvas will be available across all editions of Zoho CRM at no additional cost.
 You can find more information on Canvas at <a href="https://www.zoho.com/canvas/" target="_blank">https://www.zoho.com/canvas/</a>.
<h2></h2>
<h2>Acquia renews Drupal Steward Program support, brings critical security fixes to enterprises first</h2>
<img style="max-width:640px" src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2021/08/drupal-steward-logo-1024x839.png" alt="drupal steward logo" />
Digital experience platform Acquia <a href="https://www.acquia.com/newsroom/press-releases/acquia-renews-drupal-steward-program-support-brings-critical-security-fixes" target="_blank">announced</a> that it is renewing its founding partnership support of the <a href="https://drupalsteward.org/" target="_blank">Drupal Steward Program</a>, a web application firewall introduced by the Drupal Association and operated jointly with the Drupal Security team. Acquia implemented Drupal Steward protection across its entire <a href="https://www.acquia.com/products/drupal-cloud" target="_blank">Drupal Cloud</a> platform, protecting thousands of the world's largest sites with the most up-to-date security and vulnerability fixes.
Acquia's participation in this program affords seamless, immediate protection to customers by routing their website domains to Drupal Steward, which automatically filters requests through the firewall. Malicious requests are blocked, giving IT teams the time they need to test and implement security updates on their own timelines. 
For example, in November 2020, Drupal Steward implemented protection against a critical remote code execution vulnerability, immediately protecting Acquia's customers. 
<h2></h2>
<h2>HubSpot partners with Envato to launch hundreds of high-quality CMS hub templates</h2>
<img src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2021/08/themeforest-hubspot-collection.jpg" alt="ThemeForest HubSpot Collection" />
HubSpot – an integrated CRM, CMS, and digital marketing platform – has partnered with <a href="https://envato.com/" target="_blank">Envato</a>, the world-leading online community for creative assets like website themes and templates. The result is something HubSpot CMS and website users will be thrilled about. 
This month, the companies <a href="https://www.hubspot.com/company-news/hubspot-partners-with-envato" target="_blank">announced</a> the launch of more than 250 diverse, high-quality website themes on the <a href="https://themeforest.net/lp/hubspot-cms-hub-themes" target="_blank">Envato Market</a>, all made specifically for the <a href="https://www.hubspot.com/products/cms?_ga=2.234685790.1384499146.1628085564-1129582407.1628085564" target="_blank">HubSpot CMS Hub</a>. As part of their partnership, Envato has added a specific HubSpot category to their marketplace, allowing developers to sell themes they have created specifically for CMS Hub. These new options will now be featured alongside other popular content management systems, including WordPress, Webflow, and Drupal. 
Built for marketers and developers, CMS Hub is designed to help customers create seamless digital experiences with drag-and-drop page editing, mobile optimization, premium hosting, and more.
"The Envato Market ecosystem and ThemeForest, in particular, is a well-respected website design marketplace, with millions of customers supported by a hugely talented group of largely exclusive theme authors," said Envato's Chief Content Officer, Cameron Gough.
You can check out the HubSpot CMS Hub themes collection on ThemeForest here: <a href="https://themeforest.net/lp/hubspot-cms-hub-themes/" target="_blank">https://themeforest.net/lp/hubspot-cms-hub-themes/</a>
<h2>WordPress releases Gutenberg 11.2</h2>
<img src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2021/08/gutenberg-search-styles.jpeg" alt="gutenberg search styles" />
Let's consult Johannes before we stop the presses, but just two weeks after releasing Gutenberg 11.1, WordPress pushed <a href="https://make.wordpress.org/core/2021/08/05/whats-new-in-gutenberg-11-2-0-4-august/" target="_blank">Gutenberg 11.2.0</a>. 
As you might expect, this rapid-fire release focuses primarily on bug fixes and tooling rather than major updates. But there are a few new features worth noting:
<ul>
<li>Search block button and border colors: the range of options for customizing blocks continues to improve. The search block now has<a href="https://github.com/WordPress/gutenberg/pull/32416" target="_blank"> additional options for customizing button and border colors.</a> </li>
<li>Group block flex layout: an <a href="https://github.com/WordPress/gutenberg/pull/33359" target="_blank">experimental flex layout option</a> is being beta tested on the group block. This is an early glimpse at a feature that would give parent blocks the capability of defining the layout of their inner blocks.</li>
<li>New button for creating posts as part of the publishing flow: if you're creating more than one consecutive post, you can now <a href="https://github.com/WordPress/gutenberg/pull/33276" target="_blank">create a new post from the editor</a> as part of the publishing flow.</li>
</ul>

CMS Monthly Recap: Zoho Launches Canvas, HubSpot Partners With Envato, WordPress Releases Gutenberg 11.2, and More

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Scandinavia has long been regarded as a cradle of CMS innovation. And while that cradle has been rocked by the rise of Western competitors, the Nordic legion of web content management systems still holds a strong position in the minds – and hearts – of their users.
Heart. That might be one of the most tangible differentiators for <a href="https://umbraco.com/" target="_blank">Umbraco</a>, a Danish platform that was originally coined “The Friendly CMS” <a href="https://umbraco.com/about-us/values/why-the-friendly-cms/" target="_blank">by one of its community members</a> back in 2006.
As this now-legendary designer was credited with observing: Everything about Umbraco is friendly. The UX, the community, and the pricing.
Turns out this tagline has stood the test of time – just like Umbraco itself.
In a global marketplace where CMS providers are struggling to establish or re-establish their identity (be it headless, DXP, or some bolt-on Frankenstein of neo-monolithic proportions), Umbraco is staying true to its core. It’s doubling down on its community, making complex technologies easier to use, and reminding us that open source is really about people – not just platforms.
For all these reasons (and presumably more), <a href="https://www.monterro.com/" target="_blank">Monterro</a> – the Swedish software growth investor that prides itself on turning Nordic software companies into global players – <a href="https://umbraco.com/blog/swedish-software-growth-investor-monterro-acquires-a-majority-stake-in-umbraco/" target="_blank">has just purchased a majority stake in the Danish vendor</a>.
We had a chance to discuss this news with Umbraco’s CEO and self-proclaimed “Chief Friend Maker,” <a href="https://twitter.com/kimsneummadsen?lang=en" target="_blank">Kim Sneum Madsen</a>, who has been with the outfit since 2016. While acclaimed founder Niels Hartvig will be parting company, Madsen will continue to man the reigns as Monterro’s operational and financial backing comes online.
In our exclusive interview, we discussed where the company has been, what’s ahead – and how open source is “not a hippie thing anymore.”
<h2>Expanding best-of-breed digital experiences</h2>
Umbraco has come a long way since its founding in 2005, and like the rest of the market, the company has adapted to significant change. But according to Madsen, what hasn’t changed is their persistent focus on making things simpler.
While describing Umbraco’s history, Madsen said there have been three key elements to their success: software, community, and company. The first decade of their growth was focused on making great software and aligning with Hartvig’s vision of open source. The second was focused on nurturing an active community that loved their product – and built on it in a big way. At last count, Umbraco boasts over 220,000 developers and users worldwide, which is an astounding amount of adoption by any measure.
With the software and community pieces firing on all cylinders, the company is now focused on the company, which is where Madsen comes in. While his mission over the last five years has revolved around “customer happiness,” his job as CEO will require a balancing of the elements to achieve scale in a competitive, mature, and increasingly commoditized market.
“We believe we’re in a very strong position with the balance of the elements,” said Madsen, speaking of the software, community, and company components. “We’ve reinvented the way our community works, we have a mature model for engaging community teams around the globe, and we can give them something to build on.”
To reach the next level, Umbraco has invested in expanding its product set. Along with its flagship open-source Umbraco CMS, they now feature <a href="https://umbraco.com/products/umbraco-heartcore/" target="_blank">Umbraco Heartcore</a>, a headless offering; <a href="https://umbraco.com/products/umbraco-cloud/" target="_blank">Umbraco Cloud</a>, a fully-hosted ecosystem that boasts simplicity as one of its core attributes; and <a href="https://umbraco.com/products/umbraco-uno/" target="_blank">Umbraco Uno</a>, a one-stop platform for non-technical marketers and creative agencies.
Along with its vast community of members, including a large partner network that offers customized solutions that integrate with Umbraco, the company now counts more than 700,000 websites worldwide – the majority in Europe and the U.S. – running live on its solutions. Along the way, the company has scored some impressive customers, including JP Morgan, Rubbermaid, Scholl, the NFL, and other market leaders.
<h2>Monterro brings extensive CMS experience to Umbraco </h2>
On the Monterro side of the ledger, the stars couldn’t be more aligned – and Madsen is thrilled with the outcome. He said the private equity partner stood out because of their financial structure, but also because members of their operational staff served in key roles at other CMS platforms, including Episerver.
“With extensive CMS experience and a true belief in open-source software, Monterro is a perfect match as we strive to meet the increasing demand for best-of-breed DXP solutions that make complex technologies easy to use,” Madsen said.
As part of its mission to turn Nordic software companies into global market leaders, Monterro has completed 17 investments and 17 add-on investments since 2012. These include operational experience from successfully developing and running companies such as Pointsec, Orc Software, and CMS vendor Episerver, now <a href="https://www.cmscritic.com/episerver-rebrands-as-optimizely-following-acquisition/" target="_blank">Optimizely</a>.
“With Monterro’s valuable guidance and capital,” Madsen remarked, “we will continue to work closely with our active open-source community to bring the Umbraco family of user-friendly, flexible, and robust CMS platforms to an even greater portfolio of companies in even more countries.”
While the structure of Umbraco’s ownership has changed, Madsen affirmed that the company’s direction will remain the same. “Our ambition is to use this position and invest money back into the continued growth of all the elements that constitute Umbraco," he said. "We will continue to focus on creating world-class software that produces outstanding value for users and customers.”
<h2>Market consolidation and confronting the data challenge</h2>
One area we discussed was the breakneck consolidation echoing across the CMS market and the drive to shore up the data layer – <a href="https://www.gartner.com/reviews/market/digital-experience-platforms" target="_blank">a key requirement for Gartner</a> in their assessment of modern digital experience platforms.
Earlier this year, we saw several DXP players purchase customer data platforms (CDPs) to address the “missing data link” in their vision of completeness. This includes <a href="https://www.cmscritic.com/optimizely-acquires-customer-data-platform-zaius/" target="_blank">Optimizely’s purchase of Zaius</a> this past March.
Madsen said that data is important, and while Umbraco would love to claim itself as the “single source” for data, what’s important is the aggregation of all relevant data – particularly as it relates to GDPR and other compliance requirements. He said customers must be in control, and with CMS as the backbone of a digital business, this should be made simpler in the process.
<h2>The growth of Enterprise and the role of Microsoft</h2>
“As Umbraco has matured over the last five years, we’re seeing increased demand from Enterprise customers,” said Madsen. At the same time, he said they’re seeing more customers wanting to move campaign sites closer to marketers – which is where Umbraco Uno comes in. As an out-of-the-box solution, it’s providing shorter delivery times for a wider range of clients, from enterprise to full-service digital agencies to design shops.
We also discussed the legacy role of <a href="https://dotnet.microsoft.com/" target="_blank">Microsoft</a> and their history of .NET – which Madsen said continues to be a differentiator given Microsoft’s footprint in key geographies.
<h2>The rise of headless CMS</h2>
In our discussion of Umbraco Heartcore – their headless offering – Madsen reflected that it’s still very new as a stand-alone product. Like other traditional CMS platforms, their API nature has enabled connections and integrations before headless exploded in demand. He maintains that users want the freedom to build and connect as they see fit.
While the jury may be out on whether headless is a lasting trend, Madsen supports the need for agencies to have greater freedom over the frontend and focus on omnichannel. However, he underscored the need for the CMS to be structured around the workflow for users, so it remains easy for editors to do their job.
“We’ve always been focused on the content editor,” he punctuated. “It has to be easy, or they won’t bother.”
<h2>Mining growth from a strong open source community</h2>
What’s abundantly clear is that Umbraco’s fiercely loyal community has been a keystone to their success. Madsen knows this well given his history and proximity to partners during his tenure at Umbraco.
“Users and partners are intertwined, as developers often work for an agency,” he said. “Every developer working on Umbraco makes a living on our software.” This underscores the value of their open source community to their future growth.
Focusing on partners has had an intrinsic “one to many” effect on multiplying Umbraco’s business. Madsen describes their community as the implementers, which has allowed Umbraco to focus on perfecting their software.
We asked Madsen if there’s one thing he would want the market to know about Umbraco, and he again came back to the value of being open source – and the contributions of their community.
“Open source is not a hippie thing anymore,” he noted. “It has a far better development cycle. Developers can raise an issue and get an answer quickly from other developers. It is the true ‘outside in’ approach, not us inventing in a lab and taking something to market. This is all based on real-life experiences that our developers have.”
That sounds like a friendly CMS experience to us – and a true differentiator for an investor like Monterro.
Peace, love, and integration.
<h2>About Umbraco</h2>
Danish Umbraco was founded in 2005 with the vision of making the complex simpler. The company offers a user-friendly best-of-breed platform for content management (CMS) based on open-source technology. With more than 700,000 installations, Umbraco is one of the most deployed Web Content Management Systems on the Microsoft stack. Its success lies in the open-source model, a unique community of more than 220,000 developers and users, and a well-established partner network of digital agencies. Umbraco has 100 employees and is headquartered in Odense, Denmark, with a branch office in Charlotte, North Carolina. For more information, visit <a href="https://umbraco.com/" target="_blank">www.umbraco.com</a>

Umbraco CMS Acquired by Software Investor Monterro: Interview with CEO Kim Sneum Madsen

Image of Umbraco logo and CEO Kim Sneum Madsen

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Umbraco today launched Umbraco Heartcore, a software-as-a-service (SaaS) “headless” content management system (CMS) for easily structuring and sharing content across multiple platforms, devices and channels. Available software development kits (SDKs) let app developers use the software language and platform of their choice to build a highly configurable and easy-to-use content management infrastructure for any website, smartphone, smartwatch or other smart (Internet of Things—IoT) device. Unlike other headless CMS platforms, Umbraco Heartcore is built on the flexible, friendly and full-featured open source Umbraco CMS, and inherits its mature and powerful capabilities to intuitively organize large volumes of content.
Headless is defined as a back-end-only CMS built as a content repository that makes content accessible via a RESTful application program interface (API) for display on any device. While traditional CMS platforms are ideal for managing content on a single website, a headless CMS allows developers to create and maintain multiple digital platforms with synchronous content updates.
“With Umbraco Heartcore, it’s never been easier to ‘future-proof’ and facilitate content creation and organization across myriad devices,” said Kim Sneum Madsen, Umbraco’s chief executive officer. “Half a million websites rely on the powerful yet friendly capabilities of the Umbraco CMS, so we are well-positioned to help companies expand their digital footprint beyond websites to reach audiences through new channels and devices. With its logical content structure capabilities, the ultimate editing experience Umbraco is known for, and the ability to use the software of their choice for development, Heartcore is poised to be the platform of choice for both long-time and new Umbraco users.”
<h2>Umbraco Heartcore Organizes Content for All Developers, Multichannels</h2>
Umbraco Heartcore uniquely lets editors create a logical content structure so they can more easily and more quickly manage, find and update large amounts of content. For example, a main branch of the content tree could be “Movie genres” with sub-branches such as “Thrillers,” “Romance” and “Science Fiction.” The actual “Movies” would be located below the genres, and editors could make new movie content available by creating new movies, placing them into the appropriate genres and adding additional relationships such as “Starring actors” or “Subtitles”, “Synopsis”, “Trailers” and “Related movies.” This content would be made available on websites, streaming services, or in ad campaigns, or any other relevant context.
In addition to this unique organizational structure, Umbraco Heartcore offers:
Greater flexibility when integrating new delivery formats and introducing advanced or mobile functionality to an application Decreased development time, deployment and user testing to get content in front of customers faster Enhanced security, including straightforward user management that ensures that each user only has access to relevant, permitted areas Overall better performance when deploying information to end users Immediate software and API upgrades through the Umbraco Cloud
<h2>SDKs Make Heartcore Accessible to Any Developer, on Any Platform</h2>
In addition to the well-structured back-office, Umbraco Heartcore offers SDKs that allow any developer—even those who aren’t familiar with Umbraco—to use their chosen language to develop applications. SDKs for NodeJS and .NET Core are available today, making it easy to get started with Javascript and C#. Other SDKs will be available soon, but if developers want to use Umbraco Heartcore with another language now or want to create their own client library, they can use the full RESTful APIs to create and consume Umbraco content.
Heartcore is available for a 14-day free trial at <a href="http://icm-tracking.meltwater.com/link.php?DynEngagement=true&amp;H=btYXC68syxmDVppbhVzFoYHdeMNV9070xvOlf%2FNdDQ0wXj6aidRhm8dpvjh%2Fxd2DSMiI7e8D%2B0LK0FW3kBzlrgqLzJ6ibLoDlzxGyWvtRFLiwHKbnu857g%3D%3D&amp;G=0&amp;R=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.umbraco.com%2Fheartcore&amp;I=20191202142606.000009ee62b1%40mail6-114-ussnn1&amp;X=MHwxMDQ2NzU4OjVkZTE2ZDkzN2I5OWRiMzIxNTg0NzliNTs%3D&amp;S=okv5DvvSDNNjhaFsQhNb7La5TeapUMEkOhXsTNXBl0I" target="_blank">Umbraco.com/heartcore</a>.

Umbraco Launches Heartcore, the Most Intuitive Headless Content Management System (CMS) to Manage Large Volumes of Content Across Any “Smart” Platform

mike-johnston

Umbraco, the provider of the flexible, friendly, easy-to-use and full-featured open-source content management system (CMS), today announced the promotion of the company’s chief sales, service and support executive, Kim Sneum Madsen, to chief executive officer. Madsen officially replaces founder Niels Hartvig, allowing Hartvig to focus on expanding the company’s active open source community.
<img src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2023/08/blobid5_1568743306549.ft" />
In 2005, Hartvig founded Umbraco CMS, the only .NET-based CMS that also offers all of the advantages of open source software such as the ability to use the software and make changes freely, without expensive licensing fees. Umbraco gives developers the flexibility and freedom to build websites, apps and other solutions with the look and features they want, while enabling editors and content creators to easily and quickly get content in front of their customers. Umbraco CMS and the Umbraco Cloud run more than 500,000 websites worldwide, while being developed and maintained primarily by a global community of 220,000 developers.
“My expertise is in software design and community development, so to grow Umbraco into the type of company I envisioned, I knew we needed someone with vast business experience like Kim,” said Hartvig, who was named a Microsoft Most Valuable Professional in 2014, 2015 and 2016. “Since he joined us 3.5 years ago to help run our sales, service and support, we’ve experienced yearly growth between 25 and 40 percent and added 40 new employees. With Kim trusted at the helm, I’m now ready to go back to where my true passion lies—completely focused on building the Umbraco community, the main reason for our global success and continued development.”
Prior to joining Umbraco in January 2016, Madsen served for 12 years in various service, support and sales management roles at e-conomic international, a Denmark-based accounting software program. He also served for several decades in various high-pressure and high-risk relief and military roles, specifically within the Danish Emergency Management Agency. In addition to working at Umbraco, Madsen is on the board of directors for the IT industry Region of Funen, Denmark, which supports Funen IT companies.
“Working at Umbraco over the last few years has been extremely fulfilling and fruitful as we’ve strived to combine our open source project with the commercial initiatives through Umbraco Cloud,” Madsen said. “With Niels focused on bringing even more creativity, talent and ideas from our active and dedicated community, and our management team focused on growing Umbraco into an even greater business, we’ll ensure our customers and partners get the most safe, professional and high-quality products available.”
About <a href="http://icm-tracking.meltwater.com/link.php?DynEngagement=true&amp;H=3ZUQjNycMu7D%2Fe%2Bm%2FOmi3Qi1eTNrfRb0HcFplK3KYerw%2B6SfjwwI9rHaDQ%2FE22BtrodA2Y7EpntSIZi0q8z2TQ7PKO0cMUA%2BaRov2%2Blz6gk9m6LhQI8ViA%3D%3D&amp;G=0&amp;R=https%3A%2F%2Fumbraco.com%2Fumbraco-8%2F&amp;I=20190918130026.000005ce82e7%40mail6-53-ussnn1&amp;X=MHwxMDQ2NzU4OjVkODEyMDI4ODE2NmRhY2YxZmU5ZGM3OTs%3D&amp;S=067cA9ORbnNO5p5uEnQydj0d9kcmyORizEu2kIp_AOY" target="_blank">Umbraco</a>
Umbraco is an open source CMS built on the Microsoft .NET platform. Often referred to as the “Friendly CMS,” Umbraco gives developers the flexibility and freedom to build website, apps and other solutions with the look and features they want, while enabling editors and content creators to easily and quickly get content in front of their customers as quickly as possible. Created in 2005 by Danish developer Niels Hartvig, Umbraco also offers the Umbraco Cloud, providing all-in-one Azure hosting and predictability in cost, performance and time. More than 500,000 websites run live on Umbraco CMS and the Umbraco Cloud, supported by more than 220,000 very active Umbraco community members. Based in Odense, Denmark, the company also has a sales office in New York City. For more information, visit <a href="http://icm-tracking.meltwater.com/link.php?DynEngagement=true&amp;H=3ZUQjNycMu7D%2Fe%2Bm%2FOmi3Qi1eTNrfRb0HcFplK3KYerw%2B6SfjwwI9rHaDQ%2FE22BtrodA2Y7EpntSIZi0q8z2TQ7PKO0cMUA%2BaRov2%2Blz6gk9m6LhQI8ViA%3D%3D&amp;G=0&amp;R=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.umbraco.com%2F&amp;I=20190918130026.000005ce82e7%40mail6-53-ussnn1&amp;X=MHwxMDQ2NzU4OjVkODEyMDI4ODE2NmRhY2YxZmU5ZGM3OTs%3D&amp;S=E72h70ZB7VkBYDo74WiNn7kOpR_nK8fz-s2CWuKx9OY" target="_blank">www.umbraco.com</a>

Kim Sneum Madsen Promoted to CEO of Umbraco, the “Friendly” Content Management System (CMS) Provider

<a href="https://umbraco.com/">Umbraco</a> today launched Umbraco 8,  the most advanced and easiest to use version of the flexible and full-featured open-source content management system (CMS) running more than 500,000 live websites. Building on its reputation as the “friendly CMS,”  Umbraco 8 makes it even easier for companies of any size to create and deliver relevant, compelling and personalized content—in any language—to engage and convert customers across websites, mobile apps, and other digital initiatives.
Umbraco 8, built on the Microsoft .Net platform, now includes several industry-first features and functionalities focused on simplicity, stability, and usability:
<ul>
<li>Language Variants—allows variants of the same content in one project, greatly reducing the complexity of managing multilingual content, without needing development to get similar capabilities.</li>
<li>Infinite Editing—enables editors to seamlessly move back and forth between different parts of the website, supporting modern content creation without compromising workflow</li>
<li>Content Apps—offers easy access to “best of breed” third-party applications for additional functionality as well as new content-aware features that gives end-users an entirely new way to extend, learn, evaluate, and as a result, improve their content.</li>
</ul>
“Content is still king, and these new features in Umbraco 8 help support the creation of compelling and highly effective content that will reach all key audiences without the technology getting in the way,”
said Niels Hartvig, Umbraco’s founder and chief unicorn. “With Umbraco 8, creating multilingual sites is as easy as clicking a couple of buttons. Editors can seamlessly move through a jungle of content. And content creators can get valuable insights into which content is having the most impact, and why, so they can produce what will more effectively generate what we all want from a website—more sales.”
The “Next Level” of Umbraco Arrives
According to Scandia CEO and founder Nik Wahlberg, a long-time gold partner and Umbraco user, “Umbraco has always been more than just a CMS, but this release takes the powerful application development platform to the next level entirely.”
“With Umbraco 8, our clients now gain a slew of modern and much-anticipated features, from content variations for multilingualization and personalization to best of breed apps and a streamlined user experience,” Wahlberg added. “With Umbraco Headless following shortly to serve both our Web and mobile initiatives, both Umbraco and our clients in financial services and identity protection look forward to Umbraco's steady growth.”
<a href="https://www.marceldigital.com/">Marcel Digital</a>, a Chicago-based digital agency and Umbraco gold partner, expects Umbraco 8 to give his clients, and the visitors to their websites, an even greater overall experience. “With Umbraco 8, site owners can give their website visitors a more relevant and personalized browsing experience that generates more website engagement, along with increased sales,” said Patrick Delehanty, marketing manager, Marcel Digital. “In addition, with Infinite Editing, our clients can now edit a page of their website by simply clicking on the content or media and making the changes right there in the window, with the changes immediately effective. It’s a huge time saver.”
Umbraco Awards Nominations Due by March 22
Nominations are open for the 2019 Umbraco Awards, an annual program honoring the best Umbraco projects in 10 categories, including Best Cloud Solution, Best Custom Solution, Best Editing Experience, Best Gold Partner Solution, Best Certified Partner Solution, Best Designed Site, Best New Tech, Package Award, Best Content app (Umbraco 8) and the Jury’s Choice Award. Nominate at<a href="https://codegarden19.com/umbraco-awards-2019/">https://codegarden19.com/umbraco-awards-2019/</a>
Winners will be announced at <a href="https://codegarden19.com/">Codegarden 2019</a> on May 22-24 in Odense, Denmark.
About <a href="http://www.mobile-industrial-robots.com/">Umbraco</a>
Umbraco is an open source CMS built on the Microsoft .NET platform. Often referred to as the “Friendly CMS,” Umbraco gives developers the flexibility and freedom to build website, apps and other solutions with the look and features they want, while enabling editors and content creators to easily and quickly get content in front of their customers as quickly as possible. Created in 2005 by Danish developer Niels Hartvig, Umbraco also offers the Umbraco Cloud, providing all-in-one Azure hosting and predictability in cost, performance and time. More than 500,000 websites run live on UmbracoCMS and the Umbraco Cloud, supported by more than 220,000 very active Umbraco community members.  For more information, visit <a href="http://www.umbraco.com/">www.umbraco.com</a>

Umbraco Launches Version 8 of Open-Source “Friendly CMS”

<a href="https://umbraco.com/apps/">Umbraco Apps</a> launched today at Umbraco.com, offering web developers and content editors easy access to “best of breed” extended features and functionalities for the open source Umbraco content management system (CMS). The new online catalog of Umbraco-compatible extensions—both free and fee-based—provides third-party software that has been selected as the best among the 1000+ available from Umbraco’s vast and active community of independent developers and commercial technology partners.
Umbraco Apps demonstrates the versatility of the “Friendly CMS,” which gives developers the flexibility and freedom to build websites, apps and other solutions with the look and features they want, while enabling editors and content creators to easily and quickly get content in front of their customers.
<blockquote>
“We believe in a ‘best of breed’ strategy, so as a company, Umbraco focuses on making our CMS the easiest and friendliest available for developers, content editors and end-users alike,” said Niels Hartvig, founder and chief unicorn, Umbraco. “At the same time, we recognize that many end-users want additional capabilities such as e-commerce and personalization solutions built into their sites, so we embrace third-party software that adds these features to Umbraco. While Umbraco can do much on its own, adding functionality from one or more of our trusted partners gives users the ability to accomplish even more tasks so they can get exactly what they want from their websites.”
</blockquote>
Umbraco Apps starts with 20 extensions offering capabilities such as analytics, translations, e-commerce, personalization, Intranet, SEO, communications and social media. Several dozen more apps will be added to Umbraco Apps over the next few months.
“While other companies boast thousands of extensions, this makes it incredibly difficult for end users to pick the right one for them; and in any case, a good number of those may be outdated, redundant, and unsecure,” Hartvig added. “While more than 1000 solution providers have built Umbraco-compatible solutions, we are limiting Umbraco Apps to those that meet a certain quality standard, with documentation, so end-users can trust they’re getting real value.”
Umbraco Apps will be available as “Community Apps,” extensions created by the community and offered without cost or product support, and “Premium Apps,” which are created by the community or third-party technology companies, offer professional support and have a commercial purpose, with some requiring a fee.
<h3>Become an Umbraco App Partner</h3>
In addition to providing easy access to the Umbraco Apps, the catalog opens a new promotion channel for the featured apps and their providers. Companies interested in submitting their own solution to become an official Umbraco App Partner must have a solution that: * Completes a task or solves a problem for an Umbraco end-user. * Is not provided “out of the box” with the core CMS. * Is compatible with one of the latest versions (3 minor) of Umbraco CMS, ideally also Umbraco Cloud. * Offers user-friendly documentation.
More details on requirements can be found here: <a href="https://umbraco.com/become-an-umbraco-">https://umbraco.com/become-an-umbraco-</a> app-partner/
<h3>About Umbraco</h3>
Umbraco is an open source CMS built on the Microsoft .NET platform. Often referred to as the “Friendly CMS,” Umbraco gives developers the flexibility and freedom to build website, apps and other solutions with the look and features they want, while enabling editors and content creators to easily and quickly get content in front of their customers. Created in 2005 by Danish developer Niels Hartvig, Umbraco also offers the Umbraco Cloud, providing all-in-one Azure hosting and predictability in cost, performance and time. More Than 500,000 websites run live on Umbraco CMS and the Umbraco Cloud, supported by more than 220,000 very active Umbraco community members.  For more information, visit <a href="http://www.umbraco.com">http://www.umbraco.com</a>

Umbraco Apps Launches with ‘Best of Breed’ Extensions for Open Source Content Management System

Today, I'm going to announce the winner of the 2014 Critics Choice CMS Award for Best Open Source .NET CMS.
<img style="max-width:188px" src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2023/08/bestopensourcenetcms2014-1.png" />
After much deliberation, the judges have chosen to give this year's award to the popular open-source .NET CMS…
<a href="http://www.umbraco.com"><img src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2023/08/umbraco-logo.gif" /></a>
Umbraco is a fully-featured open source content management system with the flexibility to run anything from small campaign or brochure sites right through to complex applications for Fortune 500's and some of the largest media sites in the world….Oh, and did we mention that it's free?
Congratulations to the team at Umbraco on their win. To learn more, visit them in our CMS directory here: <a href="/products/umbraco/">Umbraco</a>

2014 Critics' Choice Award Winner - Best Open Source NET CMS

Kentico - Gartner

Analysts and customers recognize Kentico DXP in Gartner Reports.

Kentico has been recognized by Gartner.

<a href="https://umbraco.com/" target="_blank"> Umbraco 7.2 </a>  has arrived with, “incredible enthusiasm and unseen amounts of jazz.”
Launched in 2003, Umbraco has grown into a free, open-source, .NET CMS with a reputation as a solid solution for small as well as enterprise-level projects.
<img style="max-width:295px" src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2023/08/umbraco-logo.gif" alt="Umbraco 7.2" />
I covered the <a href="/umbraco-7.2-final-release-edges-closer/" target="_blank">details of Umbraco 7.2 </a>  when the final release candidate went live. Now though, there are two new handy videos to help you get acquainted with that's new with Umbraco.
First up, it's Umbraco's new Grid layout, which is designed and engineered to deliver maximum flexibility for editors, yet deliver high-quality semantic markup for CSS grid systems.
http://vimeo.com/113604752
Next, Umbraco's responsive preview feature, which complements the new Grid layout.
http://vimeo.com/113603024
Not only is this the most thoroughly tested version of Umbraco to date, but the Umbraco team has labelled this as the best Umbraco release ever. The user response on the <a href="https://umbraco.com/follow-us/blog-archive/2014/12/4/umbraco-72-released?utm_source=feedburner&amp;utm_medium=feed&amp;utm_campaign=Feed%3A+UmbracoBlog+%28umbraco+blog%29" target="_blank"> blog announcement</a> seems to be very positive already.
You can <a href="http://our.umbraco.org/contribute/releases/720" target="_blank">download Umbraco 7.2 right here</a>.
Also, be sure to explore more of  <a href="/products/umbraco/" target="_blank"> Umbraco via our CMS Directory</a>.

Umbraco 7.2 Released

<a href="https://umbraco.com" target="_blank">Umbraco</a> has released its second Beta for version 7.2, edging closer to its final release.
The free, open-source, .NET CMS is widely used and respected as a solid solution for small as well as enterprise-level projects. Umbraco 7.2 will introduce a range of new features including a new datatype called “Grid”, previews for forms and content across devices, and more. <a href="http://stream.umbraco.org/video/9918428/umbraco-codegarden-14-keynote" target="_blank">Umbraco presented a keynote at Codegarden 2014</a> detailing each new feature, and you can also read more about them <a href="http://umbraco.com/follow-us/blog-archive/2014/10/28/umbraco-720-beta-out-now" target="_blank">via their blog</a>.
Umbraco 7.1 was released back in April 2014, and it looks like there's a small chance of seeing Umbraco 7.2 before the year is out. Or, certainly in early 2015. Here's a look at what the current Beta 2 brings.
<h2>Grid Improvements &amp; Content Type Compositions</h2>
The Umbraco development team have acted on the feedback from Beta 1, coming from users, partners and developers. According to them, they're on course to making the Grid property editor much more flexible and usable in realistic scenarios.
As a result, Umbraco 7.2 Beta 2 testers can now define settings and css properties, which editors can assign to grid elements, using a simple user interface.
<img src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2023/08/sk_rmbillede_2014-11-10_kl__14_12_16_798x360700x0.jpg" alt="Umbraco 7.2" />
It allows you to apply class names, backgrounds, colors or html data-* attributes to your grid, to allow for much more detailed control of how it renders and behaves.
<img src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2023/08/sk_rmbillede_2014-11-10_kl__14_11_30_800x391700x0.jpg" alt="Umbraco 7.2" />
It is all controlled by the people implementing the site, so editors cannot put whatever styling or attribute on the grid – it's all about tailoring the grid editing experience as part of designing your site.
As far as Compositions are concerned, Umbraco have admitted that they have work still to do, urging users to provide feedback and keep track of their progress via the issue tracker which can <a href="http://issues.umbraco.org/issue/U4-5769" target="_blank">found here</a>.
Umbraco has stated that they plan on releasing “at least” one more beta before the Final 7.2 is out.
You can download the Umbraco 7.2 beta 2 release on <a href="http://our.umbraco.org/contribute/releases/720">our.umbraco.org</a>.
Also, be sure to explore more of <a href="/products/umbraco/" target="_blank">Umbraco via our CMS Directory</a>.

Umbraco 7.2 Final Release Edges Closer

Are you a fan of Umbraco? Then you'll be glad to know they've had a new release of the popular open-source CMS.
Umbraco 7.1.0 was just released and it comes with a score of new features.
Let's take a look at what's new in this release.
<h2>Image Cropping</h2>
Image cropping has been added to the core of the CMS but it's not just any cropping tool, it also doubles as an upload field, meaning you can replace any upload field with a cropper field and your previously uploaded file is still there but become croppable. Of course, without a file, you get the option of uploading one.
<img style="max-width:473px" src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2023/08/umbraco_image_scaling473x0.png" alt="Umbraco Image Cropping" />
<h2>Breadcrumbs and Warnings</h2>
New warnings have been added to the CMS to alert you when you are about to navigate away from a page without saving changes as well as breadcrumbs to let you know where you are within the CMS.
<img style="max-width:411px" src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2023/08/umbraco_breadcrumbs_and_warnings.png" alt="umbraco breadcrumbs and warnings" />
<h2>Changing Content / Document Types</h2>
In those instances where you start filling a page with content and then realize you are using the wrong content type, you can now switch the content types and remap the fields without losing your content.
<img style="max-width:469px" src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2023/08/umbraco_content_types_switching.png" alt="umbraco content types switching" />
<h2>Members</h2>
Last but not least, the members API has been reworked and MemberService is now available and completely in line with ContentService and Media Service.
In addition, they've attempted to make working with members easier by providing snippets for Register, Login, Login Status, and Edit Profile when you create a new Particle View.
<img style="max-width:479px" src="https://cmscritic.com/ms-content/uploads/2023/08/umbraco_members.png" alt="umbraco members" />
And there you have it.
Would you like more information on Umbraco? Check them out in our <a href="/products/umbraco/">CMS Products Directory</a> or <a href="https://umbraco.com/">visit them on the web.</a>

Umbraco CMS 7.1.0 is out with lots of new features

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

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

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