Caribou CMS 2.1 Improves Licensing for Multiple Subscriptions

Caribou CMS is now in v2.1. The main change from the previous release is in regards to the way the CMS vendor is now handling multiple licenses, as well as some new features.

In the past, you couldn’t have users with multiple active subscriptions to the same Caribou CMS package. Meaning that, every time you would want to buy a second license, it would be treated as an extension of the existing subscription and of the license you bought previously. But that is now history. Users now are free to have multiple license subscriptions at US$ 29 per month.

E-xact payment gateway integration is a brand new feature and allows subscribers to add E-xact eCommerce functions to their accounts. Caribou CMS includes a variety of other third-party payment gateway integrations as well, including PayPal.

More on CMSWire: Caribou CMS 2.1 Improves Licensing Model

Digitalus CMS Cuts Down Confusion, Risk in Templating

For boutique content management vendors like Digitalus CMS, flexibility comes comparatively easily. There are no multiple corporate hoops to jump though, and development cycles seem to be moving a bit faster (which can also turn into a double-edged sword).

Not long ago, I looked (in detail and with a fair portion of constructive criticism) at Digitalus 1.5. The vendor informs me that they’ve heard and made templating changes in the newest version of the product — Digitalus CMS 1.8.

It seems the chances of breaking the entire front end are now minimized.

As I mentioned before, the template structure and templating tasks weren’t the easiest in v1.5. It was clunky and, quite frankly, dangerous. Pretty much anyone working with Digitalus 1.5 templating could very easily break the entire front end of the site.

While the v1.5 approach could’ve been a good way to follow traditional/default structure of the Zend framework, it was a pain for designers having to work in multiple various directories in the CMS.

Digitalus says that the design section and content templates that were added in v1.5, did not make it into v 1.8 in an attempt to alleviate confusion. Will that work better for designers and editors? Will they feel like there’s less freedom now?

New templating approach is not the only piece of news from Digitalus. Very recently, Digitalus started offering its content management system as a hosted option on their own servers managed by HostGator. The offering is called Digitalus Platform, and sounds almost like a SaaS CMS product.

More on CMSWire: Digitalus CMS Cuts Down Confusion, Risk in Templating

CMS Made Simple Undergoes a Major Rework in 1.6

Only one week behind schedule, but with a slew of changes, CMS Made Simple v1.6 has recently seen the light of day.

One of the open source, PHP-based content management systems out there, CMS Made Simple introduced new permissions in this release. In addition to that, there are new themes, templates and modules. Not to mention a gazillion of bug fixes.

Let’s just say it doesn’t look like it’s going to be an easy upgrade, but it may very well be worth the effort. As it sometimes happens, if you bite too much, it can be difficult to swallow. CMS Made Simple chose not to do diff releases for 1.6. What that means is that you have to do more work compared to a simple upgrade (but, hey, when the upgrades were simple anyway?).

CMS Made Simple users have to download the full package and transfer “the whole thing up to your new website.” Make sure to triple-check and validate you’re downloading the appropriate checksum package. Good luck!

More on CMSWire: CMS Made Simple Goes Through a Major Rework in 1.6

Rebrandable Zimplit CMS, All Yours

Ever thought of building your very own CMS from scratch? Consider taking Zimplit CMS and putting your logo on it, or naming it after your favorite goldfish.

Zimplit CMS, also known as the “easiest website creation tool ever made,” decided to give customers the ability to fully rebrand the content management system.

“Our rebranding means that everything is rebrandable, also the name,” says Zimplit’s Mattias Lepp. Rebrandable CMS means that the entire software interface can be modified to a customer’s own brand. On top of that, Zimplit promises to provide manuals, demos, templates (259 € /per template) and even monthly newsletters — all rebrandable to whatever your heart or business desires.

Yet another way of making open source a viable business model…

Full story on CMSWire: Make Zimplit CMS Absolutely Yours, Logo Included

Digitalus CMS: Open Source and (Mostly) Simple

Digitalus CMS is a fairly new player in the simple CMS market. Their first open source Zend/PHP-based version 1.0 was released in August 2008.

Recently, version 1.5 came out and caught our attention with new features like simple globalization capabilities, web-based installer and the 960 Grid system page layout management.

Some of Digitalus features are strikingly simple, others definitely call for some geeky brains.

While Digitalus CMS is still in very early stages of product maturity, it has made some good strides in improving the system and adding features that are usually found in any self-respectful CMS. With distances to go, Digitalus 1.5 brings the following features to the table today (see more link below).

Digitalus CMS in the Simple CMS Microcosm

Overall, Digitalus has made a good effort updating their CMS in this point release. In the saturated open source CMS market, it’s all about what suits your needs best and which cons you can live with. This micro CMS is quite new and may not be functionally suitable for all scenarios.

Compare Digitalus to SilverStripe, Zimplit, SkyBlueCanvas and Edicy in the open source and micro CMS markets.

It is also worth taking a look at some of the blogging platforms like WordPress, if you’re on the market for a new CMS/publishing tool.

Digitalus CMS installer and more information can be found here.

More on CMSWire: Digitalus CMS: Open Source and (Mostly) Simple

Spruced-up Zimplit CMS 1.1: One Small Step Forward

Just in time for stocking stuffing, the (mainly) open source Micro CMS designed for “normal people”? Yes, the simply put Zimplit! Just in time for stocking staffing, Zimplit released version 1.1 with four improvements:

1. Website Menu Reordering
2. Theme Picker
3. Gallery Thumbnails
4. Editor Location Changer

In its nature, Zimplit CMS is not that far from blogging platforms, but still is positioning itself as a Web CMS. Oh well, there must be market for this solution — at least, in Estonia — or elsewhere in Europe.

Full article on CMSWire: Spruced-up Zimplit CMS 1.1: One Small Step Forward