Intersoft Solutions, a global vendor specializing in ready built user interface controls for ASP.NET, Silverlight, and WPF, today announced the official release of WebUI Studio 2011 R2.
user interface
DotNetNuke 6 Released (Screenshots included)
DotNetNuke Corp. today announced the availability of DotNetNuke 6 which they bill as "the world’s leading Web Content Management Platform (WCM) for Microsoft .NET". Over the years, I've been quite impressed with what DotNetNuke has to offer and I've been equally impressed with the DotNetNuke leaders I've engaged with in recent months. If you're looking at an open source CMS option for the .NET environment, you seriously need to take a look at DotNetNuke (especially if you haven't taken a look at this CMS in recent years).
DotNetNuke 6 has a lot of new feaures to offer longtime and potential users to one of the most popular web CMS on .NET. I'll let the attached press release (below the screenshots) speak for themselves. But in summary, this dramatic upgrade of DotNetNuke brings the following features to the content management system:
- A dramatically altered, user-friendly interface, with direct, one-click access to the online app store
- Built-in integration with cloud-based services such as Amazon and Azure
- A MSFT SharePoint connector
- A new eCommerce module
- The DotNetNuke core platform has been rewritten in C# which makes it more accessible to a larger developer community and simplifies the customization
DotNetNuke 6 also has features that are intended to help speed web site design and delivery, simplify content upgrades and assure full compatibility with previous versions of DotNetNuke. The open platform allows DotNetNuke to function as a content management system (CMS) and application development framework.
Wordpress "CMS" 3.1 is Available
This week, the Wordpress core developers released WordPress Version 3.1.This release took a little longer than CMS Report had first anticipated, but we see it as a sign that today's WordPress is much more complex than it used to be when it was considered only a tool for blogging.
In fact, Matt Mullenweg in his Wordpress 3.1. announcement seemed to recognize this continued evolution of WordPress as a content management system.
With the 3.1 release, WordPress is more of a CMS than ever before. The only limit to what you can build is your imagination.
New features in WordPress 3.1 that would be of interest to content authors and site managers include:
- A "lightning fasy" redesigned linking workflow which makes it easy to link to your existing posts and pages
- An admin bar so you’re never more than a click away from your most-used dashboard pages
- A streamlined writing interface that hides many of the seldom-used panels intended to improve the user experience for new bloggers.
- A refreshed blue admin scheme available for selection under your personal options
For WordPress developers, additional new features that may interest them in this latest version of WordPress include:
- A new Post Formats support which makes it easy for themes to create portable tumblelogs with different styling for different types of posts
- New CMS capabilities:
- archive pages for custom content types
- a new Network Admin
- an overhaul of the import and export system
- the ability to perform advanced taxonomy and custom fields queries
WordPress 3.1 is available for download from WordPress.org or you can update from within the dashboard within your current version of WordPress.
Bitrix® Site Manager 9.5 Introduces Amber Ergonomics - A New Concept in Website Management Usability
A new approach to web content management tremendously simplifies website development and maintenance with a short learning curve, increased content editor performance and minimized error probability
Usability and Control
Mike Elgan has a good article in ComputerWorld, Why products fail. He makes a point that many usability tests really miss the entire point of what people really want in a product.
When you ask someone what they really want, they won't tell you the truth because they're not aware of the truth.
Both users and product designers alike talk about user interface (UI)
consistency, usability and simplicity, and system attributes like
performance and stability. What's missing is that these attributes are
means to an end. The real issue is always the user's physiological
feeling of being in control.
In the article, he later goes on to support his argument. I think he is right, true usability is all about control. Something for all of us to ponder about the next time we participate in a usability exercise for our content management system.
Windows 7, a desktop repeat?
Not long ago I wrote that KDE 4 might produce enough changes to its look and feel to help Linux become more Mac-like. At the time, Windows Vista seemed to be trying to move in the same direction. Interestingly, someone has noted that Windows 7 now appears to be moving towards Linux's direction with the Windows desktop looking more like KDE 3.5.
The review
features screenshots and I must say, even though it has not convinced
me, Windows 7 is a step forward from Vista, at least as far as the GUI
is concerned. Aside from the removal of some annoying Vista bells and
whistles and the new Peek and Snap window-management enhancements, it
is difficult not to notice the resemblance between Microsoft’s
much-touted revamped Aero and the excellent, now 3-years old, KDE 3.5.x.
Personally, I think Microsoft, Apple, and the Linux desktop developers have run out of ideas. Any new innovation for these desktops seem to be ideas borrowed and improved from each other's desktops. This is one of the reasons why I have lost my "wow" when it comes to operating systems. In 2007, I wrote:
With PCs or laptops at my house now containing Windows, Linux, and
Apple computers, I'm a three-operating system household. It dawned on
me that indeed "this is a frustrating time" for me when it comes to
operating systems for personal computers. For all the "variety" of
computers we use in my home, they basically have the same features and
from a user's perspective the operating systems are really not all that
unique from each other.
Improvise with Wordpress 2.7
Earlier today, Matthew Mullenweg announced the official release of Wordpress 2.7. This new version of Wordpress is a dandy with significant improvements made to the Wordpress administrative interface and dashboard. The choices you now have to customizing our blogging workflow is almost endless.
While we could start reading off from the changelogs for all the new features in Wordpress 2.7, It's probably just as easy to show you the video.
You can download the latest version of Wordpress from the download page at Wordpress.org.
Bitrix Site Manager 7.0: A Web 2.0 Content Management System
Alexandria, VA - June 30, 2008- Bitrix, Inc. is happy to announce the newest release of the world class CMS Bitrix Site Manager 7.0. Bitrix Site Manager is a Web Content Management System (CMS) that provides cost-effective solutions that meet the full promise of Web 2.0 Content Management Systems. CMS Bitrix Site Manager 7.0 is a multilingual platform that is simple for content owners to use and enables developers to build advanced Web sites that are stable and secure.
"Bitrix Site Manager 7.0 unleashes the full promise of CMS for a world-wide audience," said Sergey Rizhikov, CEO of Bitrix, Inc. "We are especially excited by the UTF-8 support. It is a great new feature allowing multilingual Internet projects. Our partners who work in Arabic, Chinese, Japanese and Vietnamese among others will do well by offering this functionality in their local markets.
Bitrix Site Manager 7.0 also unleashes the full promise of Web 2.0 Content Management Systems for worldwide audiences by empowering content owners to access well-designed site wizards and templates, add content on the fly, upload graphic images, build blogs, and collaborate. The ability to add new content is critical to boost search engine rankings and build conversations with web audiences.
Bitrix Site Manager 7.0 offers a host of new capabilities.
Windows-style User Interface
The Bitrix Site Manager interface is now as functionally simple as Windows. In the new Site Edit Mode, content managing routines are separated from development tasks. The Windows-style Start button has been added to provide quick access to all site management tools. Moreover, content editing tasks can now be performed directly on pages in pop-up layers. The Editor's toolbar was greatly improved. Now, working with CMS is as easy as working with any Windows Office program.
Native UTF-8 Support
Drag and Drop in the Drupal Blocks
Nice improvements in the user interface navigating through Blocks administration. The drag and drop and "auto-placement" of the blocks takes some getting used to...but in the long run it's a time-saver. Quite a bit of perfromance improvement in the AJAX coding between Drupal 6 RC2 and Drupal 6 RC3.
Taxonomy upgrade extras:
Expected new look for Firefox 3 getting noticed
As we mentioned more than a month ago, Firefox 3 is expected to sport a new look. Some of the more popular online magazines are starting to take notice and helping to fan some excitement on the new look. On a blog at Wired a Firefox 3 related post can be found, Catch a Glimpse of Firefox 3's Sleek, Sexy New Digs.
Some of the changes planned for the final release of Firefox 3
include a complete visual makeover with platform-specific skins
designed to integrate the look of Firefox into your OS of choice.Alex Faaborg, one the interface designers for Firefox, has been
posting mock-ups and soliciting feedback from the community for some
time (see our previous coverage) and he’s back with a series of wireframe sketches that show some of the progress in the interface redesign.
The blog post focuses on the visuals for the Windows and Mac OS X operating systems, but also directs users to an Ars Technica article for those interested in Linux. The article of interest is A first look at the Firefox 3 visual refresh for Linux.
