ImpressPages CMS has been updated to version 2.1 and I have to say I'm blown away with the new features included in this open source PHP-based CMS. Last year, I told you that we all needed to keep an eye on this relatively new content management system. Almost from the start, ImpressPages contained some pretty impressive features including the ability to have most of its content administered directly in the website so you can see what the site looks like as you edit. ImpressPages calls this feature in-place editing. A year later and we continue to see some really cool stuff ImpressPages is doing with their CMS.
Some of the more significant changes and additions in ImpressPages CMS 2.1 include:
- Contact form widget (with lots of new options and possibilities)
- F.A.Q. widget
- File browser in Rich text widget (lots of requests)
- Automatic theme installation (one click and you're done; read further)
- Users module (registration and login widgets included)
Probably the best new feature in this version of ImpressPages is the automatic theme installation. In most CMSs that I've used, when you change the theme of your site you're usually only changing the style sheet and the layout of your site and you usually need to do a lot more tweaking with the rest of the stuff especially images. For instance, if you decide to decrease the width of your body you may then have to manually shrink the size of your images in the new body size. Apparently, this annoying task is taken care of for you in ImpressPages CMS 2.1.
When you switch a theme for ImpressPages CMS every piece of content adapts to new styles automatically. Even images are automatically recropped from original files to fit new defined sizes. Click "Install" for new theme and it's done. A whole lot of magic happens then.
ImpressPages CMS does a huge job for you before you know it. Such feature is impossible on rich-text-based CMSs. Only the power of widgets allows you to switch between themes so effortlessly.
We prepared "IP classic" theme that you could start playing right away.
Now tell me, isn't that a cool feature you wish your CMS also included? The continued improvements in ImpressPages has left me no doubt that this CMS is a game changer and deserves more attention from me. I plan to add ImpressPages to our CMS Focus list which includes a list of my top 30 content management systems.
All other changes and improvements in ImpressPages can be found in their repository on GitHub. ImpressPages CMS can also be downloaded from links provided at ImpressPages.org.