<rss xmlns:slash="http://purl.org/rss/1.0/modules/slash/" version="2.0">  <channel>  <title><![CDATA[]]></title>  <link>https://www.pixoinc.com</link>  <description><![CDATA[]]></description>   <lastBuildDate>Mon, 27 Jan 2020</lastBuildDate>  <item>    <title><![CDATA[Concrete5 Version 5.5 is Out Now]]></title>    <link>https://www.pixoinc.com/concrete5-blog/2011/12/22/concrete5-version-5.5-is-out-now    </link>    <description><![CDATA[From Concrete5 on their new release:

We completely changed the way installation works so it is  much easier to build a starting point. You can even install completely  from the command line. We also took the time to rethink Scrapbooks which  had evolved “organically” and had any number of issues. Now there’s  Stacks which let you clump different blocks together into one reusable  element. Permissions, versions – everything you’d expect from a  concrete5 page all work on a Stack. Very cool.
We also spent a fair amount of energy on performance concerns. Lots  of cleanup on less than optimal queries, extra object loads, etc. We  even consolidated and rearranged javascript a bit more to just create  that snappier feel everyone likes.

Some other features that have been added is the ability to navigate to administration tools.  A feature that we like a lot!]]></description>    <category>    </category>    <pubDate>Thu, 22 Dec 11 13:46:00 +0000</pubDate>  </item>  <item>    <title><![CDATA[Concrete5 vs ModX]]></title>    <link>https://www.pixoinc.com/concrete5-blog/2011/12/21/concrete5-vs-modx    </link>    <description><![CDATA[Been doing some research latley around the ModX content management system (CMS) and concrete5.  What I've found is that while the approach of each CMS is similar I found that the implemenation is different and that is where the devil is in the details.ModX is seems to us to be very hands on and as such isn't for the less technical user. If you are willing to work your way through it we find it is a robust system. There is always a learning curve that comes with any CMS, but that curve seemed to be more challenging than it should be.  Adding a form to the website and then getting to work the way I wanted to was a bit frustrating and the documentation that we worked through didn't seem very clear.

Another  issue we had with ModX was that I could create great chunks that could be  reused on multiple pages (that was pretty cool) but if I wanted to create variations for each  page I had to create multiple snippets. We could not find a clear way  to do this and we ended up too many chunks. I liked the way I could apply changes to  multiple pages all at once. That came in very handy. The rewrite to  pretty urls was clean and the interface was nice. Going back and forth  between the page and the dashboard was easy and facilitated easy testing  of features. The community forums were a lot of help, usually.  There were lots of snippets and chunks and some templates available to  use. There was not very many "polished" items though. It was more put  together in a garage rather than in a factory. Don't get me wrong, I  like things forged in garages but they do not easily have the same shine  as production quality. Not being able to do incontent editing I also found to be a bit of a downside.  I've always found that navigating to a page to make a change is a lot easier than trying to manipulating from a backend admin tool. This of course isn't a deal breaker, but a preference of ours.Concrete5 on the  other hand allows users, even ones without much computer experience to  edit not only the text of a site but entire blocks and move them around  in a near wysiwyg interface from the front end. Again, there does not  seem to be a way to manage the guestbook (their version of user  comments).Each page can be change and each block can be altered  to function the same or slightly different on each page. This is nice  until you need to change one thing on 90 pages and have to do it on each  one. Concrete5 also uses a lot of flash for editting and such so you  better like flash and not be too into Apple-non-flash products. I will  have to surf my site with a non-flash enabled browser, perhaps Konqueror  will do. Concrete5 is to content management what the iphone is to cell phones.  Intuitive.  Making basic and common changes to a site doesn't require documentation.  You just go to the place that you want to make a change and then big buttons seem to make it obvious as to how you do things.  We didn't feel the same pains as we did with ModX in getting through the initial learning curve.  We also liked the concept in Concrete5 of a scrapbook were you could copy blocks that you wanted to reuse on other places of the site.  Unlike ModX, once you pasted a scrapbook item you could manipulite it anyway you want.
 
The forms block in Concrete5 is second to none.  It took us no time to manipulate a form to how we wanted it to work as long as you didn't need anything to fancy.  We were a little disappointed that you can create multi-page forms would would like more tools to work with, but for out of the box what Concrete5 provides is more than adequaate.
In summary:ModX Pros: Modular,  easy to use templating system, reusable code, ability to apply changes to multiple pages simultaneously,  once site is up can be operated by average computer user, good community.Cons: Documentation outdated, not easily spit and  polished, getting site up is not for faint of heart, not easy to  manipulate structure to suit each page's needs, no easy way for https  login, no front end management except for comments. Concrete5Pros: Polished, easy to use in-content editing, easily manipulated  blocks, great form tools, and scrapbooks made it easy to reuse blocks. Cons: Somewhat limited tools for forms]]></description>    <category>Concrete5    </category>    <pubDate>Wed, 21 Dec 11 15:21:00 +0000</pubDate>  </item>  <item>    <title><![CDATA[Happy Holidays from Pixo And a Very Special 2012 Offer!]]></title>    <link>https://www.pixoinc.com/concrete5-blog/2011/12/19/happy-holidays-from-pixo-and-a-very-special-2012-offer    </link>    <description><![CDATA[We would like to thank everyone for a great year in 2011.  We saw tremendous growth in business and even more importantly saw great results for our customers.  Great clients make a business look good and we have some of the best.  We want to wish everyone a great Holiday season and a fantastic 2012!
We want to help you get your online marketing off to a great start in 2012, so anyone that mentions this blog post will get 75% off search engine optimization setup services with a new or redesigned Concrete5 website purchase.  This offer is only good until January 7th (we are giving away the farm here) so act now.]]></description>    <category>Search Engine Optimization    </category>    <pubDate>Mon, 19 Dec 11 08:17:00 +0000</pubDate>  </item>  </channel></rss>