WordPress sites once again being compromised

November 30, 2015

Several WordPress-based websites, including the Reader's Digest site, have been on the receiving end of a another hacking campaign, this one injecting the sites with malware that has uses Angler exploit kit upload various trojans.

Malwarebytes is reporting an increase in the number of compromised WordPress sites with the Reader's Digest, www.rd.com, being one of the most high-profile victims. In the latest cases the malicious script is uploaded through a compromised web page that redirects visitors to a URL that then uploads the Angler EK. Malwarebytes said during the course of its investigation it witnessed the Angler EK delivering the Bedep trojan which, in turn, loaded the Necurs backdoor trojan onto the visitor's computer. 

Malwarebytes did note that the payload being delivered varied from site to site and even day to day.

The Angler EK exploits up to Flash Player version 19.0.0.207,which was patched by Adobe on October 16.

This is the second time in a week that sites using WordPress were in the news playing the role of victim in an attack. Those incidents reported last week targeted the U.K. newspaper The Independent.

Reader's Digest, which is part of the Trusted Media Brands portfolio, was notified of the problem by Malwarebytes, but the company said the publisher has not taken any action and that www.rd.com is still delivering malware.

Reader's Digest has also not yet replied to an inquiry by SCMagazine.com on the issue.

Source: WordPress sites once again being compromised

#WordPress.com Gets Desktop App, Goes Open Source in Biggest Update Ever

WordPress.com Gets Desktop App, Goes Open Source in Biggest Update Ever WordPress.com has been rewritten from scratch in what is said to be the platform's biggest update ever. Not to be confused with the self-installed version of WordPress, WordPress.com is the fully hosted version of the content management system. read moreWordPress.com Goes Open Source And Gets A Desktop App WordPress.com, the fully hosted version of WordPress, has a received one of its biggest updates ever today. Codenamed Calypso ... Finally, everything is open source and on GitHub. You can look at the code, fork it and reuse it as long as you comply ... read more

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Source: #WordPress.com Gets Desktop App, Goes Open Source in Biggest Update Ever

How Not to Show Your Support for WordPress

By Kaya Ismail November 29, 2015 Articles and Editorials

I recently published an article critiquing WordPress - and it caused a stir.

WPTavern, a blog geared exclusively towards all things WordPress, picked up on it, and responded with an article titled, "How Not to Communicate Grievances with WordPress".

The author, Jeff Chandler, is somebody whom I have respect for. He has commentated on some of my WordPress coverage in the past in a positive light.

However, in this instance, I think his WordPress fanaticism may have obscured any respect he may have had for me.

His article was abrupt, and the comments left on it by WordPress-crazed readers was, at times, aggressive.

The Accusations

Chandler made a few accusations in his article. On top of his offended tone, he wrote that I was "writing baseless assumptions", and also that CMS Critic was "choosing not to be part of the solution."

In the original article, a line read that, "[CMS Critic] generally publishes negative things about the WordPress project." Thankfully, Chandler removed this line upon the delivery of proof otherwise.

The crux of Chandler's argument though, was that I didn't provide solutions for the problems I raised. In short then, his article was based on a lack of logic.

If a car manufacturer receives thousands of complaints about faulty brake lights, the public would naturally expect the manufacturer to take responsibility for those malfunctions. The public would expect them to come up with the solution, and they would expect them to either directly or in-directly implement them. Pretty standard stuff.

If somebody writes about those malfunctions in order to highlight them and bring them to the attention of the manufacturer, nobody would see anything wrong with that, either.

Certainly, nobody would accuse that writer of ""writing baseless assumptions" or accuse the publication of, "[choosing] not to be part of the solution."

Yet, when it comes to WordPress, a (relatively small) section of the WordPress community seems to have a problem with applying that very same logic.

Instead, I am made to feel in the wrong for highlighting these issues, and also that I'm at fault for not providing the solutions for them, too.

As mentioned in my original article, I don't believe I need to provide all the answers for WordPress' list of issues (despite doing so for a number of them). Just as the car buyer doesn't need to assist the manufacturer in fixing those brake lights.

WordPress Commentary: Stepping on Eggshells

This isn't the first time CMS Critic has written about WordPress in a way which isn't totally positive (although we have rightly praised WordPress many times), and thus we've come to expect somewhat of a backlash when our coverage isn't wholly favorable.

In this case, it was a totally unwarranted, over-protective, and sometimes ad hominem, backlash.

I feel that a section of the WordPress community makes it hard for journalists and bloggers such as myself to voice anything other than positivity. Thus, writing about WordPress feels a little like stepping on egg shells.

No Conspiracies

As for the attack on the integrity of CMS Critic; there is no conspiracy. No bias. No foul play.

Although Chandler retracted his statement that CMS Critic adopts a negative approach towards WordPress, I feel it's something that needs addressing.

I am paid to test, review, report and commentate on various content management systems.

Sometimes, that includes voicing my opinion on the shortcomings of WordPress. Not to victimise the world's most popular CMS, but to hopefully raise awareness for its aged shortcomings.

And if you aren't convinced, check out some of our more positive coverage of WordPress here and here. Not to mention, WordPress used to power CMS Critic, and is the platform of choice for my very own blog.

Don't Shoot the Messenger

All in all, my message here is simple. Don't shoot the messenger.

I haven't invented any of these WordPress issues. They're well known by the community, and are long standing.

The fact that I don't have all the answers to all the problems doesn't negate a single one of them. Neither does it entitle anybody to accuse me of "writing baseless assumptions," nor CMS Critic of " [choosing] not to be part of the solution."

The real kicker, is that Jeff Chandler actually agrees that the onus is not upon me to come up with solutions:

"The onus may not be on Ismail or any of us to come up with solutions, but he and others can help discover and be part of solutions by taking an active role in giving constructive feedback in the right place."

So, instead of writing about these flaws on CMS Critic, Chandler wants me to provide such feedback in a more direct manner.

But these issues aren't new. WordPress is aware of them. My aim here is to apply a different type of pressure in the hope of actual improvement.

If we all continue to down the official channels with pleasant tones and heaps of praise, we'll continue to see shoddy default themes, weak updates, and constantly ignored issues.

It's time to abandon the fanatasicm and change the way we advise WordPress. Pressure needs to be applied in public, because they don't seem to be listening anywhere else.

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Source: How Not to Show Your Support for WordPress

5 Best WordPress Plugins for Your E-Commerce Website

E-commerce has been exceptionally successful in the past few years and the worldwide online retail spending is close to $2 trillion with a 6.6 percent growth as compared to 2014. The industry is growing fast and it is no surprise that more and more businesses are trying to capitalize on the tremendous market potential of e-commerce.

WordPress is the most robust, scalable, flexible and personalized Content Management System and powers more than a quarter of all websites on the Web. It is also the best platform to build powerful e-commerce sites that are capable of selling thousands of digital and physical products.

With the multitude of plugins available, it is not difficult to incorporate e-commerce into a website. You can also build an e-commerce site from scratch on WordPress and customize it suit to your unique needs.

Simply installing e-commerce plugin would not make you a top seller on the Web. Optimize your site using WordPress landing page plugins and robust search plugins to provide the best user experience. But the first step remains that you zero in on the most suitable WordPress plugin for e-commerce.

Here we list some of the popular WordPress plugins for a robust e-commerce site.

1. WooCommerce

WooCommerce has close to two million downloads and is the most popular e-commerce plugin as of now.

It helps transform a simple blogging platform into a beautiful store, easily customizable, scalable and highly extendable. You can showcase products, collect orders, offer discounts and safely secure payments.

There are several reasons why WooCommerce has grown to power more than 650,000 e-commerce portals. PayPal integration, full compatibility with WordPress themes, intuitive dashboard offering widgets and the ability to track sales, stock, orders and other statistics, Google Analytics support, multiple shipping options, and easy social sharing enabled by ShareThis and Sharedaddy are all features of WooCommerce.

The core plugin is free and for advanced needs you can purchase powerful extensions that can meet virtually any of your needs. You can also buy storefront themes and support as you scale up and expand.

2. Ecwid

Ecwid caters to companies that do not want to start a new website to sell online. This powerful plugin allows you to build an e-commerce system into your existing website without making any drastic changes to the site framework.

Ecwid WordPress plugin is free and integrates easily with your social media profiles as well. The free plan is fully capable of powering small and medium-sized e-commerce portals, can enable you to sell on mobile devices and syncs with multiple devices.

Ecwid allows you to mirror the site elsewhere and sell on multiple channels. A single dashboard will allow you to manage all the channels conveniently.

Paid plans start at around $15 per month and give you additional features like volume discount, coupon codes and stock management.

3. Jigoshop

Jigoshop is another free e-commerce plugin that is highly suitable for small and medium sized businesses.

Jigoshop features a robust and intuitive dashboard that allows you to manage all your e-commerce activities in a single place. You will be able to track the performance of your web store, compile sales reports and track inventory easily and quickly. All payments on this plugin are handled by the third-party processor and there are more than 70 free and paid payment gateway extensions available to choose from.

Order management, customer account area, search features, tax and shipping options and marketing capabilities are offered by Jigoshop. Sales reports and graphs, latest product orders and reviews, and inventory reports can be accessed and managed through the intuitive dashboard. It is also very easy to add new products, product descriptions, demo videos and images to your product page.

Jigoshop offers more than 30 high-quality themes that can be used to build e-commerce portals of any kind. You can get a professional and trendy site up and ready in no time using these themes, and they are also highly customizable.

4. Cart66 Cloud

Cart66 Cloud is an extremely popular WordPress e-commerce plugin that helps make your checkout page, product pages, and sensitive e-commerce data PCI-compliant, safe and secure.

Cart66 Cloud is highly cost-efficient and gives you an awesome deal where the core plugin that comes with additional features like inbuilt PCI-compliance for checkout process, customer data and billing information is free. You also get 70+ payment gateways, recurring billing options, and free storage on AmazonS3 enabling you to securely sell digital products in the package.

The powerful plugin connects your WordPress site to the customized super-secure Cart66 Cloud account. You get a fully functional e-commerce portal for less than what you would pay for a payment gateway add-on and an SSL certificate if you are setting up a web shop on your own.

With Cart66 Cloud, you get to set up and run a business entirely on your WordPress site. All your product pages will be in WordPress and you have the freedom to host your site wherever you want.

The plugin comes with a free 14-day trial period after which you will have to pay an annual fee of $95 per year.

5. Easy Digital Downloads

Easy Digital Downloads is a WordPress plugin tailor-made for e-commerce portals that sell digital files.

Easy Digital Downloads plugin is robust, feature-packed and powerful, yet lightweight and clean at the same time. The plugin is free and only has the basic and essential features to allow for streamlined, quick and efficient selling.

The plugin is super easy to install and set up and all that you need to do is enter your payment information, product data, and other necessary details, and you are ready to go. The plugin also helps you analyze sales and earnings with the help of simple and lucid sales graphs and data tables.

The WordPress plugin is developer-friendly and allows you to customize and build features according to your need. There are several payment gateway options and you can also choose from add-on gateways that are being constantly developed.

The plugin is extremely user-friendly and makes data export, discounts, coupons, and promotions super easy.

Source: 5 Best WordPress Plugins for Your E-Commerce Website

WordPress Flaw Leads Readers Digest Fans to Angler EK

Security researchers are warning of a spike in WordPress compromises designed to load the notorious Angler Exploit Kit.

Malwarebytes senior security researcher, Jérôme Segura, explained in a blog post that Readers Digest is one of the high profile victims of the attack campaign.

"The attack consists of a malicious script injected within compromised WordPress sites that launches another URL whose final purpose is to load the Angler exploit kit," he continued.

"Site owners that have been affected should keep in mind that those injected scripts/URLs will vary over time, although they are all using the same pattern (see IOCs below for some examples)."

He urged netizens who have visited the Readers Digest site recently to check that they haven't been infected.

"The payload we observed at the time of capture was Bedep, which loaded Recurs, a backdoor Trojan, but that of course can change from day to day," explained Segura.

Unfortunately Malwarebytes hadn't received any feedback from the publisher, despite claiming to have contacted it several days before publishing the blog post.

The news comes around a month after the firm warned of another campaign targeted at WordPress sites linked to the Angler EK.

The blog of UK newspaper The Independent was among the sites affected.

"The attack involves conditionally embedded large snippets of code at the bottom of the sites' source page," wrote Segura at the time.

"It is important to stress this is a conditional injection because webmasters trying to identify the issue may not see it unless they browse from a fresh IP address and a particular user-agent (Internet Explorer being the most likely to get hit)."

The code in question loads a Flash video file designed to redirect users to Angler EK—a similar attack pattern to that apparently observed by Malwarebytes a year ago.

WordPress is frequently targeted by hackers because it provides a good RoI for attackers looking to reach as wide a group of potential victims as possible.

Photo © Rawpixel.com

Source: WordPress Flaw Leads Readers Digest Fans to Angler EK

#WordPress.com Gets Refresh With New #App and Features

WordPress.com Gets Refresh With New App and Features Automattic announced the launch of a new version of WordPress.com, which it has built from the ground up to let you update pages and respond to comments from a desktop app, manage all blogs and sites from one spot on any device, spend less time on ... read moreWordPress gets a Mac app alongside completely rebuilt, open-source WordPress.com Today online publishing platform WordPress, which powers approximately 25% of websites on the Internet (this site included), is getting a major redesign with a completely rebuilt wordpress.com and the introduction of a new ... features like full-screen ... read more

WordPress.com Goes Open Source And Gets A Desktop App But the team didn't stop there. You can also download a new Mac app to access WordPress.com. In many ways, this app works like the Slack desktop app. It leverages web technologies and desktop features so that you get more or less the exact same thing as ... read moreWordPress.com gets a new look and new Mac app ... out all the new features in the intro video below: Native apps for Windows and Linux are also in the works. Users can sign up to get an email notification when those versions arrive. To grab the new Mac app head over to the WordPress desktop site. read moreWordPress working on its Windows app, should be coming soon Groove Music app gets an update for Windows 10 Mobile devices to add sharing fea... by Michael Allison Microsoft is rolling out an update for their Groove Music app for Windows 10 mobile devices with new features built around sharing and data usage. read moreGoogle+ gets a refresh -- you should actually use it now Today, Google announces that it is refreshing the service -- a new coat of paint and improved interface. Will this lead to increased usage? "We've spent a lot of time listening to what people using Google+ had to say. There were two features they kept ... read moreTV Buying Guide: Get out tape measure before shopping Measure the distance between your couch and the spot for your new TV ... and apps from major services like Netflix and Hulu. Using this for streaming will save you an HDMI port. But stand-alone streaming devices have more features. If voice control ... read moreFord reboots 2017 Escape with 2 new engines, stop-start, safety upgrades The 2017 Escape, due out in late spring, gets a redesigned interior and two ... with women accounting for 53 percent of buyers.) Besides adding new features and improving the styling, Ford hopes the refresh will help the Escape move past the mechanical ... read more2015 LA Auto Show: Ford to debut the all-new Escape SUV packed with practical tech features The car also gets adaptive cruise control, park assist, lane keeping and driver monitoring tech as standard or optional equipment and that's on top of existing features ... off a new full-size crossover concept and where Toyota and Mitsubishi refresh ... read more2015 Los Angeles: The 2017 Buick LaCrosse gets revealed for the second generation The sheets on the 2017 Buick LaCrosse were finally pulled today at the Los Angeles International Auto Show to introduce the all-new second generation ... or Android Auto. The features allow customers to use select smartphone apps through the touchscreen ... read more

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Source: #WordPress.com Gets Refresh With New #App and Features

WordPress Powers 25% Of Content Management

By Katie Wike, contributing writer

Wordpress, the most popular content management system, now runs one in every four websites.

A W3Techs Survey puts WordPress at the top of content management, revealing it powers a quarter of websites worldwide. Two years ago, WordPress usage was at 20 percent.

"We should be comfortably past 25 percent by the end of the year," Automattic founder Matt Mullenweg said in a blog post. "The big opportunity is still the 57 percent of websites that don't use any identifiable CMS yet, and that's where I think there is still a ton of growth for us (and I'm also rooting for all the other open source CMSes)."

According to the survey, the two closest competitors — Joomla and Drupal — have a combined use of 4.9 percent, less than a fifth of WordPress.

"Sometimes it goes up and down through the course of a month, but it's still a pretty fun milestone that we can now say about one in four websites are now powered by the scrappy open source underdog with its roots stretching all the way back to a single person in Corsica, France," said Mullenweg.

The survey notes this trend is likely to continue as indicators show in October, 29.5 percent of new sites used WordPress. According to experts, new sites usually indicate where the whole market is heading.

Source: WordPress Powers 25% Of Content Management

#WordPress Powers 25% Of Content Management

WordPress Powers 25% Of Content Management Wordpress, the most popular content management system, now runs one in every four websites. A W3Techs Survey puts WordPress at the top of content management, revealing it powers a quarter of websites worldwide. Two years ago, WordPress usage was at 20 percent. read moreWordPress runs 25% of the Web WordPress powers 25% of the Internet, followed distantly by Joomla with only 2.8%, according to research company W3Techs. WordPress is a free and open source content management system (CMS), allowing Web sites to be updated and edited from a central interface. read more

WordPress powers 25% of all websites W3Techs has released new data which shows that 25% of all websites use WordPress as a content management system. W3Techs said 57.4% of the websites which they monitored use none of the well-known content management systems. "WordPress is used by 25% of ... read moreWordPress now powers 25% of the Web The latest data comes from W3Techs, which measures both usage and market share: "WordPress is used by 58.7% of all the websites whose content management system we ... WordPress powers 25 percent of… the 10 top million websites… that are actually ... read moreWP Engine Announces New Board and Executive Appointments Founded in 2010, WP Engine has grown alongside WordPress, the most popular content management system which now powers 25 percent of all websites on the Internet. More background on the new joiners is included below. Beth Weeks joins WP Engine to lead ... read moreA quarter of all websites run WordPress Considering the fact that half of the internet doesn't use any recognizable CMS system, it brings us to the conclusion that WordPress, the open-source content management platform, powers 25 percent of the entire Internet Let that sink in for a moment. read moreWordPress Is So Big 25 Percent Of All Websites In The World Run On It The numbers are in, and they have been crunched: WordPress powers approximately 25 percent of all websites that use a content management system (CMS). That means that one out of four websites is running on the popular CMS. WordPress started in 2003 ... read moreWordPress Arrives To Mac In App Form WordPress is one of the most powerful blogging platform as well as a content management system used by approximately 25 percent of websites today. To further establish its dominance in the market, the company is introducing a major redesign to the platform ... read more25 percent of all websites are run on WordPress No other content management system (CMS ... platform is powered by the leading CMS in the world. Recently, WordPress's market share jumped to 25%, officially making it the CMS that powers a quarter of the internet. It's beautiful that we get to ... read moreAre learning management systems falling out of favor? Delaware deployed a central learning management system across the state's entire school ... Twitter, Airbnb, Uber, Google, WordPress and so on. Many edtech companies thought that design and user experience were not needed in education. read more

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Source: #WordPress Powers 25% Of Content Management

WordPress Replaces PHP with JavaScript

WordPress has replaced PHP with web technologies and a RESTful back-end API for the administration console.

Writing about why WordPress decided to move from PHP to JavaScript, Matt Mullenweg, Founder and CEO of Automattic Inc., the company behind WordPress, said that the foundations of the platform were not strong enough for what is to come, and some of WordPress' strengths were also drawbacks. The main component affected by this overhaul is the administrative interface which saw a remake in version 3.8., but gave Mullenweg the conviction that an "incremental approach wouldn't give us the improvements we needed." He added that "backward compatibility and working without JavaScript " were the main culprits in having the interface the way it should be.

Automattic decided back in 2014 to create a new admin interface called Calypso built using web technologies –JavaScript, HTML, CSS, Node.js, React, Flow, WebPack, Babel – and accessing the back-end through a RESTful API. Andy Peatling, Calypso Project Lead, has written on what it meant for a PHP/MySQL company to switch to JavaScript. They had a few advanced JavaScript developers who could contribute to the project, the others being "intimidated" by Calypso. They had also used Trac for project management and had done very little code review. Starting using GitHub and its pull request system followed by commit and code review helped them see "how much easier internal collaboration could be, and how to allow for much greater feedback on individual work being done." Although initially intimidating, code review "greatly increased the quality of our codebase and helped everyone level up their JavaScript skills." Over a period of 20 months they went from 7 contributors to 127 and over 26,000 commits. The team has also implemented continuous integration.

The new interface is a single page application with a responsive design adapting to screens of various sizes. According to this feature comparison table, Calypso is fast with near instant page loads, instant publishing, in-page previews for multiple targets, and changes are applied in real time without reloading.

One of the benefits of using a JavaScript responsive design is that creating desktop or mobile clients is much easier than before, as Peatling remarked:

By the middle of 2015 the Calypso codebase was in good enough shape to be used outside of the web browser. Since Calypso is entirely JavaScript, HTML, and CSS, it can run locally on a device with a lightweight node.js server setup. Using a technology called Electron, we built native desktop clients running the same code bundled inside the applications. We started work first on a native Mac desktop app, which is now available, and continued that work on soon-to-be-launched Windows and Linux apps. Seeing these apps come together and using them internally really started to justify all the hard work we'd spent building the Calypso codebase.

Automattic has open sourced Calypso, but they still have "a ton to figure out around plugins, extensibility, contributions, Windows and Linux releases, API speed, localization, and harmonizing the WordPress.com API and WP-API so it can work with core WordPress," according to Mullenweg. Also, they leave it to the community to decide the inclusion of Calypso in the Core WordPress to replace or not the current admin interface.

WordPress is currently used by a quarter of world's CMSes, according to W3Techs, up from 13% as it was in 2011.

Source: WordPress Replaces PHP with JavaScript

#WordPress creator Matt Mullenweg breaks down the #Blogging platform’s biggest overhaul in years

WordPress creator Matt Mullenweg breaks down the blogging platform's biggest overhaul in years | AutoTraffic WordPress creator Matt Mullenweg breaks down the blogging platform's biggest overhaul in years revamped and open-sourced its biggest asset: WordPress.com. It's a massive change for WordPress, which claims to already power about 25 percent of the Web. So we sat down, metaphorically, with WordPress creator and Automattic CEO Matt Mullenweg to learn ... read more

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Source: #WordPress creator Matt Mullenweg breaks down the #Blogging platform's biggest overhaul in years

WordPress.com Is Now Open-Source, Gets A Full Revamp With Major Enhancements

WordPress.com, the hosted version of Automattic's content manager used by up to 25 percent of the Web (including TP) has been relaunched by the company today. The new version is codenamed Calypso and brings in many major improvements right off the bat. The company has also announced that it's open-sourcing WordPress.com.

Also, we will be getting an official Mac app, with Windows and Linux support apparently coming soon.

Just like its .org counterpart, WordPress.com has now been open-sourced. Andy Peatling, Calypso Project Lead writes in the blog post announcing the open-sourcing of Calypso:

We're proud to be able to open source all of the hard work we've put in, and to continue to build on the product in an open way. You can read more about opening up Calypso development on our CEO Matt Mullenweg's site.

Over the next few months, we'll publish more in-depth posts exploring the technicals and workflows behind Calypso: how we manage our own unique GitHub flows, how we've used other popular open source libraries like React and concepts like Flux, and our experiences bundling and launching native app clients. Keep an eye out for those by following this blog (in the bottom right), and in the meantime, check out the active Calypso codebase as we continue to iterate on it.

According to the company Calypso is:

Incredibly fast. It'll charm you.

Written purely in JavaScript, leveraging libraries like Node and React.

100% API-powered. Those APIs are open, and now available to every developer in the world.

A great place to read, allowing you to follow sites across the web (even if they're not using WordPress).

Social, with stats, likes, and notifications baked in.

Fully responsive. Make it small and put it in your sidebar, or go full-screen.

Really fun to write in, especially the drag-and-drop image uploads.

Fully multi-site for advanced users, so you can manage hundreds of WordPresses from one place.

Able to manage plugins and themes on Jetpack sites, including auto-upgrading them!

100% open source, with all future development happening in the open.

Available for anyone to adapt to make their own, including building custom interfaces, distributions, or working with web services besides WordPress.com.

The improvements in WordPress.com are at an primary level, showing deviation from the normal WordPress core. For example, PHP has now been replaced with JavaScript and we see a more simplistic look for the tool.

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Source: WordPress.com Is Now Open-Source, Gets A Full Revamp With Major Enhancements

#WordPress.com Gets Desktop App, Goes Open Source in Biggest Update Ever

WordPress.com Gets Desktop App, Goes Open Source in Biggest Update Ever WordPress.com has been rewritten from scratch in what is said to be the platform's biggest update ever. Not to be confused with the self-installed version of WordPress, WordPress.com is the fully hosted version of the content management system. read moreWordPress.com Goes Open Source And Gets A Desktop App WordPress.com, the fully hosted version of WordPress, has a received one of its biggest updates ever today. Codenamed Calypso ... Finally, everything is open source and on GitHub. You can look at the code, fork it and reuse it as long as you comply ... read more

15 tools to onboard and engage new users It can help you automatically engage new trial users before they become inactive and also integrates with apps ... is open source, allowing contribution, and the Inline Manual player is available for any web platform, including WordPress, Drupal and ... read moreThe best free software for your PC But the software giant makes plenty of other apps, many of which are entirely ... of course - into a single tool, but goes one step further in making it possible to build sites based on open-source tools like WordPress, Drupal, Joomla! read moreGoogle's 'biggest Android update ever' might not work Since the flaw affected the operating system itself, up to a billion devices were in danger, prompting Google to release the "biggest software update the world has ever seen ... many disparate versions of the open source operating could remain secure ... read moreMy open-source WordPress plug-in: Lessons learned from a release gone wrong This weekend, after working for three months on an open-source ... WordPress data). Because the donation form was hard-coded, there was no modularity. So I wrote an entirely new forms engine that is completely dynamic and modular. Finally, my biggest ... read moreBossie Awards 2015: The best open source application development tools Docker's biggest impact has been on virtual machine environments ... from the guts and called the Electron shell, providing an open source way to build cross-platform desktop apps with Web technologies. Visual Studio Code is built on the Electron ... read moreWhat Google really means when it calls Android 'open' The gooey center of Google's pitch to developers to make apps and services for Android is a series ... they're made available to the public. It's the biggest and possibly the only open-source project developed this way. There's often a short delay between ... read moreWhy the open source software model is fundamentally broken And the list goes ... in open source projects. To these purists, the end goal isn't nearly as important as the sheer laser focus on the journey that gets them there. Wherever there may be. The Linux Tax: Why Linux Isn't Really Free If you've ever been ... read moreWhy is Linux So Great? Because It's Open Source! But what makes Linux such a great choice that it's used in all those devices? It's because it's open source software, which has various implications. Working with a secure operating system has become essential, and Linux fills that need well. read more

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Source: #WordPress.com Gets Desktop App, Goes Open Source in Biggest Update Ever

Automattic dumps PHP for new js powered, open source backend WordPress interface

Automattic, Inc., the company behind the ever-popular WordPress content management system, have announced a major refresh of its hosted blogging platform WordPress.com along with a number of extras that are sure to please bloggers and developers alike.

Top of the list is what the company is calling Calypso, a major overhaul of the WordPress back end that dumps the now 12-year-old PHP powered WordPress interface for a still familiar, but fresh under-the-hood redesign that runs on Javascript instead while also leveraging libraries including Node and React.

The need for speed is perhaps the primary focus of the redesigned interface with the use of JS delivering an interface that Automattic founder Matt Mullenweg describes as "incredibly fast…it'll charm you."

Although the code for WordPress itself (the CMS, not the hosted service) has always been open source, the code that specifically ran WordPress.com has not been, until now, with the new backend being completely open sourced and as a bonus is also said to be 100 percent API powered.

Services that were previously add-ons or extras are now included in the backend, including Social, with stats, likes, and notifications, and the drag and drop functions previously available have been vastly improved, complete with new image display options.

If you host your own WordPress site though and this all sounds interesting, the good news is that the interface is also being made available for self-hosted WordPress installs and is available for installation via Automattic's Jetpack plugin.

Last, but not least, the company has also released a WordPress desktop application for OS X that brings the functionality of the new interface to a computer while at the same time leveraging the processing power of the said machine to make the experience even quicker; of note the software, along with the WordPress.com new interface offers vastly improved support for multiple blogs meaning a user can manage and write to multiple sites from the one place.

RELATED:  Pantheon announces enterprise solution for Drupal and WordPress web content management Great, but…

While the move away from a PHP interface will be of a concern to some developers, from a pure user perspective the changes should not only be strongly welcomed but were arguably overdue as well.

But…and there is a but, that while there are benefits for WordPress users across the board it should be noted that for people with self-hosted WordPress installs who choose to use the new interface need to link into Automattic's servers as well.

The company pitches it as a better way to do things, but it's also a way for them to capture more data from people with self-hosted WordPress blogs; they may well deny an ulterior motive and no doubt Mullenweg will plead a heart of gold (he always does) but if you have a self-hosted WordPress blog and currently don't subscribe to other Automattic services through Jetpack be aware that the implementation of the new interface means giving the company a back door into your site and data.

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Duncan Riley Duncan Riley is a senior writer at SiliconANGLE covering Startups, Bitcoin, and the Internet of Things.

Duncan is a co-founder of VC funded media company B5Media and founder of news site The Inquisitr, and was a senior writer at TechCrunch in its earlier days.

Tips? Press releases? Intersting startup? email: duncan@nichenet.com.au or contact Duncan on Twitter @duncanriley

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Source: Automattic dumps PHP for new js powered, open source backend WordPress interface

#WordPress.com just got relaunched, now it's open source and there's a desktop app

The New Mozilla Recommended Add-ons List: The Winners and the Losers In anticipation of the imminent release of Firefox 2.0, Mozilla has relaunched its ... TechCrunch sponsor that recommends web pages similar to the ones you are on based on your interests. Cut From the List These plug-ins were recommended yesterday – but ... read moreOld Operating Systems Don't Die… Now this is good tech news in its purest form: After eight years of development, a new operating system called Haiku has been released in alpha form. It's an open-source reconstruction ... The Haiku release got me thinking about other once-signficant ... read more

Good riddance Oracle! Now can LibreOffice make a difference? Oracle's purchase of Sun Microsystems didn't help either, since the company isn't exactly the biggest friend of open source ... driving innovation in its competitors, be they Microsoft, Apple, or Google. Right now, LibreOffice is very much in beta. read moreLinux Mint 14 released: It's like Windows 8, minus the bad bits Windows 8 has done a good job of building on Windows 7's Desktop Windows Manager (DWM ... to me switching to Linux Mint full-time — now working on Linux, the future is looking bright for the open-source operating system. I dual-booted the new Linux ... read moreLinux and Apple The introduction of Tiger by Apple at its ... Linux, both important players in open source, and 2) completely ignored Microsoft in the equation (not a shock in the scientific sector due to licensing issues) and 3) did not find any flaw in Linux itself ... read moreUbuntu Edge Phone Looks Cool And Dual-Boots Android, Probably Isn't Worth The $32 Million Indiegogo Campaign [Update: $3.4 Million Already] It's a beautiful slab of metal that features some of the most outlandish mobile hardware ever seen, it runs Ubuntu for smartphones, doubles as a dockable ARM-powered desktop, and dual-boots Android ... just hoping that the Ubuntu userbase and larger open ... read moreAustralian Govt re-kindles office file format war news The Australian Government's peak IT strategy group has issued a cautious updated appraisal of currently available office productivity suite file formats, in what appears to be an attempt to more fully explain its thinking about the merits of open ... read moreBeginning PHP and MySQL 5.0 Another of PHPs strengths is in its support of a rich set of regular expressions and string manipulation functions. Using regular expressions, one can match just about any string ... time between running Apress's Open Source program, experimenting with ... read moreOpen source still has a few gaps to fill to go mainstream And I firmly believe that, should the distributions and developers (and anyone else involved with open source) take a long, hard look at the list I'm about to offer, they could easily fill those gaps and Linux would enjoy an adoption rate previously ... read moreOpinion: Death knell heard for Microsoft and really all proprietary efforts No longer are companies willing to pay the price (in money and the intentional depression of technology) by catering to Microsoft and its ... these open-source platforms are becoming, with desktops that blow Vista's graphically enhanced desktop out ... read more

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Source: #WordPress.com just got relaunched, now it's open source and there's a desktop app

25 top job sites for finding the freelance gigs you really want

Starting your morning off working on a website design for a fashion blogger and finishing up your day on a redesign for a non-profit that will bring them more donations sounds like a pretty rewarding day, right? Especially if you can work from home, or your favorite coffee shop! Being able to take on the clients you actually want to work with, and the projects that you get excited about? It's a dream come true!

And it's a dream that tons of people in the US are following. 34% of the national workforce, in fact, freelances. And most people who freelance do so either for the flexibility or just to earn some extra money on the side of their "regular" job.

For someone who's just getting started in tech, freelancing is a great way to gain experience and build your portfolio. But it goes beyond that: freelancing gives you flexibility that even the most flexible remote jobs can lack. You can pick and choose the projects you take on and how much you work. That means if you want to schedule a month off to travel, you can!

So where do you get started? Below we've curated a collection of 25 of the best freelance job boards for designers, developers, and other techies. Some are open to anyone, while others are for those with stellar portfolios who are accepted into their ranks.

Either way, starting here rather than Googling "freelance jobs" is going to save you a huge headache and help you get the kinds of freelance gigs you're looking for.

Tech-specific job boards

1. Smashing Jobs, part of Smashing Magazine, has a large listing of freelance tech jobs (they also have listings for full-time jobs). Smashing Jobs posts primarily developer jobs, though there are tons of designer jobs listed, too.

2. The Mashable Job Board is devoted to digital and tech jobs around the world. They're used by some of the top companies in the world to find talent, including MTV News, Omaze, and more. Search for freelance in the keywords to find the appropriate listings.

3. Coroflot is specifically for creative jobs, with job postings from companies all over the world. They have a separate category for freelance work. In addition to web designer and developer jobs, they also list other creative and tech jobs.

4. Working Nomads is a curated list of remote jobs from companies around the world. Their job categories include design, development, sysadmin, customer success, management, and marketing.

5. Authentic Jobs lets you filter for freelance, contract or moonlighting jobs from companies around the world. They have listings for everything from project managers to backend developers to content strategists.

6. GetACoder is a great source for freelance developer jobs, as well as design and other tech-related work. They have tens of thousands of active jobs on the site, which can make narrowing down what to actually apply for a bit tricky.

7. WP Hired is a great source if you're a WordPress pro looking for freelance work. They have a category just for freelance, and most of the jobs listed can be done from anywhere. There are a huge range of jobs on the site, from small plugin projects to complete redesigns.

8. Problogger Jobs is a job board just for bloggers that includes mostly freelance positions. A lot of the jobs are tech-related, and WordPress and other tech skills are a huge advantage for anyone looking to blog.

9. Krop is a job board just for creatives. Krop sets itself apart from many others by letting you host your portfolio on their site, and is used by a number of high-profile creatives, like photographer Terry Richardson, design agency Heydeys, and creative director Eric Hoffman.

10. Stack Overflow Careers lists both full-time and contract positions. They mostly list developer and engineer jobs, though related fields are sometimes listed, too.

Members-only job boards

11. Traction is a curated job board for marketers. Unlike many others, you have to apply and be accepted to be able to see jobs and projects posted on the site.

12. Matchist is a curated job board for developers. They only accept 15% of thedevelopers who apply, which makes them very appealing to those looking to hire. If you're accepted, it can be a great way to findrewarding projects.

13. Gigster is a way for companies to hire development teams. Theycombine Silicon Valley-based product managers with elite developers from a vetted talent pool to take on customer projects.

14. Folyo is a members-only private community for finding freelance design jobs.Companies post their projects, and then get a curated shortlist of designers who would be perfect for the job.

15. OnSite offers up curated freelancers for onsite and off-site jobs. Companies post ajob, then get a list of freelancers who are a good match. Freelancers can post a bio and portfolio to appeal to those hiring.

16. Gun.io is a service that finds the best freelance developers for client projects. As adeveloper, you can apply with GitHub, so make sure you've got some great active projects there!

17. Crew matches up companies with top designers and developers. Applying as afreelancer is as simple as submitting your name and online portfolio URL.

18. Hirable is a self curated community of developers used by companies likeGoogle and Birchbox. Just sign up as a developer, set up your profile, and then set your availability (hirable, hirable soon, or busy).

19. Envato Studio hand-picks designers and developers for customer projects.For the most part, Envato actively looks for freelancers to add to Studio, but you can also submit a form to register your interest.

20. Juiiicy is a private community for top designers to find freelance projects. Ratherthan companies posting ads directly, other designers post inquiries they've gotten but can't or don't want to take on, and earn referralfees when another Juiiicy designer takes the job.

Other job boards

21. LocalSolo is a localized freelance job board for finding projects in your area.It's free to use as a freelancer and doesn't charge any commission, and you can customize your profile and work directly with clientsfrom the start.

22. SimplyHired lets you search for contract jobs in any location. Theyhave thousands of job listings, though they're not limited to just tech jobs. Just search for the job title and optionally the city andstate, and then refine the results to just include contract positions.

23. Freelancer is a huge job board specifically for freelance jobs. Much ofthe jobs listed on the site are tech jobs, with listings for designers, developers, marketers, SEO specialists, and more.

24. Upwork is a large freelance job board that covers a huge variety ofpositions. There are job listings for web developers, designers, mobile developers, sales and marketing pros, and more.

25. Guru is another large freelance job board that includes tech as well as otherpositions. There are more jobs listed for tech and web than any other category, making it a good options for designers anddevelopers.

This article originally published at Skillcrush here

Source: 25 top job sites for finding the freelance gigs you really want

#WordPress Used On 25 Percent Of All #Websites [Report]

WordPress Used On 25 Percent Of All Websites [Report] WordPress, long known to be the No. 1 content management system (CMS) in use online, has reached a new milestone: It now powers 25 percent of all sites across the web. That's according to the newest data from W3Techs, a company that tracks the usage of ... read more25 percent of all websites are run on WordPress ... W3Techs survey of the web which reports WordPress is now running 25% of all websites in the world. No other content management system (CMS) runs even 3% of websites. Some content management systems used by law firms, including MoveableType ... read more

2015: WordPress Sites Saw a 250 Percent Rise in Attacks Besides healthcare, attackers also displayed a taste for WordPress-powered sites. This may have something to do with the large target area these sites present, currently WordPress having a 25% market ... which was used for 31% in all attacks on CMSs ... read more25% Allocation To Apple - Too Much Risk? I will set out below why a higher allocation in a common stock does not necessarily lead to higher overall risk for your portfolio, and specifically, why I have allocated such a large percentage to ... your capital over all your holdings. read more2015 Hobby Lobby Black Friday week 50 percent off Christmas decor Hobby Lobby never has special Black Friday deals but will have a spectacular sale the entire week including 50 percent off all ... use the 40% off coupon in the slide show. You don't have to download the smartphone app below, you can just pull up the ... read more3 out 10 users take device into bathroom despite risk of being spied on — Newsbytes.ph Research by Kaspersky Lab and B2B International has shown that the relationship between users and their digital devices is often closer than between best friends, with 29 percent taking them into the bathroom and 25 percent sharing secrets with their ... read more5 Ways to Speed Up Your Website Unfortunately, most websites load slower. They load more than 7.72 seconds ... That said, you need to optimize them to make your site load faster. If you are using WordPress, you may add the Smush plugin to your site. It can significantly improve your ... read moreWordPress Platform Powers 23 Percent Of Websites In The World, Statistics Say Back then, nobody could have imagined that the WordPress platform would turn into a behemoth powering almost a quarter of all websites in the world ... A 2014 survey conducted by WordPress showed that 25% of WordPress users earned their income from ... read moreIs standard car repairs when you use the emergency fund? Step 2 is paying off all consumer debt from smallest to largest using the ... of at least 20 percent on a house. If you take out a mortgage, make sure it's a 15-year, fixed rate loan, where the monthly payments are no more than 25 percent of your monthly ... read moreMacy's: Save 20% or take $10 off $25 and preview Black Friday Web Busters Today and Saturday you can take $10 off a purchase of $25 or more through 1 p.m. with this coupon. You can use code SUP25 to save all day today and Saturday onlin. Macy's has also released a preview of their Black Friday Web Busters which will be ... read more

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Source: #WordPress Used On 25 Percent Of All #Websites [Report]

Why I fell in love with WordPress

Why I chose Wordpress for my college football blog

In the early 2000s I dabbled in making websites. It was a time in my life when I wasn't doing as much after recovering from a surgery. I became engrossed with the fact that I could do something behind the scenes and see it come to life in a web browser.

I peeled back the layers once I discovered you could look at the source code of a website in Internet Explorer. I discovered FrontPage Express, which came bundled with Internet Explorer 4 and started tinkering with the WYSIWYG editor. I found myself putting together crude web pages.

So, I built a couple of websites for churches and nonprofits. I could do something new and it was pretty cool. Soon I discovered that websites were moving toward a dynamic model: database-driven platforms. Developers started using content management systems (CMS). At the time, they were mostly used by enterprise-level companies, but it was clear that development was moving in that direction.

Once again, I was behind the curve. I had no way of really learning how to develop websites using database-driven platforms. 

At about this time I decided I had a lot to say about college football, so I launched a blog where I logged my "top 10" each week during the season. I used the Google-based Blogspot platform. It allowed me to focus on crafting the posts and not worrying about using an editor to edit a web page. I was still mesmerized by the process of how the blog worked, but I never dove further into the process.

During my second football season of blogging, I decided I wanted to add some things that I felt I could do better on a static website. I also wanted to have my own domain, so I built a static website and tried to integrate my Blogspot blog with the site. It did not go how I wanted. 

In the process of trying to figure out better how to do this, I came across a blog about my home state's main college football team. The blog looked nice, clean, and well organized. I discovered it was running on WordPress and decided to give it a try for myself.

The hosting company I was using offered a push-button installation of WordPress, so I installed and began learning. I began running my college football blog on WordPress and even started another one. At the time, I was working at a bookstore and had a nice employee discount. I bought a copy of WordPress for Dummies and began learning the ins and outs of the CMS. In addition to learning WordPress, I was also learning how to run a media-driven website. 

At this point, I started making WordPress websites—taking a theme and customizing it to create a branded site for companies. I definitely felt empowered. WordPress is open source, and I am grateful for this, as it has become the very core of many successful businesses across the globe. It is the core of what I do every day, whether writing, consulting, or developing a website.

The WordPress community is very collaborative, too. We know that this great resource that has been given to us and it helps solve thousands of problems for millions of people each year. Contributors help with code, report bugs, write plugins, develop themes, write blog tutorials, and much more for the broader WordPress community. 

I think one of the reasons I like WordPress so much is that it combines the value of a content management system (the separation of content from structure) with the value of producing content in an easier manner, giving website owners the opportunity to improve search engine visibility. Another great thing about WordPress is that it's open source, so there is volumes of information available about the software.

The Wordpress support board features tutorials from some of the most remarkable WordPress developers. There are also hundreds of thousands of blog posts, eBooks, and other pieces of content out there aimed at the average WordPress website owner. 

This is the spirit of open source, and WordPress has optimized it in a way that is rarely seen.

Source: Why I fell in love with WordPress

Setting up a Digital Ocean remotely hosted #WordPress #Blog

Setting up a Digital Ocean remotely hosted WordPress blog Mike Haubrich and I are planning a science oriented podcasting effort. It will be called "Ikonokast" (all the good names, like "The New York Times" and "Apple" were taken). We decided to enhance the podcast with a WordPress based blog site ... read moreThe 18 best blogging and publishing platforms on the internet today ... can start blogging without worrying about setting up your own server or knowing how to code. An example of a hosted service is WordPress.com. A self-hosted blog means paying a company like Digital Ocean to rent a server, then downloading some ... read more

DigitalOcean: The Best VPS Host For Newbies If you're looking for VPS hosting – whether to run a Minecraft server, host a bunch of files, or simply to run a 24/7 remote ... services you pay up front in exchange for an account that stays active for a set period of time. With DigitalOcean, you ... read moreDigitalOcean Partners With CoreOS To Bring Large-Scale Cluster Deployments To Its Platform The company's ambition goes far beyond hosting your WordPress blog or test ... "droplet" in DigitalOcean's parlance). CoreOS, after all, needs to know what other servers it can talk to. It's not all that complex to set up these configuration ... read more5 Stunning WordPress Portfolio Themes for Designers Just look at Behance or Dribbble; these communities organize Portfolio Reviews or Meetups regularly to mingle with their own kind, so their portfolio is always up ... ocean of WordPress features, you should definitely consider Showy. The theme will set ... read moreSynology DS213air Review: Your home cloud goes wireless or regular old Windows printer sharing - and set up remote access for files or even host your email server or website. Synology also allows for third-party functionality to be installed, including Logitech Media Server, hosting a WordPress blog ... read moreThe Country's Top Five Digital Media and Marketing Schools Google the words "VCU Brandcenter" and blog-hosting sites TypePad and WordPress will throw up any number of online personal chronicles about the graduate classes offered there. For those looking to expand their digital ... school was set up to run like ... read moreThe Avalanche at Tunnel Creek Those set ... up short hills in pursuit of bigger descents. Similar advances in safety gear, such as easy-to-use digital beacons and air bags, have helped make the backcountry feel less dangerous. Beacons help rescuers find people buried under the snow ... read moreCoolest Things You've Done with Linux I set up a 10 server rendering farm using SuseLinux ... Edit my photos with RawTherapee, and blog with WordPress. Editing audio with Audacity. Flushed my toilet from another city. Getting freebsd working on a old sparc system! Had a Linux-hater use ... read moreCybercriminals using hijacked Cloud hosting accounts for targeted attacks Cyber criminals exploit compromised hosting account on cloud infrastructures or they set up accounts to conduct fraudulent activities. The acquisition of fraudulent accounts is done using a stolen digital identity ... Paganini in a blog post on Security ... read more

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Source: Setting up a Digital Ocean remotely hosted #WordPress #Blog

The Perils of Using an Open-Source Content Management System (CMS) to Power the Hotel Website.

Utilizing an open source content management system (CMS) like WordPress is in stark breach of a hotelier's fiduciary duties and exposes them to great security and vulnerability risks hotel managers and owners cannot afford.

When making any decisions regarding the property's most important digital asset, the website, there are many factors to consider which could make or break your online distribution strategy. The website's look and feel, while extremely important, is only one piece of the revenue-generating puzzle.

Whether or not you choose to invest in the right technology that allows for a robust merchandizing strategy - specifically the Content Management System (CMS) - plays a huge role in whether or not you will be able to maximize revenues from the direct online channel, convert your website visitors and meet your revenue goals.

Choosing an open source CMS to power a hotel website is extremely risky and limiting in terms of what you are going to be able to achieve. Here are some reasons why:

It's all in the name. Free, open source systems are used by many small blogs and content websites making them an "appetizing" target to the army of hackers out there.

Why do hackers target WordPress and other open source CMS platforms? WordPress is one of the most popular blogging and CMS platforms for private blogs and small content websites out there. Though some "junior" hackers may do this for "the kicks of it," serious hackers can make a ton of money by hacking eCommerce (e.g. hotel websites) or bigger websites by actively altering content and marketing messages, re-directing website visitors to outside commercial websites (e.g. affiliate websites, gaming and porno sites, etc.), or uploading malicious codes and viruses that turn your website into a "virus spamming machine."

Here are just a few recent headlines concerning WordPress security issues:

"Actively exploited WordPress bug puts millions of sites at risk"

"73% of WordPress sites vulnerable to attack"

"WordPress has fallen victim to a number of serious security exploits…" 

"Major Security Vulnerability in WordPress, Drupal Could Take Down Websites"

A service powered by CVEDetails monitors and lists vulnerabilities and security issues of WordPress and other open source CMS platforms. Currently it lists 205 WordPress vulnerabilities and security breaches!

One of the biggest vulnerabilities of the WordPress platform is its reliance on a myriad of plug-ins created by third-parties and developers. While important for the mere existence of WordPress as a CMS, these plug-ins become "appetizing" entry points for thousands upon thousands of hackers, viruses and spam bots created specifically to scan the Internet for vulnerable WordPress-related "entry points" and weak spots. For every security plug-in or update installed to secure your WordPress-powered website, ten more malicious viruses are created.

Once your site's security is breached, your website becomes a spam- and virus- spewing entity, which will prompt Google to quickly shut down your website, resulting in a monumental loss of revenue (this happened to several clients with WordPress websites inherited from previous vendors).

Another example is the use of WordPress-powered websites to launch massive distributed denial of service attacks (DDoS). Broadly, a DDoS attack is an attempt to make a network resource unavailable to its intended users in an attempt to disrupt service. Earlier today, we discovered yet another example of how malicious hackers used a WordPress-powered hotel website as a "work horse" for their distributed denial of service attack (DDoS).

A common misconception among some hoteliers is the notion that you can port your open source (e.g. WordPress) website easily from one vendor to another, and that having this type of CMS will make you less "vendor dependent."

Moving a website from your old vendor to a new one is not like moving a book from one library shelf to another.

This is only the case if you choose a pre-designed (read: cheap) WordPress Theme, as any custom website design requires custom HTML code, Javascript and CSS coding by an experienced web developer.

Each WordPress development shop has its own proprietary coding style not easily translatable by other web developers who have to spend a considerable amount of time "deciphering" the HTML code, Javascript, CSS coding and CMS hooks developed by the previous vendor.

In our nearly 20-year old website development practice, we have found it is faster and less-expensive to re-develop the entire code of an existing WordPress website and attach it to our smartCMS platform (or any other CMS technology), than to simply port the existing website.

Another common misconception is that an open source CMS is a free CMS. Hoteliers are extremely busy and wear multiple hats at the property and operate with a lean staff. Making critical updates to the property website, including changing out the specials and packages, adding new pages for SEO purposes, personalizing website content for different audiences, updating photography, events, etc. needs to be simple and easy to do quickly.

WordPress' clunky interface makes these property website updates difficult, if not impossible, to make without a qualified developer on staff and often require outsourcing to a vendor.

Having to depend on a 3rd party to make these website updates, or hiring a developer to make these changes to the hotel website is very costly and not a good use of the property staff's limited resources.

Most open source CMS' are clunky and require quite a bit of customization. Have you ever tried adding a new section to a website using WordPress as the CMS? Or changing the website's design theme? If you are a multi-property company, have you tried adding a new property with this type of CMS? It is almost impossible to accomplish these types of changes without being extremely comfortable with updating the core HTML/CSS.

A strong merchandising strategy engages users, encourages bookings, and generates leads via the website. The hotel website requires a merchandising strategy centered on communicating the unique features of the property (hotel services, meeting & event space, latest promotions and special offers, local attractions, and more) and focuses less on the rate alone. This next generation of merchandising allows the hotel to "sell on value" as opposed to "sell on rate" and to maximize revenues on the hotel website like never before.

The direct online channel offers limitless opportunities for the hotelier to present the hotel product and value proposition directly to the online travel consumer. The hotel should be able to create, schedule and share special offers, feature promo tiles for the latest specials, include marketing messages on every page, list local events on a calendar of events, and more.

Open source CMS systems designed as blogging platforms or for simple content updates are ill-prepared to handle e-Commerce websites, especially revenue-centric hotel websites.

For example, HeBS Digital's proprietary CMS, the SmartCMS, provides hoteliers with the technology to manage their merchandising website strategy on their own and on the fly, showcase content on the prime real estate of the website – front and center of the visitors' attention, and personalize relevant content based on the user.

A hotel website needs a CMS that can offer the following functionalities and capabilities:

A blogging tool? Yes. A hotel website? No. Using an open source CMS works well for blogging purposes and for smaller content non-eCommerce types of websites. However, this type of CMS is limited in its ability to help a hotel scale and merchandize.

In this industry, in order to succeed online – an increasingly competitive space – it's important to use a CMS that was built for the unique needs of the hotelier. A CMS that was developed for the hospitality industry, by hospitality technology and digital marketing experts. When choosing a CMS to power a hotel website, ask yourself if the CMS offers the following:

Support of both Full Responsive and Adaptive Design for the three screens (desktop, mobile, tablet)

Complete Content Control (visual, promotional, textual, and ability to add sections to the website)

Dynamic Content Personalization Module (Smart Personalization Engine)

One-to-one marketing capabilities

Advanced Merchandising Platform to convert lookers into bookers 

Full compliance with the latest SEO best practices

Reservation Recovery Module to win back abandoned bookings

Custom Design Themes to change the look-and-feel design of the hotel website with a click of a button

Multi-language capabilities to feature foreign language content across the entire site

If the CMS you are considering using does not offer all of the above your revenues and ROIs from the direct online channel will suffer.

Unless you are willing and able to hire a developer on staff, full-time, you will not receive the customer support you will inevitably need by going with an open source CMS. Automatic CMS upgrades and a website powered by the latest technology will not be possible. If your website is hacked, you will have no support system. While there are thousands of plug-ins that have been developed for an open source CMS, many of them free to use, these plug-ins are the doorway in for bugs and viruses.

A closed source CMS or proprietary CMS is secure as well as continuously updated and improved. Partnering with a hospitality digital technology and marketing firm that conceptualized and built their own CMS, along with round the clock access to their staff if something goes wrong, can mean the difference between having a website that is your property's main revenue driver or having a website that features content continuously out of date – that is if the website is not down in the first place.

Investing in your property website to maximize revenue from the three screens (desktop, mobile, tablet) is paramount to the very existence of your property. Coupled with a robust, well-funded digital marketing strategy, this will allow you to improve your property's bottom line and leave the comp set in the dust.

A property website must incorporate the right balance of excellent design, state-of-the-art digital technology, a merchandising strategy, and engaging visual and textual content, all while providing an optimum user experience from top to bottom on every device (desktop, mobile and tablet). This type of website will result in a boost in conversions and revenues from the direct online channel.

How can you know your website is due for an upgrade? If your property website is two or more years old, does not offer responsive or adaptive design, does not support dynamic content personalization or dynamic rate marketing, or does not have state-of-the-art merchandising and reservation abandonment prevention capabilities.

Today, hoteliers have 3 choices when choosing a CMS:

1) Go with an off-the-shelf enterprise CMS like Adobe CMS (CQ5), Trillium, Ektron, etc. where the license alone would set the hotel back hundreds of thousands of dollars and require 12-18 months of highly-specialized (read: expensive) work by outside vendors.

2) Choose an open source CMS that is susceptible to bugs and security hacks, thereby compromising their most important revenue channel.

3) Choose a hospitality-specific CMS (like the smartCMS) to maximize revenue from the direct online channel, support the property's multi-channel campaigns, and keep the property website asset secure.

About the Authors and HeBS Digital

Max Starkov is President & CEO and Mariana Safer is SVP, Marketing at HeBS Digital, the hospitality industry's leading digital technology + website design, full-service digital marketing and website revenue optimization consulting firm, based in New York City (www.HeBSdigital.com).

HeBS Digital has pioneered many of the best practices in hospitality digital technology and full-service digital marketing, social and mobile marketing, and direct online channel distribution. The firm has won over 280 prestigious industry awards for its digital marketing and website design services, including numerous Adrian Awards, Stevie Awards, Davey Awards, W3 Awards, WebAwards, Magellan Awards, Summit International Awards, Interactive Media Awards, IAC Awards, etc.A diverse client portfolio of top-tier major hotel brands, luxury and boutique hotel brands, resorts and casinos, hotel management companies, franchisees and independents, and CVBs are benefiting from HeBS Digital's direct online channel strategy and digital marketing expertise. Contact HeBS Digital's consultants at (212) 752-8186 or success@hebsdigital.com.

Source: The Perils of Using an Open-Source Content Management System (CMS) to Power the Hotel Website.