Remember that little old Content Management System that some of us used, and even integrated with Freeway with an Action Suite developed by Yours Truly?
It is now free and open-source. I guess EllisLabs makes all their money by providing support. Good luck to them (not sarcasm, really).
I still have that Action suite laying around if anyone is interested. I haven’t tested it against the current version of EE (5) nor even EE 4, but when I looked at them a few months ago, it looked like they could work.
Yes. We ran the Softpress site with it for a while. Interesting that it’s free now. I may take a look.
I would certainly like to add this to my tool box.
I was fiddling with it when I came across Craft, which was developed by a company that wrote/writes EE plugins at that time. Looking at both GUI’s shows a lot of resemblance between the two.
I certainly will take a closer look at EE (again) but for now I’ll keep my copy of Craft close.
But … here lies an opportunity for Softpress. Coffeecup Software does a lot to stay close to tomorrows standards and uses the latest and greatest builds of frameworks like Foundation , Bootstrap, Vanilla and their own CSS Grid Builder to keep up. Now they’re even busy writing a Wordpress Theme Builder.
Long story short : they understand that even though they do write amazing software, the public wants to use existing standards so they give it to them. Wrapped in a smooth Editor. Softpress could do the same : set up a site where EE CMS is build in to. Update EE builds via Freeway updates. Look around … the’s so much (free) stuff that can be used with or build into Freeway8!
Also, EE is sometimes viewed as more of a CMF(ramework) or platform to be built upon, not unlike MODX in that regard, whereas Craft takes a more typical CMS approach.
The influence of developers Pixel & Tonic on EE is clearly reflected in Craft. They are in many ways very similar, but they each approach things in a slightly different manner.
EllisLab has been acquired by Digital Locations https://digitallocations.com. We are now a wholly owned subsidiary.
So what does that mean? And how will things change?
Externally, as far as our users are concerned, nothing will change, with one big exception: We now have a lot more resources to invest into ExpressionEngine and into our community. Back when we were bootstrapped we were always limited by available funds. We now have solid backing and the green light to go for it. Over the coming months you’ll begin to see those resources in action.
Internally, not much will change either. Derek Jones and I will continue being 100% responsible for running EllisLab. Although we are a subsidiary, we will operate independently. Our only mandate is to make ExpressionEngine and our community the best it can be. As long as we’re doing that, no one will be breathing down our neck.
So who is Digital Locations? They are a team of very smart people that have recognized that the next iteration of the internet will be driven by Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning. AI and ML is already being deployed everywhere, from online search, to healthcare, to marketing personalization, to the cars we drive. These technologies have the potential to create much richer experiences for end users.
For anyone that makes their living via the web, the ability to deliver personalized content will be phenomenally important in the future. If you are a web agency, your clients will demand personalization technology so they can better connect with their visitors. People have web sites because they want to effectively interact with their audience. This is a beneficial evolution for both site operators and site visitors.
What’s exciting for us at EllisLab is we get to be on the forefront of this technology, building AI and Machine Learning tools on top of ExpressionEngine that will allow our users to create much more rich, engaging, and personalized experiences on the web.
Lastly, I want to acknowledge that some people have privacy concerns regarding technologies such as these, and to be honest, we do too. Our goal is to build a richer experience for those that use ExpressionEngine. We believe that AI and ML can be used in responsible and positive ways for that purpose, without compromising privacy concerns. Our GDPR-compliant consent management features are an example of our desire to give end users control over consent.
We think this is incredibly exciting stuff, and we hope you do too.