Hi jb1,

Some of the features look very interesting. We will have a lot of these features, or can build them, with concrete5 5.7.4 and Redactor 10.

It is also interesting to know that Redactor is powering it and the goal is 100% GPL. This means we can see how it is built and look into what features concrete5 might benefit from.

"and how to offer a product that contains redactor as a 100% GPL offering (everything in Upfront is currently 100% GPL"

Also, it is an example that we aren't tapping into the potential of Redactor. Once concrete5 gets Redactor 10, we can look into getting really creative with editing features. If you know HTML, CSS, and JavaScript, you can potentially make something really cool and useful.

Look what mesuva was able to whip up in 2 hours (granted he is a skilled developer).
https://www.concrete5.org/community/forums/5-7-discussion/redactor-i...


On the topic of competition with WordPress and online web builders, that is a whole different situation.

WordPress, concrete5, Drupal, Joomla, etc have all lost the battle against the online web builders for the low end market (basic sites, brochure sites, etc). There is no way to compete with a Squarespace at $10 a month. This battle is over and there is no chance to win it, so the next step is looking at what the web builders cannot do and what markets it currently doesn't serve. This market is largely more complex sites, sites requiring unique branding/design, clients who require a great deal of hand holding and top rate customer service, and sites that require custom development and solutions.

Squarespace $10 a month:
20 Pages, Galleries, and Blogs with 500 GB Bandwidth, 2 GB Storage, and 2 Contributors
Fully Integrated E-Commerce
Sell 1 Product & Accept Donations
Mobile Website and Store
Custom Domain FREE
24/7 Customer Support

Right now, what puts concrete5 ahead of Squarespace (and WordPress) is ease of custom development and developing complicated custom solutions. Version 5.7 brings a clean, modern web framework for development. This still requires an easy to use, intuitive editing interface, but that is only one piece of the puzzle.

The coming years are going to be very bumpy. There won't be much room for middle of the road designers and developers. The contracting client base will push them out because they can't compete on price and quality.

Yeah, this Redactor-powered editor tool seems cool, but there are already a lot of front-end editor projects in the WordPress community. However, I think all of them are seriously limited by WordPress's poor backend API.

I am looking forward to making some Redactor plugins. Especially since it would allow me to potentially make something that could be become part of the core.

@hissy
Have you looked at the Redactor API yet?
http://imperavi.com/redactor/docs/api/...

i agree hissy, but wpmudev has an outstandingly nice and professional graphic interface. concrete5.7 should learn from it and work on a snazzy presentation.
kfog

I recently did an investigation into the state of CMS's and as in 2008 concrete5 came out way ahead. If you want to own your site and your content the only thing that comes close is WP and its a far second for ease of use and user friendliness.

I'll be honest here. I am a "sworn enemy" of Wordpress. I hate it. Several of my clients hate it. I have converted several clients to Concrete and they love me for it!

I understand that Wordpress is popular and likely always will be. But why would I want to use something that everyone else and their dog uses? How does that make me unique as a developer / designer?

I am a firm believer in alternative solutions, with Concrete being at the top of the list.

The problem I have with Wordpress is that I feel they are trying to do too much. Wordpress is a blogging platform, first and foremost. Not that there's anything wrong with making improvements, but it seems that their focus and direction is rather aimless, in my own opinion.

Anyway, there are lots and lots of CMSs out there that are now doing the front-end editing thing, as it is more focused on the end-user.

You may want to browse my CMS info site (built with Concrete):http://www.cmsguide.info