Built in CMS

I think the best solution will be a standalone CMS app built strictly for Blocs.
That will keep Blocs simple and straightforward as it should be.
Then the standalone CMS will work with blocs. Just like Norm did SOLIS for blocs.

1 Like

yes please. simple and effective just for blocs

This has blown my mind. I absolutely loved EE years ago. I built some really robust sites in EE. The reason I moved to Drupal was because the cost of EE at that time was a tough sell on clients. This is fantastic.

Anyone figured how it can work with Blocs?

Not as far as I am aware. From the little I know, Express Engine is very capable, but perhaps too complex for many Blocs users. When thinking about a CMS I look at both features and whether it would appeal to clients. Very few seem to consider whether a client will actually understand a CMS or come back to you every 5 minutes looking for help.

Hi Stoltan @nevenov

Have you used it yourself ? Why I am asking is that the site actually originates from Bulgaria and the mother site ProfiAnts in Bulgaria does not appear to have been updated for some years now. Can this be a scam ?

Thanks.

MDS

Hi MDS,

Actually the website is https://simplephpscripts.com/ - it’s working and it is up to date.

Cheers.

Hi Stoltan,

I indeed checked that particular url and the company owner of that site is Profiants Technologies Ltd in Bulgaria (their company site is not up to date).

Now I just realized you are located in Bulgaria as well (nothing wrong with that - although strange coincidence) thus a legitimate question comes to my mind: are you an employee or owner of that company ?

If you are marketing your own product on this forum it would be fair to know firsthand.

MDS

Hi MDS,

I don’t hide my self - SimplePHPscripts.com is my, so firsthand - yes.
Just removed ProfiAnts from the footer.
They were my partner some years ago, but now are only hardware company.

Okay fair enough. Just believe it could have been clearer in your first post that you owned the site and were showcasing your product.

MDS

1 Like

Another CMS, which could be used with Blocs: some years ago i have used “Sitecake” in combination with rapidweaver. Sitecake is very simple to use and not too complicated to implement (as far as i can remember). Price is once per site - 39 $. Maybe worth a look for some of you… :slight_smile:

Very interesting kind of CMS.
Someone have tried to implement on Blocs 3?

Has anyone heard or tried this CMS?
http://fast-edit.co.uk

CMS, should only be after all the other issues with Blocs 3 have been resolved. It crashes on me two or three times a day. (Sometimes simple stuff like dragging items in the tree, or what not)

I recommend Perch CMS. I’ve been using it since its beginning and its great and has a great community. With the major benefit that my clients never have issues learning or using it. https://grabaperch.com/

I really want to find a CMS that does blogging, with easy setup.

For me to move my site completely over to Blocs, I would have to create dozens of separate blog pages.

1 Like

I agree…

me too!

This is exactly why I built Surreal CMS. They don’t get to edit the entire page — only what you’ve explicitly defined. Granular control like this keeps the site looking professional. I even went so far as to remove font options (family, size, and colors) so clients can focus on content instead of design.

There’s a bit of backstory between Cushy and Surreal, so I’m very familiar with it. They haven’t changed pricing since they launched, but I wanted to experiment because users kept telling me that $25/mo (my launch price 10 years ago) was too steep.

I ended up moving to a metered pricing structure based on number of sites, but that had mixed results too. In fact, I think the only price ALL users are happy with is “free” :wink:

Since then, I’ve had many discussions about pricing with my users. The consensus is that most don’t mind paying a recurring fee if it’s reasonable, but metered pricing (e.g. based on the number of sites or users) is almost always less attractive.

With the new version of Surreal, I’ve switched back to flat pricing and made the service free for personal, educational, and non-profit use. Paid plans start at $9/mo and are based on features, not sites.

So far, the feedback has been very positive, so I’m hoping I’ve finally hit the sweet spot! :candy:

Please join this discussion so I can gather more feedback. I’m going to solve the sync problem in Surreal one way or another.

Good to see you here and reaching out to Blocs users. We were in touch back in January when I attempted to test Surreal, but it wouldn’t work on my server that required explicit FTPS. You mentioned at the time this would be fixed with version 7, which I haven’t had time so far to look at yet, due to a heavy workload.

Something I am not clear about it what happens if a designer stops paying the subscription? I’m guessing it is like Adobe and would no longer be possible to edit the site. Is that the case or simply no more updates to Surreal itself?

For the rest I’ll definitely take a look and there is certainly space for more than one CMS with Blocs to give designers options for different jobs and client types.

You’d lose access to Surreal, but your website wouldn’t be affected in any way. Surreal publishes everything back to your own server, so you’re never locked in.

If you’re referring to Business Catalyst, they did provide hosting so you were locked in and forced to migrate to a new host if you ever wanted to leave. If I recall correctly, they also offered certain backend features that made it harder to go elsewhere.