MotoCMS is an interesting product in that it’s a flash based content management system in a time of HTML5 and CSS3. If you are looking for a CMS system that is going to give you the ability to develop flash websites with greater ease and more functionality then this is an interesting tool to use to run your flash website. I personally don’t use flash to date on any of my websites but Flash does still serve a purpose for a lot of multimedia sites out there.
I had a chance to ask Demetrio Fortman, the CEO of the company about the impact that this has had on their CMS and this is what she had to say. She said “flash will have its niche for a long time for sure. It doesn’t have worthy rivals in such directions as video production, interactive effects and many rich internet application solutions. Up to this time, we see that many Javascript and HTML5 applications are still unsolved to compete with Flash. You see, we are not against HTML5 and other IT innovations. The question is what’s better for the users. If the customers need the product’s versions for IPad, IPhone, for example, we will generate them, and maybe start working with HTML5. It depends on how matters will stand in IT sphere. We are flexible, you see, and are able to adapt to changes.”
On my first dive into this CMS product I’ve got to say that I wasn’t sure what I could expect. This is coming from someone who’s favourite CMS is not flash-based so naturally I was sceptical.
Templates
When you first sign up for an account you need to select a template. There is really no way around this step. Naturally once you have this in place you can completely customize the template as much as you want. There is a lot of control over adding flash elements, different types of media even down to font control.
The Fonts Manager itself gives you the option to upload your own fonts from your computer to your MotoCMS site and then from there you can apply them. This is great for designers looking for a simple way to get their typographic design work into MotoCMS.
Media Library
One of the most useful areas of MotoCMS is the control that you have over media on a MotoCMS website. The heart of MotoCMS is the ability to use Flash, Sound, Video and other forms of media in their website’s architecture seamlessly. There is also a way to embed YouTube videos into as well. The maximum file size on media that you upload to your website is 2MB.
SEO Settings
As with evaluating any content management system the question always comes up about search engine optimization. MotoCMS does offer some options to control SEO on the page itself and site wide. There are the normal SEO settings available in MotoCMS including the following…
- Do not index and do not follow checkboxes (by default these are unchecked meaning that the pages you create are indexed to search engines and the link relationships are followed by search engines)
- Page Keywords
- Page Description
Some of the site-wide SEO options include the ability to generate a sitemap and integrate with Google Webmaster Tools. Outside of that, you can also integrate your MotoCMS with Google Analytics by adding the tracking code generated in Google Analytics to the site.
Backups and Updates
One thing that is great to see in a CMS product by default is to be able to backup and update your website without any technical “knowhow” or additional setup and MotoCMS does give you the ability to do this.
Overall Thoughts about MotoCMS
My overall opinion about MotoCMS is that it’s a great option for people if they are looking for a content management system that is going to allow them to do the following…
- Run a “Media Heavy” website without a lot of setup
- Having a Flash based site that is easy to administer, make changes to and updates easily
- Designers looking for a CMS that can accommodate your needs as designers while providing their clients a way for updating a flash-based website.
There aren’t many Flash-based CMS products available today to help you run your website and in a niche market like this MotoCMS stands out as an option for anyone looking for a killer flash-based CMS solution.
About Luc Arnold
Excellent summary article Luc. MotoCMS is indeed a great resource. Enjoy
Lee
Moto CMS – Looks great. As for any sort of support… Dont count on it. We have been trying to contact customer support for some additional changes which we are very willing to pay for with no avail. It has been MONTHS and MONTHS of us sending them emails and requests only to be met with empty promises.
I cant even begin to tell you how disappointing the experience has been. I will go as far as saying the company and its management is an absolute joke.
I highly recommend against the service. Dont waste your time and money.
Thanks for posting about this Amir. Reviewing it from an application standpoint which is important to note but I am glad that you brought up the support aspect of it. Thanks for the feedback Amir,
Luc
Same experience with amir. Waste of money, time, and efforts over the course of 3-4 months of back and forth troubleshooting. The Editing software and layout got bugs everywhere. Highly NOT recommend.
I have had good support for fixing my template when it stops working. However, it stops working SO frequently that I am about to ditch it. Installation is a nightmare!! Integration with a server that doesn’t have Zend installed is a bigger nightmare. The support team has been fast to fix things but, as I said, fixing has been too necessary a component. It’s a great template though when it’s working: updating is easy, SEO is fantastic. Photos load very slowly. Overall, I don’t recommend.
Hey Luc,
enjoyed the review and thought it was well presented. Is there a HTML5/CSS3 CMS out there….do you think there is a market for that kind of CMS…
Thanks
Marc
This could be a wonderful product but the installation and support is a nightmare. You can only contact them by email and the response time is 24 to 48 hours to slow. When they fixed one problem another problem arose and when I was told that problem was fixed the other problem came back. Support never checked the sight to see if it was working correctly.
I lost a client because they could never get the template to work from the day it was installed. All I was getting was excuses from the manager who stepped in after 2 months of dealing with the same issues. This support team is the worst in my 25 years in the IT field. They keep changing tickets so it appears is if the problem is fixed when in fact they are so overwhelmed that they can’t keep up and the manager stated and I quote “Our product – is a really complicated software”.
If you’re in tech support and you make this statement you should find another job. I can post all of the nonsense emails I’ve received over the last 2 months but there isn’t enough space.
George
“The worst support ever”
From my own experience, I can say that the support is responsive and usually solves issues rather quickly. I developed 7 websites with Moto CMS for my clients and never had complaints to the developers or support. The guys are always polite and know what they are talking about. You know, I doubt that by “complicated” they meant the software itself:) The support team needs time to detect the issue, and that seems not too easy.
Overall, this software is cool. Especially after the version 1.8 with mobile editor release. Thank you MotoCMS guys!
i bought the template for a soon to be launched comedy project i’m doing.
setting up the template had a few glitches for someone who is mildly green to ‘under the hood’ website design, which is the small price to pay for saving so much on a pretty nice site.
there are some easy to understand video tutorials as well as a knowledge base that pretty much covers everything else.
i did have a technical challenge or two.
but not too long after i sent through the request for help i was almost immediately assigned someone. and they went out of their way to respond and help do a couple of other things they thought i’d benefit from.
it’s rare to get such on hands and quick support from something that doesn’t cost a mint.
best
matt hoyle
nothing but great help from all of the team. Max Rhodes, you ROCK!
On behalf of Customer Relations Manager I can mention that our support team is very responsible and knowledgeable. Response time in our ticket system is less then 24 hours and we do notify our customers if it takes more time to find good solution. In some situations we are not able to help our customers when talking about their server configuration (there some things that only hosting provider can do as they do not grant access to their configuration files).
In addition I want to answer Marco’s question. We do offer HTML CMS templates now.
Feel free to contact me directly if you have any questions, I can guarantee you, that they will taken care of. My e-mail address is roy.patton@motocms.com
Thank you for your interest in our product.
Hey Roy,
Thanks for posting this feedback. I think a lot of people who’ve had issues with MotoCMS will appreciate your help. Guys, who else is having issues that Roy might be able to address here?
Luc Arnold
I’ve had issues with the website loading pages while a user is on the site. It keeps loading until it times out. I can’t seem to get someone from their support team to understand what the problem is and fix it.
I emailed Roy and really hope he can help.
Website froze, or took forever to load so frequently and persistently, content did not display properly in preview site mode, preview site mode was different from what actually appeared when viewing site outside control panel, control panel froze, loading time to access control panel froze, claims ownership rights in user content , CMS guide was unhelpful, survey locked you out whenever you had critical feedback, widgets purchased were missing, “customer tickets” were closed without resolving customer claims, customer service rep disparages customers integrity when concerns are raised…need we go on and on. Send us your complaints with all specific details, dates, times and how your issue was handled and be sure to let other consumers know about your experience with Moto CMS.
I am currently in development phase with “MotoCMS HTML5″ and the support is really very good. “MotoCMS HTML5″ is really very easy to use
Dear MD (Maurice R. Dyson),
Please contact me directly if you think you received poor customer service from our support team. The template you have been working with does not have any lag, I checked it myself. You may send me detailed description of the issues you experienced and we will check it again for you. I am not sure what widgets were missing as we installed eCommerce widgets for you on your request in less than 24 business hours.
Once again, working together we can solve any issue that appears with your site.
Thank you.
Best regards,
Roy Patton
I’m very satisfied about the former comments, in the meantime I thought I lost my way, and You are talking about a different company and product.
I have only positive emotions about Moto CMS, and mostly about the customer service’s kindness (a special thanks goes for to Dennis!) .
THE ONLY thing I can find interesting was about the above comments, that the site differs from the look in the preview mode. I found this, when I DENIED to use the “flash scroll bar”, as in this case my template also had problems, but after the use of the “flash scroll bar” all the differences disappeared.
About the speed and others, I don’t understand the opinions, that it’s slow. MotoCMS has a very fast internet connection, but IMHO, we are talking about web servers. I have no problem to run my site even from a far less speedy internet access.
I think, Moto CMS is not invented for the real-real-real HighEnd software programmers, but for as lamas, as myself. I’ve never programmed a website, however in JUST DAYS I was able to create my own website as I wished. IMHO without Moto CMS it could take months a lot more money, if I had to explain my thoughts for a programmer.
I had the right to check as many templates as I wanted. I could choose the look, I could set up the entire site just like a professional web designer.
I’m also surprised about the comments for the customer service: How many sites You know, who REALLY answers in 24/7 for a promised 24 hours answer?
Oh, yeah, there are some companies, however they will charge You more in the monthly fee, as Moto CMS charges for an entire life licence WITH(!) the complete editing system.
I think, the price/value relationship is more then fair, mostly if it connected to a real free of charge customer service.
Oh yes. The template is NOT perfect, I found two very minor things in it, however, as these problems are not affecting the site’s working, I don’t care. And mostly: I KNEW IT, WHEN I PURCHASED THE TEMPLATE. Mostly, I invented the entire site in the demo mode, so I don’t really understand, why somebody purchases a template which is not working? Check it, use it, pay for it. Don’t like it, don’t buy it. Where is the problem with this system?
There is no pig in a poke, You can buy what You want, but if You buy what You want, then I can’t construe the comments about “not that was what I wanted”.
I’m very surprised that I found Moto CMS.
Satisfied->Surprised, sorry, too late
Im a serious customer have 6 templates installed with Moto Cms and everytime that i needed help i got it! Sometimes you have to be patience and try to explain clearly your issue to the support team! Always open a ticket for your problems! Keep in mind that the support will only help you with real problems! For developers issues go the forum!
Check out my works:
http://www.nhcabeloepele.com
http://www.clickallparts.com.br
http://www.dresseco.com
http://www.liveagencia.com.br
http://www.casapraia.com
Regards,
Fabiano Biazetto
Designers Lab
http://www.designerslab.com.br