Ghost is a free and open source content management system (CMS). If you’re not familiar with CMS, let me explain. A CMS is software that allows you to build Web sites that focus primarily on creating content without having to understand HTML and other Web-related technologies.

In fact, Ghost is one of the best open source CMS out there. It focuses on creating lightweight, fast loading, and beautiful blogs.

Ghost has a modern, intuitive editor that has SEO (search engine optimization) built in. You can also use native desktop (including Linux) and mobile applications. If you prefer terminals, you can also use the CLI (command line interface) tools provided.

Let’s see what new features Ghost 3.0 brings.

New features for Ghost 3.0

I’m usually interested in open source CMS solutions. So, after reading the official announcement, I took it one step further by installing a new Ghost instance on the Digital Ocean cloud server.

I was impressed with Ghost 3.0’s improvements in functionality and user interface over previous versions.

Here are some key points worth mentioning.

Bookmarks card

In addition to all the minor changes to the editor, version 3.0 now supports adding nifty bookmark cards by typing urls.

If you’ve ever used WordPress (and you’ve probably noticed that WordPress requires a plug-in to add cards like this), this feature is definitely one of the biggest improvements to the Ghost 3.0 system.

Improved WordPress migration plugin

I didn’t specifically test this, but it updates the WordPress Migration plugin, which lets you easily clone posts (with images) to Ghost CMS.

Basically, using this plug-in, you can create an archive (containing images) and import it into Ghost CMS.

Responsive image libraries and images

To make the user experience better, the Ghost team has also updated the image library (now responsive) to render your collections comfortably on all devices.

In addition, images in posts and pages have been changed to be responsive.

Add membership and subscription options

While the feature is still in beta, if you are using the platform as an important publishing platform to maintain your business relationships, you can add membership and subscription options to your blog.

This feature ensures that only subscribed members can access your blog, or you can choose to make it accessible to non-subscribers.

Stripe: Integrated payment function

By default, this version supports the Stripe Payment Gateway, which helps you easily enable subscriptions (or payment methods using any type of payment), and Ghost doesn’t charge any extra.

New application integration

You can now integrate a variety of popular applications/services into Ghost 3.0’s blog. It can automate a lot of things.

Default Theme improvements

The introduced default theme (design) has been improved and night mode is now also available.

You can also choose to create a custom theme at any time (if no preset theme is available).

Other minor improvements

In addition to all the key highlights, the visual editor for creating posts/pages has also been improved (with some drag-and-drop capabilities).

I’m sure there are a number of technical changes as well, which you can check out in their change log if you’re interested.

Ghost is gaining influence

Gaining recognition in the wordpress-dominated world is not easy. But Ghost has evolved into a dedicated community of publishers.

Not only that, but its hosting service, Ghost Pro, now has customers like NASA, Mozilla, and DuckDuckGo.

Over the past six years, Ghost has generated $5 million in revenue from its Ghost Pro customers. This is quite an achievement in the sense that it is a non-profit organization dedicated to open source systems solutions.

These revenues help them remain independent from outside funding from venture capitalists. The more hosting customers Ghost CMS has, the more research and development money will go into free and open source CMS.

Overall, Ghost 3.0 is the best upgrade offered to date. I was impressed by these features.

If you had your own website, what CMS would you use? Have you ever used Ghost? How was your experience? Please share your thoughts in the comments section.

Via: itsfoss.com/ghost-3-rel…

By Ankush Das, lujun9972

This article is originally compiled by LCTT and released in Linux China