Our top 5 features in Sitefinity 13

Sitefinity 13: Our top 5 features

Last month Sitefinity announced the release of Sitefinity CMS 13.0. We were eager to learn more about the technology and decided to make an overview of the top 5 new features added to the product.

1. Reinvented image library

The Images module was redesigned, and it now uses the new interface. The Images module retains most of its previous functionality and includes several new features and improvements such as:

• The new timeline view to browse all images by date
• Improved search and filtering capabilitites that work in all folders and libraries to help you find assets that you need
• Enhanced preview options and larger thumbnails to help you select the most suitable image

2. Reinvented classification management

Classification module now uses the new interface too. The redesigned module retains all existing capabilities that you are already familiar with and adds a variety of new options. With the new interface, users will benefit from a simplified UI for managing a large number of tagged items, and the new merge and move capabilities. Working with many taxonomies is much easier now with the ability to sort by most or least used, as well as by filtering tags by letters.

3. Redesigned personalization setup with user segments

Personalization in Sitefinity allows it users to segment their audience and deliver personalized content or experience to each user depending on their matching segment.

In this version, Sitefinity improved and streamlined the dialogs to create user segments. All characteristics (criteria) are now grouped in categories in a single drop down. A mapping of a criterion to a category is defined in the Advanced settings, Administration > Settings > Advanced > Personalization section and can be customized there. Custom personalization criteria will be displayed in category Other by default, and then you can specify a desired category name for them using Advanced Settings.

Session based personalization logic based on Visited pages, Landing URL, and Visit duration has been reimplemented for better accuracy and performance.

The Search characteristic is now deprecated as we can no longer get the necessary data from the public search engines.

4. Personalization segments based on contact properties

Another important update concerning personalization is the added possibility to create user segments in Sitefinity CMS that are based on contact properties stored in Sitefinity Insight. These may include demographic data (e.g. data provided by contacts via forms) as well as added properties, such as campaign labels and other contact data imported into Sitefinity Insight.

5. Indication when content has been (Site)synced

SiteSync was enabled to have more flexible use by content editors. In previous releases, Sitefinity introduced a new capability for content editors to sync content directly from the page/content edit screen. A missing piece that has been requested by customers is the "evidence"! How to make sure that the content has been promoted?

With this release, Sitefinity are introducing an additional column for revision histories of pages and content items that shows whether a particular page or content has been promoted, when, and to what sites.

Some other important changes worth mentioning:

1. Support for SharePoint 2019 Server. You can now create connections and configure synchronization between Sitefinity CMS and SharePoint sites on SharePoint 2019 Server.
2. A/B Tests now support complex events as goals - even for older versions.
3. Improved user experience for specific scenarios.
4. Sitefinity Ecommerce module disabled by default for new projects.
5. Upgrade through CLI. With the help of the CLI developers will rely on a stable upgrade process which will help them to automatically solve underlying issues.
6. Sitefinity ASP.NET Core Renderer .NET Core.With Sitefinity13.0 release, we also introduce a Community Technology Preview of Sitefinity .NET Core Renderer. This is the first step of our long-term project of migrating Sitefinity to the .NET Core framework. In this version we would like to give a chance to preview the progress and where we are heading to.

Arekibo are a Sitefinity partner. Would you like to discuss a new website? Would you like to know how to use Sitefinity to get the most of your digital presence? Get in touch.