DEREK BARKA

MEET DEREK

CHIEF TECHNOLOGY OFFICER

As the Chief Technology Officer for SilverTech, Derek leads the team that helps businesses create profitable relationships throughout the entire customer lifecycle - from lead to loyal, with a strategic combination of engaging web experiences, marketing strategies, and content management solutions. He has helped to create many of the tools that marketers use today to manage websites and digital marketing campaigns, as well as bridging the gap between upper management and the IT and marketing teams. Derek’s unique and unparalleled experiences allow him to work closely with clients to identify stakeholder requirements and technology needs.

Derek’s experience includes web development, software architecture, content management systems, inbound marketing, custom integration, web experience design, SharePoint, and mobile development. He holds certifications as a Kentico Developer, Kentico Marketer, Sitecore Developer, and is one of only a few Sitefinity Champions in the country.

 

 

 

 

 

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This is What’s New in Sitefinity 15.2 MVC

By: Anoop Sandhu | 11/13/24

Upgrading from Sitefinity 14.4 to 15.2 is a game-changer for businesses looking to enhance their digital presence. As a premium agency partner of Progress Sitefinity, SilverTech is excited about the new features this upgrade offers to MVC users. The latest version introduces advanced dashboard widgets, AI-powered content creation tools, new site sync features, Sitefinity Insight implementation, and a multitude of bug fixes. These enhancements not only streamline content management but also boost operational efficiency and scalability.

Sitefinity 15.2 Enhancements & Improvements 

New Dashboard Widgets: These new widgets in Sitefinity 15.2 are designed to provide more flexibility, improve workflow efficiency, and enhance the overall user experience. Here are some of the key additions:

  • A widget dedicated to listing "Pages with no SEO Description” specifically designed to help you identify pages that lack SEO descriptions. This widget can be added to your dashboard and provides a comprehensive list of all pages missing this SEO element. This widget quickly addresses SEO gaps, ensuring that all pages are optimized for search engines.
  • If you are connected to Sitefinity Insights, utilizing the new “Most Visited Pages” widget allows you to quickly evaluate which pages on your site are receiving the most traffic. By integrating with Sitefinity Insights, it provides detailed analytics and insights into user behavior, helping you understand which content is most engaging to your audience.
  • The registration widget enhances the user registration process including a dashboard warning when a required password is not configured. This improved functionality also includes the ability to add CAPTCHA protection and an email activation process.

Optional AI Elements: Generative AI is available within Sitefinity with an Azure AI Service connection. When creating or editing a content item (like news or content blocks), new AI capabilities can now make the creation process go smoother with features that allow you to summarize and compose new text and even improve your writing. You can even generate tag suggestions with both existing and new suggested tags.  This approach helps ensure that your content is accurately tagged, improving content discoverability and organization. 

7 most critical metrics, Sitefinity 15.2 content page screenshot showing AI capabilities

screenshot of classification on content page of Sitefinity 15.2

Site Sync: The SiteSync module has been enhanced to include the synchronization of the revision history for content items and pages. Sitefinity 15.2 allows all versions of a content item or page and details about the users who made changes to be transferred when you synchronize between environments. Other improvements include:

  • Enhanced performance in calculating Site Sync dependencies. 
  • Ability to review SiteSync dependencies before syncing an item.
  • Ability to configure SiteSync cleanup. You can now remove old log entries from SiteSync and clear the sync history

 

screenshot of Sitefinity 15.2 site on

 

Sitefinity Insights: Sitefinity CMS now automatically reports visitors' interactions with embedded Vimeo videos to Sitefinity Insight. The reports include detailed interaction data such as play, pause, and completion events. The upgrade also integrates UI improvements that create a more user-friendly and intuitive experience. Updates to the persona configuration including enhanced rule management capabilities allow relevant audience targeting.

Other Updates: As with all version updates, Sitefinity 15.2 has dozens of bug fixes and internal performance improvements all aimed at improving the overall stability and performance of the platform. Here are a few of the notable changes.

  • Personalization menu has edit icons 
  • Issue with link attributes not saving has been corrected
  • NativeChat functionality has been removed. It will be available for projects already using it but is being deprecated.
 

Upgrade Today!  
With the new Sitefinity 15.2 release, now is a good time to revisit your upgrade plans and how your users' digital experience can set your brand apart from the competition. Contact us to learn more about putting this new functionality to work for your business. 


Meet the Author: Anoop Sandhu

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