Sitefinity CMS Release: What’s new in Sitefinity 15.1?
In its latest roll out, Sitefinity has came up with its newest release Sitefinity 15.1. There are a lot of advancements in this new release which now makes Sitefinity 15.1 much more user-friendly.
What’s new in Sitefinity 15.1?
Here is a brief on everything that Sitefinity 15.1 will offer to the users:
Decoupled Next.js/React -Renderer (early availability)
A new front-end presentation solution, the Next.js/React Renderer, is now available for early adopters, leveraging Sitefinity‘s decoupled front-end architecture. This renderer combines the server-side rendering capabilities of Next.js with widget development using React. Integrated with Sitefinity’s WYSIWYG page editor, the Next.js/React Renderer offers the following:
- Widget and page-level personalisation
- Widgets that are ready to use
- Seamless integration with KendoReact components
Redesigned sliding widget selector now available for ASP.NET Core page and form editors
The updated widget selector allows you to seamlessly add widgets to your ASP.NET Core page, form, or template without navigating away. This enhancement enables you to select and add widgets directly from the current screen, streamlining your workflow. The same widget selector is also accessible when editing the Sitefinity Dashboard.
Profile widget in ASP.NET Core
Sitefinity 15.1 allows users to utilise a new profile widget enabling them to edit their details. This widget features configurable display modes and provides support for custom fields and field validation.
Enhanced support for AI-assisted content classification
The integration with Azure OpenAI Services now allows content editors to easily tag existing content using classifications recommended by the AI service. Editors can generate tagging recommendations by clicking the “Use AI” button and then review and apply the suggested tags. This functionality is available in the Tags field or other flat classification fields when creating or editing a content item. The AI helps assist in analysing long and short text fields of content
SiteSync authentication Configuration with a secret key
With this new update, SiteSync module is now easy to configure without requiring any dedicated user. Only a secret is required to configure the synchronisation. The secret key is created on the target environment and is easy to use in all source environments. This considerably reduces the setup time.
Custom fields sync for static content types
The SiteSync module now supports syncing custom fields of built-in content types like Blogs, News, Events, Content Blocks, and more. This feature eliminates the need to export and deploy your site when making structural changes to a module. Instead, you can use SiteSync to synchronise custom fields to the target environment. The synchronisation process is configurable, allowing you to choose whether to sync the structure, the values of custom fields, or both.
General Enhancements
- Sitefinity 15.1 allows support for .Net 8 (The ASP.NET Core Renderer has been upgraded to .NET 8)
- With the latest Sitefinity 15.1 upgrade, the Elasticsearch client has also been updated. To use the capabilities, users must use version 8.11.0 or higher
- With this new rollout, users are now allowed to reindex all active search indexes in bulk by using the “Reindex” button on the “Search” basic settings screen
The Sitefinity 15.1 version release seems promising for all the features that have been discussed here.