Platform for our employees to collaborate with the community and to share the latest industry news and articles.
I'm back with another digest and lots of interesting news.
I'm very excited to announce our new eCommerce solution, Live StoreFront is now available for preview in a limited demo. We've also launched a Beta Program for those that would like to assist in testing and reviewing the pre-released version.
Our new Data Analytics & Business Intelligence module, Power BI Embedded allows you to embed your dashboards, visuals, reports, and tiles in your DNN Site. It's included with our DNN Essentials Ultimate collection and can be purchased individually.
We've also released 2 new extensions for Live Forms. Shopify Multipass offers a Single Sign On (SSO) between your DNN and Shopify site. Any user that login or register on your DNN Site will be automatically logged in on your Shopify site. Zoho Helpdesk makes it super easy to capture user information from Live Forms and create a ticket on your Zoho Helpdesk. Both of these extensions are included with our DNN Essentials Premium collection and can be purchased individually.
Live Campaign 4 and Live Content 7 are now available with Modern Web Patterns, Unified User Interface, and Mandeeps HTML Editor. Live Dashboard 2 and Cloud Storage 2 were also released for DNN 9.2 compatibility. Over half a dozen other modules were released with bug fixes and enhancements as well.
We're getting close to releasing our Live StoreFront ecommerce solution and the excitement is building. Be sure to join the Beta Program if you would like to download, test, review, and provide feedback on our upcoming eCommerce solution.
We're busy publishing the documentation for our Live StoreFront module and will open our Beta Program as soon as its available. Be sure to sign up if you would like to be notified when a beta download is available.
In the meantime, feel free to preview our Live StoreFront limited demo site.
The following major releases now feature our new HTML Editor, modern web patterns and unified UI for a seamless user experience.
25% OFF on Any Edition: Power BI Embedded, Shopify Multipass Extension, Zoho Helpdesk Extension, Live Campaign 4, Live Content 7, Live Dashboard 2, Cloud Storage 2.
Must purchase from Our Store
Use Promo Code: AUGPRO Expires on August 11th, 2018
A lot has happened since our last monthly digest. Live Blog 4 is now available with Modern Web Patterns, Unified User Interface, Mandeeps HTML Editor, New Modern Theme, Open Graph Tags, Structured Data, and support for carousel effect with multiple photos for each blog post. It integrates seamlessly with Live Campaign and Live Social so it's extremely easy and automatic to send a bulk email campaign or post across multiple social networks such as Facebook & Twitter.
Many services and hosting providers dropped support for previous versions of TLS and begin enforcing TLS 1.2. In response, we've released new version of many modules including Live Forms and its extensions for TLS 1.2 Compatibility. I'm also excited to announce SecurePay; our new Live Forms payment extension for our Australian users. Over 500+ deprecated API's were removed in DNN 9.2 release causing breaking changes across the entire ecosystem. We're happy to announce that most of our modules are now DNN 9.2 Ready; others are pending modern web patterns and unified UI development.
Active Forums is one of the many modules that suffered the DNN 9.2 API removal. Several clients requested the ability to migrate from Active Forums to Live Forums. I'm happy to announce that you can now migrate from YAF or Active Forums to Live Forums. Similarly, you may migrate from YAF or DNN QA to Live Exchange. Our HTML Editor has a new feature that allows admin to specify the root folder for browse and upload for both image and link plugins. New Live Exchange theme is now available for Porto & Tahoe. Similarly, a specific Live Forums theme is now available for Porto & Tahoe. Other minor releases include Live HTML, Live Slider, and Live Tooltip.
We had our hands full this past month. I promise that next month we'll be back with preview of our eCommerce solution: Live StoreFront
25% OFF on Live Blog 4 or SecurePay extension. Any Edition. Must purchase from Our Store
Use Coupon Code: APRPRO Expires on April 30th, 2018
A quick search on Google for A/B Testing results in plethora of information. So I'll keep this post brief by not reiterating what A/B Testing is, why should you use it, or how does it actually work.
Live HTML makes it extremely easy to run experiments with A/B Testing. In a nutshell, A/B Testing comprises of:
Creating Variation Also known as Test content that is measured against a Default or Control content. It's extremely easy to provide an alternative or Test content in Live HTML.
Track Conversions & Collect Data Live HTML makes it super easy to mark your links as conversions. It automatically calculates the number of impressions vs. clicks and its smart enough to figure out if the user actually viewed the content (or if the user merely visited above the folder and your content was buried at the bottom of the page)
Analysis & Results Live HTML will automatically perform statistical hypothesis on collected data and show concise results such as whether your new variation is performing better, worst, or if there is not enough data for a conclusion.
Take a look at the video below to see how to perform A/B Testing on DNN Platform or Evoq Sites.
We’re happy to announce that our latest iteration of our best-selling Porto Theme is now fully accessible and meets ADA compliance. Specifically, we’ve updated the theme to be Section 508 & WCAG 2.0 Level AA compliant.
How is the theme tested for compliance? We used the WAVE Web Accessibility Tool to ensure there are 0 Errors for Section 508 & WCAG 2.0 Level AA
What components are compliant?
Everything included within Porto Theme that is accessible by end users is compliant including core theme components such as Skin Objects, demo pages in Portal Templates, and the included Live Slider module.
What is not compliant?
The included Style Switcher component with Porto Theme is not complaint. This tool is reserved for Superuser / Host access only and is never shown to the end user. Also, any bundled modules that are purchased as part of our DNN Essentials Collection are not yet tested for ADA compliance. It’s our goal to update all our products to be ADA compliant in near future.
Have Questions? Contact Us and we’ll be happy to address your concerns. Thanks
View Minimal Page
Porto 3 introduces a new Shortcodes Packager that allows complete control over number of external libraries. A minimal version is under 300 KBytes1
YSlow Analysis
1 Must enable Client Resource Management & GZIP Compression
We’ve just released a new version of our bestselling DNN Theme – Porto 2.
It has many new features, but in this post I’ll focus on just one: Speed & Performance. That’s right! Performance is a feature. Page speed is a significant factor in SERPs (Search Engine Result Page) rankings and bounce rate. It’s even more important now with responsive designs and mobile rankings. There are many articles on web on why fast page speed is better. So for rest of this post, let’s look at what is considered fast within DNN ecosystem.
Our goal was simple. Make Porto as fast as possible within technical limitations of DNN framework. We settled on Google PageSpeed Insights as our measuring tool. For comparison, we looked at http://www.dnnsoftware.com itself along with top selling DNN Themes. We used the following best DNN Themes as our benchmark to set a new standard of performance.
5 DNN Theme vendors were selected from Top Vendors on 9/18/2015
2 themes were selected for each vendor based on Best Selling Revenue – Last 2 Weeks (as of 9/18/2015)
dnngo.net
EasyDNNSolutions.com
bestdnnskins.com
DNNSmart.net
DNNVista
Results are ranked based on Desktop Speed. Click on the Vendor name to view its profile and Theme name to view the analyzed page. Scores can change based on server load and content changes. Individual scores and results are linked with snapshots at time of analysis (9/18/2015) Use the Test Now links to see the current analysis.
It was no surprise that the DNN Theme in use on DNNSoftware.com was the best performing theme; hence it became our benchmark.
We’re happy to announce that Porto 2 sets a new benchmark for performance within DNN ecosystem.
Disclaimer: Porto 2 was tested with Client Resource Management feature enabled. No other changes or modifications were made to DNN Core or other files.
Luis Cabrera released an improved version of the DIXIT custom template for the Official DNN Blog Module.
DNN has always had myriad of extensions to meet almost any business requirements. So many that it’s always a challenge to decide on one module from many competing products.
Consider the following checklist before clicking on “Checkout” for your next DNN Module(s):
DUPLICATE CONTENT: Make sure that the module does not duplicate content. For example, if the module uses query parameters such as www.yoursite.com?ItemId=12or www.yoursite.com?article=dnn-module-features then every unique URL should have a distinct Page Title, Meta Description & Keywords.
FRIENDLY URLs: The single most effective SEO consideration is to ensure that the module integrates with your Friendly URL provider and creates friendly URLs. This is no longer a concern with introduction of improved URLs beginning with DNN 7.1.
AJAX: Make sure AJAX is limited to back end interaction and not used as a primarily driver of content. Automatic content fetch on page scroll is great but if not implemented correctly would result in content that’s not indexed by search engines. If the module uses AJAX extensively then ensure that the URL Hash (such as www.yoursite.com#section-1) is changed with every change in content presentation and Hash URLs exist in static/root document to be indexed by search engines.
The average web users’ attention span is under 7 seconds so it’s crucial that the DNN Module is performance optimized and renders as quickly as possible. CACHING: Every DNN Module should implement caching to replace frequent round trips back to the database and / or file system. CLIENT RESOURCE MANAGEMENT: Introduced in DNN 6.1, CRM framework allows the site to load much quicker by combing all JavaScript & CSS resources into composite files reducing the number of HTTP requests required to render a page. Ensure that the DNN Module implements the Client Resource Management framework.
JQUERY FRAMEWORK: Confirm that the module integrates with DNN API to request jQuery or jQuery UI framework rather than injecting their own scripts which results in increased page size and conflicts across other modules and components.
INTUITIVE USER INTERFACE: Make sure the User Interface is intuitive and easy to follow. If you as the admin/integrator can’t accomplish basic tasks without looking over documentation again and again then it’s likely your clients / end users will be calling you over and over again as well.
WELL DOCUMENTED: Make sure the module includes documentation with easy to follow screenshots and/or videos. EXCELLENT SUPPORT: Any software is as good as its support. Make sure the support is prompt and competent to address your business requirements. It’s always a good idea to start with a pre-sales question.
It's always great to hear that we're adding value to the DNN ecosystem with our products and services. What's even better is when community members add-on to our products and share their work with others.
Last week I recieived an email from Luis Cabrera with a link to download a responsive DNN Blog Template matching with out DIXIT Skin. Following is the email in its entirety.
Hello Mandeep,
A few months ago I purchased your Dixit skin from the Dnn Store and I am not only very happy with your product but also extremely satisfied with the customer service your company provides. I posted a few issues on your ticketing system and I always received a prompt reply and the best service.
The reason for this email is to share with you why I created the Dixit Dnn Blog Template, which is a custom template for the official Dnn Blog module.
When I decided to create my site I had a small budget and I knew I wanted to purchase your Dixit skin for sure. I also needed a good blog module and I considered several including the Ventrian News Articles module and your Live Blog. But due to budget reasons I decided to use the official Dnn Blog Module, despite of its shortcomings.
The official Dnn blog includes a template that is outdated not responsive. So I decided to create my own template based on your Dixit skin and share it as open source. By promoting the Dixit Dnn Blog Template I am also promoting your site and especially your Dixit skin and I think there will be many people like me who may benefit from it.
You can read more about it here
I hope you find this as positive as I did and I hope to hear from you.
Thank you, Luis Cabrera
I'm happy to announce that our entire DNN Essentials module collection is now fully compatible with Azure. Many of our modules have long been Azure compatible but the entire collection now adheres to official DotNetNuke Azure Compatibility guide including:
Azure Database Compatibility All modules have been updated to support the Azure Database layer. This change requires modification to existing SQL Scripts for compatibility with limited Azure SQL Database.
Azure Caching Provider Azure uses an out-of-the-process caching provider and requires that all cached objects be binary serializable. We've updated our entire collection of modules to support Azure caching provider.
Azure Web Farm / Scaling It's quick and easy to scale with Azure using DotNetNuke and its inherent Web Farm support. We've ensured that all of our modules are not using Session State which is not compatible within a Web Farm configuration.
Lastly, all of our modules now pass the EVS - Extension Verification System provided by DotNetNuke. This also ensures that you're not greeted with an unsupported message when installing our extensions on your Azure powered DotNetNuke site.