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Top 10 Kentico Related Posts of 2012
One of the most significant events of 2012 when it comes to Kentico, was the the release of version 7. The 7.0 release focused on optimizing and improving the Kentico CMS Desk user’s and/or developer’s experience. The overall interface is also a bit snappier than other previous releases of Kentico. And of course the release also included a whole host of new features and functionality; On-site Editing, Advanced Workflow, Translation Management, Chat, Banner Management etc. etc..
The 7.0 update also enhanced the online marketing capabilities of Kentico EMS. The integration of the Marketing Automation feature set was a very compelling addition to the product. This feature when combined with the E-mail Marketing module let’s website authors and non-coders automate advanced marketing techniques such as Lead Nurturing and/or Drip Marketing notifications. It is very powerful.
The Kentico community also grew in 2012. The Kentico Connection 2012 conference was a great example of this. There were plenty of developers and users who attended the conference. We shared quite a few stories at the various social events during the conference and learned all about version 7.0. I also tend to watch out for new Kentico related Google search results and tweets. I don’t actually have any scientific proof of this, but on gut feel there did seem to be more chatter all over the web about Kentico related topics. There were even a few new authors added to the ranks of Kentico bloggers. The Kentico Marketplace also had a multitude of new additions. Like I said, 2012 was big year. But without any further ado, below is my list of the Top 10 Kentico Related Posts of 2012 at Mcbeev.com.
The Best of 2012
“Best” is always a tough term to use when it comes to ranking lists, but the following top 10 list is composed of my own blog posts that received the most traffic and that were published this year. The list begins with the highest trafficked posts and is ordered descending from there.
1. Build a Content Slider with the Kentico CMS REST Service – I’m wrapping part 1 and part 2 of this mini blog post series into one result here. In this series I take a deep dive into building a content slider to handle retrieving images and/or html content through the Kentico CMS REST service. Both posts relate to Kentico CMS version 6.0 and higher.
2. Automatically Post Your Content to Twitter and Facebook with Kentico CMS 7 – This again is a blog post series that is actually broken up into part 1, part 2, and part 3. This series is a full walkthrough of how to connect a Facebook page and Twitter account to be automatically updated via the new Auto Publish feature of Kentico, whenever a new document is created in the content tree. Kentico makes it really easy to accomplish this. These posts all relate to Kentico CMS version 7.0.
3. Kentico CMS 6 Runs Smoothly on SQL Server 2012 and Visual Studio 11 Beta – This post was from pretty early on in the year, and was published while Visual Studio 2012 was still running in beta. SQL Server 2012 had also been recently released. I was thrilled that Kentico worked flawlessly out of the box with the new toolset the first time I ran it on a new development machine, which is why I posted this. Pro Tip: Don’t forget SQL Server 2012 Service Pack 1 was recently released, time to update!
4. Kentico CMS Quick Tip - Content Staging and Large Files – This post talks a bit about Content Staging and how to overcome some default setting issues that arise with IIS7 and large files. Kentico developers either love Content Staging or love to hate it at times. Like I mention in the post, we use it all the time at BizStream so I really enjoy using it.
5. Kentico CMS 6 Upgrade Quick Tip – Fix Blank Content Areas That Should Not Be Blank – Upgrades are always fun whenever it comes to software. Luckily Kentico Installation Manager (KIM) greatly helps when upgrading from Kentico 5.5 R2 and up. This post covers a quick tip that prevents your content authors from having a mini stroke when it comes to using embedded video in an editable region. This tip is specific to an upgrade to Kentico CMS version 6.0.
6. Kentico CMS 7 RC Released – 2012 was a great year for Kentico Software, they had a major point release of Kentico CMS/EMS. So far Kentico CMS 7 has been the best release yet. This post covered some of the early details of the new features of 7. Again I am cheating a little but by grouping two different posts about the release candidate into one result for the purposes of this “Best of 2012” list.
7. I’m a Kentico MVP! – I already mentioned this at the top of the post. Enough said on it. Moving on.
8. Win a Free Ticket to Kentico Connections 2012 – I wonder if the words “Win” and “Free” had anything to do with popularity of this post? Probably, but this was the first time I have ever run a Twitter contest, and I enjoyed the process. Congratulations again to @probrandono for winning.
9. I'm Speaking at Kentico Connection 2012 – I indeed did present a session at the Denver edition of Kentico Connection 2012. I had a great time doing it, and look forward to possibly presenting again in 2013. My presentation was secretly recorded and can be viewed on YouTube. I also wrote up a recap of the conference.
10. Creating a Campaign Programmatically in Kentico EMS – This was recent post on my blog. As the year progressed we started doing more and more Kentico EMS customization. This post covers a simple example of how to use the API in Kentico EMS to extend the system even more. It was also part of a Thom Robbins' blog takeover attempt that my fellow Kentico MVPs and I accomplished. Thom thought he was safe while traveling down to Australia.
What to look for in 2013
I expect 2013 to be a great year again. It will be hard to top 2012, but it is good to have goals. I will continue to try and post developer tips and insights while working with Kentico CMS/EMS. 2013 will also have some Certified Training improvements and new courses for Kentico administrators and developers. I’m sure I will be doing a few of those sessions during the year. And, hopefully this year I can be invited to speak at a few other events too. Oh and in case you missed it Petr Palas, founder and CEO of Kentico, wrote up a great post on a few trends that web developers and internet marketers should expect in 2013. It’s going to be a great year.
