It’s hard to believe that it has only been two weeks since we released CTP 2 for DotNetNuke 7.0. A tremendous amount of work has taken place in those two short weeks and DotNetNuke 7.0 Beta is ready for you to test. We have been receiving a lot of great feedback over the past few weeks. When I say great feedback, I don’t mean that everyone has been telling us how great 7.0 is shaping up. Great feedback comes from people taking the time to tell us what they like and what they don’t like. Great feedback also comes in the form of detailed bug reports and forum posts. We truly appreciate the time that people have taken to help us build a great product.
What’s New in DotNetNuke 7.0 Beta?
We have several new features and improvements ready for you check out. I’ve provided just enough details below to help you get started, but you’ll really need to download the Beta and experience everything for yourself.
New Getting Started Page
The first thing you will see after you have completed the install is our new Getting Started page. The 7.0 Getting Started page includes quick access to two intro videos, the new Advanced Settings page and quick links to community resources. In the Beta release the two videos will be exactly the same, but that will change before the final release.
New Default Skin & Template
The Dark Knight skin has had a good run, but it was time for Awesome Cycles to step up their game. The clean and simple Gravity skin is a great example for designers to use to become familiar with the CSS improvements with 7.0.
Edit Mode Improvements
We received a lot of feedback about the new Edit Page button we introduced in CTP1. We still want the default experience for users to be View Mode, but we realize that this is not ideal for some users. In this Beta release you will see that we have added an option to "Stay in Edit Mode". Please download the beta and let us know what you think about this particular change.
Cross Site Module Sharing
For DotNetNuke installs with multiple sites, there is a fairly common need for the ability share content across different sites. In DotNetNuke 7.0 Professional and Enterprise Edition, you now have the ability to share modules across multiple sites within the same DotNetNuke install. Sharing the HTML module is very simple. Just choose "Add Existing Module" from the Modules menu then select the site that contains the module you would like to share. Then choose the page where the module exists and you will see a list of shareable modules come sliding across. Download the DotNetNuke 7.0 Professional Beta and tell us what you think about this feature.
HTML Module Auto Save
Have you ever been working on a piece of content and have your browser crash? Maybe you thought you were trying to clean up a few browser windows and accidently closed the wrong window. If you have been a victim of lost HTML work you will love the new auto save feature. Simply enable the Auto Save option from the HTML Module Settings window and you'll manage content easier knowing that your hard work is being saved in the background.
HTML Module Version Compare
Have you ever wanted to know what changed in a piece of content between versions? DotNetNuke makes it easy for you to keep track of multiple versions of your content, but now we have made it even better! With Version Compare, you can easily see the difference between each stored version of content. You can choose to highlight the actual text changes, or for those that want even more detail you can switch to HTML view and see the actual code that was changed. Download the DotNetNuke 7.0 Professional Beta and tell us what you think about this feature.
What to expect in DotNetNuke 7.0 Beta?
If you aren’t quite sure what we mean by Beta, I would suggest reading “What’s in a Name?” by DotNetNuke Co-Founder, Joe Brinkman. Just to be clear, this is not a production ready release. This isn’t close to the quality we would expect for a Release Candidate, but it is better than a Community Technology Preview. We want to give everyone a preview of what we have been working on and get as much feedback as possible. You will find bugs. We ask that you pay close attention to the items I listed above and provide us with your feedback.
What If I Find a Problem?
If you happen to have issues with the Beta, the first thing you should do is check the known issues list in the DotNetNuke Beta Forum. We will do our best to keep this list as accurate as possible. If you have found a bug that you can reproduce, we ask that you please create the bug report in our Bug Tracker. If you have questions about functionality or how to do something, please post your question in the Community Exchange. For all other feedback and discussions please use the Open Core Testing Forum. If you aren’t sure which one to use, just use what is most convenient for you. We’ll be looking for feedback everywhere!
What's Next?
Download DotNetNuke 7.0 Beta and start using the product. We are looking forward to your feedback!
Download DotNetNuke 7.0 Community Edition Beta
Download DotNetNuke 7.0 Professional Edition Beta