Discovering Kentico 8: The Top Developer Features

With every new version upgrade, Kentico CMS introduces new features and functionalities, driven by the community and their focus groups. Kentico has given a facelift to their new edition of Kentico, covering a lot of topics and requirements for developers, besides redesigning the entire UI to better suit the less technical users. Here a key areas of development changes that are going to be a huge benefit for the developers.

Modules
Modules, to a large extent, are highly beneficial in the development of custom applications. The new web-based approach introduced in Kentico version 8 allows the production of amazing custom functionalities. With this new version of Kentico, one can register as well as develop right from the CMS Desk – without having to create a custom class or compiling the code later. All you need to do is enter the custom functionalities into the editor and register them within the website itself.

User Interface
The new user interface for Kentico 8 is clean and uncluttered, without any meaningless and unnecessary decorations. With a single, unified user interface, Kentico aims to provide developers as well as site administrators with an efficient and streamlined workspace. Features like Skeuminimalism (a mix of both Skeuomorphism and flat design), clear colors and text as interface in the redesigned Kentico dashboard is set to ensure ease of work for the users.

Project Size
Every new product update over the years has led to the addition of new features, in turn, facilitating the creation of large projects. Each new module has its own set of files and media; every new webpart requires a specific set of codes along with its functionality. Over time, all these features add up to the creation of complex and huge projects with longer build times and increased deployment costs. The version 8 upgrade of Kentico focuses on minimizing the project files as well as reducing the project size whenever possible. At 13,204 files, the standard “full” installation of Kentico now has +827 less than a standard version 7 Kentico site.

Integrations
With Kentico v8, third-party integration options are limited as the platform now offers native support for the following:

• Salesforce
• Facebook
• Twitter

By offering native integrations, Kentico aims to simplify and unify the process of merging them into the CMS.

E-Commerce Updates
The latest version of Kentico packs in a load of features that substantially reduce the development time for the developers. With functionalities that are native to the application, running an application does become a lot more effortless. The Kentico version 8 includes some great e-commerce features for creating some amazing solutions for your clients operating in this industry:

• Product variants
• Simplified editing capabilities
• Transformation-based customizable shopping carts
• Improved discounts