Tag: SDL Web

What’s new in SDL Web 8.5 (formerly SDL Tridion)

Posted on Chris MorganLeave a commentPosted in SDL Web (SDL Tridion)

SDL Web 8.5 (formerly SDL Tridion) has been released, and here are a few of the headline features you can expect. For full details, consult the documentation portal here. Content Manager Data Storage & Migration – Multimedia assets can now be stored outside of the Content Manager database, on the file-system or cloud blob storage such as Amazon S3 and Azure Blob. This is a big improvement, as with the ever growing popularity of multimedia rich websites that database could become a little unruly. This will drastically reduce the database size in many implementations, and help with performance and general maintenance. […]

Stop Publishing Un-translated Content Accidentally

Posted on Chris MorganLeave a commentPosted in SDL Web (SDL Tridion), Translation

In a large SDL Web (SDL Tridion) implementation, with multiple languages and countries, it is inevitable that change control will be a problem that needs to be managed. Scenario You don’t localize pages, to keep global control over them You have a central editorial team, creating content for all markets Your central team creates new content, and adds it to pages Your local markets publish the page before translation has been initiated or completed Result English (or master language) content on a local market website. This is not good! Solutions There are several solutions, and each have different amounts of up-front development, […]

What is the best Approach to Enterprise Business Application Architecture?

Posted on Chris MorganLeave a commentPosted in Architecture, SDL Web (SDL Tridion)

I spend a lot of time consulting with some of the largest, and most complex, companies in the world. Interestingly they all seem to approach things in the same way. They work in siloed teams, create tight coupling between applications and divergent experiences for their end users. The result of this is: Interdependent release schedules reducing overall agility Increased QA overhead, validating changes across multiple applications Core back office system updates or changes become almost impossible, due to the knock on effects (e.g. change PIM from supplier A to supplier B has knock effects in both the website and partner portal) […]

Traditional vs. Dynamic Approach to SDL Web, What’s the Difference?

Posted on Chris Morgan1 CommentPosted in DD4T, SDL DXA, SDL Web (SDL Tridion)

In my role, as an SDL Web architect, I often advise customers on the application approach they should take in their implementation. One of the first bridges we normally cross, whether they are new to SDL Web or modernizing a legacy implementation, is traditional vs. dynamic. With that comes the question, what’s is the difference? Here I’ll attempt to explain the difference, with some basic diagrams. Traditional The traditional approach (or at least that is how I normally describe it) is, or was, the most common way SDL Web was/is implemented. I say most common, because with SDL Web there are […]

Trying SDL DXA in the Microsoft Azure Cloud

Posted on Chris MorganLeave a commentPosted in SDL DXA, SDL Web (SDL Tridion)

Following on from Bart’s talk at Tridion Developer Summit 2016 on DXA in the cloud, I thought that looks cool, let me give that a try. Here’s how it went. Setup in Azure Cloud The steps to create a DXA instance are pretty simple. Get started from this link, by clicking the “Create Web App” link. Log into Azure (if you don’t have an account create a free account) you’ll be presented with a simple form, to configure your DXA instance Hit “Create” That’s it! In about 5 minutes you’ll have a working DXA instance running on the Azure Cloud. […]

What is an SDL Web Topology Type?

Posted on Chris MorganLeave a commentPosted in SDL Web (SDL Tridion)

In the old days naming Publication Targets and Publication Types was easy. Names like Staging and Live described what the purpose of the publish was, and was easy to understand. Now, enter Topologies, and more specifically Topology Types. How should we name those? To be honest, I don’t know. I am conflicted. However via this post I hope to generate some discussion about what and how we should name Topology Types. Here are some of my thoughts The old way, by purpose, for example: Staging Live etc… By features, for example Staging without XPM Staging with XPM Live without XPM […]

Publication Targets & SDL Web 8

Posted on Chris MorganLeave a commentPosted in SDL Web (SDL Tridion)

With the introduction of SDL Web 8, publishing has changed. Overall, once you get your head around it, Topologies (the new way of publishing) are a nice approach. They provide a clear separation between the Content Management and Content Delivery environments. However, Topologies take some learning, and are slower to setup for quick demo situations. If you want to use the old way, with Publication Targets, you can follow these instructions and the Publication Node will reappear On the Content Management server browse to %TRIDION_HOME%\web\WebUI\Editors\CME\Configuration\ Open the CME.config file Find enablepublishingmanagement and change the value to true Restart the Content Manager […]

SDL Web: Staged Upgrades & Content Delivery as a Service

Posted on Chris MorganLeave a commentPosted in SDL Web (SDL Tridion)

I’ve written before about staged upgrades, and the procedural advantages that may bring depending on your organization. Being able to plan manageable chucks of upgrade activity certainly can be attractive, when dealing with a large eco-system. In SDL Web 8, staged upgrades are certainly still an option, with the progress described here — but there is something else interesting… Looking at step 4. as shown below, what we have is the new Content Delivery stack, running against the existing (current) Content Management stack, but why is this interesting? In this setup, you can start to take advantage of some of […]

Translation Manager & SDL Web 8

Posted on Chris MorganLeave a commentPosted in SDL Web (SDL Tridion), Translation

Recently, I’ve been working more frequently with Translation Manager and SDL Tridion. It is a great plugin, with extension points, customization possibilities and drastically streamlines translation processes. Then came SDL Web 8, and as part of an upgrade proposal, I though what’s new with Translation Manager… It turns out quite a bit. The changes which will be most notable to SDL Web editors are: Translation Job Metadata Many times I’ve been asked, can we send additional information to the translators, like a link to view the content in context or instructions on maximum character length. Well now this is possible with […]

SDL Tridion (SDL Web): Bundles

Posted on Chris MorganLeave a commentPosted in SDL Web (SDL Tridion)

Bundles, until recently, had mostly escaped me. I’d had no reason to use them, and had not made the effort to investigate them. Recently all that changed. I decided it was time to look into Bundles and how they could benefit my implementation. Before getting started on a few things I’ve learn and how I’ve been using them, what are Bundles? Bundles are a new type, introduced in SDL Tridion 2013. They are “similar” to folders, in that you can put items in them but behave a little differently A few interesting facts I’ve learnt about Bundles, along the way: […]