Improved Control Panel for suite Management

DotNetNuke 7.0 includes a brand new control panel for managing your site. Each menu has been updated to offer a more intuitive experience. We've even made it possible for end users to personalize the menu by creating their own bookmarks within the menu.The Host and Admin menus include areas for common items, advanced items and personal bookmarks. The Modules, Pages and Users menu items provide quick access to common features in those areas.

View Mode by Default


Navigating page-by-page while in edit mode has never been the most efficient way to navigate a DotNetNuke site. Edit mode increases the overall page payload and browser rendering. In DotNetNuke 7.0, users are now always in View mode.The Edit Page menu gives the user the ability to quickly toggle edit mode along with providing quick access to common page tasks.

Improved Edit Mode

DNN 7.0 has View Mode as the default view for all users. You can also choose to select "Stay in Edit Mode" which switches the default view to edit mode. The default View Mode improves page rendering and response time for general purposes.

Reintroduction of Drag and Drop Modules

Drag-n-Drop is brought back in DNN 7.0 and it's better than ever. You can now drag modules between panes and from the control panel to a pane while in edit mode.

Cross Site Module Sharingwithin the same DotNetNuke instance

Since DotNetNuke installs with multiple sites, there is a fairly common need for the ability to share content across different sites. In DNN 7.0 Professional and Enterprise Edition, you now have the ability to share modules across multiple sites within the same DotNetNuke instance. 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. Next, choose the page where the module exists and you will see a list of shareable modules come sliding across.

Actions Menu to provide greater consistency with skins

In DNN 7.0 Manage button is removed in favor of a new approach that will provide greater consistency with skins. The Manage button has been replaced by an Actions menu that properly separates common module tasks. You will see three icons that represent Edit, Manage and Move. The Edit menu will be used for module defined actions. The Manage menu is used for settings and admin tasks. The Move menu is used to move a module between panes when drag-n-drop isn't available.

HTML Module Auto Save

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. 

This is for when you are working on a piece of content and have your browser crash. 


HTML Module Version Compare

Task of comparing different content versions have ben made simple in DNN 7.0. DotNetNuke makes it easy for you to keep track of multiple versions of your content, but now DNN team has 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.


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.


Simplified Installer

The first thing you will notice is that the installer has been updated. Not only DNN team has updated the look and feel, but has also simplified the overall install process. You shouldn’t have to click through a series of screens in order to just get your website running. With the 7.0 installer DNN team has taken an approach that allows for the application to be installed quickly, but also provides you with the ability to configure advanced features if you wish. 


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.


One conclusion: Go for DNN 7.0

Sure, it requires more modern IIS and ASP.NET runtimes, so you can’t run it on an old IIS6 machine. Think of it as a positive step forwards. Believe me it’s a very good reason to investigate a new hosting deal or find a new server for your site. But get on the upgrade path as soon as you can. You’ll agree with me: DNN 7 is a very solid step forwards for the platform.