One of the studies by Forrester says that the average enterprise manages 268 different digital experiences. This exponential growth in digital touchpoints emphasizes the need for robust and versatile content management solutions. The release of AEM 6.5 over 6.4 provides additional capabilities to manage the increasing complexity of client experiences.
Adobe Experience Manager 6.5 was released in April 2019 with many new features and a more robust infrastructure to deliver a top-notch experience. It is no surprise that during the one year of development, Adobe Experience Manager is a powerful upgrade on top of AEM 6.4.
Key features of AEM 6.5 can easily get lost in a long list of new and improved items. Here are the top AEM 6.5 features:
1. Single Page Application editor: The AEMs SPA editor allows users to edit content for Single Page Application. Developers who use the React framework create a single-page application (SPA) and then map areas of the SPA to Adobe Experience Manager (AEM) components.
It allows authors to use familiar AEM site editing tools. The video below demonstrates some in-context editing features with the WKND SPA sample site. The WKND SPA project includes both a React implementation.
2. Smart Crop: Before the release of Adobe Experience Manager 6.5, you needed multiple sizes of each image; you needed multiple sizes of each image in the design to suit each target screen size. A website with hundreds or thousands of images makes manual cropping impractical. The Sensei Smart Crop feature of Adobe allows automatic cropping for all the images in the Experience Manager without requiring additional tools.
Some key advantages of this feature are:
- Video images are cropped automatically with a new aspect ratio.
- Practitioners can work in responsive design when there are various variations of the same image to the same image suit with different size requirements in the marketing campaign.
- The folder where the workflow is applied automatically crops all images.
- Additionally, the Smart Crop editing layout can be resized for better visibility.
3. Visual Search: Your teams can shorten the time to market by using the built-in and customized asset search capabilities. The search function is essential for using a digital asset management system. It allows creatives to find assets for further use, enables business users and marketers to manage assets effectively, and assists DAM administrators in their administrative tasks. To fulfill these use cases, you can perform simple, advanced, and custom searches via the Assets user interface or other apps and surfaces.
4. Headless CMS: Headless implementation ensures the delivery of seamless experiences across platforms and channels at scale. A headless implementation eschews the page and component management traditionally associated with full-stack and hybrid solutions. Instead, it focuses on creating channel-neutral, reusable content fragments and delivering them across channels. It is a modern and dynamic development pattern for implementing Web experiences.
5. Automated Forms Conversion: Automated form conversion powered by Adobe Sensei helps in the digitization of the data capture experience through the automated conversion of PDF forms to adaptive forms. It converts PDF forms to responsive and device-friendly HTML forms. With AEM 6.5, you can leverage the following capabilities.
- Render forms properly, irrespective of the devices your customers use.
- Save manual efforts and time required with adaptive forms.
- Extract fragments and components that you can reuse for creating new forms.
- Leveraging existing investments in PDF Forms and XFA, the service also applies appropriate validation, styling, and layout to adaptive form fields during conversion.
- Extraction of form structures through identification of form sections, text, and fields and their semantic mapping to appropriate fields, types, or groups.
6. Create Reusable AEM Forms Workflow Models: Starting with the AEM Forms 6.5 release, it is now possible to create workflow models that are not tied to a specific Adaptive Form. It allows for the creation of a single workflow model that can be used for different adaptive form submissions. This capability enables the use of a generic workflow to handle all adaptive form submissions for review and approval.
Here are the key improvements in Adobe Experience Manager (AEM) 6.5 compared to version 6.4:
1. Dynamic template: The new version introduces dynamic templates, which allow authors to create flexible and reusable page templates that adapt to different content and layouts.
2. Layout: It introduces a new layout container component that allows authors to create responsive and grid-based layouts more easily.
3. Integrating Adobe Assets with Adobe Stock: AEM 6.5 enhances the integration between Adobe Assets and Adobe Stock, making it easier for authors to access and use stock assets directly within AEM.
4. Efficient upload capability on the Brand Portal: Authors get improved upload capabilities on the Brand Portal, enabling them to upload large files more efficiently.
5. Creating base templates: The latest version introduces the concept of base templates, which allows authors to create reusable base structures for different types of pages.
6. Content Fragments: AEM 6.5 enhances content fragments, making it easier for authors to create and manage structured content that can be reused across different channels.
The Bottom Line:
The latest version of AEM delivers effective solutions like increased content velocity and improves customer support with engaging content. It is well connected to other features like Creative Cloud and Marketing Cloud. If you looking for a seamless transition migration from 6.4 to 6.5? Check out the comprehensive guide. Many new features of Adobe AEM 6.5 will help to deliver the right content with a better customer experience.
