Blog posts by David Knipe2026-02-04T14:31:18.0000000Zhttps://world.optimizely.com/blogs/David-Knipe/Optimizely WorldBest Practices for Implementing Optimizely SaaS CMS: A Collective Wisdom Guidehttps://www.david-tec.com/2026/02/best-practices-for-implementing-optimizely-saas-cms-a-collective-wisdom-guide/2026-02-04T13:32:41.0000000Z2026-02-04T14:31:18.0000000Zdavid.knipe@optimizely.comThis guide compiles collective insights and recommendations from Optimizely experts for implementing Optimizely SaaS CMS, focusing on achieving stability and optimal performance. These are practical learnings from various projects and are shared to help you avoid common pitfalls and build robust solutions: A Guide To Building Custom Tools for Optimizely Opalhttps://www.david-tec.com/2025/08/a-guide-to-building-custom-tools-for-optimizely-opal/2025-08-06T15:56:57.0000000Z2025-08-06T16:31:05.0000000Zdavid.knipe@optimizely.comLearn how to create custom tools for Optimizely's AI assistant platform and deploy them to Cloudflare Workers Introduction: What is Optimizely Opal? Optimizely Opal represents the next generation of AI-powered marketing. As Optimizely's flagship AI assistant , Opal is built from the ground up specifically for marketing teams, integrating seamlessly across the entire Optimizely One platform ....What version of Optimizely CMS am I running?https://www.david-tec.com/2024/04/what-version-of-optimizely-cms-am-i-running/2024-04-08T12:45:00.0000000Z2024-04-09T04:27:04.0000000Zdavid.knipe@optimizely.comOptimizely continually rolls out new features for CMS customers and these features are normally for the latest major version of Optimizely CMS (CMS 12 at the time of writing). Some recent examples of these are the ability to use Optimizely Forms headlessly or improvements to the UI for restrictions on content . Once a customer knows about a feature they can ask their implementors to install the...Alt text helper for Optimizely CMS 12 and Optimizely DAMhttps://www.david-tec.com/2024/03/alt-text-helper-for-optimizely-cms-12-and-optimizely-dam/2024-03-18T12:09:52.0000000Z2024-03-18T12:30:19.0000000Zdavid.knipe@optimizely.comAuthor: Seobility - License: CC BY-SA 4.0 Optimizely CMS 12 offers out the box integration with Optimizely DAM allowing users to easily select images from the DAM. Its also possible to access the meta data for these assets such as the alt text. One of the most common requests I hear is "How do I access the alt text for the image". Implementors can render alt text to a page using ASP.net MVC or...Use Optimizely DAM from the TinyMCE editor in Optimizely CMS 12https://www.david-tec.com/2024/01/use-optimizely-dam-from-the-tinymce-editor-in-optimizely-cms-12/2024-01-17T17:20:55.0000000Z2024-01-17T17:30:17.0000000Zdavid.knipe@optimizely.comOptimizely CMS offers out the box integration with Optimizely DAM allowing users to easily select images from the DAM for use in Content Areas and Image properties. However currently there is no way to select images for use inside TinyMCE. So I have put a button together to allow editors to select images from the Optimizely DAM inside the TinyMCE editor in Optimizely CMS 12. Once installed a ne...Visual Compare for Optimizely CMS 12 now availablehttps://www.david-tec.com/2024/01/visual-compare-for-optimizely-cms-12-now-available/2024-01-05T15:31:57.0000000Z2024-01-05T16:30:19.0000000Zdavid.knipe@optimizely.comVisual Compare is an add on for Optimizely CMS 11 and 12 that allows editors to get a red / green comparison view when comparing versions of content: This has now been updated to work with CMS 12 (with thanks to Matthew Jimenez), the orginal post about this add-on can be seen seen here: Visual compare option available for Episerver 11 . A screen shot of Visual Compare for Optimizely running in...Allow videos to be picked from Optimizely DAM in Optimizely CMShttps://www.david-tec.com/2022/05/allow-videos-to-be-picked-from-optimizely-dam-in-optimizely-cms/2023-05-02T15:09:24.0000000Z2023-05-02T15:20:20.0000000Zdavid.knipe@optimizely.comThe Optimizely DAM compiles assets in a single repository to make it easy to find, use and repurpose content anywhere across the organisation. It has pre-built integration with Optimizely CMS 12 and Optimizely CMS 11. Installation Installation instructions can be found here: Install the Optimizely DAM Asset Picker (CMS 12) and here: Install the Optimizely DAM Asset Picker (CMS 11) . Once...Allow videos to be picked from Optimizely DAM in Optimizely CMShttps://www.david-tec.com/2023/05/allow-videos-to-be-picked-from-optimizely-dam-in-optimizely-cms/2023-05-02T15:09:24.0000000Z2024-01-05T15:30:16.0000000Zdavid.knipe@optimizely.comThe Optimizely DAM compiles assets in a single repository to make it easy to find, use and repurpose content anywhere across the organisation. It has pre-built integration with Optimizely CMS 12 and Optimizely CMS 11. Installation Installation instructions can be found here: Install the Optimizely DAM Asset Picker (CMS 12) and here: Install the Optimizely DAM Asset Picker (CMS 11) . Once...Allow videos to be picked from Optimizely DAM in Optimizely CMShttps://www.david-tec.com/2023/05/allow-videos-to-be-picked-from-optimizely-dam-in-optimizely-cms/2023-05-02T15:09:24.0000000Z2024-01-05T15:30:16.0000000Zdavid.knipe@optimizely.comThe Optimizely DAM compiles assets in a single repository to make it easy to find, use and repurpose content anywhere across the organisation. It has pre-built integration with Optimizely CMS 12 and Optimizely CMS 11. Installation Installation instructions can be found here: Install the Optimizely DAM Asset Picker (CMS 12) and here: Install the Optimizely DAM Asset Picker (CMS 11) . Once...Optimizely Nuget Feed Explorer Updatedhttps://www.david-tec.com/2021/12/optimizely-nuget-feed-explorer-updated/2021-12-06T15:25:33.0000000Z2021-12-06T16:00:38.0000000Zdavid.knipe@optimizely.comThe Optimizely Nuget Feed Explorer allows users to explore packages on the Optimizely Nuget Feed and filter out packages that are Optimizely or Community contributed along with other options such as filtering on updated date. However with the release of Optimizely CMS 12 / Commerce 14 it's not simple to find packages that are compatible due the dependency on NET 5. Good news! This now has the...Optimizely Content Recommendations extension for Optimizely Web now availablehttps://www.david-tec.com/2021/11/optimizely-content-recommendations-extension-for-optimizely-web-now-available/2021-11-03T11:28:00.0000000Z2021-11-03T13:00:37.0000000Zdavid.knipe@optimizely.comAn extension available for Optimizely Web Experimentation for Optimizely Content Recommendations is now available. This extension allows users to place automatic content recommendations anywhere on a site where Optimizely Web Experimentation is being used. This means experimentation can be applied to test the most effective placement, look/feel and what content recommendations to show. This can...Video: Set up Optimizely Foundation Single Page Application referencehttps://www.david-tec.com/2021/09/video-set-up-optimizely-foundation-single-page-application-reference/2021-09-07T16:00:14.0000000Z2021-09-07T16:00:14.0000000Zdavid.knipe@optimizely.comThis post describes how to set up the Optimizely Foundation Single Page Application reference site. Further information about what Optimizely Foundation Single Page Application reference is can be seen at the bottom of the page. If readers want to dive straight in then hit play below: Getting the "For this [content type]" content reference in Optimizely Content Cloudhttps://www.david-tec.com/2021/08/getting-the-for-this-page-and-for-this-block-content-reference-in-optimizely-content-cloud/2021-08-13T15:35:46.0000000Z2021-08-13T16:00:29.0000000Zdavid.knipe@optimizely.comOn recent occasions I needed to create some content below the "For this page" or "For this block" folder in Optimizely Content Cloud. I couldn't Google the answer straight away so this post is a note to self on how to get the "For this page" or "For this block" content reference in Optimizely Content Cloud. .NET 5 preview add-on packages for Optimizely Content and Commerce cloudhttps://www.david-tec.com/2021/07/.net-5-preview-add-on-packages-for-optimizely-content-and-commerce-cloud/2021-07-16T13:28:02.0000000Z2021-07-16T13:30:17.0000000Zdavid.knipe@optimizely.comIn preparation for the GTM release of Optimizely Content and Commerce Cloud running on .NET 5 and as part of my commitment to the community I started upgrading some of the more popular community packages I own (based on downloads), namely "Cookie Visitor Group" and "Cookie Drop Block". This was a learning exercise to familiarise myself with .NET 5 development in Optimizely. Given Microsoft and...Video: Adding Optimizely Data Platform to Optimizely Commerce Cloudhttps://www.david-tec.com/2021/05/video-adding-optimizely-data-platform-to-optimizely-commerce-cloud/2021-06-09T10:41:26.0000000Z2021-06-09T11:00:27.0000000Zdavid.knipe@optimizely.comThis post is a video walk through to show the steps required to add Optimizely Data Platform (ODP) to Optimizely Commerce Cloud. See the video below: Adding Optimizely Data Platform to Optimizely Commerce Cloudhttps://www.david-tec.com/2021/05/adding-optimizely-data-platform-to-optimizely-commerce-cloud/2021-05-27T11:07:00.0000000Z2021-05-27T11:30:17.0000000Zdavid.knipe@optimizely.comThis post describes how to add Optimizely Data Platform (ODP) to Optimizely Commerce Cloud. While written with Optimizely Commerce Cloud in mind, it can be used as a basis for tracking on any commerce solution, not specifically an Optimizely Commerce Cloud solution. The Optimizely Data Platform allows clients to collect and aggregate customer data in real time, segment and analyse it and take...CookieDropBlock for Episerver updated with an important bug fixhttps://www.david-tec.com/2021/04/cookiedropblock-for-episerver-updated-with-an-important-bug-fix/2021-04-01T09:19:00.0000000Z2021-04-01T09:30:16.0000000Zdavid.knipe@optimizely.comTLDR; Update CookieDropBlock if you want to keep using it. Over five years ago I released a simple tool called CookieDropBlock who's sole purpose was to allow editors to create a block to drop a cookie for an end user. You can read more about it here: https://www.david-tec.com/2015/09/cookie-drop-block-for-episerver/ . This has worked largely untouched for all this time. However there is a bug...Video walk through: Experimenting with Episerver Commerce discounts using Optimizely Full Stackhttps://www.david-tec.com/2020/10/video-walk-through-experimenting-with-episerver-commerce-discounts-using-optimizely-full-stack/2020-10-29T15:04:47.0000000Z2020-10-29T15:30:40.0000000Zdavid.knipe@optimizely.comThis is a video walk through of how to experiment with discounts in Episerver Commerce using Optimizely Full Stack. Watch the video here: Video walk through: Optimizely Full Stack event tracking in Episerverhttps://www.david-tec.com/2020/10/video-walk-through-optimizely-full-stack-event-tracking-in-episerver/2020-10-29T15:03:11.0000000Z2020-10-29T15:30:40.0000000Zdavid.knipe@optimizely.comThis is a video walk through of how to define Optimizely Full Stack tracking events and configure them in the Episerver user interface. Watch the video here: Video walk through: Integrating Optimizely Full Stack with Episerverhttps://www.david-tec.com/2020/10/video-walk-through-integrating-optimizely-full-stack-with-episerver/2020-10-22T21:20:00.0000000Z2020-10-23T02:43:31.0000000Zdavid.knipe@optimizely.comPrevious posts have described how to integrate Optimizely Full stack and how to set up an experiementation. This post is a video walk through of the posts. Watch the video here: