Overview:
- CMS
- Umbraco 13 LTS
- Security Advisory
- Cloud
- Umbraco 13 on Cloud
- Umbraco CI/CD Flow
- New Security Features for Starter plans
- Optimized Default Settings
- Tailored Cipher Suite Management
- Add-ons
- All set for Umbraco 13
- Enhanced editor tools in Umbraco Forms
- Handle larger content transfer, restore and migrating in Deploy
- Advanced Search for Umbraco Workflow
- Patch releases
- Other News
- Last chance: Join the Commerce Community Team
- Sign up for the Umbraco Winter Keynote
- Until Next Time and happy holidays!
CMS
Early Christmas Present: Umbraco 13 is here!
It’s been called “one of the most exciting Umbraco releases we’ve had for years”, and with good reason!
Umbraco 13, the new long-term supported major version of Umbraco, was released on December 14. It includes the latest .NET 8 with C# 12, it introduces Dynamic Roots, Blocks in the Rich Text Editor, Webhooks, nested field limiting and nested field expansion in the Content Delivery API, and much more.
Go and read the Umbraco 13 release blog post - or watch the Unboxing video - for more about the many new awesome features you can now take advantage of:
Discover what awaits in Umbraco 13
Security Advisory for Umbraco versions 8,10,11 and 12
Two medium-severity security issues have been identified in Umbraco CMS. On December 12 we released security patches for Umbraco versions 8,10,11 and 12.
All Umbraco Cloud sites running the latest minor of a supported version were patched automatically.
We encourage you to patch your projects to avoid exposure to these vulnerabilities. Find all necessary information in the Security Advisory.
Umbraco Cloud
Umbraco 13 on Umbraco Cloud
In line with our ongoing updates, Umbraco Cloud now offers version 13, the latest Long Term Support (LTS) version of Umbraco CMS, as the default option for all new cloud projects. This change reflects our commitment to ensuring our users have access to the most current and efficient tools available.
We recognize the diversity of our user base and their varying requirements. Therefore, while version 13 is set as the standard for new projects, users still have the flexibility to choose from other active releases, including CMS versions 8, 10, and 12. This flexibility ensures that our users can select the CMS version that best aligns with their project's specific needs.
"Umbraco CI/CD Flow" Graduates from Beta
Just a quick, semi-huge note to all our users: the "Umbraco CI/CD Flow" feature has officially shed its beta tag as of early December. If you've been cautiously waiting on the sidelines, now might be the perfect time to try it out. Fully tested and refined, the CI/CD Flow is ready to enhance your Umbraco development experience with its robust, beta-free capabilities. We invite you to explore this feature and see how it can streamline your projects.
Security Features Extended to All Plans
In a recent refinement to Umbraco Cloud, we've expanded the availability of key security features to all cloud projects, including those on the Starter plan. Now, every user can activate TLS 1.3 and set a minimum TLS version for custom hostnames on all their cloud projects.
This enhancement brings several advantages, such as improved security by enabling advanced security settings across all plans, and enhanced flexibility, allowing users to tailor their security settings to meet specific needs, regardless of their subscription level.
Optimized Default Settings for New Projects
Our latest updates also include optimizing the default settings for new projects. TLS 1.3 is now the standard protocol for all new environments, in addition to the existing security standards like HTTP/2 and soon HTTP/3. Furthermore, the "Enable Cache" option on the "Manage CDN" page is automatically enabled for new projects.
These changes not only enhance security and performance but also contribute to sustainability by optimizing resource use and reducing the environmental impact of digital operations.
Coming very soon: Tailored Cipher Suite Management for Enhanced Security
Umbraco Cloud's next big feature empowers users with the ability to personally manage cipher suite preferences, ensuring that each project and custom hostname aligns with specific security requirements. This update in the cloud portal's security tab is especially beneficial for users who must comply with stringent security standards, such as those in the public sector or other regulated industries.
By providing the option to disable older, potentially less secure cipher suites, this feature allows users to adhere to strict security protocols, a necessity in environments where data protection and privacy are paramount. The flexibility to customize cipher suites at both the project and hostname level means users can ensure their Umbraco Cloud projects meet the latest security recommendations and mandatory compliance requirements.
Target release: December, 2023
Umbraco Add-ons
All set for Umbraco 13
Recent efforts in Umbraco add-ons have primarily centered around preparing products to align with Umbraco version 13. Excitingly, the latest versions compatible with Umbraco 13 were released last week for Umbraco Forms, Deploy, Commerce, Workflow, and UI Builder 🤝 (Check out the Umbraco 13 blog post if you haven’t already)
Leading up to the release of version 13 of the Umbraco add-ons, we rolled out minor releases for Forms, Deploy, and Workflow, introducing significant enhancements for editors. All these editor-friendly features are seamlessly integrated into version 13 of the add-ons. Let’s dive into some of these new great features:
Enhanced editor tools in Umbraco Forms
In the latest minor version of Umbraco Forms, editors get a much better overview of where individual forms are used throughout the website, as we introduced relation tracking for forms.
Several new features have been implemented to respond to valuable feature requests from the public issue tracker. Editors now get greater flexibility in creating continuation after a form submission, such as rendering a thank-you page or redirecting users to different pages. This update allows rendering the same form on several pages or redirecting users to different destinations based on where the form was submitted.
Furthermore, managing submitted forms is now more structured with the introduction of new form states - “rejected” and “not approved”. These states also associate with the forms workflow and bulk operations, entry filters, and retention settings for Forms entries.
For a comprehensive understanding of the new features in Umbraco Forms version 12.2 and 13 visit this detailed blog post.
Umbraco Deploy: Handle larger content transfer, restore and migrating
The standout feature in the recent minor Deploy release introduces valuable options for handling large content transfer, restores, and migrations to Umbraco Cloud and between Umbraco versions. This feature is particularly beneficial in two key scenarios where exporting and importing Umbraco content, files and schema are crucial.
For an editor or website manager seeking to execute substantial content transfers to an upstream environment or restore a significant amount of content to a downstream environment, the risk of failed operations or timeouts due to hosting environment limits, especially on Umbraco Cloud (Azure web apps), is addressed.
Developers can leverage this feature during project migrations into Umbraco Cloud or when transitioning between Umbraco versions. The feature enables the selection of specific content items, trees, or the whole workspace for export to a zip file. Additionally, it provides the capability to import this zip file into another environment, where its content will be read, validated, and used to update information in Umbraco. This method allows the processing of much larger batches of information than previously possible.
Are you concerned about obsolete property editors when migrating between Umbraco versions? Deploy has you covered! When utilizing the import/export feature as a foundation for migrating a project from Umbraco 8 to Umbraco 13, necessary migration hooks for the built-in Umbraco replacements for obsolete property editors are provided.
For more in-depth information on the import/export feature and other additions in the latest Deploy minor release, head over to this blog post here.
Advanced Search for Umbraco Workflow 🔍
In Workflow versions 12 and 13, editors now benefit from a user-centric dashboard that introduces advanced content search capabilities. This new feature makes an expansion of Umbraco Workflow’s functionality beyond the product's initial emphasis on content approvals.
The aim is to provide new and useful tools for improving the content management experience in larger, more complex websites. Head to the blog post introducing Advances Search for all the details of this new feature.
Patch releases
As always the add-ons receive the usual, but thorough, maintenance in the form of patch releases taking care of small bugs reported on the issue tracker or from Umbraco Support🧹💦
Get the full overview under each product on docs.umbraco.com:
In other news… 📰
It’s now or never - sign up for the Commerce Community Team!
If you hurry, you still have a chance to get a seat on the new Commerce Community Team! The application closes tomorrow, December 20, 2023!
In this team, we want to gather experienced commerce experts to discuss everything commerce, to get insights to what’s important for the Umbraco ecosystem when it comes to commerce, and to further improve Umbraco Commerce as well as commerce initiatives for Umbraco in general. This is your chance to influence the future of Umbraco Commerce and get insights to what others in the Umbraco ecosystems find important and prioritize for commerce. Learn more and sign up today!
The best way to get informed about the Umbraco 2024 plans 👇
If you want to know more about what’s in store for Umbraco in 2024 when it comes to Products (did someone say brand new backoffice? 😉 ), Business, and Community, then I highly recommend you sign up for the “Umbraco Winter Keynote” on January 16, 2024.
This 1-hour live webinar (or watch the recording when it suits you) is designed to give both seasoned Umbraco users as well as aspiring ones an overview of everything Umbraco 2024:
… Until next time
Remember that you can always keep yourself updated on what we’re working on “Now”, “Next”, and “Later” on the Umbraco Product Roadmap as well as check up on all released features in the Umbraco Roadmap History.
A large part of the work we do is inspired by the feedback we get from you. If you find issues or have specific feature requests, you can find the issue trackers for our products on the Umbraco Github account. If you have product feedback, you’re welcome to reach out to us at product@umbraco.com.
Thank you all for a great 2023!
We wish you happy holidays and look forward to an exciting 2024 with lots of exciting Umbraco product news which will also include a new format for communicating about this news - stay tuned! 😉
