30-day trial and new field types

Table field type

Matrix is still one of the top requested features for Craft. Pixel & Tonic has said it's coming, but it will probably be a paid plugin. They have bigger plans for it than a simple table field.

In the meantime, the new table field type offers a lighter alternative for simpler use cases. Tables can be set up with multiple columns, each configured with a heading, handle, width, and type: single-line text, multi-line text, or number. Columns and rows are sortable via drag-and-drop. In templates, iterating over the rows works with a standar Twig for-loop: 

    {% for row in entry.tableField %}
{{ row.columnHandle }}
{% endfor %}

You can think of it as a lighter version of Matrix. It's handy when you just need a simple table and don't need the full Matrix setup.

Date field type

Not the most exciting addition, but the new date field type is worth mentioning. It uses a jQuery date picker and stores dates as MySQL DATETIME, which handles dates before January 1, 1970, something Unix timestamps can't do.

30-day trial

You can now try any of Craft's five extended feature packages free for 30 days. There's a new "Try" button next to "Buy" on each package, so you can install it right away without a credit card. After 30 days, you can decide to buy or uninstall.

The five packages are Publish Pro, Users, Cloud, Rebrand, and Localize. If you've been waiting to try Craft for client projects, this makes it easy to give it a real test run.

The Forecast page

This isn't part of the latest release, but it's still good to know: Pixel & Tonic has launched a new Forecast page on buildwithcraft.com. It updates daily with the Craft 1.0 to-do list from Basecamp, so you can see what's planned before the 1.0 release. It's a handy way to keep track of upcoming features.