New in Craft CMS 5.8

Content Block Fields

A new field type that groups multiple fields into a single, reusable block. If you've ever co-opted a single-row Matrix field just to visually group a handful of fields (a hero with a headline, subline, and image), this is what you actually wanted. You define the field layout once and use it across different entry types. In templates, you access it like any other field, with the content block as the container and its fields nested inside. Grouped SEO fields look like an obvious use case too: title, description, and og:image in one place instead of scattered across the layout.

Generated Fields

Also new: Generated Fields let you define additional values for your elements using Twig templates, saved alongside the element data and accessible in templates and via GraphQL. They're set up in the field layout rather than added as fields. Haven't used them yet.

Collapsible Source Headings

Source headings in element indexes are now collapsible. That sounds like nothing until you have a site with many sections. Here on CraftEntries, the Entries sidebar has a Links heading with Links, Official Links, Community Links, and Topics underneath it. Most days I'm not doing anything with links, and now I can fold the whole thing away and stop looking at it.

What I find more interesting is what it implies. Pixel & Tonic clearly see that everything living under Entries gets long, and this is them doing something about it. Not the full answer, but they're looking at the right place.

Grouped Entry Types for Matrix Fields

This one matters a lot for anyone building content builders. Before 5.8, all block types in a Matrix field appeared in one flat list. On a typical setup with a dozen or more block types, that list gets unwieldy fast.

In 5.8, you can organize them into named groups. Something like "General" containing Heading, Text, and Quote, and "Media" containing Gallery and Image. Editors no longer have to scroll through everything to find what they need.

On top of that, Matrix fields with more than five entry types now automatically show a search input in the creation menu.

Expand and Collapse All Matrix Blocks

This one I'm happy about. Matrix fields set to the inline-editable blocks view mode now have "Expand all blocks" and "Collapse all blocks" actions. It sounds minor, but the absence of this has been a persistent annoyance. Until now, collapsing all blocks required a keyboard shortcut that was neither obvious nor discoverable. Direct competitors like Statamic solved this with a simple UI button years ago. It's fixed now.

Search Input for Relational Fields

Relational fields set to a single element source now show a search input by default, so you can filter within the field instead of opening the selector modal. There's a new "Show the search input" setting if you'd rather turn it off.

Notification and Slideout Position

A small but personal one: users can now set their preferred notification and slideout positions in their account preferences. It's per-user, so it doesn't affect anyone else on the project. Not a game-changer, but the kind of thing that makes the control panel feel a bit more like your own.

Conclusion

A new field type and a new way to compute values, both in one release. Content Block and Generated Fields will take a while to show up in my own projects, but I'll notice the grouped Matrix entry types and the expand/collapse actions from day one. Check the full changelog for everything not covered here.