New in Craft CMS 3.7
The changelogs are linked here, for those interested in reading all the changes in detail. In this article, on the other hand, I briefly present the most important innovations.
Editor Slideouts
Inline element editors throughout the control panel have received a major upgrade with 3.7. These now use the new Slideout UI, so there is access to the entire field layout of the element, including custom tabs and UI elements.
If desired, the meta fields can also be displayed, such as name, who uploaded the file, and file size, plus a preview for images. An extra button then links to the item's dedicated edit page.
Another example would be the relationships field, which can link one item to another. A double click on the entry and the slideout opens, and all fields and the sidebar with metadata can be edited without leaving the original entry. The whole thing works on multiple levels, and each new level opens in a slideout.
Default placement for entries in structures
When creating a section, a new option has been added. If "Structure" is selected as the section type, it is now possible to specify where new entries are placed in the structure by default after creation.
You can choose between:
- After other entries
- Before other entries
Before Craft 3.7, new entries were added exclusively after the others.
Order of Global Content
A small but nice innovation is the possibility to define the order of the global content in the settings via drag & drop.
Streamlined workflow for publishing entries
The process for publishing entries has been optimized, which becomes apparent as soon as a new entry is created. The latest entry is automatically saved as a draft and only published when the "Create entry" button is clicked.
After the content has been edited, the corresponding fields are marked with a narrow blue bar on the left during automatic saving. With this visual feedback, it is thus quickly apparent which fields have been changed regarding content.
If unsatisfied with the changes, you can quickly undo them with a mouse click. Alternatively, you can create your draft or accept and publish everything.
Conclusion
Craft 3.7 brings many good new features that make editing content more manageable. Accessing other entries or images within a post via slideout and adjusting them - without leaving the original post - is a welcome relief.
The streamlined handling of creating new entries is even more critical - finally, there is no need to worry about managing drafts directly. Make the content, and a draft will automatically be created in the background. The marking of changed fields is also very helpful. The workflow has been meaningfully optimized, from creating to handling drafts to publishing.
