Introduction
Craft 3.1, Dot One, coding tips, plugins and more.
Welcome to another collection of Craft news and links. Every issue starts as a blank slate, and the Craft community comes through every time. Thanks to those of you who wrote the posts and shared their knowledge.
We’ve got the new Craft 3.1 beta, Craft 3 stable channel updates, the introduction of the Craft partner network, plus loads of tips and plugins. If you live down under, you’ve got Dot One to look forward to as well.
Thank you to Solspace for sponsoring this issue. Twitter tells me there is a big update to Freeform 2.5. Got form needs on your site? Give Freeform a spin.
Let’s hit the links.
-John Morton
Top Stories
Craft 3.1 Beta is Here
As I write this, Craft 3.1-beta3 just hit the web. There will probably be another update by the time you read this. The P&T team are machines!
Craft 3.1 has a lot of updatess coming our way. Check out the link above for the full details. Here is an overview.
- Project Config introduces a new way of keeping your fields, sections, and several other project configuration settings all in sync across multiple environments, without sharing database backups.
- Administrative changes can now be disallowed on production thanks to the new
allowAdminChanges
config setting. - Several Control Panel settings can now be set to environment variables, keeping sensitive information out of your database (and your project config file).
- Live Preview now works across multiple domains.
- Elements, field layouts, sites, and site groups are now soft-deleted, and later hard-deleted via garbage collection.
- Plugins can now have multiple editions, similar to Craft’s Solo and Pro editions.
News
Dot One Australia in 2019
Australia Craft devs, rejoice! Dot One Australia in Melbourne is coming your way on February 5, 2019.
Introducing the Craft Partner Network
Craft now has an official Partner Network. Check out the Craft Partners Overview for full details.
Craft 3.0.32 and 3.0.33 released
Craft 3.0.33 has one change that caught my eye. "The default allowedFileExtensions
config setting value now includes webp
." If that interests you too, look for the Why and how to use WebP images today link below in the It's not Craft but it's interesting section.
Craft 2.7.4 released
Craft 2.74 fixed a potential PHP error when calling CategoriesService::getAllGroupIds()
.
Featured Sponsor

Freeform Payments now available!
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Tools, tips, and fundamentals
Using Project Config in Craft
Excited about learning how to use Project Configs in the new Craft 3.1 beta? CraftQuest already has a video to help you out. You can watch it with a free account.
The Craft {% cache %} Tag In-Depth
Andrew has updated his post on the cache tag for Craft 3.
{% cache %}
Thanks, Andrew.
{% endcache %}
Locked out of your site?
If you’re locked out of your site but have access to MySQL, you can still get back in with this tip.
ngrok
ngrok provides “secure introspectable tunnels to localhost”. Or, in words that I understand, it creates public URLs for testing on mobile devices.
Perfecting your technique
Challenge #2 – 5 Minute Read Solutions
This edition of the Craft Coding Challenge tested participants’ Twig skills to create a macro calculating the approximate reading time of an article. The post includes solutions.
Challenge #3 – The First Draft, including solutions
Craft Coding Challenge #3 was to create "a module that listens for the EntryRevisions::EVENT_AFTER_SAVE_DRAFT
event". The challenge has ended and the solution is now open to all.
Static File Caching with Craft CMS 3, aka The Best Of Both Worlds
Ben Croker, the creator of the Craft Coding Challenge, goes into detail in this post about static file caching and the new Blitz plugin, mentioned below in the plugged in section.
A happier “Happy Lager” Craft CMS demo site showing modular template architecture.
Following up on his presentation “Architecting a Content Website” at DotAll 2018, Souvik Das Gupta forked the official Happy Lager Craft Demo site to follow a modular template architecture.
MAMP Pro to DDEV (with Craft specific examples)
"DDEV isn’t perfect, but it’s been a welcome MAMP replacement and I’m going to try and convince you to try it."
Website CMS User Manual for End Users
Sean Smith discusses making his clients' lives easier with Craft user manuals created for end users.
devMode.fm // Leveraging Laravel for Truly Custom Projects
"We discuss when a CMS like Craft makes sense, and when it makes sense to utilize Laravel in addition to or instead of a CMS."
Sponsor

Pic Puller: The Instagram plugin for Craft CMS
Pic Puller brings your Instagram media into Craft CMS with one-click authorization. Full documentation and code samples get you up and running quickly. Learn more at picpuller.com or find it in the plugin store in your Craft 3 control panel.
Plugged In
Craft Sheets to Tables plugin
This plugin provides a Twig function to convert Spreadsheets into HTML tables.
Blitz
The Blitz plugin provides intelligent static file caching for creating lightning-fast sites with Craft CMS.
Published Event for Craft 3
This plugin triggers an event for entries when they are published or expire in the future.
oEmbed
This simple plugin allows you to extract media information from websites, like YouTube videos, Twitter statuses or blog articles.
Wishlist
This new plugin from Verbb allows users to create lists for any element, for example, a favorites list for entries, or a wishlist for products.
The Craft Advantage
An Event Apart moves from ExpressionEngine to Craft CMS
The blog A List Apart may be moving over to Wordpress, but their sister site, An Event Apart, has just moved to Craft.
Overheard
Brandon Kelly on Craft 4 licensing ideas
In the past few weeks, ExpressionEngine has gone open source. That change has created some discussion on licensing in the Craft community as well. Brandon weighed in on Twitter on the topic.
It’s not Craft, but it’s interesting.
The Short History of Website Building ⭐️
This is a beautifully designed infographic. Your click will be worth it.
The best thing you can do for your business and your customers
John Doherty on bigger budgets, better clients and staying in business.
Implications Of Thinking In Blocks Instead Of Blobs ⭐️
Wordpress is getting ready to ship Gutenberg, the React-based content builder. This component-based architecture could have major implications not just on Wordpress, but content creation online. This piece dives into that topic.
Muzzle - silence embarrassing notifications
This little Mac app will try to keep you from being embarrassed during video conferences.