Guidelines for monthly release blog posts
Overview
Monthly release blog posts (e.g. "CiviCRM 5.68 Release") often feature improvements that are not user-facing. We should focus on a small number of items (1 to 3) that affect the UX of the most users.
This comes out of a conversation between myself and @bgm. He writes the monthly release blog posts, and I'll be helping out.
Example
We'd only pull the first 3 of these, but 5.69 is a big release. In other months items 4-6 might be valid.
5.69
FormBuilder conditional fields
Show/hide questions on FormBuilder forms based on answers to other questions.
FormBuilder manual processing
FormBuilder submissions can now optionally not update CiviCRM immediately. Submissions can be reviewed, manually approved, and/or require an email confirmation before updating CiviCRM.
SearchKit field comparison
SearchKit queries can now compare fields to other fields. For instance, find all records where the first name is the same as the nickname.
UI Overhaul
More screens have been replaced with the new user interface, making them faster and easier to customize: Date Preferences, Mailing Label formats, Import/Export Mappings. Turn on "Admin UI" and/or "Search UI" in Extensions to see them.
FormBuilder performance improvements
Forms load faster, especially for non-administrator users.
Accessibility improvements
More "accordion" elements can now be read properly by screen readers and are usable without a mouse.
Guidelines
Focus on items that users and admins will want to explore when they hear about them. Biggest features up top.
Always:
- New features only - no bug fixes.
- Prioritize features that have wide applicability - e.g. changes in custom fields are better than CiviPledge changes.
- Nothing that does not result in a noticeable change in behavior. E.g. no refactoring PRs.
- Nothing strictly developer-facing. E.g. nothing referencing the API, civix, hooks.
- Sometimes several small related features can be one item.
- Prioritize end user features over admin features. PHP 8.2 support feels big to us, but isn't to most folks.
- Anything that visually changes Civi in a very noticeable way (e.g. the dashboard revamp).
Usually:
These items can be added to pad out a post when there aren't significant user-facing changes.
- Changes that affect little-used screens (like those in "UI Overhaul" above).
- Mostly-invisible features like "Performance improvements". Exceptions made if something makes a truly massive difference.
- Big a11y changes are good. Small a11y changes aren't.
For comparison, this is what my "Little Green Light October 2022" email had: Highlights include:
- New integration with CourseStorm
- Higher payouts for Refer a Friend and Affiliate referrals
- In LGL forms: Option to require double entry of email address
- In LGL forms: Updated GivingTuesday form