Contao 5.1.0 released

Contao 5.1 has been released and offers exciting new features such as a dark mode, back end favorites, form submission via Ajax and much more. In this article we present the most important new features.

Create back end favorites

From now on you can create your own favorites list in the back end. You need frequent access to the front end modules or a special layout? No problem!

This is how it works:

Open the desired menu item and click on the "star icon" in the upper navigation bar. Quickly assign a name and your new favorite is already saved. You can even nest the favorites and create submenu items for even better tidiness.

Form sending without any forward page

Frequently requested and now included in the Contao core. Forms can now be submitted directly via Ajax. This eliminates the need for a separate redirect page.

This is how it works:

Go to the configuration of the form and activate the checkbox "Send via Ajax". Then add a confirmation message. In the confirmation text you have the possibility to access the submitted form data with the help of Simple Tokens. For example, you can output the field "firstname" with the notation ##firstname##.

Copy repeatedly

Imagine you've created certain sample elements that you want to copy and paste into multiple articles or pages. Until now, you had to copy the content elements to the clipboard each time you wanted to paste them. For this use case there is now the new function "Copy repeatedly". This means that the clipboard is not automatically cleared when pasting.

This is how it works:

Click on "Edit multiple" and then select the desired elements. Now you will find a new button "Copy repeatedly". Click on it and then paste the elements as many times as you want. To empty the clipboard and end the "Copy repeatedly" process, click on the button "Clear clipboard".

Improvement of sorting and search

The search function is now preconfigured to useful standard fields. When searching, many fields can now be sorted ascending or descending. Developers also have the option of specifying their own standard fields for the search.

Dark Mode and further improvements in the back end display

The back end has also been adapted in one place or another. Most noticeable is certainly the new dark mode and the clearer distinction of the content elements. In addition, there is a new grid system in the back end, which now allows to place several fields next to each other. This shortens the length of the individual input forms.

In the profile settings, there is a new option "Do not collapse content elements". This means that the preview of content elements is no longer automatically shortened.

In addition, protected articles are now better marked by a lock icon.

Further improvements and changes

• A message is now displayed if the system administrator's e-mail address is missing.
• In the layout, the viewport setting is now independent of the CSS framework and receives a suitable default value.
• The system log displays the affected URI and page ID for better error analysis.
• The login screen always displays the same message, regardless of whether the back end user really exists or not.
• The feed reader module has been adapted and now additionally supports the JSON format.
• New background workers allow long-lived processes to run asynchronously in the background.
• Cron jobs have been improved and new functions added.
• Error handling for forms has been extended.

A complete list of all changes can be found in the changelog at the end of this blog post. Also worth reading is the official release article on contao.org and worth watching is the YouTube video of the Contao Academy.

trakked is compatible with Contao 5.1

As usual, all known trakked functions are also available for Contao 5.1.

Update to Contao 5.1 directly with trakked?

Since we get this question often, we would like to address this point again very briefly. The update function of trakked is only suitable for bugfix releases, because for major and minor releases, manual adjustments have to be made to the installation outside of trakked. More about the concept of Semantic Versioning can be found in the Contao documentation.

Should I update to Contao 5.1?

With the release of Contao 5.1, support for version 5.0 ends. If you are using Contao 5.0, we recommend that you update as soon as possible.

If you are using Contao 4.x, you have to decide for yourself if an update to Contao 5.1 is already possible and reasonable. Fortunately, the first extensions and themes are now compatible with Contao 5. Basically, if you only have core functions and compatible extensions in use, then nothing stands in the way of an update.

Thank you for the development of Contao!

We would like to thank everyone who contributes to the constant development and improvement of our favorite CMS.