Studio updates

Previews and deployments

You can now simplify your workflow with the new Frontend previews area and improved deployment tools, which offer seamless previews, better tracking, and easier troubleshooting:

• With the Frontend previews area, you can now instantly preview your staging or production deploys from the Studio. No more toggling between commercetools and external platforms like Netlify—everything is integrated for a smoother workflow. Say goodbye to constant context-switching, making the review and deployment process quicker and more intuitive.

  This feature is available upon request for now.

  

• Managing deployments is now more straightforward, thanks to updates that make your workflow smoother. You can now track changes more effectively with separate sections for frontend and backend commit hashes. A new build queue system lets you queue multiple builds to deploy them one at a time, ideal for larger teams frequently pushing updates.

• Additionally, a history icon makes it simple to view your deployment history and stay on top of changes. To top it off, deployment mismatch warnings now alert you to potential discrepancies before going live, reducing errors in production.

• In the Continuous Integration area, we introduced the Not applicable and Expired frontend build statuses to provide an accurate representation of your build status. Earlier, for scenarios that are now captured by the new statuses, the Pending and Canceled statuses were used, even though they did not reflect the actual build status.

• Troubleshooting is also easier now as errors are simpler to spot and resolve, saving you time and effort. No more switching between tools to check your build logs! With this update, you can now view both frontend and backend build logs directly in the Studio. Just click the build log you need to inspect, and you’re good to go. For frontend build logs, the Humio build log opens.

  

Enhanced media management

We made major improvements to the media management experience, specifically designed to make things faster, easier, and more intuitive for content teams and developers:

• It is now easier to find your media assets. With advanced filters like file type, upload date, and tags, content teams can locate the needed media faster, saving valuable time.

• Managing large-scale media projects is now a breeze. You can perform bulk actions that let you upload, delete, or tag multiple assets at once, streamlining workflows for large-scale projects. A cleaner and user-friendly interface also ensures straightforward asset management.

  

• Uploading assets is now faster and more intuitive, and metadata editing is simpler, thanks to clearer fields and better organization. Image handling supports more suitable formats and higher resolutions, ensuring your visuals are always displayed at their best to provide a premium customer experience.

  

Content creation, version control, and dynamic page rules

Enhance efficiency in the Site Builder with faster loading, better organization, version control, and an intuitive page rule builder for smoother collaboration and flexibility:

• The experience in the Site builder is now faster and more efficient. Page folders and page versions load much quicker, which is a game-changer for teams managing many pages. Moving page folders is now easier too; just select the new position from the settings or reorder them with the Sort folders button. These enhancements help teams access and organize content faster, without delays.

• We introduced a much-requested version control system, so you can restore previous versions of page versions, schemas, and component groups with ease. This makes collaboration smoother and reduces the risk of losing critical changes. Whether you’re rolling back to an earlier page version, reverting schema changes, or restoring component groups, your teams now have more flexibility and control.

• Creating dynamic page rules is now easier with the new page rule criteria builder. Instead of writing complicated Frontend Entity Criterion Language (FECL) expressions, you can now define rule criteria using a simple and intuitive UI. This is great for Studio users without a development background. However, for those who prefer it, the option to write FECL expressions is still available.

  

New user roles, other key updates, and bug fixes

We rolled out important bug fixes and improvements, boosting system stability, streamlining workflows, and enhancing reliability:

• We introduced four new user roles in the Studio to improve permissions and collaboration: Collaborator, Developer, Junior Developer, and Viewer. These roles offer flexibility in assigning permissions without compromising control. Additionally, we updated existing roles. The former Lead Editor role is now called Editor, and the former Editor role is now Collaborator. For further information, check out Using Team.

• Tracking data source usage is now simpler than ever. In the Data sources area, you can see where each data source is used, making it easier to manage data source schemas. The settings pane now mirrors the structure of Frontend components.
  To view data source usage details, go to Developer > Data Sources, select the data source, and expand the Data source usage section to see all places where the data source is being used.

  

• In the Site builder and Dynamic pages areas, the new frontend component validation prevents errors and ensures smoother operations. You can no longer schedule, publish, or mark as default page versions with missing required fields in their Frontend components. Additionally, you can now filter page folders by environment (Staging or Development), making it easier to focus on the folders relevant to your workflow.

• Issues with version synchronization of media assets during deployments are now resolved, ensuring the right assets are live. We also optimized the Studio's performance for quicker access and responsiveness.

• The user account menu has a refreshed design. Now, your name and email address are displayed for quick reference, and links to the Merchant Center, Netlify, and Humio appear as buttons, making navigation easier.

• Alongside the major updates, we rolled out smaller enhancements and UI/UX tweaks across various areas of Frontend Studio. These include bug fixes and improvements aimed at reducing friction and improving the overall user experience. While these updates might seem minor, they make a big difference in terms of usability and reliability.

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