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A new and improved codebase has afforded Zesty.io engineers to push out a wave of features and improvements in 2021 that continue to register in the queue today. However, the highlight of this note focuses our attention on a breakthrough DAM feature called On The Fly (OTF) Media Rendering and Manipulation. It gives both Developers and Content Authors equal impact when handling media. 

Zesty.io can now automatically transform images as the content-type ".webp" which is an image format preferred by browsers as this optimized image format cuts down download and rendering time by as much as 50%. 

Current Zesty.io customers get an instant SEO boost as a result of the release.  Images may also be manipulated “on-the-fly” by passing query parameters to the end of the image URL. With this service, Zesty improves workflows by adding headless controls to media. It also gives users an edge in SEO, complying with Google’s rigorous and continuously evolving web standards. Read more about OTF Media Rendering Manipulation here.

Below is a quick summary of this month's accomplishments. Check out The List below for more details. If you’re waiting for a status update on a bug, enhancement, or feature request,  all of these are available via our publicly accessible Manager UI GitHub repository and Accounts UI GitHub repository.

June Summary

  • 8 New Features
  • 8 Improvements
  • 4 Updates
  • 1 Bug Fixed
  • 6 New and Updated Docs

The List

WebEngine

  • Update: The Zesty.io origin service, WebEngine, has changed two headers on request responses:

    1. GAE’s "Cache-Control" and "Pragma" headers exist to instruct browsers (e.g. Chrome, Firefox, Safari) to keep a copy of a page for [X] seconds, which it will then serve, instead of requesting the latest. On Zesty.io’s WebEngine this has historically been set to 300 seconds (5 minutes). 

      This caused an unpredictable publishing experience for Zesty’s customers who have high volumes of staged content that needs to be published in a short window of time. The decided action was to remove the Cache-Control directive, thereby eradicating any inconsistent and uncontrollable behaviours. 

      Read more about Changing Origin Headers; Cache-Control and Pragma and why we chose to change our origin service Cache-Control and Pragma response headers

  • Update: Image size and height call fix: Google blocks certain usage of cURL operations in app engine that are necessary for retrieving image size and call data via a cloud function. A yaml increase and dead code were removed to help achieve this.

  • Enhancement: Preview lock pass available to pass as a GET param.

  • Enhancement: Instant API now include fully qualified urls with protocols. Below is an example of a fully qualified URL for resources, which previously omitted the protocol and domain:

  • New Feature: Parsley call {{ this.toJSON() }} to output any content item, fully hydrated, to JSON
  • New Feature: Setting detection which adds missing default settings to older zesty instances.
  • New Feature: WebEngine Modes - Headless, Hybrid, and Traditional for more control over the default output behavior of WebEngine. A new setting is available in general to toggle between "headless", "hybrid", or "traditional" modes. docs link

Headless Mode

-All APIs are on (GQL/INSTANT/toJSON) accessible, CORS is set * (anywhere) for every request

-Every route return JSON of the item it, as it would if you passed /?toJSON

  • /-/headless/ is available

Here’s an example of /-/headless/routing .json:



Hybrid Mode

-All APIs are on (GQL/INSTANT/toJSON) accessible, CORS is set * (anywhere) for every request

-Routes /?toJSON is available on any route, but default behavior is to return Parsley rendered view

  • /-/headless/ is available

Traditional Mode (default)

-All APIs must be installed and explicitly turned toggled on, CORS rejects requests    unless explicitly told otherwise through settings

-Routes /?toJSON is NOT available

-All Views render with Parsley

      • Update: Manager UI and Accounts UI have been updated to reflect the new URL for previewing. *.preview.zesty.io will remain in production and is still available.

    </li> </ul>

    • Update: Items in content models with a parentZUID set to null that were in different versions and publish states disappeared from site maps. This was fixed by updating the sitemap to be ok with parent_ZUIDs set to null.

    Manager UI

    • Enhancement: Instructions now appear when users create custom endpoints to indicate that a file name must begin with a forward slash &ldquo; / &ldquo;. 

    • Enhancement: A friendlier access denied screen. When landing on a page with a 403 message: &ldquo;You do not have permission to access this instance&rdquo; the option to link back to the Accounts UI is shown.

          
    • Enhancement: When a redirect fails to create, a more verbose error message appears to inform the user that the redirect must be a relative path:

    • Enhancement: When creating a redirect the &ldquo;To&rdquo; field did not reset leaving a   &ldquo; / &ldquo; in the field. On click the field now clears after submitting the redirect indicating the action was successful.

    • Enhancement: Content editors are now prompted with a branded modal instead of a generic browser alert suggesting to save changes after attempting to leave the content section without saving work:

    • New Feature: For customers using their own CDN in a Zesty hybrid setup, users can now purge their own hybrid endpoints using the refresh cache button at both the instance and page levels. See this link for more information. 

    • Enhancement: An educational notice has been added alerting users to possible unintended consequences when setting the &ldquo;www&rdquo; toggle to on if the instance uses a sub-domain as it&rsquo;s primary without proper SSL setup.

    • Enhancement: The section name is now placed next to the section the user is in and is clearly separated from the vertical navigation making it easier to orient oneself in the Manager, particularly in smaller screen scenarios.



    • Bug Fix: Intermittent Accounts UI not loading unless user switches to mode. Login module now properly displays and Instances consistently load as expected.

    New and Updated Documentation

    By Dominic Tarantino

    I work with all teams in our enterprise customer base, agency partners and individuals to ensure they are successful on the Zesty.io platform. Zesty.io is an end-to-end solution for those who want powerful omni-channel digital experience built for scale and who want tools that will be relevant throughout the years long enterprise journey.

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