Magento is starting 2020 with a bang with a January 28th release. A relatively small release compared to the ones we received in 2019, Magento 2.3.4 has some exciting updates. With over 250 feature fixes, here is our assessment of the key ones:
1. Free Chat with dotdigital Extension
What?
Chat is now included in the bundled dotdigital extension and available free for all Magento merchants (both Open Source and Commerce) running version 2.3 or above.
Our take:
This is a great opportunity for merchants who are hesitating about deploying Chat. They can set up a free account and try the feature before committing. The free version is limited to a single chat agent. You can reach out to the wonderful team over at dotdigital for pricing information.
More info + how to get started:
https://dotdigital.com/engagement-cloud/live-chat/
2. Integrate Adobe Stock Images and Video Without Leaving the Magento Admin Panel
What?
The much anticipated, community-driven project to integrate the Adobe Stock platform directly into the Magento admin panel is now available. You can now search for, preview in-context, purchase and embed licensed Adobe Stock media into your site without leaving the Magento admin panel.
Our take:
The value of Adobe’s acquisition of Magento is starting to show some teeth, as the ecosystem grows and compounds. The integration of Adobe stock into the admin panel is seriously useful and will hopefully inspire other similar integrations.
More info + how to get started:
Magento Commerce merchants are eligible for free Adobe Stock credits to get started. Reach out to your Magento Partner to find out more.
Developers looking for more information can find it here:
https://github.com/magento/adobe-stock-integration/wiki
3. PWA Studio: Improvements for Your Marketing Teams and Consumers
What?
PWA Studio continues to evolve and is about to become a “must have” element for most roadmaps.
Our take:
This release brings much needed features to the evolving PWA Studio. Consumers will experience the benefit; updates to the cart, navigation, and search will make it even easier for them to find the products they want.
Internally, marketing teams using PWA Studio will have an ever easier time creating rich content. That content, once saved using the Page Builder tool will now be stored in a format that can be retrieved and rendered by PWA Studio.
4. Security Patches, XML changes and PCI Compliance
To maintain PCI compliance and ensure the security of commerce platforms, Magento made a security-patch-only update available alongside the main 2.3.4 release. Merchants on 2.3.3 will be able to apply the 2.3.3-p1 patch, which resolves more than 30 security enhancements focusing on cross-site scripting (XSS) and remote code execution (RCE) vulnerabilities.
For critical security patches, merchants have 30 days to deploy these fixes to maintain their compliance.
Out with the old (way of defining custom XML):
One of the widely used page layout manipulation tools within the Magento admin panel has been reimagined. Merchants who were using the admin panel to customize page layouts for Products, Categories or CMS pages are now able to define this via user entered XML updates.
Action item:
The old way of using page layout manipulation tools has been replaced with a more secure, file-based approach. You will need to work with your Magento Partner to create these layout files and deploy them. Once these files are created, you can use a selector in the admin panel to choose the layout adjustment you require for each page.
5. Deprecation of Authorize.net Bundled Extension
Finally, merchants should be aware of the deprecation of the bundled Authorize.net extension.
Action item:
For those using this extension, migrate to the official Authorize.net extension available from the Magento marketplace.
More resources:
See the full release notes here: https://devdocs.magento.com/guides/v2.3/release-notes/release-notes-2-3-4-commerce.html
To read Magento’s blog on the release, visit the Magento site.
To speak with one of Absolunet’s Magento Experts:
