Altis Cloud v19 is here! After extensive testing and fine-tuning, the stable version is now available with a host of new features, enhancements, and performance improvements. Here’s a closer look at what you can expect in this latest release.
WordPress 6.5: ‘Regina’ is here
The cornerstone of Altis Cloud v19 is the integration of WordPress 6.5, which introduces a multitude of new features, fixes, and performance enhancements. Here are some of the headline updates:
- Performance and accessibility enhancements: Ensuring a smoother and more inclusive user experience.
- Performant translations: Faster and more efficient multilingual support.
- Block and Site Editor unification: A more cohesive and streamlined editing experience.
- New Font Library and design tool enhancements: Expanded design capabilities for more creative freedom.
- Support for AVIF images: Bringing modern image format support for better performance and quality.
For developers, WordPress 6.5.0 offers several noteworthy features:
- Block bindings and interactivity APIs: Simplifying the development of interactive blocks.
- Classic themes and Site Editor updates: Improved compatibility and functionality.
- Native JavaScript module support: Enabling more modern development workflows.
- Plugin dependencies: Better management of plugin requirements.
For a comprehensive overview, check out the WordPress 6.5 Field Guide.
MySQL 8.0 now supported: Enhanced performance
Altis now supports MySQL v8.0, offering significant performance improvements and new features. New installations will default to MySQL 8.0, although users still have the option to choose between 5.7 and 8.0. Switching to MySQL 8.0 will automatically upgrade your database, ensuring a seamless transition.
Under the hood, when you upgrade to MySQL 8.0, we’ll also migrate your database from Amazon Aurora to Amazon RDS. Our extensive testing has shown that RDS has equal or better performance over Aurora for our customers, so we’re updating this as part of our continual optimization.
Alongside the Cloud support for MySQL 8.0, full support has been added to Altis Local Server, giving you the ability to develop, test, and verify your database upgrade locally with confidence. For more information about MySQL 8.0 in Local Server, consult the documentation.
Tachyon v3
Tachyon version 3 has been released, bringing enhanced capabilities and streamlined integration for enterprise WordPress users. It’s now a standard feature within the Altis Cloud platform, offering a more seamless and integrated digital experience for customers.
Developed with Node.js and the libvips library via the sharp open-source project, Tachyon is everyone’s favorite on-demand image resizing and optimisation microservice for ensuring efficiency and performance.
It operates seamlessly with AWS Lambda and Amazon S3, providing fast and high-quality image storage, management, and delivery. As an open-source project, Tachyon encourages global developer contributions.
Key updates in Tachyon version 3 include:
- Migration to TypeScript: This change reduces potential bugs and simplifies integration with AWS Lambda, making the service more robust and reliable. The use of the aws-lambda NPM package ensures precise runtime types and reduces errors.
- Upgrade to Node.js 18: The upgrade promises faster runtime speeds, improved memory usage, and other benefits. A future transition to Node.js 20 is planned for further enhancements.
- Animated GIF Support: Tachyon now supports resizing and optimising animated GIFs, overcoming the previous 5MB size limitation and delivering optimized images without compromising quality.
- Simplified AWS Infrastructure: Using Lambda Function URLs instead of the API Gateway service reduces infrastructure complexity. Deploying Tachyon on AWS Lambda now requires only the pre-built ZIP to be uploaded to a Lambda Function. The response mechanism has been switched to Lambda Response Streaming, resulting in faster TTFB and increasing the maximum data size from 5MB to 20MB. Automated testing powered by Jest and local development with AWS SAM are also included.
Altis Core improvements: Robust and reliable
This release also brings numerous updates to the core modules and libraries within Altis, incorporating important bug fixes and enhancements. These updates are designed to provide a more robust, reliable, and efficient platform, ensuring your digital experiences are top-notch.
Enhanced developer documentation
We have once again improved our developer-focused documentation, incorporating valuable feedback from our customers and partners. We encourage you to explore these resources and share your thoughts with us – your feedback is instrumental in helping us refine and enhance our platform.
Saying goodbye to v15 and PHP 8.0
As of April 21, Altis Cloud v15 is no longer supported, so if you’ve been waiting around, now is a great time to upgrade straight to v19. Our detailed upgrade guides make upgrades a breeze.
Additionally, we’re dropping official support for PHP 8.0 with v19, with only PHP 8.1+ supported from v19 onwards. If you haven’t upgraded already, both PHP 8.1 and 8.2 include a boatload of improvements, including better performance. Note: WordPress itself lists potential compatibility issues with PHP 8.1 and 8.2, but we’re confident that few people hit these issues in practice.
The near future
Work never stops at Altis HQ, and we’re already cracking on with v20. In addition, we’ve got a big feature launch coming very soon, so keep your eyes peeled!
We’re targeting late July for v20 release, but will be shipping some newer experimental features early as always. Version 16 will fall out of support on July 18th, so start preparing your upgrades if you haven’t yet!
But for now, we’re excited for you to explore these new features and improvements in version 19, and we look forward to hearing your feedback. See you soon!