Ghost Release: 1.0.0-alpha.21

TL;DR

Ghost 1.0.0-alpha.21 introduces a significant shift back to a markdown-only editor with enhanced capabilities, a more robust importer that provides better feedback, and a completely new Markdown renderer that adheres to CommonMark and GitHub Flavored Markdown specs. This release focuses on improving core functionality while addressing numerous bugs and dependency updates, making Ghost more reliable and user-friendly for content creators.

Highlight of the Release

• Switched from custom Showdown fork to markdown-it for better CommonMark and GitHub Flavored Markdown support
• Improved content importer with better error reporting and handling of edge cases
• New SimpleMDE-based markdown editor with toolbar and drag/drop uploads
• Refactored importer architecture for better maintainability and error handling
• Fixed HTTPS image URLs when site is accessed over SSL

Migration Guide

Migration Notes

Markdown Renderer Changes

The switch from a custom Showdown fork to markdown-it may result in minor differences in HTML output. Key changes to be aware of:

• Header ID generation behavior has been updated but maintains backward compatibility
• Newline behavior may differ slightly from previous versions
• HTML handling is more compliant with CommonMark specifications

Template Changes

Default templates now use SVG icons instead of icon fonts. If you've customized templates, you may want to update your icons for consistency.

Development Environment

• A minimum version of Yarn is now required for development to ensure consistent dependency resolution
• When using npm instead of Yarn, you may encounter peer dependency errors with certain packages

Upgrade Recommendations

This alpha release (1.0.0-alpha.21) is strictly for development and testing only and should not be used in production environments.

For developers and testers:

• Upgrade to test the new markdown editor and importer functionality
• Report any issues with markdown rendering differences that may affect your content
• Test the import functionality with your existing content to ensure compatibility

For production sites:

• Continue using the latest stable release
• Wait for the official 1.0.0 release before upgrading production environments

Bug Fixes

Fixed Issues

• Fixed issue where posts with updated_at set to null couldn't be saved after import
• Fixed mail header syntax error when blog title contains double quotes
• Ensured import of scheduled posts works correctly without converting them to drafts
• Fixed HTTPS image URLs when site is accessed over SSL
• Added proper error message when config.url has no protocol
• Fixed handling of unbalanced HTML in markdown cards
• Ensured post tags sort order is correct when importing
• Disabled pinging Slack when importing content to avoid unnecessary notifications

New Features

New Markdown Editor

• Switched to a SimpleMDE-based editor with toolbar and drag/drop upload functionality
• Default post now uses a single markdown card format to match the new editor

Improved Markdown Renderer

• Replaced custom Showdown fork with markdown-it
• Added support for CommonMark and GitHub Flavored Markdown specs
• Improved header ID behavior and duplicate header handling
• Added support for headers without spaces after the # symbols

Enhanced Importer

• Completely refactored importer architecture using class inheritance for better readability and maintenance
• Added better error reporting and warnings for import issues
• Improved handling of edge cases like null values in titles, slugs, and dates
• Better support for importing scheduled posts while maintaining their status
• Fixed post tags sort order when importing content

Security Updates

No specific security fixes were mentioned in this release.

Performance Improvements

• Optimized importer to handle relations more efficiently
• Improved memory usage when processing markdown with unbalanced HTML by properly closing jsdom window
• Refactored storage and scheduling adapters for better organization and maintainability

Impact Summary

Ghost 1.0.0-alpha.21 represents a significant step toward the 1.0.0 release with major improvements to core functionality. The switch to a markdown-only editor with SimpleMDE provides a better writing experience while maintaining simplicity. The completely refactored importer addresses numerous edge cases and provides better feedback, making content migration more reliable.

The replacement of the custom Showdown fork with markdown-it brings Ghost's markdown support up to modern standards with full CommonMark and GitHub Flavored Markdown compliance, fixing numerous long-standing issues with markdown syntax.

While these changes improve the overall experience, users should be aware that the new markdown renderer may produce slightly different HTML output in some edge cases. The development team has requested feedback on any significant differences to ensure they can be properly documented.

This alpha release continues to refine Ghost's core functionality while addressing technical debt, making the platform more robust and maintainable as it approaches the 1.0.0 milestone.

Full Release Notes