Ghost Release: 2.1.0

TL;DR

Ghost 2.1.0 introduces image optimization on upload, a new gallery card for the editor, and several API and helper improvements. This release enhances content creation capabilities while improving performance through image compression and fixing several bugs related to co-authors and UI elements.

What's New

• Automatic image resizing and compression on upload
• Gallery card for rich media content in the editor
• New API flag for absolute URLs
• Enhanced subscription form customization

Why It Matters

These improvements make Ghost more efficient for content creators while reducing page load times through optimized images. The gallery card enables better visual storytelling, and the API improvements make integration with third-party applications smoother.

Who Should Care

Content creators, developers integrating with Ghost, and site owners concerned with performance will benefit most from this release.

Highlight of the Release

• Automatic image resizing and compression on upload for improved performance
• New gallery card added to the editor for better visual storytelling
• Added absolute_urls flag to public API for easier third-party integrations
• Fixed post counting for co-authors for more accurate author statistics

Migration Guide

No breaking changes were introduced that require migration steps. The new absolute_urls flag for the public API is opt-in via query parameter, so existing integrations will continue to work as before.

If you have custom code that handles image processing, you may want to review how it interacts with Ghost's new automatic image optimization feature. You can disable the feature via configuration if needed.

Upgrade Recommendations

This is a recommended upgrade for all Ghost users. The performance improvements from image optimization alone make this update worthwhile, and content creators will benefit from the new gallery card and improved editor experience.

There are no breaking changes, making this a low-risk upgrade that brings significant benefits. As always, it's recommended to backup your database before upgrading.

Bug Fixes

Fixed Post Counting for Co-Authors

The count.posts helper now correctly respects co-authors when counting posts, ensuring that post statistics are accurate for all contributors. This brings consistency with the author pages which already show all posts where an author is either primary or co-author.

Fixed Video Sizing in Editor

Videos in the editor now display at the correct size, fixing previous display issues that affected the content creation experience.

Fixed RPC Pings

Several improvements to the RPC ping functionality:

• Removed defunct Google Blogsearch from the ping list
• Updated Pingomatic method from weblogUpdate to weblogUpdates
• Improved error handling for RPC responses
• Better handling of XML error messages

Improved oEmbed Handling

Enhanced the oEmbed functionality to fall back to meta tag discovery for unknown providers:

• Now makes a GET request (instead of HEAD) when URL has no provider match
• Attempts to extract oEmbed data from HTML tags when no provider is found

New Features

Image Optimization on Upload

Ghost now automatically resizes and compresses images when they're uploaded, significantly improving site performance without requiring manual image processing. This feature:

• Preserves the original uploaded image
• Automatically creates an optimized version
• Handles rotation based on EXIF information
• Removes metadata from optimized images
• Can be disabled via configuration if needed

Gallery Card

A new gallery card has been added to the Koenig editor, allowing for:

• Multiple image displays in a single card
• Better visual storytelling capabilities
• Improved layout options for image collections

Absolute URLs in API

The public API now supports an absolute_urls flag that returns fully qualified URLs in API responses, making it much easier for third-party applications to consume Ghost content without having to manually concatenate URLs.

Security Updates

No specific security fixes were mentioned in this release.

Performance Improvements

Image Optimization

The new image optimization feature significantly improves site performance by:

• Automatically resizing large images to more appropriate dimensions
• Compressing images to reduce file size while maintaining quality
• Reducing bandwidth usage and improving page load times
• Handling image rotation based on EXIF data, eliminating the need for client-side rotation

Streamlined oEmbed Requests

The improved oEmbed handling now makes a single GET request instead of potentially making both HEAD and GET requests, reducing network overhead when embedding external content.

Impact Summary

Ghost 2.1.0 delivers substantial improvements to both content creation and site performance. The automatic image optimization feature addresses a common pain point for publishers by handling image resizing and compression automatically, which can significantly improve page load times and overall user experience.

Content creators gain new storytelling capabilities with the gallery card, allowing for more visually engaging content without requiring custom code or third-party solutions. The fixed video sizing in the editor improves the content creation workflow.

For developers, the new absolute_urls flag in the API makes integration with third-party applications more straightforward, while the additional parameters for subscription form helpers provide more customization options for newsletter signups.

The bug fixes for co-author post counting and RPC pings improve the accuracy of author statistics and site indexing, respectively. Overall, this release enhances Ghost's capabilities as a professional publishing platform while maintaining backward compatibility.

Full Release Notes