Magento has just announced the release of the latest versions of Magento Open Source 2.3.3, 2.2.10 and their new security-only patch (2.3.2-p2). This latest release of Magento Open Source software includes significant performance improvements as well as numerous security enhancements.

Magento Open Source 2.3.3

In accordance with the latest European directives ( PSD2 Compliance Support) Magento has rolled out Open Source 2.3.3, which incorporates changes to the native payment integration and introduces PHP 7.3 support. It is Magento’s recommendation that all users upgrade to ensure that your online store remains compliant and maintains the highest level of security available.

Highlights of Magento Open Source 2.3.3 include:

-Increased security: More than 100 new security fixes are included in this patch

-Increased performance: Faster loading times and better overall shopping experience by displaying text while webfonts load in the background and moving non-critical CSS items to the end of the loading queue.  

-Additionally, Magento has reduced the number of requests going back to the server, which helps increase throughput and decrease resource consumption. With these and other performance enhancements, this new version improves Google PageSpeed Insights score by up to 5 points in some instances.

-Increased quality: Critical areas of the platform such as Sales, Checkout and Catalogue modules received more than 190 product quality enhancements.

Elasticsearch 6.0+ Warning”

Warning when upgrading to Magento v2.3.3: There is a known issue when using Elasticsearch 6.0+ as search engine.
Product listing pages will not display products beyond the first page when utilizing additional pages from pagination. Luckily, there is an official patch released.

The only downfall of this is that product listing pages will no longer display the current page range on the navigation bar, it will only display the total count of the products found, for example, before patch: “Items 1-9 of 13” after patch “13 Items”.

Since Elasticsearch < 6.5 is EOL and MySQL is being deprecated (and will be imminently removed), it is highly recommended to apply this patch is you have short term plan of migrating to Elasticsearch.
This issue affects all Magento releases for v2.3.3: Open Source, Commerce and Cloud.

Additional 2.3.3 Product Enhancements

Yotpo

Magento officially welcomes Yotpo to the Magento core code as a vendor bundled extension. The marketing platform helps brands drive growth by integrating your visual marketing, referrals, customer reviews and loyalty programs. With this pre-installed integration, merchants can reduce development costs and implementation time by seamlessly activating Yotpo’s UGC solutions, instantly start collecting and displaying high-converting customer content, and stay on top of key performance metrics from within the Magento Commerce Admin panel.

Admin User Research

As part of efforts to improve product design and better understand the Admin experience, Magento Open Source now allows for the tracking of user actions and events on the Admin panel. After installation, the first user to sign-in will offered the option to accept or decline participation. Read more about it in the updated User Guide.

Google Shopping Ads Channel

The Google Shopping Ads Channel extension is now officially part of the code. With this integration, merchants will now be able to utilize the benefits of this tool without having to go to the Marketplace and download the extension. Learn how Google Shopping ads Channel delivers the power of Google advertising network in one end-to-end solution.

Security and Performance enhancements

Dotdigital, Amazon Pay, Klarna, Vertex and Magento Shipping all see multiple improvements to their security and performance.

Graph QL 

Improved Graph QL API coverage for PayPal payment integration, Gift Cards and Store Credit functionality. Learn more about Graph QL in our Release Notes.

For more information regarding the new enhancements, please review the official Magento release notes or visit the Magento Security Center.

If this all reads as greek to you, you’d like to discuss implementation of this upgrade, or you’re curious about how to make the most out of our your current Magento site, contact us today. In business for over 20 years, our  certified Magento developers know the platform front-to-back and can help you make the absolute most of your eCommerce site.