Craft CMS: Riding the wave of innovation at Dot One London
Yesterday, the Craft CMS community gathered in London for the much-anticipated 'Dot One' mini-conference. Here’s a breakdown of the highlights and why we’re excited about Craft CMS’s future.
State of Craft
The conference opened with some encouraging news from Brandon Kelly, Craft’s founder, that Craft is gaining market share of the global CMS market — no small feat for a small, self-funded private team. Craft’s creators, Pixel & Tonic, are growing, increasingly profitable, and not beholden to VC investors — unlike almost all of their more well-known competitors.
Yii Who? Time to saddle up with Laravel
One of the biggest talking points was Craft’s confirmed move to Laravel in version 6. While this shift was been mentioned earlier at their Barcelona conference last year, hearing it officially locked in was a relief. Yii has served its purpose, and as Craft’s founder put it, it’s time to ‘unhitch from a dying horse’.
As an agency that’s already got Laravel expertise in-house, we couldn’t be happier. The move to Laravel opens up more opportunities, bringing Craft to a massive global audience and boosting Craft’s visibility across the industry. Craft is a fantastic CMS, and it deserves to be in the spotlight.
Pixel & Tonic reassured everyone that the transition would be smooth. The old Yii framework will be phased out gradually, and legacy features will be supported for the next few years.
It was also announced that Craft 5 will have a longer support lifecycle than earlier versions due to this change.
Craft 5 – Taming the beast
Let’s take a moment to appreciate the leap from Craft 4 to Craft 5. This was a hefty upgrade, packed with new features for both developers and content creators. The most notable change? Everything is now an entry, including matrix blocks. The team coined the term “entrification”, and we’re loving the flexibility it offers. The content modelling possibilities in Craft are now limitless. We’ve long been espousing the benefits of tightly modelled content, and the changes in Craft 5 make it easier than ever for us to create bespoke, modular, content models, that reflect the way our clients think of and manage their content.
Now that we’ve put Craft 5 through its paces on a few projects, we can confidently say — well done, Pixel & Tonic. 👏🏻
Craft Commerce 5 – Now with multisite
For those working with Craft Commerce, the most noteworthy update was multisite functionality. This update allows businesses to manage separate stores for different regions, each with its own currency, products, and discounts. It was a long-awaited feature and one we’re excited to work with. With this feature, Craft Commerce is a lot more versatile.
Big plans, no corporate sell-outs
When asked about the future of Craft and any potential big-money investments, the Pixel & Tonic team made it clear — they’re staying independent. And they’re happy about it. The team size, growth trajectory, and overall morale are “as good as it gets.”
As an agency built on passion and high standards, we completely understand their stance. Let’s keep Craft CMS independent without the corporate takeover.
Certifications to open doors to household brands
Pixel and Tonic have been busy with demos, including some with major household brands. Although Craft CMS already has a solid list of enterprise clients, certain certifications could open doors to even more.
SOC 2 compliance is on the roadmap for 2025. This security standard is designed to protect sensitive data, and achieving it could be a key factor in bringing even more big names into the Craft fold.
Reaching new audiences
The Pixel & Tonic team has been on the move — literally. Between Dot One events in Amsterdam, London, and beyond, and their presence at the Awwwards conference and the Digital Marketing Expo, they’ve been working hard to spread the word about Craft CMS.
Their efforts are paying off. Agencies in Amsterdam and Belgium have reported an uptick in interest from clients curious about Craft CMS. Word is getting out, and Craft may not be the industry’s best-kept secret for much longer.
Big Ben could be bigger 😂
Our friends from across the pond got a taste of jolly old London, and luckily, the weather behaved itself for once.
We’re excited about where Craft CMS is headed and can’t wait to see what’s in store at next year’s full “Dot All” conference in Lisbon. Until then, we’ll keep riding the wave with this fantastic CMS.