Hello everyone! Wishing you a happy New Year 🎉 and all the best for 2024! We’re excited to announce the release of AstroPaper v4, a significant update that introduces a range of new features, improvements, and bug fixes to elevate your blogging experience. A big thank you to all the contributors for their valuable input and efforts in making version 4 possible!

Table of contents

Major Changes

Upgrade to Astro v4 #202

AstroPaper now leverages the power and capabilities of Astro v4. However, it’s a subtle upgrade and won’t break most Astro users.

Replace postSlug with Astro Content slug #197

The postSlug in the blog content schema is no longer available in AstroPaper v4. Initially Astro doesn’t have a slug mechanism and thus we have to figure it out on our own. Since Astro v3, it supports content collection and slug features. Now, we believe it’s time to adopt Astro’s out-of-the-box slug feature.

file: src/content/blog/astro-paper-4.md

---
author: Sat Naing
pubDatetime: 2024-01-01T04:35:33.428Z
title: AstroPaper 4.0
slug: "astro-paper-v4" # if slug is not specified, it will be 'astro-paper-4' (file name).
# slug: "" ❌ cannot be an empty string
---

The behavior of the slug is slightly different now. In the previous versions of AstroPaper, if the postSlug is not specified in a blog post (markdown file), the title of that blog post would be slugified and used as the slug. However, in AstroPaper v4, if the slug field is not specified, the markdown file name will be used as the slug. One thing to keep in mind is that the slug field can be omitted, but it cannot be an empty string (slug: "" ❌).

If you’re upgrading AstroPaper from v3 to v4, make sure to replace postSlug in your src/content/blog/*.md files with slug.

New Features

Add code-snippets for content creation #206

AstroPaper now includes VSCode snippets for new blog posts, eliminating the need for manual copy/pasting of the frontmatter and content structure (table of contents, heading, excerpt, etc.).

Read more about VSCode Snippets here.

Add Modified Datetime in Blog Posts #195

Keep readers informed about the latest updates by displaying the modified datetime in blog posts. This not only instills user trust in the freshness of the articles but also contributes to improved SEO for the blog.

You can add a modDatetime to your blog post if you’ve made modifications. Now, the sorting behavior of the posts is slightly different. All posts are sorted by both pubDatetime and modDatetime. If a post has both a pubDatetime and modDatetime, its sorting position will be determined by the modDatetime. If not, only pubDatetime will be considered to determine the post’s sorting order.

Implement Back-to-Top Button #188

Enhance user navigation on your blog detail post with the newly implemented back-to-top button.

Improve content organization and navigation with the addition of pagination in tag posts, making it easier for users to explore related content. This ensures that if a tag has many posts, readers won’t be overwhelmed by all the tag-related posts.

Dynamically Generate robots.txt #130

AstroPaper v4 now dynamically generates the robots.txt file, giving you more control over search engine indexing and web crawling. Besides, sitemap URL will also be added inside robot.txt file.

Add Docker-Compose File #174

Managing your AstroPaper environment is now easier than ever with the addition of a Docker-Compose file, simplifying deployment and configuration.

Refactoring & Bug Fixes

Replace Slugified Title with Unslugified Tag Name #198

To improve clarity, user experience and SEO, titles (Tag: some-tag) in tag page are no longer slugified (Tag: Some Tag).

Implement 100svh for Min-Height (79d569d)

We’ve updated the min-height on the body to use 100svh, offering a better UX for mobile users.

Update Site URL as Single Source of Truth #143

The site URL is now a single source of truth, streamlining configuration and avoiding inconsistencies. Read more at this PR and its related issue(s).

Solve Invisible Text Code Block Issue in Light Mode #163

We’ve fixed the invisible text code block issue in light mode.

Decode Unicode Tag Characters in Breadcrumb #175

The last part of Tag in the breadcrumb is now decoded, making non-English Unicode characters display better.

Update LOCALE Config to Cover Overall Locales (cd02b04)

The LOCALE configuration has been updated to cover a broader range of locales, catering to a more diverse audience.

Outtro

We believe these updates will significantly elevate your AstroPaper experience. Thank you to everyone who contributed, solved issues, and gave stars to AstroPaper. We look forward to seeing the amazing content you create with AstroPaper v4!

Happy Blogging!

Sat Naing
Creator of AstroPaper