Note: This article was last updated on November 13, 2024 and may contain outdated information.
Craft CMS 5.5 arrived this week with improvements to how draft content works, particularly for complex pages with nested elements. If your site uses Matrix fields to build flexible page layouts, or if you work with audio and video content, you’ll find useful enhancements here.
Draft Mode for Nested Content
The most significant change in 5.5 is how nested elements within Matrix and Addresses fields are handled. Previously, when you edited a card within a Matrix field, those changes saved immediately to the published entry. Now, editing nested elements creates a draft of the parent entry instead.
This matters because it gives you proper review workflows for complex content. When building a landing page with multiple content blocks, testimonials, featured products, or other nested elements, you can make changes to individual cards without those changes going live immediately.
Nested element cards now show status indicators when they contain unpublished changes or are newly created. You can see at a glance which parts of your page have pending edits, making it easier to review what’s changed before publishing.
Preview Audio and Video Assets
Content teams working with media files can now preview audio and video assets directly from edit screens. Previously you needed to download files or view them outside the CMS. Now you can play audio tracks or watch video files right within Craft’s interface.
This is particularly useful when reviewing media before publication, checking that the correct version was uploaded, or verifying audio quality. It’s a small quality-of-life improvement that eliminates context switching during content review.
Better Element Card Styling
Craft 5.5 includes refined styling for element cards with thumbnails. The visual presentation is cleaner and more consistent, making it easier to scan through lists of content with featured images or preview media.
For sites using card view extensively - which is particularly common for visual content like portfolios, team members, or product catalogues - the improved styling makes the interface more pleasant to work with.
Persistent Sidebar States
An underrated improvement in 5.5: sidebar visibility states are now stored in browser cookies. This means when you collapse a sidebar, it stays collapsed between page loads and when opening slideouts.
This respects your working preferences. If you prefer more screen space for content and typically keep sidebars collapsed, Craft now remembers that choice instead of resetting sidebars to visible every time you navigate or open an editor.
What This Means for Content Teams
The draft mode for nested elements represents a maturation of Craft’s flexible content modeling. Complex pages with many moving parts can now be edited and reviewed before publication, rather than requiring all changes to go live immediately.
This is particularly valuable for editorial workflows where content requires approval, or for making extensive updates to existing pages. You can restructure content blocks, update testimonials, swap out featured products, and review everything before publishing - proper content management workflow rather than live editing.
Streamlined Review and Publishing
With status indicators showing what’s changed and draft mode containing those changes until you’re ready to publish, content review becomes more systematic. You can see exactly what’s new or modified, verify it looks correct, and publish with confidence.
For teams managing multiple projects or high-stakes content where errors are costly, this improvement to the editorial workflow is genuinely valuable.
Keeping Current With Monthly Updates
Releases like Craft 5.5 demonstrate why regular updates matter. You’re not just getting security patches - you’re getting meaningful improvements to content management workflows. Draft mode for nested content, media previews, and persistent UI states all make the platform better to use.
Through our website maintenance support packages, we handle these monthly updates for client sites. You get access to new capabilities without managing the update process, ensuring compatibility, or dealing with technical details.
If you have a Craft site and want help staying current with releases like 5.5, or if you need support managing complex content structures with proper editorial workflows, email us at hello@mutual.agency.
Content management should support your editorial process, not fight it. Craft 5.5’s improvements to draft handling and content review make the platform better suited to professional publishing workflows.