Starting with the 5.1 release, each version will carry a thematic name based on star constellations, marking a new tradition for Mautic versioning - hence the 'Pleiades' edition. This version incorporates 75 bug fixes, 12 new features, and 97 enhancements, totalling 226 pull requests that significantly improve Mautic's stability and functionality.
A Complete UI Transformation
This release focused on eradicating all the little shortcomings that made Mautic inconsistent and not intuitive. A significant part of this update centers on user experience, with 50 user experience updates and 62 improvements made to the user interface based on community feedback. These updates were developed in part by the UX/UI Tiger Team, whose first initiative has been addressing user-reported issues within Mautic's interface.
When you use this version of Mautic for the first time, you will feel that the hundred-plus UI improvements have created a brand new, easier to use and fun Mautic that is delightful to look at.
Notable UI Changes
- Enhanced Email Scheduling: Clearer status indicators for future sends with more descriptive status displays
- New Administrator Themes: A new set of admin themes for a more vision-friendly experience
- Terminology Updates: "Template email" replaced by "triggered email" for better clarity
- Modernized Interface: Updated date picker and refreshed button designs across the platform
- Dashboard Improvements: All widgets received better descriptions, with two new additions for Forms/Assets and Landing pages
- Enhanced Notifications: New design with humanized timestamps for better readability
Campaign Builder Evolution
The campaign builder received a comprehensive redesign with functional improvements:
- Better visual differentiation between decisions, actions, and conditions
- New icons for each type of decision, action, and condition
- Dark mode support
- Direct display of decision and condition percentage results in the campaign preview
Email Marketing Enhancements
Email capabilities have seen significant improvements:
- 13 new core email themes, carefully tested and ready for your campaigns
- New Creative and Attract themed templates
- Email preheader field for improved inbox presentation
- Ability to test emails with actual contact data for accurate token population
- Smarter "send email" button that automatically hides for contacts without email addresses
Enhanced User Management & Preference Center
The release brings several improvements to user management:
- New filtering system for better user overview
- Streamlined colleague invitation process
- Password management controls from the admin interface
- Completely revamped notes system
The Preference Center received multiple upgrades:
- New resubscribe token for custom unsubscribe pages
- Global unsubscribe option for segment-based newsletters
- Modern toggles replacing radio buttons
- Enhanced tooltips for better user guidance
New Features and Tools
- Company lookup form field for accurate company name entry
- Landing page ID support in form redirect URLs
- Comprehensive in-app help with ProTips and guides
- New help page for search filters and tokens with an accordion system
- Data anonymization features for enhanced privacy compliance
Looking Forward
These improvements make Mautic not just modern and a true competitor to commercial systems, but deliver a serious usability advantage compared to previous versions. The UI changes have transformed Mautic into a more polished, professional, and user-friendly marketing automation platform that rivals commercial alternatives.
For a detailed overview of all changes and improvements, please refer to our release notes.
Join our community channels to share your experience with the new release and connect with other Mautic users and contributors. Together, we're building the future of open source marketing automation.
Credits
Thank you to Eddie Christian Aguilar Kleimann and Sven Döring for working on the content for this blog post, and to Efe Akhigbe for the visual imagery on the blog post and social media posts.
This is a companion discussion topic for the original entry at https://www.mautic.org/blog/community/mautic-5-2-pleiades-new-star-marketing-automation