Adobe (Magento) Commerce 2.4.4 – More Than Just a Name Change

Magento’s latest and greatest update is arriving this month. Here’s how this release directly affects you and your brand:

If this all feels overwhelming, that’s where we come in. Book your consultation with your Magento Certified Partner right now to implement these changes. Spots are filling up.

Magento Name Change

You may have already started to notice a little less ‘Magento’ in your life. That’s because Adobe, which purchased Magento back in May of 2018, is changing the name of the licensed version of the platform. Moving forward “Magento Commerce Edition” will now be known as Adobe Commerce. Nothing else about the platform, its services or capabilities, has changed. Just the name. Magento Open Source, also known as Magento Community Edition, will remain the same. But don’t be alarmed or confused when you’re reading this blog or you’re in the Adobe Portal or combing through promotional material when you see “Adobe Commerce”. It’s still the same Magento Enterprise you know and love but with a name that reflects its new owner.

Release Date Moved

The most recent and relevant bit of news related to the Adobe Commerce 2.4.4 update is related to its release date. Originally slated for March 8th, Adobe has announced that the pre-release period for Adobe Commerce customers is now scheduled for March 29th with the general availability date for both Adobe Commerce and Adobe Open Source now being pushed to April 12. Adobe credits the delay to additional time needed to develop and test security patches.

Security Enhancements in Adobe Commerce 2.4.4

This new version includes three security improvements, platform security enhancements, and three bug fixes. After the release, several of these security patches have been backported to Adobe Commerce 2.4.3-p2 and Adobe Commerce 2.3.7-p3.

Besides, as of now, there have been no confirmed assaults linked to these concerns. On the other hand, some flaws might be used to steal customer information or take over administrator sessions. Other changes include:

• The database no longer keeps track of session IDs.
• Uploads of non-alpha-numeric file extensions have been improved to ensure safer data upload.
• Support for reCAPTCHA has been added to coupon codes.
• Swagger is now switched off by default when Adobe Commerce runs in production mode.

PayPal Enhancements in Adobe Commerce 2.4.4

Merchants will see a number of PayPal improvements with this update including:

• Venmo Integration – customers now have a Venmo payment option built into Paypal functionality
• Pay Later Updates
  • The Customer’s country can now be specified when conducting a consumer survey in their native country. The test was previously confined to testing only for the nation in which the merchant is based. This change only applies in sandbox mode.
  • Customers will now have the option to ‘Pay Later’ based on their geotargeted location. This option is only available to customers, not merchants.
  • The messaging on the Pay Later section of the checkout page will now deliver accurate information about how much and in how many increments consumers will be charged when utilizing the Pay Later option.

Page Builder Update in Adobe Commerce 2.4.4

To improve the merchant’s content accessibility, merchants will now be able to add alternative text (alt-text) to Images ( Banner, Slide, Image). GitHub-746

Accessibility Updates in Adobe Commerce 2.4.4

This latest update will add more conformance to industry-standard accessibility standards. This includes accessible naming and tagging of screen elements, redesigned icons and buttons as well as enhanced tooltips.

• The navigational accessibility issues on the Cart and Checkout pages will be resolved. GitHub-34483
• All relevant form elements on Product Pages can now be read via Screen Readers. 
• Low vision users will see improvements to the contrast for Image Delete as well as new locations for the Icon buttons throughout the storefront. These are to enhance the readability. 
• The magnifying glass icon used to perform searches throughout the product interface has a textual alternative and an accessible name.
• The Tab key is now used to access the rich text editor toolbar.
• On the Catalog > Product details page, the “This Item Has Weight’ input select will now feature visible labels and an accessible name.

Cart and Checkout Updates in Adobe Commerce 2.4.4

Arguably the most important part of the entire eCommerce experience is seeing some updates as well. Let’s see what’s in store for the Cart and Checkout.

• “Advertised Minimum Price” – this link which lives on the Cart page is now clickable and will open as an information popup. Previously this link was broken and had no effect.
• Timeout Error – In previous versions after a Session Timeout, Adobe Commerce would display a ‘Payment Error’ message. But now, customers can place orders without errors in deployments with a persistent shopping cart enabled after a session timeout.
• Assigning a high order value to a customer address attribute degrades checkout page performance.
  • Adobe Commerce will revert the shopping cart product quantity to the previous value if the updated quantity is invalid.

Product Video Update in Adobe Commerce 2.4.4

Currently when adding an incomplete video URL (Admin Catalog > Products > Add Video) the Save button would become disabled and no fields would be filled in. Now, if an incomplete URL is added the Save button will be activated and additional fields will be autocompleted.

Import/Export Updates in in Adobe Commerce 2.4.4

• Adobe Commerce now converts the timestamp in the export filename to the user’s timezone following a scheduled export. Previously, these values were not converted, and Adobe Commerce displayed the UTC timestamp.
• When the same CSV file is imported multiple times, Adobe Commerce no longer creates duplicate images in remote storage.

Recommended Upgrade Paths for 2022 and Beyond

eCommerce is never truly complete, it’s an evolution, a winding road always laid before you. Your business must remain committed to the journey by introducing the latest functionalities and capabilities to keep your customers engaged and converting. Staying up-to-date not only keeps you in lockstep with your customers but a step ahead of your competitors as well. Upgrading your site to Adobe Commerce 2.4.4 is the next, crucial step. Innovations include:

• Faster access to innovative features delivered as SaaS services
• Easier and more cost-effective maintenance and upgrades
• Continued flexibility and customization to meet unique business needs
• Significant increases in performance and scalability
• Better developer experience and tooling
• Ability to more deeply integrate with other Adobe Experience Cloud applications

Don’t waste another day. Don’t lose another conversion. Contact a Senior Member of our Development team and get this update moving today.