Developer newsletter: New features, community events and code reviews
Tags: webdev, contentful
Published: 2020-12-09 10:06:37

---
title: Developer newsletter: New features, community events and code reviews
published: true
description: Wherever you are, I hope you’re enjoying these last few days of 2020. But before we start making New Year’s resolutions, let’s look back at some exciting things from the Contentful community!
tags: webdev, contentful
canonical_url: https://www.contentful.com/blog/2020/12/08/developer-newsletter-december-2020/
cover_image: https://images.ctfassets.net/fo9twyrwpveg/4PIoMB6rSnRbzdZlbSYnxS/6d4f8517ccabe0427abc41a0bcb9de7a/BLOG_DeveloperNewsletter_December.png?fm=jpg&q=90&w=1536

---

Wherever you are, I hope you’re enjoying these last few days of 2020. But before we start making New Year’s resolutions, let’s look back at some exciting things from the Contentful community!

![An illustration of a potted plant saying "Its Holiday Thyme!"](https://images.ctfassets.net/fo9twyrwpveg/3GzjT6nTgqZSX1ywaCI3hh/7b9fe4837196af847f52f2f40ad9e172/unnamed.png)

We code live!
-------------

Every Tuesday at 8:00 a.m. PT / 11:00 a.m. ET / 5:00 p.m. CET, our DevRel team and guests hang out on [YouTube Live](https://www.youtube.com/c/Contentfulinc/videos?view=2&live_view=503) and [Twitch](https://www.twitch.tv/contentfuldevs) to talk about GraphQL, Contentful tooling and web development.

This month’s highlight was our session with [James Calmus](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Km4egjQOebA&t=15s) — we implemented [our Images API](https://www.contentful.com/developers/docs/references/images-api/) into Next.js’ new Image component and [opened a pull request to the popular framework live](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Km4egjQOebA&t=15s). 

![A screenshot of a live coding session with the cContentful DevRel team.](https://images.ctfassets.net/fo9twyrwpveg/10KfhUyRXYvu9mC5K8fqXz/efb3dc3b9e47ca4d674eff4856feb47e/pasted_image_0__5_.png)

### Past episodes

1.  [How to extend Contentful’s interface with custom fields](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OtmV3TPTbRs&t=3267s)
    
2.  [Building a Developer Portal](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6E3aCv08nl8)
    
3.  [Supercharging webhooks](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HPZQqT6JTiE)
    

If you want to join us on one of our streams, [send me an email](mailto:stefan.judis@contentful.com) or [let us know on Slack](https://www.contentful.com/slack/). We’d love to have you!

Exciting things from the internet
---------------------------------

### Build times of static site generators

[Sean C. Davis](https://twitter.com/seancdavis29/) dug into the most popular static site generators and their build times. If you’re considering static HTML with thousands of pages, you should [have a look](https://css-tricks.com/comparing-static-site-generator-build-times/). Build times matter! 

### Hands-free coding

[Josh Comeau](https://twitter.com/JoshWComeau) writes code without using his hands. [This article is a fascinating read](https://www.joshwcomeau.com/blog/hands-free-coding/) about accessibility and assistive technology.

### How to Make Your Code Reviewer Fall in Love with You

[Michael Lynch](https://mtlynch.io/about/) shared best practices for code reviews. The number one rule: value your reviewer’s time. I received many code reviews in my career and must admit that I don’t always follow that rule. [It’s time to improve!](https://mtlynch.io/code-review-love/)

Contentful community
--------------------

![An illustration of two windows with video calls, with the Contentful logo and Community Hangout written in the center. ](https://images.ctfassets.net/fo9twyrwpveg/5qDQ2ZxEuWEPwa23bT3033/f8622a31ffd5317fe46034d9694e8756/pasted_image_0__6_.png?q=1)

### Monthly community hangout: December 16

We did our first community hangout on YouTube and Twitch last month. We covered [technical SEO for web developers](https://youtu.be/5wE5p5XiJbM?t=654), [a Contentful new Relic app](https://youtu.be/IYLHwXjZyhs?t=1655) and [shared the experience of using Gatsby and Contentful](https://youtu.be/pRjG2R2aCUI?t=3306).

Come learn about new Contentful features and listen to excellent talks from our community. This month, [Henri Helvetica](https://twitter.com/HenriHelvetica) will talk about future media format, [Phil Hawksworth](https://twitter.com/philhawksworth) shares wisdom about the Jamstack and we’ll have a look at [a Storybook](https://storybook.js.org/) Contentful integration. 

Mark your calendars, friends. We’re excited!

*   [NA: Contentful community monthly hangout #2 (18:00 - 20:00 ET)](https://www.contentful.com/events/2012-na-contentful-community-hangout/)
    
*   [Europe: Contentful community monthly hangout #2 (18:00 - 20:00 CET)](https://www.contentful.com/events/2012-europe-contentful-community-hangout/)
    

If you want to share something with the community, all you need to do is [fill out this form](https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSc1ZAVBs247hKU-ZNNdh8aAtQLf4n8SZPUAmJ7UvruD2l8AGA/viewform). **We’d love to give you the stage!**

“The headless {creator}” show
-----------------------------

[Marcelo Lewin](https://twitter.com/HeadlessCreator) kicked off a new series of shows all about headless technology and Contentful, titled [“The headless {creator}” show](https://www.headlesscreator.com/). Marcelo covers our changelog, content modeling and other topics. Keep rocking, Marcelo!

### Next.js, Contentful CMS, GraphQL, oh my!

[Ben Holmes](https://twitter.com/BHolmesDev) wrote an in-depth [guide about Next and our GraphQL API](https://dev.to/hack4impact/nextjs-contentful-cms-graphql-oh-my-352o). Thank you, Ben!

Contentful Corner
-----------------

### A breaking change in \`gatsby-source-contentful\` in v4

We worked hard to improve our Gatsby plugin. We’re excited about version 4. It includes bug fixes, performance improvements and a breaking change. **If you’re using Gatsby, make sure to have a look** [**at the changelog**](https://github.com/gatsbyjs/gatsby/blob/master/packages/gatsby-source-contentful/CHANGELOG.md#400-next0-2020-11-09)**.**

### New app in our marketplace

One new app entered our marketplace this month. If you manage your localized content with [Phrase](https://phrase.com/), say hi to [the new and shiny Phrase app](https://www.contentful.com/marketplace/app/phrase/).

![Screenshot of the Phrase app logo and name as seen in the Contentful app marketplace](https://images.ctfassets.net/fo9twyrwpveg/2ljKryisaiATlMnhRwpLhf/179100658c3dd0e8fe424aab227ad53d/pasted_image_0__7_.png?q=1)

Find and install more apps with the click of a button [in our marketplace](https://www.contentful.com/marketplace/)!

### Three new courses in our Learning Center

Our learning services team worked hard to provide you with new courses to level up your Contentful game!

*   [Content strategy with Contentful](https://public.learningcenter.contentful.com/catalog/info/id:277)
    
*   [Content governance and workflows](https://public.learningcenter.contentful.com/catalog/info/id:275)
    
*   [Multi-space architectures](https://public.learningcenter.contentful.com/catalog/info/id:276)
    

You can also find them in our Learning Center

### Contentful tip

![Screenshot emphasizing the Download file button in the Contentful App](https://images.ctfassets.net/fo9twyrwpveg/5wCCKWca5ACqiBZ89otoyd/2c8c1f1f0e4a84bfbbc2579df0deccd1/pasted_image_0__8_.png?q=1)

To find out about your uploaded assets’ URLs, open the asset in our web app and click “Download file.” It’ll open the asset in a new tab with the correct URL.

### Changelog

Take a look at the [Contentful changelog](https://www.contentful.com/developers/changelog/) to learn more.

#### Existence filter for “Link” and “Array<Link>” field types

Members of our Community Slack pointed out that it would be great to filter for existing references in our GraphQL API. We thought this was a great idea and [the API now supports \`\_exists\` filters on references](https://www.contentful.com/developers/changelog/#existence-filter-for-link-and-arraylesslinkgreater-field-types).

#### Instance parameters for App Framework

You can now use [instance parameters to customize installed apps](https://www.contentful.com/developers/changelog/#instance-parameters-for-app-framework) without hardcoding information in their source code, depending on their location and content type. Check out [this headless creator show](https://www.headlesscreator.com/contentful-changelog/instance-parameters-added-to-the-app-framework) to learn more.

#### Request verification for App Framework

If you’re using [app identities and events](https://www.contentful.com/developers/docs/extensibility/app-framework/app-identities-and-events/), we have some great news for you. We shipped [request verification](https://www.contentful.com/developers/changelog/#request-verification-for-app-framework). This new feature enables you to verify that your app’s backend requests came from Contentful and reject those that aren’t.

Stay safe, and talk with you next month!
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[Visit our developer portal](https://www.contentful.com/developers/) to stay up to date. It includes developer blog posts, videos and our newsletter. Let us know via [Slack](https://www.contentful.com/slack/) or [Twitter](https://twitter.com/contentful) how we can continue to help you make awesome things.

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