It’s been a crisp fall month here in Portland, perfect weather for squashing bugs, shipping releases, and adding a little extra polish to your Concrete sites. So grab a pumpkin-spiced something and let’s dive in.
Core Release: Concrete CMS 9.4.5
We’re excited to announce the release of Concrete CMS 9.4.5 – a version focused on streamlining the editing experience, improving layout behavior, and resolving bugs that may have impacted day-to-day content management and development.
It’s not flashy, but it’s the kind of release that makes everything feel smoother. If you’re running any 9.x version, it’s a great time to upgrade. Read the full release notes.
New Marketplace Add-ons
This month’s marketplace additions are all about making life easier—whether you’re managing URLs, tracking ROI, or keeping tabs on scheduled tasks.
URL Aliases by Michele Locati
Easily create aliases for local URLs, files, and external links without conflicts. Multilingual support, post values, query parameters, and scroll-to targets included.
ROI Calculator by Marc Schiffer
Add an interactive block that turns business metrics into real-time calculations..
Macareux Task Notifier by Macareux Digital
This handy add-on emails you when tasks succeed or fail, so you can set it and forget it with confidence.
Site in the Wild: Aetna’s Healthy at Home
This month’s spotlight goes to Wrox Branding for their work on Aetna’s Healthy at Home. Built on Concrete CMS, this site helps older adults stay active and connected through fitness, nutrition, and wellness programming. It’s clean, accessible, and purpose-built a perfect example of how Concrete shines when design meets usability.
Forum Fun: Super User Secrets
This month’s forum chatter centered on super user permissions and multilingual rescans. TL;DR: account #1 (super user) doesn’t play by the same rules as everyone else. Think of it like the “root” account on Unix—powerful, but handle with care. Once your site’s up, switch to a regular admin account to see what your editors see. When you’re truly stuck, the super user is your escape hatch.
Community Shoutouts
Big thanks to DaveMyb for documentation contributions and to our active GitHub crew: GBloodyIron, hissy, danklassen, gutig, mnakalay, and mlocati. You keep Concrete strong, stable, and surprisingly fun.
See You Next Month
That’s it for October! Keep building, keep sharing, and maybe take a moment to rake some leaves before diving into your next project. We’ll see you in November with more releases, marketplace finds, and community highlights.