【Monthly Update】Preview of the New Features in Pre-release Redmine! New "Color" Default Gravatar Option and More (January 2026 Commit Highlights)

2026-02-20  •  Tags: , ,  •  ISHIHARA Yukiko

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I introduce the new features that have been committed in the official Redmine repository and will be included in the upcoming release. Let's preview the upcoming features that will make Redmine even more useful.

This month, I'll highlight 6 issues out of the 26 committed in January 2026.

What is Redmine?
Redmine is an open source project management software. It can be freely installed on self-hosted servers or used via cloud services. For more information about Redmine, visit official site.

New Default Gravatar Option "Color"

A new option "Color" has been added to the default Gravatar user icon settings.

Compared to traditional options like Identicons or Monster ids, this new "Color" option offers a clean, solid-fill design. By removing unnecessary decorative elements, it allows users to be identified instantly via intuitive color coding. This flat design provides a modern and streamlined look for issue history and activity streams.

How to Configure: Go to Administration → Settings → Display tab, and select "Color" from the "Default Gravatar image" dropdown menu.

Macro for Listing Recently Updated Wiki Page Titles in Subprojects

A new option, include_subprojects=true , has been added to the {{recent_pages}} macro, which displays a list of recently updated Wiki pages. This allows you to aggregate and display recent Wiki updates not just from the current project, but from all its subprojects as well.

Previously, subproject Wiki updates were often overlooked when viewing the parent project. With this new feature, you can monitor Wiki activity across the entire project hierarchy directly from the parent project. It also eliminates the need to manually update macros in the parent project every time a new subproject is added, reducing administrative overhead.

Example Syntax: To display a list of recently updated Wiki pages from the parent project and all its subprojects:

{{recent_pages(include_subprojects=true)}}
  1. Update a Wiki page in a subproject (e.g., "Development Team").
  2. Add the macro to a Wiki page in the parent project (e.g., "Company-wide Internal Portal").
  3. The recently updated Wiki pages from the subproject are now displayed in the parent project.

Auto-watch for Issues Assigned to Me

A new feature has been added that automatically adds you as a watcher when an issue's assignee is changed to you.

The existing auto-watch settings, such as "Issues I created" or "Issues I contributed to," require you to manually create or update an issue. However, this new feature works even when another user assigns you to an issue.

As soon as you are assigned, you are automatically added as a watcher. This ensures you receive notifications for any comments or changes made even before you open the issue, preventing any information gaps. Furthermore, as a watcher, you can continue to track the progress of an issue until completion, even after the assignee has been changed to someone else.

How to Configure: Go to My account → Auto watch and check the box for "Issues assigned to me."

Fundamental Improvements in RTL Support: Transition to CSS Logical Properties and Gantt Chart Fixes

Extensive updates are underway to better support RTL (Right-to-Left) languages such as Arabic and Persian. Below are three key improvements regarding RTL support.

Integrating rtl.css into application.css using CSS Logical Properties

Previously, RTL support was handled by overwriting the standard LTR (Left-to-Right) design in application.css with a separate rtl.css file. This "brute-force" approach often led to layout regressions whenever the main design was updated but the RTL file was not.

By completely deprecating rtl.css and adopting CSS Logical Properties within application.css, fixed directions like "left" and "right" have been replaced with logical terms like "start" and "end." This allows a single CSS file to automatically apply the correct design for both LTR and RTL environments. This change ensures more stable UI quality and faster delivery of new features to RTL users without additional coding overhead.

Replacing Physical CSS Properties with Logical Properties in Core CSS

Many physical properties like margin-left or left remained in Redmine's core CSS for historical reasons. These required manual overrides for RTL environments, which were prone to errors and caused layout issues.

These are being unified into "logical" properties that are independent of reading direction—for example, changing margin-left to margin-inline-start and left to inset-inline-start. By eliminating the concepts of "left" and "right" from the code and letting the system determine the direction, the risk of layout regressions in future updates is significantly reduced.

Full Gantt Chart Support for RTL Environments

Previously, the Gantt chart was virtually unusable in RTL environments due to misaligned issue title hierarchies and missing chart segments (such as the following month). Redmine 7.0 resolves these issues, ensuring that all data is rendered correctly. RTL users can finally utilize the Gantt chart as a practical tool for project management.

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Created: 2026-02-20  •  Tags: , ,