Tag Archives: Theme

WordPress 6.7 Roadmap Includes New Default Theme, APIs, and Media Enhancements – WP Tavern

[ad_1] Anne McCarthy has unveiled the roadmap for WordPress 6.7, slated for release on November 12, 2024. This will be the final major update of the year. She has emphasized that “More than anything though, this release brings refinement to how everything connects together to create a more seamless WordPress experience, whether you’re trying to upload a HEIC image to your site or display a selection of posts with the Query Loop block.” WordPress 6.7 will ship with a new default theme, Twenty Twenty-Five, that “embodies ultimate flexibility and adaptability”. Fully compatible with the Site Editor, the theme features high-quality fonts supporting multiple languages, a variety of color palettes, and an extensive collection of patterns. This release will also include two new APIs designed to simplify developers’ workflows: Template Registration API to allow templates and template parts to be registered directly within plugins without filters. Preview Options API to expand the Preview dropdown menu in the post/page editor and add greater flexibility in preview functionality. Several existing APIs, such as the Interactivity API, Block Bindings API, and HTML API, will also see enhancements. New features offering more flexibility and functionality will improve the data view experience. Users can expect options to hide or show filters in the interface, adjust the density of information in the grid layout, and configure the grid layout’s aspect ratio to their preferences. The Query Loop block will be updated to ease customization. Improvements include refining settings copy and context detection for a more intuitive user experience. For a better editing experience, WordPress 6.7 will introduce an option to zoom out and work at the pattern level.  Significant updates to media handling are also on the way, including HEIC support, auto sizes for lazy loaded images, and more background image support at individual and global levels.  Other highlights of WordPress 6.7 include: Updates to design tools, including shadow support for Group blocks. Improved support for PHP 8.x and removing code specific for unsupported versions.  A new split view for the iframe post editor to ensure a consistent WYSIWYG experience. Removing the experimental status of typography blocks A new feature in the Styles interface allowing users to customize theme presets. Anne has cautioned that the new features mentioned in the post “ is being actively pursued, but doesn’t necessarily mean each will make it into the final release of WordPress 6.7.” Interested users can look into the demos shared during a recent hallway hangout to get a glimpse into what’s being developed for this release and future updates. Category: News, WordPress [ad_2] Source link

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WordPress.org Introduces New Security Measures for Plugin and Theme Authors – WP Tavern

[ad_1] Starting October 1st, 2024, WordPress.org will roll out new security measures aimed at enhancing the safety of accounts with commit access to plugins and themes. This was announced by the Automattic-sponsored developer Dion Hulse. Mandatory Two-Factor Authentication Beginning next month, WordPress.org will make two-factor authentication (2FA) mandatory for all plugin and theme authors. Authors can configure 2FA by visiting their WordPress.org profiles, and the platform has already started prompting them to do so.  Dion Hulse emphasized the importance of securely storing backup codes, as losing access to both 2FA methods and backup codes could complicate account recovery. SVN Passwords for Commit Access WordPress.org will also introduce SVN passwords for committing changes to plugins and themes. This feature separates commit access from the main WordPress.org account credentials, offering an extra layer of security. Authors can generate SVN passwords through their profiles, ensuring that their main account passwords are protected. Those using deployment scripts, like GitHub Actions, will need to update their stored passwords with these new SVN credentials. For those wondering why the Plugin Review Team is not using 2FA with SVN, Dion explained, “Due to technical limitations, 2FA cannot be applied to our existing code repositories, that’s why we’ve chosen to secure WordPress.org code through a combination of account-level two-factor authentication, high-entropy SVN passwords, and other deploy-time security features (such as  Release Confirmations).” For more information, authors can refer to the guides on Configuring Two-Factor Authentication and Subversion Access and Chris Christoff’s post on Keeping Your Plugin Committer Accounts Secure Community Reaction  The community has reacted positively to these changes, with some expressing that these updates were long overdue. “At least we were earlier than someone stepping on Mars, ” joked developer Toma Todua. Recently, the WordPress Plugin Team has ramped up efforts to enhance platform security. In June, they temporarily halted plugin releases and forced all plugin authors to reset their passwords after five WordPress.org user accounts were compromised. [ad_2] Source link

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Our First Look at the Upcoming Twenty Twenty-Five Default Theme

[ad_1] If you’re a fan of default WordPress themes, I have great news! On August 15, we got our first look at the upcoming Twenty Twenty-Five default theme in this WordPress.org post. The new Twenty Twenty-Five theme will be released as part of WordPress 6.7 (which is currently scheduled for release on November 12, 2024). The design is being led by Beatriz Fialho, an Automattic-sponsored contributor who also led design for last year’s Twenty Twenty-Four theme. Carolina Nymark and Juanfra Aldasoro will be leading development for the theme. According to Fialho, “one recurring idea was that simple things should be intuitive while complex things should be possible.” To make that happen, Twenty Twenty-Five utilizes a minimalist base design while including tons of patterns and style variations to let you easily customize it to be your own.  It will also include a bunch of different blog templates, all of which you’ll be able to customize using the Site Editor. Currently, there are dedicated layouts for a simple blog, a photo blog (using a sort of justified grid), and a complex blog (which uses a magazine-type layout). Click image to enlarge Looking at the preview images, it kind of makes me think of Ikea – and that’s a compliment! I like its minimal looks and I think there are some great-looking patterns that users will be able to play around with. If you’d like to share your feedback on the design, you can do so by leaving comments on the public Figma file. You will need a Figma account to leave a comment, but it’s free to do so. There’s also some discussion on the WordPress.org blog post that I linked above. Or, you’re also free to share your thoughts in the comments section below if you’d like to connect with the WPShout community! … Don’t forget to join our crash course on speeding up your WordPress site. Learn more below: Was this article helpful? No Thanks for your feedback! Or start the conversation in our Facebook group for WordPress professionals. Find answers, share tips, and get help from other WordPress experts. Join now (it’s free)! [ad_2] Source link

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A Free Business Block Theme for WordPress – WP Tavern

[ad_1] WPZOOM is coming in strong with its first block theme approved for the WordPress Themes Directory. UniBlock is a beautifully designed theme that is well-suited for businesses and freelancers. The company plans to adopt the concept of full-site editing in other WPZOOM themes as well, following the release of UniBlock. UniBlock’s default look is sporting a darker color palette in the navigation and above the fold, with a lighter background for the rest of the website. The video on the sample homepage uses the free WPZOOM Video Popup Block plugin, which supports Vimeo and YouTube. It’s a simple, lightweight block that allows users to customize the play button and play icon. After activating the theme, clicking on ‘Customize’ will prompt the user to install the video plugin. It can also be converted to a Custom HTML block or removed entirely at the user’s discretion. UniBlock’s 19 custom block patterns include everything one might expect from a business theme but, most impressively, it ships with five full-page patterns: Front Page About Services Blog Contact Alternatively, users can assign the page template in the post settings to get the same effect. These full-page patterns are convenient for speedy page building. They make it possible to get a basic business website up in a matter of minutes. Here’s an example of the Services full-page pattern that will instantly embed when selected. Users can delete any sections they don’t need, add more blocks and patterns, and quickly fill in all their own information. Separately there are patterns for a footer with text, links, multiple arrangements of featured boxes with text and button, multiple designs for call-to-action sections, pricing tables, team members with social icons, testimonials, header cover, sidebar, 404 page, and more. Users can delve even further into customizing the templates with the site editor, as UniBlock is packaged with nearly two dozen templates and template parts. Here they can also edit the menu and adjust global styles. WPZOOM is developing a Pro version of the theme to release in a few weeks with support for importing the whole demo, multiple color schemes, multiple demos, premium block patterns, and additional header and footer layouts. Check out the demo on the WPZOOM website to see the theme in action. WPZOOM has also written documentation for UniBlock, which covers general topics like how to use block patterns, how to set up the front and blog pages, and how to create a menu in the site editor. Since the company’s most popular themes are what would be considered classic themes, UniBlock is new territory for most of their customers. It is so far the only block theme among WPZOOM’s collection of 31 themes. Block theme adoption is slowly making its way across WordPress’ major theme shops and the official directory is now hosting 160 themes tagged for full-site editing. As more longtime theme companies make their block theme debuts and develop a base for future themes, WordPress users may start to see a rapid acceleration of the number and variety of block themes available. UniBlock is so far one of the few block themes in the directory with a singular focus on business websites. It is available to download for free from WordPress.org or via the admin themes panel. [ad_2] Source link

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Consulting WP Business WordPress Theme Review and Setup (2021)

[ad_1] Consulting WP is a powerful and dynamic WordPress theme that aims to solve two common problems faced by newly established consultancy firms and similar businesses.  On the one hand, it’s no secret that if you’re ever going to thrive in today’s digitally-dominated industry, your online presence has to really look the part and stand out from the crowd.  On the other, burgeoning businesses hoping to bootstrap their way to success rarely have the kind of capital needed to spend thousands on a bespoke design. At the same time, some may even struggle to splash out hundreds for a top-of-the-line premium WordPress theme.  This is where Consulting WP really comes into its own.  The theme developers have spent countless hours researching the ins and outs of the business, finance, and consulting industries in order to come up with a product that provides everything your firm could possibly need to succeed. The result is not only a visually stunning, well-designed theme that is going to strike the right chord with your potential customers but also one which delivers that top-of-the-line premium quality at an entry-level price, with 50 themes, over 500 theme options, and more than 35 key features.  Below, we’ll look at the ins and outs of this popular theme to help you decide if it’s the right fit for your new venture. Consulting WP Business WordPress Theme Review  Consulting WP has been designed to give business owners everything they need to build a standout website for their consulting firm or services company.  This means Consulting WP has all the standard features a high-quality premium theme is expected to have, as well as industry-specific features to aid you in building a well-designed and highly functioning business website that is sure to draw more clients and customers than ever before. Perhaps the best part (or certainly one of the best parts) is that it does all this at such an affordable price.  Article Continues Below The whole theme package currently retails at just $59 for a one-off, standard Envato license, with an optional six months extra support available for just $17.63.  This means that even if you’re just getting started with your new business, you’ll still be able to get a high-value theme that’s well within your budget.  When we say high-value, we really do mean it, too, as Consulting WP features all of the main key features you’d expect from a much more costly package.  These include: 50 Customizable Demos  Whereas other themes feature maybe a handful of demo styles that all look similar to others you’ve seen on the net, Consulting packs in an impressive 50 demos, with new ones continuing to be added.  This doesn’t just add a tick in the win column for value-for-money, either.  Each one of the demos offers unique, attractive, and on-brand designs that pretty much guarantee to represent your brand in the best possible light and that are packed with plenty of design features and functionality to compel passing visitors to get in touch.  We’re not just talking about the homepage here, either.  Each demo also contains very stylish templates for portfolios… Blog posts… Article Continues Below And other mission-critical pages.  Customization Options  If, after browsing through the 50 demos, you decide that even your favorite doesn’t perfectly reflect your brand the way you want to, you’ll find a wealth of customizable theme options that help you to tweak and fine-tune it to your liking.  For example, choose from one of four predefined skin colors and personalize your website to match your brand. More so, take advantage of the advanced theme options menu and change things such as header layouts, footer content, post types, typography, menus, social media elements, and more, all from one convenient location. Page Builder Integration  To help with even further levels of customization, or even to build brand new pages and templates within your theme, Consulting WP also effortlessly integrates with both WPBakery Page Builder (formerly Visual Composer) and the ever-popular Elementor page builder.  This means that regardless of which page builder you’re most comfortable with, you can quickly put to work in building brand new layouts, adding content, and generally making your new site your own.  Speaking of Elementor, the latest version of Consulting WP includes the new Elementor Header Builder as well as Pearl Header Builder tools to offer even more customization.  Bookit and Other Premium Plugins  Elementor and WP Bakery aren’t the only premium plugins that you can use to optimize your site. Strengthening its case as one of the top value-for-money theme packages around, Consulting WP also comes with some of the best WordPress plugins for businesses, including a free copy of the Bookit plugin, which on its own is valued at around $39.  Bookit can serve as the heart of your online booking system, allowing clients to book consultations and other appointments with ease.  Article Continues Below For more advanced users, the plugin can be seamlessly synced with your existing Google Calendar set-up to help you manage your appointments, while integration with popular payment platforms like Stripe and PayPal help you to help your customers pay for their consultations with zero hassle. What we like best about this plugin, though, is that it’s remarkably easy to use, featuring a fresh, clean, recently upgraded design which ensures that even absolute WordPress beginners can take to it in no time at all.  Beyond that, Consulting also ships with a free copy of Stylemix’s Cost Calculator builder as well as the eRoom Zoom Meetings & Webinar plugin to help you manage online communication via your website.  On a final note regarding plugins, it’s worthwhile mentioning that the theme is also fully compatible with all of the following:  Display Multiple Locations  Proving itself to be the gift that keeps on giving, Consulting WP also offers the ability to offer location-specific content to people in different areas.  This can be done via a simple drop-down menu displaying all of the locations in which you currently operate. While seamless

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A Block-Based WordPress Theme by Anders Norén – WP Tavern

[ad_1] I have been secretly keeping tabs on Anders Norén over the past couple of weeks, awaiting the moment he pushed his first block theme to the WordPress directory. I first noticed it when he tweeted a screenshot two weeks ago. And, today was the day it happened. Tove landed in the review portal several hours ago, and I have been tinkering with it ever since. While it is not downloadable from the directory yet, the review system moves much faster than in times past. It should be available soon. In the meantime, anyone who wants to give it a spin can grab the ZIP file from its ticket. I called his last WordPress theme, Eksell, “the standard by which we should be judging all other” themes, and Norén has a history of releasing solid designs. Could he do for blocks what he has done for classic in years past? The truth is that going 100% blocks has limitations. Designers can experiment and test out some new things, but the underlying system is not up to par with what is possible with traditional theming. However, some feats are much easier to accomplish. Much of it depends on the creator’s goals and how well they work with the system instead of fighting it. At first glance, Tove was not any more impressive than most block themes I have installed and activated. It seemed pretty bare-bones, but I imagine this is what theming will look like far into the future. Many will be a wide-open canvas that allows users to build whatever type of site they want. Themes will primarily add personality. One area where they can and will shine is with custom block patterns. And Tove has over 40 of them. The theme is flexible enough for use with various sites, but its focus is on cafes and restaurants. Many of the patterns lean into this, such as custom menus, call-to-action-buttons, and more. Patterns are these pre-built pieces of a design that users can mix and match to lay pages out how they want. This also opens up things for theme authors by not having to make any hardline choices on how something like the front page, for example, should look. The theme is offering some suggestions and the tools to put it together. But, ultimately, the end-user gets to decide how it all comes out. With Tove, I had my homepage built in just minutes, as shown in the following screenshot. All I would need to do is fill it in with custom content. It felt empowering to simply mash up just a handful of the theme’s 40+ patterns and create a layout that I was comfortable with. This is what theming should really be all about: handing the keys over to users and letting them take the wheel. The theme’s job is just letting them drive in style. There are other things to love about Tove too. It has several custom user-selectable styles, such as horizontal separators for the Columns block. However, my favorite is the shaded style for adding a blue drop-shadow to several blocks. Shaded block style. The theme is not for everybody. The color palette is a bit on the flashier side and will not fit all sites. Few designers could pull off Tove’s scheme, which is why I think I love it so much. As Norén said in another tweet, it’s “like a plateful of macarons.” Some can work with pretty much anything. The rest of us are just fans. I would not call Tove revolutionary, but it has no need to be. It is built on top of an experimental system that still has many kinks to work out. However, it is nice to see what one of the WordPress community’s best designers can do with a limited toolset. Norén has definitely pushed the boundaries, which should elevate the block theme development space. I cannot wait until all the pieces of full site editing are in place, and we can open this thing up. Like this: Like Loading… [ad_2] Source link

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Theme Authors Should Be Able To Opt Out of Any Design Feature – WP Tavern

[ad_1] As I debugged issues with the new block gap feature added in Gutenberg 11.4 last week, I found the ticket introducing it. And, there was already a new ticket for one problem I had hit. However, there was some discussion over whether themes should be allowed to opt-out, rolling their own solution. There was no way to do it at the time. It felt like a no-brainer, something I would not think twice about. I quickly chimed in: Should theme authors be able to opt out? If this is ever a question that comes up, the answer is always: Absolutely, 100%, yes! The front end of a site is the theme author’s domain. Ultimately, they define how things work there. At least, this is how it has always been. Before the advent of the block system, there were cases where WordPress added its own spin to front-end features, such as styles for the gallery shortcode and emoji JavaScript-image replacement. Themes have always had methods for disabling those. With the introduction of the Gutenberg project and its evolving feature set, WordPress continues stepping into front-end design. This carries the benefit of standardizing the relationship between the platform, themes, and users. It makes things like block patterns universal, and it will continue doing so as we get into more advanced layout tools. This is a future that I am eager to witness because it will make theming much easier. However, within the in-ticket discussion, I came across one of the fundamental rifts between some people working on Gutenberg and third-party developers: I disagree with this take. This means that everything should be optional in WordPress and goes against the decisions not options. some things need to be options but not everything…I don’t think it should be a rule to have an opt-out for everything personally. For instance for structural styles, I’d rather have the themes rely on Core always instead of reinventing their own. Themes are here to bring personality and design but not to define what “horizontal alignment” means for instance. Riad Benguella If such a stance becomes one of the cornerstones of block theme development, it will turn many traditional themers away. I agree with the principle that this should be the foundation, the default way that theming works in WordPress going forward. The more pieces that we can standardize, the better. But, as a rule of thumb, theme authors should be able to opt out of any design-related feature. Then, we make rare exceptions to that rule when the need arises. Regardless of what Gutenberg and, ultimately, WordPress does, theme authors will find a way around it. Let us pretend that “horizontal alignment” is defined by CSS flexbox in core. I guarantee that someone will come along and use CSS grid. In the case of the “block gap” feature introduced in Gutenberg 11.4, it is essentially a fancy name for a global top margin that gets applied to blocks (not to be confused with the actual CSS gap property). In essence, it is a system for defining part of the default vertical rhythm. This feature has long been on my wish list, but the idea of mandating it never crossed my mind. If you want to see a heated discussion, throw a handful of web designers in a room and have them discuss the myriad ways of handling vertical spacing between elements. I am in the top margin camp. Fortunately, theme authors will be able to enable or disable the block gap feature. But, that is merely one battle. I had planned to reply in-ticket, but I did not want to get too far off-topic. I also wanted to give some consideration to the other side. However, I could think of few instances where WordPress should always be the deciding factor on front-end design. From that position, I envision little more than theme authors creating workarounds for what they will see as a broken system. There is nothing wrong with WordPress defining the defaults. However, it should always be from the mindset that developers will want to venture out. The best way to keep them happy is to not get in the way. Build a system that they want to use, not that they must use. And, for those who decide to go a different route, make it easy. Even if we think those rebel designers are creating a broken user experience, that is OK. It is their project to make or break. What makes WordPress so uniquely WordPress is that the platform has always catered to those who want to extend it in just about any imaginable way. If it starts creating stumbling blocks that need not be there, we have done a poor job as stewards of the software. Like this: Like Loading… [ad_2] Source link

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Major Push Towards Full-Site Editing, Plus a New Default Theme – WP Tavern

[ad_1] WordPress 5.9 is starting to take shape as Josepha Haden Chomphosy published a planning roundup at the end of last week with a tentative schedule and scope. This will be the last major release of the year, which Haden Chomphosy said will require “a slightly larger release squad,” considering the proposed scope. The squad leads have not yet been named with the exception of Matt Mullenweg as release lead, Haden Chomphosy as marketing lead, and Jonathan Bossenger who was invited to be a technical writer as part of a small experiment in the 5.9 release cycle. Bossenger said this new role was created “to get the technical details of new releases translated into accessible and actionable information for other contributor teams.” The rest of the team will be named as features are confirmed to land in the release. “The main goal for 2021 is getting full site editing to all WordPress users,” Haden Chomphosy said as a preface to the scope of work outlined for 5.9. These include the following block and site editing features that Matias Ventura previously identified as already underway in Gutenberg: Blocks + intrinsic web design Navigation menus Interface for theme.json Refining editing flows for block themes New default theme Additional design tools A few other items are being considered for the roadmap but may not be ready in time. These include: Pattern insertion + creation Unzip/Rollback Failsafes PHPUnit Tests Improved compatibility with PHP 8.0 and 8.1 The proposed timeline puts the go/no go date for features at October 12, with Beta 1 arriving November 16, and the general release on December 14. While this timeline seems ambitious for the proposed features, work on many of these efforts has already been happening for months via the Gutenberg plugin. The continual work happening alongside core in the plugin has many advantages but also introduces some complexity into the release process. One common complaint logged on the 5.8 retrospective was that backporting PHP changes from the Gutenberg plugin to WordPress core was a significant pain point for contributors. “The current structure of the Gutenberg plugin makes it really hard to locate the changes necessary to bring to WordPress core together with related JavaScript logic,” Greg Ziółkowski said. “Before anything else, we should make it more transparent in the plugin what’s already in WordPress core, what’s ready to be backported, and what’s still an experiment.” Ziółkowski has opened a ticket to discuss how contributors can make backporting a more semi-automated process. Meanwhile 5.8.1 RC 1 is on deck with 41 bug fixes for core and 20 bug fixes for the block editor. The minor release is expected to land this week. Like this: Like Loading… [ad_2] Source link

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Astra Theme Review: Is It the Best WordPress Theme in 2021?

[ad_1] Considering using the Astra theme for your website? In our hands-on Astra theme review, we’ll help you decide whether it’s the right theme for your needs. Astra has the impressive distinction of being the most popular non-default WordPress theme ever. It was the first and only non-default theme to pass the one million active install count at WordPress.org and it’s done that with a perfect 5-star rating on ~5,000 user reviews. All that to say – a lot of people like Astra. And – spoiler alert – I’m one of those people, so this is going to be a generally positive Astra theme review, though I will highlight a few areas where other themes do things a little better. To help you understand why I, and so many other people, like Astra, I’ll divide this review into two parts. First, I’ll cover six areas where Astra stands out from the competition. These areas are: Lightweight performance Multipurpose design 150+ importable starter sites Detailed WordPress Customizer controls Compatibility with other WordPress plugins Powerful custom layouts feature for advanced users Then, I’ll give you a quick guide on what it’s like to create a site with Astra, go over the pricing, cover some FAQs, and give you my recommendations at the end. Let’s dig in! 🎩 Why Is the Astra Theme So Popular? Six Top Features I think there are six main reasons why the Astra theme has been so successful – let’s go through them… Lightweight Performance – You Can Create a Fast Website As your site’s foundation, your theme plays a big role in how quickly your site loads. One of Astra’s standout features is that it’s super lightweight. On a fresh install with just the theme, an Astra site is only 37 KB with 7 HTTP requests. Is it the fastest theme I’ve ever tested? Not quite. But it’s pretty dang close! For example, GeneratePress is only 26 KB with 7 HTTP requests, which technically beats out Astra. But I don’t think most people are going to notice the extra 11 KB 🤣 In the grand scheme of things, Astra is faster than 99% of WordPress themes and you can build incredibly quick-loading sites with Astra. Multipurpose – You Can Use It For Anything Astra is a true multipurpose theme, which means you can use it for literally any type of website. This includes: How is it so multipurpose? Well, its flexibility comes from the next three points that I’m going to talk about. Easy to Use – Demo Sites Make It Easier to Get Started To back up its multipurpose chops, Astra comes with 150+ importable demo sites built for a range of different use cases and niches. Organic Store You can browse all of the demo sites by clicking here, but here are some examples of specific demo sites to highlight Astra’s multipurpose nature: Travel Blogger & Influencer The demo sites themselves are built with your choice of four popular builders: Because all of the demo content uses a drag-and-drop builder, it’s super easy to customize everything to meet your needs. Flexible Options in the Customizer – You Can Adapt It To Your Needs Another reason why Astra is such a good multipurpose option is because of its incredibly detailed customization options, all of which are available through the native WordPress Customizer. There are two advantages to using the Customizer: It’s simple and code-free. You can make your changes using pre-built options – no tech knowledge needed. You get a real-time preview, so you can instantly see how your choices will affect the design of your site. In general, the Customizer gives you a ton of options when it comes to: Layouts Colors Typography Features Metadata Etc. I can’t show you every single option because there are a lot. But I do want to highlight a few of my favorites. First, there’s the drag-and-drop header/footer builder, which lets you create a custom header using a simple interface like this: You also get a ton of options for controlling other layouts. For example, you can configure different blog page layouts, adjust metadata, etc. You also get detailed global color and typography controls. This is really nice if you’re using a page builder because you can use Astra to control your global styles and just have the page builder inherit them.  That way, if you ever change your branding, the page builder will automatically update based on your global styles and you won’t need to edit each page individually: Compatible – It’s Compatible With Page Builders, WooCommerce, and LMS Plugins There are two types of compatibility here. First off, Astra works great with page builder plugins thanks to its global style rules and page-level controls. It makes a great option to pair with: Here are the page-level controls: Second, Astra has built-in compatibility options for some other popular plugins you might be using including: WooCommerce Easy Digital Downloads LifterLMS LearnDash For example, if you’re using LearnDash to create an online course, you’ll get access to built-in Astra customization options to control the layouts of your LearnDash course content. Powerful Custom Layouts Feature Finally, if you upgrade to Astra Pro, Astra has lots of advanced features to give you more control over your site. One of my favorites is Custom Layouts, which lets you create custom designs that you can “inject” into various parts of your site (kind of like hooks).  You can create the designs using the native editor or your favorite page builder and then insert them anywhere on your site using conditional rules. For example, you could design a CTA box that you want to display at the end of all your blog posts. Then, you could use Astra Layouts to automatically inject it on all blog posts (or maybe just a certain category of posts or posts from a certain author). Or, it’s also really handy for including ads. You can even target your layouts to specific user roles, devices, time/dates, etc. If you

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A Second Look at ElmaStudio’s Aino Theme and Companion Block Plugin – WP Tavern

[ad_1] I am about a month away from my second anniversary writing for WP Tavern. There has been one project that I have followed since the beginning of this journey. In some ways, we are learning the ropes and growing in this block-based WordPress era together. In 2019, just before taking on this role, one of the first story notes I jotted down was some thoughts on ElmaStudio’s Aino Blocks plugin. However, it was not until nearly a year later when the team took the project out of beta testing, and I followed up with a review of the flagship Aino theme and plugin. Perhaps it is fortuitous that the team recently released version 2.0 of its theme at just about the same time I started taking stock of my time at the Tavern. Maybe this is fate’s way of telling me that we should always have a yearly update on Aino — sound like a good idea? It also did not hurt that Matías Ventura, the Gutenberg project lead, name-dropped their work in a conversation we had last week. “It fills me with joy when I see initiatives like [Aino] built by just a couple folks,” he said. “Apart from the user aspects of our work, it’s what makes it all worth it.” This was part of a more in-depth discussion related to the barriers to entry in the modern WordPress era. We agreed that one of the easier onramps was theme creation and site design, a focus area for Aino. It was time to dive back into the project. I had not looked into it deeply enough since my last review a year ago. Admittedly, at the time, I had mixed feelings about it. I initially thought the plugin launched too late. It seemed to be yet another block library after larger companies beat them to the punch. Ellen Bauer, who co-owns the company alongside Manuel Esposito, encouraged me to check back in as they continued building. They were merely setting the stage for their vision. “We wanted to release the Aino blocks and theme on WordPress.org since they are stable to use right now,” she wrote in the comments. “But the actual work is just starting for us, since we are now creating block patterns for our system, and I think it is only then that users will see why we built the theme and blocks in a certain way.” A Year Later One of multiple feature patterns from the Aino theme. The ElmaStudio team is taking that leap that most theme companies will inevitably need to take. They announced that Aino 2.0 ditched its classic garb and moved to 100% blocks earlier this month. For this particular theme, the move was not as monumental as it would be for others with more intricate layouts. Aino itself was always a minimal design, more of an open canvas for blocks than anything. It is the sort of theme meant to get out of the way and allow the user to create individual pages from the ground up. That may have been its downside a year ago. The team had built a plugin for easing users into the page-building process, but its single block pattern did not provide much of a starting point. Its Grid block is a powerful tool but also feels like it is catered more toward designers/developers. Its options may be too advanced to some end-users depending on their familiarity with CSS terminology. Today, this looks much different. The Aino theme comes with — count ’em — 42 block patterns. It is also where this project shines. I may have mentioned something about this being the route to go last year: The company’s best bet is to focus on building patterns. Its first pattern shows some promise. I am holding out hope for more interesting work to come. The team took that dev-friendly base of the Grid block and built a system of easy-to-use layouts on top of it. Users merely need to click to insert and customize. Aino’s Grid block used in a portfolio pattern. Because Aino’s patterns are built upon this grid foundation, the design studio’s layouts are fine-tuned for each screen size. Unless other theme authors build on top of the same plugin or a similar grid-based block, they are left with stock WordPress/Gutenberg. This provides limited options for responsively designing more complex layouts. This should be a focal point of the WordPress 5.9 release cycle, but it could be a while before we have something as powerful as the various grid blocks available via plugins. ElmaStudio’s groundwork in the previous two years is bearing fruit, at least in terms of what the team can create. With the foundational elements in place, nothing should stop them from building the next 42 patterns and more. A team pattern from the Aino theme (also built on the Grid block). I am still lukewarm about most of the blocks in the plugin, think the Hero and Testimonial blocks should just be patterns, and the [Aino] Buttons block should be an options extension for the one in core. The Grid layout is the feature that all the best things about the Aino project hinge on. The Aino theme itself seems unimpressive on its own, at least at first glance. However, the project is not whole until it is coupled with the Aino Blocks plugin. The theme needs some design work on its default spacing. For example, paragraphs that follow a wide or full-aligned block have no gap above them. Blockquote text butts against the side of the left border. Trivial bugs like these are easy fixes. Sometimes, it is not evident that there is an issue until a Gutenberg plugin update, which often leaves theme authors chasing changes. Such is the life of a designer living on the bleeding edge, supporting the latest features via a block theme. I am happy I once again had the opportunity to dive back into the Aino project. A year

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