YOOtheme Pro 1.16 – UI Improvements and Gutenberg Support
Today, we are really excited to release YOOtheme Pro 1.16. Its focus was on improving the user interface and implementing many of your smaller wishes from the Official Roadmap for YOOtheme Pro. The width of the customizer sidebar can now be adjusted to your needs, the page builder save button is always visible, multiple content items can be added at once for a builder element, a new system check can detect server issues, there is support for the new Gutenberg editor in WordPress and much more...
And that's not all. Starting from today, we will be accompanying our YOOtheme Pro feature releases with a dedicated screencast presenting you each new feature in detail. We hope you will find this an easy and interesting way to check out what's new. Make sure to subscribe to our YouTube channel for the latest news on YOOtheme Pro. Grab some coffee and enjoy the video!
Improved Customizer Sidebar
If you are using YOOtheme Pro on Joomla, you can now adjust the width of the sidebar. This is really useful for textareas where you write more text or code. You can also completely close and open the sidebar with just 1-click which makes working on small screens easier.
Sticky Save Button
Our next improvement is something many of you requested – a sticky Save button for the page builder. Now, no matter where you are in the builder, the Save button will always stick at the top of the sidebar.
Improved Replacing Existing Layouts
By default, when you choose a new layout in the layout library, your existing layout is replaced. To make sure that you do not lose the changes that you did not save, we have added a notification asking you whether you want to replace the existing layout and lose the changes. Please let us know if this notification is enough, or if other steps should be taken.
Prevent Overwriting Layouts
Working in a team on the same page has never been easier. Now, if your layout has been updated by a different user, you will receive a notification and an option to reload the page. You can close it and resume working, but if you try to save the layout that was previously updated by another user, a modal dialog will appear. You will have to either save your layout overwriting the changes of another user, or discard your changes and reload the page.
This workflow especially applies if two users have permission to edit the theme settings and are using the YOOtheme Pro customizer. If your users open the page builder by editing a Joomla or WordPress post, there wouldn't be any issues because the post would be locked the CMS.
Add Multiple Items
This one you will really like. Starting from YOOtheme Pro 1.16 you can now choose multiple items from the media library. You can even select all items in the folder. This is a real time-saver if you have a huge gallery.
Rename Files and Folders
In Joomla, you can now rename files and folders directly from your media manager. Simply click on the item you want to rename, and next to the delete icon, you will find a rename icon.
Height and Alignment Options for Rows and Columns
As already mentioned in our District theme release, YOOtheme Pro now has a new height option for the rows that you already know from sections. You can also set top, middle and bottom vertical alignment for columns instead of rows for even more versatile layouts.
Default Icon and Alignment for the List Element
YOOtheme Pro 1.16 improved the List element allowing you to pick a default icon and its color for all items of the element. You can still of course set an individual icon and color for separate items as well. We also added an option to align an icon or an image to the top instead of centering it. This option can be used if the List item wraps into the next line.
Max-Width Option for Grid and Gallery Elements
The Grid and Gallery elements in the YOOtheme Pro 1.16 received a new max width option. Before you could set the max-width in the General settings, but it only applied to the item, panel in case of a Grid and Image in case of a gallery. We moved this setting to the corresponding section (Panel and Image) and added a new max width option to General settings. This option is the same as in other elements and applies to the element itself.
Lazy Loading and Width for the Map Element
As you probably noticed from previous releases, YOOtheme Pro really cares about your PageSpeed ranking. Now along with lazy loading images, it also lazy loads maps. Additionally, the Map element got responsive. Before, the map always had a full width, and you could only set the height. Now, you can set both. The map will behave just like an image. Alternatively, you can use the width as the breakpoint only. The map will take a full width, but once it reaches the set width, it will start shrinking preserving the aspect ratio.
New Icons
One of the top 10 feature requests for YOOtheme Pro was a PDF icon. So by popular demand, we added 8 more icons. Take a look for yourself.
Advanced Settings for the HTML Element
The HTML element got an Advanced tab that you already know from other elements. Here you can add the name, id, class and even write the CSS code directly in the element's settings. This is very useful since you no longer need to add your CSS in the Custom Code settings.
Sticky Mobile Navbar
Another request was a sticky mobile navbar. Just as for the desktop navbar, you can choose between the static, sticky and sticky on scroll-up navbar.
Showing Module ID
Joomla users can now see the module ID next to their title in the Modules panel and in J!Module element. This will come in handy if you have two modules with the same name.
Reorganized Settings Panel
We completely reworked the Settings panel. Both WordPress and Joomla users can now add their API Key in the separate panel in the Settings. You can of course still add the API Key in the Installer Plugin in Joomla. We moved all CMS-specific options to the Advanced panel, which means that there is no System panel anymore. We also removed all 3rd party services from the Advanced panel and created a new one called External Services. We hope these changes will make navigating the customizer even easier.
System Check
A brand-new feature and a new panel appeared in the YOOtheme Pro Settings. The System Check, which you may remember from the Warp themes, will provide useful information about critical issues and recommended improvements concerning your system. This should be the first thing to do you have any issues with YOOtheme Pro.
WordPress Gutenberg Support
As most of you probably know, WordPress is planning to release WordPress 5.0 with their new editor called Gutenberg on November 19th. This is the first step to integrate YOOtheme Pro with the new Gutenberg editor and prepare it for the big WordPress 5.0 update.
What's Next
While YOOtheme Pro 1.16 comes with many UI improvements and many of the smaller features, we are already making the groundwork for the next bigger features. One of them is the highly anticipated content provider. And of course, the November theme is in the works as well. We hope to have it ready in mid November.
We are very excited for your feedback, so if you have a spare minute, please let us know what you think in the comments below.
