Status
Report

Hello everyone!

It's hard to believe this will be the final Status Report of 2018, but alas it is. 2019 is on our doorsteps!

Last month, I shared a bit about our development timeline in the first half of next year, and I wanted to make one small adjustment. As we looked more closely at the scope of the next few major cycles, we identified an update we feel is important to tackle prior to the layout builder (blog builder) cycle.

We're calling it the “Dynamic Content & V2 Grid” cycle. This update will lay the groundwork for several things we need in the layout builder in addition to introducing support for dynamic content throughout our growing family of builders.

On the dynamic content front, have you ever wanted to add an image element but instead of specifying an exact image you wanted to pull through the pages featured image? Have you ever wanted to add a headline element that is populated by your current page title? Would you like to display the WooCommerce cart total in specific locations? Do you like lots of questions? This cycle addresses these challenges and more. In any builder, content controls on your Elements will have a widget that helps you select a variety of existing data points. You'll have access to all the WordPress native fields like title and featured image, but can also retrieve custom post fields as well. We will also be exploring on how this feature could integrate with fields created in ACF Pro or Toolset.

On the V2 grid front, do you suffer from divitis and chronic float pain? Are clearfix and margin hacks not cutting it? Even flexbox has let you down? Well then, look no further: You, yes you, are the perfect candidate for the Themeco V2 Grid! (fake patent pending).

With the advent of the native CSS Grid spec and browser support quickly expanding, we're at a great time to explore introducing a V2 Grid that will be based off of those native systems. We've had some great real world experience testing some of these ideas with our theme.co redesign and look forward to sharing some more concrete news on this in the new year. This cycle is slated for the first quarter immediately following the launch of our new site!

Beyond that, we feel confident in our development roadmap looking similar to what I shared last month. The exciting thing is that we have about a years worth of development on the books and planned. We've left some margin in there along the way to address some other items as they come up (never a good idea to have too tight a roadmap).

This week we begin beta testing our final cycle of the year, and in addition, the team is working very hard on our site wide redesign. Everything is getting a facelift, and we can't wait for you to see it!

Be on the lookout for my 2018 Year in Review around the first of the year. It is a fun time to reflect on the year behind us and share a bit more about what is coming in 2019. With that in mind, there will not be a Status Report next month as the Year In Review will cover all that and more.

As we prepare to close out the year, I want to send a very heartfelt thank-you from the entire Themeco team. We count it a privilege to serve your website needs and value the friendship along the way. If there is anything we can do for you, the team is standing by day or night. I encourage you to take some time this month to be with the people you love. And not just being in the same room while you flip through your phone…really be with them. Time is so very precious and every day is a gift.