We’ve really been looking forward to this moment and it’s finally here! Please join us in testing the first iterations of the Layout Builder release. While the Layout Builder is the main focus, this update is a full on UI reboot for Cornerstone as well. We’ve introduced streamlined navigation allowing you to move between contexts and features without interrupting your workflow. We look forward to any feedback you may have. For more information on our beta process, please read this article.
Status
- 12/14 - Pro 4.0.0, X 8.0.0, and Cornerstone 5.0.0 are now available via manual updates. See release notes for more information. A huge thank you once again to everyone who has participated in the beta testing. Feel free to keep corresponding in the beta forum but. We will be prioritizing normal support tickets so replies here may be somewhat delayed compared to the support forum.
- 12/11 - Release Candidate 5 pushed. WPML issues addressed. This is potentially the final release candidate before the official release assuming we don’t see any major issues reported over the weekend.
- 12/09 - Release Candidate 4 pushed. We are really close to the official release. A few more little issues to resolve and we are doing additional testing with WordPress 5.6, PHP version 8, and the latest version of WPML.
- 12/08 - Release Candidate 3 pushed. Continuing to work through issues on the way to the official release.
- 12/04 - Release Candidate 2 pushed. - Still seeing some issues we’ll need to address heading into next week, but really looking forward to getting the official release process underway!
- 12/02 - Release Candidate 1 pushed and documentation is now live. We consider this version stable. There will also be no more “breaking changes” within the cycle caused by changes to element definitions. We still have a few lingering issues to address (threads will be updated) before the official release.
- 12/01 - Beta 11 pushed. Bug fixes. Closing in on a release candidate. Big thank you to everyone testing and working with us to refine everything!
- 11/30 - Beta 10 pushed. More bug fixes. Threads updated with confirmations of issues resolved.
- 11/27 - Beta 9 pushed. We will continue pushing beta versions to fix bugs, and once all known bugs are complete the next push will be a Release Candidate.
- 11/23 - Beta 8 pushed. Beta 8 is considered feature complete for the 4.0.0 release. We still have a list of bugs to work through, and optimizations to work out, but we have concluded adding new features. WARNING: This update might break existing looper provider/consumer configurations. Notably, you might see a different number of items. We added the ability to filter by taxonomy, author, etc. and had to change some of the underlying data points.
- 11/20 - Regretfully we haven’t been able to get the next patch out today. We added the filtering options to the query builder, and don’t quite have the visual feedback the way we want it. Looking forward to Monday when we can finish that and push out the next patch.
- 11/13 - Beta 7 pushed. Lots of bug fixes and quality of live improvements. Try out the Posts elements! You drag them in and have preconfigured looping dynamic content.
- 11/6 - Beta 6 pushed. The old links in the admin bar and dashboard are back. We also made some changes to further help with the feeling of not knowing what builder you’re working in. Many bug fixes. Most notably you’ll notice you don’t get in locked up states requiring a refresh.
- 10/30 - Beta 5 has been pushed which is primarily a bug fix update after the layout builder merge and WC modes were added. Threads have been updated to notify of issues fixed.
- 10/29 - Beta 4 is live! This includes the Archive mode and specific modes for WooCommerce. You’ll find these options when you go to create a new Layout. We’ve opened up some threads to discuss new features like Loopers, Element Conditions and Interaction Chaining.
- 10/23 - Archive mode is merged with the Layout Builder and we are wrapping up some final items. Had to do some significant rewrites that took longer than expected. We have some WooCommerce items to complete then we’ll be ready to go with the next beta.
- 10/16 - Thank you all for your patience and continued feedback. We’ve merged all the archive builder code into our main branch and we’re working on restoring performance optimizations. We’re also building out some starter templates for the archive mode to help you jump right in. We’re anticipating getting out the phase 2 beta early next week.
- 10/9 - Beta 3 Now Available. Threads have been updated with respective fixes.
- 10/7 - Continuing to address items and update threads notifying of corrected issues.
- 10/6 - More feedback items addressed today. Now that we are confident that the application UI elements are close to the final version, we’ve started styling the light theme which will be in the next patch. All threads with fixed issues have been updated.
- 10/5 - Another full day of fixing bugs/usability items. We haven’t pushed a patch yet considering the backlog of todo items. Tomorrow (10/6) Kory and I are going to be heads down trying to knock out as much as we can so you may not hear from us on new issues until towards EOD. Looking forward to getting this all buttoned up so we can start testing the Archive mode.
- 10/2 - Beta 2 now available. Numerous bugs have been fixed and small usability changes introduced. We have updated all threads where feedback has been provided with notes on the changes. Most notably, there is a new preference allowing the element library to automatically close after adding an element. There are still several things to investigate, so we will most likely be pushing another patch end of day Monday.
- 9/30 - Beta 1 now available
Testing
- We are looking forward to hearing any feedback on the new user experience.
- You’ll find the Layout Builder in the main navigation menu if you are using Pro.
- Assignments for Headers, Footers, and Layouts can be managed by clicking on the Settings tab of the workspace.
- The new Effects system can be found on any element by navigating to the “Effects” tab
- When you create new entries in any of the builders, you will be greeted with options on how you want to get started.
Considerations
- Live preview performance will be degraded, especially on larger pages. We have removed certain internal optimization and caching layers to better identify bugs and rendering issues. This will all be restored in another beta update once the Archive builder is enabled.
- The archive mode of the Layout builder (and some respective elements) is currently disabled. This release is so big that we thought it would be better to split up the testing into phases. We plan to turn on the archive/index page portion of the Layout builder in the next round.
- Because of confusion with the word “Layout” and the Layout Builder, we’ve opted to rename what used to be called the “Layout Pane” to “Outline”.
- The light UI theme is not available in this build, but will certainly be coming back. The whole UI has gotten a nice refresh and we didn’t want to build the light mode until we were done making all the adjustments needed. This of course depends on your feedback, and discussions here in the beta forum. We will build out light mode again once we lock in the new UI elements.
- The changelog below may not be comprehensive and/or what is published in the official release notes.
Beta Changes
Release Changelog
Pro - 4.0.0
- Feature - Layout Builder
- Feature - Element Effects
- Feature - Revamped UI / Navigation
- Feature - Drag/drop to configure UI workspace and bars
- Feature - Unified Code editors.
- Feature - Draggable/resizable Element Library
- Feature - Forms element to integrate with popular plugins (WPForms, Contact Form 7, Gravity Forms)
- Feature - Div element. Sometimes you just need one more Div
- Feature - Added a Dev Console to expose tooling used by Themeco developers
- Updated - Added superscript and subscript options in Rich Text mode and inline editing
- Updated - Removed inline editing button for blockquote
- Updated - Added min, max, step options to Number control in element API
- Updated - Moved Custom UI Css preference into a code editor in the Dev Console
- Updated - Added the ability to unhide the “Import Starter Pack” button via the dev console.
- Updated - Add code folding in the code editor gutters.
- Updated - Added linting to CSS and Javascript code editors.
- Updated - Add element context menu to inspector sortables.
- Updated - Clear caches when version increments
- Updated - Display hidden WooCommerce cart label’s for smaller devices.
- Updated - Element favorites are stored per user profile instead of local storage
- Bugfix - Fix sourcemap warnings
- Bugfix - Fix header’s sticky header clipping causing wrong offset position
- Updated - Removal of review/comment schema that conflict with existing WooCommerce review schema
- Bugfix - Fix classic section, row, and column’s custom classes not reflecting to the builder preview
- Bugfix - Fix design cloud’s import conflict with ConvertPlus plugin
- Bugfix - Fix WP5.4 Gutenberg editor display issue
- Bugfix - Fix menu’s custom fields duplicating issue due to WP5.4
- Bugfix - Fix multiple Pro header bars offset positioning
- Bugfix - Fix wrong header offset upon load of hashed page
- Bugfix - Fix IE11 sub-menu issues
- Bugfix - Changed some front hand event handlers to listen passively
- Bugfix - Fix anchor particles overlaping border radius in Safari
- Bugfix - Fix text shadow control not appearing in Safari
- Updated - Search layout are now dependent to archive layout options per doc’s feature description
- Bugfix - Fix color picker modal issue with editor’s expander
- Bugfix - Fix woff mime type issue with WP 5.4
- Bugfix - Fix compatibility issue with Jetpack’s opengraph and cs_content_seo
- Bugfix - Fix header and footer assignment for posts page
- Bugfix - Fix Estimation form warnings
- Bugfix - Replace wp_make_content_images_responsive with wp_filter_content_tags (WP 5.5)
X - 8.0.0
- Updated - UI improvements to fit Cornerstone updates
- Updated - Display hidden Woocommerce cart label’s for smaller devices.
- Updated - Removal of review/comment schema that conflict with existing Woocommerce review schema
- Bugfix - Fix design cloud’s import conflict with ConvertPlus plugin
- Bugfix - Fix menu’s custom fields duplicating issue due to WP5.4
- Bugfix - Fix wrong header offset upon load of hashed page
- Bugfix - Fix IE11 sub-menu issues
- Updated - Search layout are now dependent to archive layout options per doc’s feature description
Cornerstone - 5.0.0
- Feature - Element Effects
- Feature - Revamped UI / Navigation
- Feature - Drag/drop to configure UI workspace and bars
- Feature - Unified Code editors.
- Feature - Draggable/resizable Element Library
- Feature - Forms element to integrate with popular plugins (WPForms, Contact Form 7, Gravity Forms)
- Feature - Div element. Sometimes you just need one more Div
- Feature - Added a Dev Console to expose tooling used by Themeco developers
- Updated - Added superscript and subscript options in Rich Text mode and inline editing
- Updated - Removed inline editing button for blockquote
- Updated - Added min, max, step options to Number control in element API
- Updated - Moved Custom UI Css preference into a code editor in the Dev Console
- Updated - Added the ability to unhide the “Import Starter Pack” button via the dev console.
- Updated - Add code folding in the code editor gutters.
- Updated - Added linting to CSS and Javascript code editors.
- Updated - Add element context menu to inspector sortables.
- Updated - Clear caches when version increments
- Updated - Element favorites are stored per user profile instead of local storage
- Bugfix - Fix sourcemap warnings
- Bugfix - Changed some front hand event handlers to listen passively
- Bugfix - Fix anchor particles overlaping border radius in Safari
- Bugfix - Fix text shadow control not appearing in Safari
- Bugfix - Fix classic section, row, and column’s custom classes not reflecting to the builder preview
- Bugfix - Fix WP5.4 Gutenberg editor display issue
- Bugfix - Fix color picker modal issue with editor’s expander
- Bugfix - Fix woff mime type issue with WP 5.4
- Bugfix - Fix compatibility issue with Jetpack’s opengraph and cs_content_seo
- Bugfix - Fix template manager buttons label (multiple selectios)
- Bugfix - Fix Estimation form warnings
- Bugfix - Replace wp_make_content_images_responsive with wp_filter_content_tags (WP 5.5)
Reporting Issues
- Please let us know of any bugs, regressions, or even just things that don’t feel quite right to you.
- To make a report, open a new topic here in the beta forum.
- Related items or a collection of feedback on the same subject can be combined into a single topic.
Thank-you in advance for helping us with this most important testing phase!