Share
The holiday season is upon us. Thus, it was about the right time to share some insights on what is next regarding Avada. We do have some exciting news for the Avada community.
Avada 7.11.3
Our next release, Avada 7.11.3, is around the corner, and it includes some new features and enhancements, as well as code updates and fixes, to ensure a stable and robust working platform for all our users. While this update will cover you for the holiday season, more is on the horizon for 2024.
Avada 8
Avada 8 is going to be our next major release. Our team has been working diligently on it for some time, but there will be an extended timeframe for this release. This deliberate pacing is required due to the scope of the work being done.
Version 8 won’t just be another update; it will be a transformative leap forward, reflecting a commitment to excellence and a vision for the future of Avada. It is the culmination of the progress made in the major releases 6.0 and 7.0. Each version laid the groundwork, introducing incremental advancements and setting the stage for what lies ahead.
This release is going to be the biggest and most significant update that we have ever delivered. While it is in the works, we will keep you posted regarding the development progress, Beta testing, etc. What will Avada 8 be all about?
Here are some essential teasers:
The Main Focus
The essential focus behind Avada 8 is a major code refactor, which will not only meet but exceed the high standards of our user base, ensuring the long-term success of their projects. This code will utilize technological upgrades to ensure the future stability of Avada while increasing the overall performance of both the Builder and the front end.
Goodbye Shortcodes, Hello Blocks
With Avada 8.0, we bid farewell to traditional WordPress shortcodes. Going forward, Avada will store Post and Page content using the Block data structure, similar to what is done in Gutenberg. The saved data will be more efficient due to fewer saved Element parameters. It will make it possible to access the structure of an Avada post in Gutenberg and, likewise, the Gutenberg block structure in the Avada editor.
We have you covered! The update will provide an automatic migration of your Post and Page content over to the new data structure, allowing your existing Avada websites to run on Avada 8.
A Big CSS Overhaul
How Avada utilizes CSS will change majorly. We will be using the BEM methodology and will refactor all existing Element CSS to match. This will slim down the selector chains and overall CSS size. Additional mechanisms to load styles conditionally will improve performance further.
A Comprehensive 8.0 Beta Testing Phase
Before the official release of Avada 8.0, we will open the gates for a Beta testing cycle (by invitation). This will be an exclusive opportunity for our community to engage with new features, provide invaluable feedback, and help shape the final release.
Prebuilt Content for the Holiday Season
Apart from product development, our design team is constantly working on bringing tons of prebuilt designs and Studio content your way. Whether it is for the upcoming Black Friday sale, Thanksgiving, or Christmas, new Avada Studio items will have you covered.
Furthermore, one of the most requested prebuilt Avada websites, Avada Real Estate, will be released very soon.
TL; DR
In summary, the Avada 7.11.3 release is imminent. The next major release, Avada 8.0, is going to be a groundbreaking update, setting a new standard for what beginners, marketers, and professionals can expect from a website-building platform. Its extended development cycle reflects our unwavering commitment to quality and innovation. And our Avada Studio library will continue to grow with everything you need for your web design toolkit.
We encourage you to subscribe to our social media platforms to stay tuned for more updates regarding Avada 8.
Looking forward to Avada 8, that’s a huge undertaking. What will happen to shortcodes which are used in non-Avada places like Convert Plus content, code elements or other widgets?
Hi Harry. Only Avada shortcodes will be updated. If you use Avada shortcodes in other areas then most likely they will be left in place and continue to function via a legacy render method. However it would be recommended to update those areas in order to benefit from some performance improvements and new features. That is not completely set yet, but the most likely process.
I am sure that version 8 will mark a before and after. From the beginning my clients and I have been with you. Very good work. I recommend you almost every day. Let’s go for version 8!
That sounds like a very intresting and big step forward in the developent of the theme! We are really looking forward to the update!
Oh god, “major CSS refactor” is a recipe for anxiety, even if the switch to blocks doesn’t change the HTML output. I have built dozens of Avada websites for clients, all using a child theme for custom functionality and styling. Even point releases of Avada have broken visuals in the past, particularly when classes have arbitrarily changed (.fusion/.avada/.awb).
I really hope the version 8 transition won’t mean I have to practically start over with some of my biggest (i.e. most heavily customised) client sites. The older ones already need notable attention for point releases as Avada gradually takes over control of more and more font styling and Flexslider is replaced with Swiper. I have so many custom slideshows powered by ACF and Flexslider.
If it really is that big of a transition, I hope there is a plan for an Avada 7.x LTS that will keep getting security patches long into the future. Some clients will need convincing to apply a major version update as (from their perspective) it doesn’t add any value for them and means a spend of my time sorting out issues. It’s obviously also going to take time to update 40+ Avada websites that may all need serious hands-on time. I can’t get to all in the first month, let alone release day.
Hi Peter,
In order to improve the product, things need to be able to change. If CSS, PHP and dependencies were never changed the product would never grow or improve. So CSS selectors will definitely be changing, markup will also be changing in places. Having said that, we still have a focus on backward compatibility. The areas which will need updating are any customizations outside of the product, but that is true for any product update where customization is added (as you have already mentioned, CSS does change). If you have a lot of such customization it is recommended that you update on a staging environment and do it over a period of time. Unfortunately there is just no way around that unless the websites are just not updated.
As for 2 separate Avada branches being maintained into the future, that is very unlikely to be possible due to the way updates are served and the burden on development in order to maintain both concurrently. Security patches might be possible, but that would have to be a special case.
what about the customized code inside code-block ? mine contains JS and jquery code…
Your own code inside a code block will not be changed.