Great news – we’ve released the Astra 4.6.9 update! This update focuses on both security improvements under the hood and a smoother editing experience for you.
What’s new?
Enhanced Security: Our codebase has been strengthened to further protect your website.
Smoother Editing: We’ve fixed an issue that caused block editor’s inline toolbar elements (like Bold and Italic) to jump when you focus on them.
This update ensures a more secure and user-friendly experience for building your website with Astra. Update to Astra 4.6.9 today!
We’re pleased to announce the latest update 4.6.6 for our users! We’ve introduced some exciting stuff, including:
The Optimize Inline CSS option!
When enabled, this option makes your website load only the necessary styles for each page, improving performance. For example, it might skip loading mobile styles if you’re on a desktop.
Find this option under Astra Dashboard > Settings > Performance tab.
Exciting news! Astra’s latest update, version 4.6.4, brings support for the rem unit in customizer typography settings.
Now, you can adjust font sizes using rem, offering enhanced flexibility and control over your website’s typography.
What’s a Rem Unit?
Rem stands for ‘root em,’ providing a relative measurement based on the root element’s font size. Utilizing rem ensures a consistent and scalable typography system across your entire website.
Here are some additional updates from the 4.6.4 release:
Improvements:
Enhanced accessibility for search form input fields.
Updated default design styling for better UI/UX in Secondary Buttons.
Dynamically added alt tags to related post-featured images, addressing accessibility errors.
We’re excited to share the latest update – Astra 4.6.3! This release is all about fixing those bugs to ensure your experience with Astra is as good as possible. Here’s what we’ve fixed:
BBPress – Forum – Archive Items Fix
We’ve sorted out an issue where archive items in BBPress forums were shrinking on the front end. Now, your forum layout configurations won’t mess with how things look.
Single Layout – Banner – Featured Image Display Fix
If you disabled the title area and positioned the image as “Behind” or “Below” for Layout-1 & Layout-2, the featured image was showing up when it shouldn’t. We’ve got that fixed now.
Header – Menu – Last Menu Item Padding Fix:
Some of you noticed that the last menu item was missing its padding on the front end. We’ve made sure that’s sorted out, so your menu looks just right.
Single Layout – Banner – Title Area Alignment Fix
There was a glitch where the alignment of the title area wasn’t working as it should. Good news – we’ve fixed that for you.
Single Layout – Author Meta – Avatar Size Fix
When using layout-2 for the banner and trying to adjust the avatar size, it wasn’t working properly. We’ve made sure that it’s working smoothly now.
Customizer – Firefox Number Control Fix
If you’re a Firefox user, you might have noticed the number control’s input field acting up. We’ve tidied that up, so your input field looks good in Firefox.
That’s about it! Update to Astra 4.6.3 now to enjoy a bug-free and improved experience!
You can check out our docs to learn more about Astra.
We’re always working to make Astra better for you. So if you face any issues, please feel free to reach out.
We’re back with more good news – Astra 4.6.2 has hit the stage, bringing fixes that make your website-building experience even better. Here’s the summary of what’s been fixed:
Featured Images on the Frontend
After the recent v4.6.0 update, some noticed featured images popping up on the front end where they shouldn’t. We’ve fixed it.
WooCommerce Shop Page – Back on Track
For our WooCommerce users, we fixed a glitch where the No. of Products option wasn’t doing its job on the Shop page and it inherited the Blog No. of Posts option. We’ve also fixed it.
Single Title Area – Featured Image Hiding
If you chose Behind for layout 1 and Below for layout 2, the featured image wasn’t hiding properly. We’ve fixed it – now, it works as expected.
No More PHP Errors!
Some of you ran into a PHP fatal error with the old header footer. We fixed the issue causing the Class ‘Astra_Builder_Base_Dynamic_CSS’ not found error.
Upgrade to Astra 4.6.2 now to experience these upgrades!
Hey everyone! Astra’s latest update, version 4.6.0, is here. We’ve made key improvements for a much better blog reading experience.
We’re introducing a range of versatile features: sleek layout choices, improved post structures, customizable meta elements, refined internal post elements spacing, a revamped comment section UI, and many more. 🚀
This new update enhances the blog experience and empowers your search results page with dedicated container-sidebar styles and live search improvement.
Continue Reading...
Big news 🎉
Hey everyone! Astra’s latest update, version 4.6.0, is here. We’ve made key improvements for a much better blog reading experience.
We’re introducing a range of versatile features: sleek layout choices, improved post structures, customizable meta elements, refined internal post elements spacing, a revamped comment section UI, and many more. 🚀
This new update enhances the blog experience and empowers your search results page with dedicated container-sidebar styles and live search improvement.
Introducing a new section “Search” under Customizer > Page for improvising the search results page area.
Dedicated container & sidebar layout options for the Search Page.
New layout options to showcase post results in grid, list, or cover style.
Live Search option when no results are found.
Introduced title area to control banner elements in the Search Page.
General
Default form UI improved for better user experience.
Knowledge base data storing in the local uploads directory for better performance.
Check for Class Exists in the class-astra-admin-loader.php file.
Fixes (Overall)
Logo color not working in the Firefox browser.
Site title and tagline font sizes were not part of export-import header compatibility settings.
Self-hosted Google fonts not working properly on the multisite setup.
Cart count color not working for the first cart icon option.
RTL – Hidden menu on Desktop when off-canvas is of type Flyout and position is set to Left.
Block Editor – The color picker picks the wrong color on the Surface Color Page Level Setting.
WooCommerce – PHP fatal error for old header footer builder users ‘Call to undefined function astra_header_woo_cart_configuration’ when WooCommerce is enabled.
The CSS color property is set to “unset” when the color is reset through the customizer.
WooCommerce – Single product image is not aligned in the center on the Firefox browser.
Astra meta settings showing for Beaver Builder theme layouts.
WooCommerce – Cart & Checkout Blocks – The design is breaking with default theme settings.
Secondary Button Styles – The background color option does not apply to the background color of the outline button as expected.
You need to update to Astra 4.6.0 to experience these amazing new features!
We’re always working to make Astra better for you. So if you face any issues, please feel free to reach out.
You have our docs to help you out whenever you’re stuck with something.
We’re excited to announce the latest Astra 4.6.0 Beta-1 version, bringing a fresh perspective to blog design and enhancing readability for your blog readers.
We have added a ton of new features, and improvements for you.
Continue Reading...
Hey Astra enthusiasts!
We’re excited to announce the latest Astra 4.6.0 Beta-1 version, bringing a fresh perspective to blog design and enhancing readability for your blog readers.
We have added a ton of new features, and improvements for you. Check them out below!
Blog Makeover
New featured image options: Image Ratio, Image Size, Hover Effect, etc.
Dedicated Post Structure elements: Featured Images, Categories, Tags, Titles, Meta, Excerpt, Read More, etc.
Modern Grid, List, and Cover blog/archive skins.
Single Post Improvements
Banner Title enhancements: Added avatar options like Enable Avatar, Prefix Label, and Avatar Size in Author metadata.
New meta divider styles and taxonomy styles like Badge and Underline.
Related Posts Upgrade
New featured image options like Image Ratio, Image Size, etc.
Dedicated spacing and section placement options like Contained and Separated.
Search Page Enhancements
New Search Page section under Customizer > Page.
Dedicated container & sidebar layout options.
Layout options to showcase post results in grid, list, or cover style.
Introduced a Live Search option when no results were found.
Title area to control banner elements.
Comments Section Makeover
Section placement options like Contained and Separated.
Here are some additional Improvements that we got for you!
Improved the overall UI of the archive page for a better user experience.
Single Post: Enhanced default internal spacing for better readability.
Single Post Comments: Improved comment area UI for a better user experience.
Set the default container style to Narrow Width for better readability within the post content.
Blog: Updated “Read More” default button text to “Read Post.”
Post Navigation: Showcasing post titles along with post navigation with improved default UI.
Single Post: Introduced new Border and Spacing controls to the Related Posts and Comments section.
Added customizer section shortcut links for quick access.
Single: Moved Related Posts and Comments settings to new sub-sections under the Single Post section.
Improved default form UI for a better user experience.
You have to update to Astra 4.6.0 Beta-1 to experience these amazing features!
Need help navigating the new stuff? Check these docs for all the details about Astra’s exciting blog features.
Discover enhanced compatibility with WooCommerce 8.4 and the capability of import-export individual header-footer site layout by the ‘Astra Import Export‘ plugin for a seamless experience. On top of that, now support ‘vw’ unit for font-size in typography settings. Plus, improved accessibility and padding updates for secondary button styles!
Compatibility to Import Export header-footer builder customizer layouts with the “Astra Import Export” plugin.
Introducing new “vw” unit support for font-sizes in customizer typography settings.
Improvements:
Compatibility with WooCommerce 8.4.
Improved accessibility by adding aria-label and title attributes to the shopping cart link.
Preventing duplication of multiple keys in the Block Editor’s post-update request by setting values for the ‘astra-migrate-meta-layouts’ meta key.
Secondary Button Styles – Background color option does not apply background color to outline button as expected.
Site Builder – Toggle Block Inserter redirects to Site Builder when Full-screen mode in Editor is disabled.
Header Builder – After resizing the GIF stops working on the frontend as a site logo.
Submenu animation not working while navigating site using tab key.
Broken UI fix for YouTube block with BorLabs cookie plugin.
Kadence Tabs Block scrolling issue with Astra’s smooth scroll to ID option.
WooCommerce – Inside dropdown cart buttons are not aligned properly on WooCommerce pages.
WooCommerce – Shop card structure gets broken if the Add To Cart button is kept just below the title.
Input fields border focus did not consistently inherit the correct styling in certain scenarios.
WooCommerce – PHP fatal error ‘Uncaught Error: Call to a member function get_cart_contents_total() on null’ when cart element is added in the header and “Hide Cart Total Label” option is enabled.
PHP deprecated notices with PHP 8.0 and above when activating the theme.
Unlocking the power of WooCommerce 8.3 compatibility, Astra brings a seamless shopping experience. This bug-fixing update ensures your site is at its best!
Compatibility with WooCommerce 8.3.
Introducing a new filter ‘astra_embed_wrapper_class’ to add a class to the iframe wrapper for embed blocks.
More Fixes:
Function parameter value was wrong in ‘responsive_oembed_wrapper’ callback while processing embed blocks iframe. (Props: https://github.com/IngoWinter)
Embed block (Twitter, SoundCloud, Spotify) does not appear on the frontend.
Customizer – Avoid premature closing of Gradient Color Picker.
WooCommerce – Container related meta are settings not working on Cart & Checkout Page.
Submenu border width of old header footer builder causing site crashing issue.
Astra Pro 4.5.0 is getting even better with the introduction of Site Builder, a new tool that makes it easier than ever to create stunning websites. To make the switch to Site Builder as seamless as possible, we’ve added compatibility with Astra. Additionally, we’re introducing a fresh set of color presets, to help you add a touch of beauty to your site’s design.
Introducing Site Builder capability: This will ensure Astra theme compatibility with Astra Pro Site Builder.
Introducing fresh color presets: Elevate your site design with our latest addition! Unveiling a collection of vibrant color presets to supercharge your creative process. Experiment effortlessly, infuse life into your design, and captivate your audience with stunning visuals.
More Fixes:
Footer Builder – Above and Below Footer vertical alignment options are not working.
EDD – Mini cart widget UI broken in the RTL mode.
Enable Smooth Scroll to ID causes a jerk issue on the comment navigation section.
External JavaScript script not loading properly on frontend.
Discover Astra 4.4.0: Live Search, Sticky Sidebar, Secondary Button Styles, Banner Featured Image options, and Many More!
Introducing Live Search Feature!
Say goodbye to traditional search methods. Astra’s Live Search brings REST API-based optimized live search to your website. Level up your website’s search with Astra’s Live Search feature!
🚀 Fast, Dynamic, and Efficient: Witness search results in real-time as you type. 🔍 Optimal Performance: Powered by the REST API, it ensures swift search results. 📈 Interactivity: Engage users with real-time results for an enhanced search experience.
Enhanced Control Over Featured Images!
In Astra’s latest version 4.4.0, we’re all about boosting your single post banner layouts with eye-catching featured image variations. Featured images are vital for engagement and branding, and we’ve listened to your feedback to make them even better.
Now, you have more control over your single post banner layouts. No more simple on/off switches. Here’s what’s new:
🖼️ Customize Image Position 📏 Adjust Image Width 🔲 Choose Image Ratio 📐 Select Image Size
Enhance Your Website with Astra’s Sticky Sidebar Feature!
With Astra, you can effortlessly add sticky sidebars to your site. These sticky sidebars remain in place as visitors scroll, ensuring vital content is always within reach. No more endless scrolling or searching for information.
Benefits of Astra’s Sticky Sidebar: 🚀 Enhanced User Engagement 👁️ Increased Visibility 🧹 Better Organization
Who Can Benefit? Whether you run a blog, online store, or business website, Astra’s Sticky Sidebar brings numerous advantages. It provides a seamless browsing experience, ensures important information is noticed, and keeps your site organized.
Privilege to Customize Secondary Button Styles
In the previous versions, WordPress core button styles were managed under Customizer > Global > Buttons, covering both primary and secondary buttons.
But here’s the big news!
With Astra v4.4.0, we’ve introduced a major improvement to button styling. For enhanced outline button styling, we now have dedicated options right within the Customizer.
🎨 Dedicated Styling for Secondary (Outline) Buttons. 📐 Customization at Your Fingertips: Easily adjust button presets, font style, size, and paddings.
Header-Footer Builder – Social – Enable Brand Color option on hover.
Improvement:
Introducing new admin notice for incompatibility of Astra Pro.
WooCommerce – Mini Cart – Cart price details do not update on the “Enter” keypress.
Fix:
Header Builder – Menu – Parsing duplicate ID error for ‘primary-site-navigation’ and ‘ast-hf-menu-x’.
Header Builder – Normal header and transparent header height issue. Introduced new filter: ‘astra_site_svg_logo_equal_height’ to enable or disable this fix.
Header Builder – Menu – On desktop toggle submenu click it goes in an infinite scroll loop when Elementor is active.
Footer Builder – The widget section gets 3.5em bottom spacing which affects frontend UI.
FILTER_SANITIZE_STRING deprecated notice coming while saving post meta.
Horizontal line is not inheriting the global text colors when Elementor is active.
bbPress widget items loading in an infinite loop while rendering banner layout.
Desktop and mobile header visible together at tablet_breakpoint (921px default) on scaled screen resolutions.
WooCommerce – Sticky add to cart scroll is not working properly for mobile & tablet.
WooCommerce – Swap Images feature shows the uncropped image.
WooCommerce – Subpages of My Account dashboard menu do not update the page title according to the set menu.
WooCommerce – Elementor Pro’s Mini Cart widget conflicts with the Astra Mini Cart builder element.
WooCommerce – Left margin from the “Add to cart” button when Sold Individually option is selected.
WooCommerce – Shop Archive page Product Category Background color issue.
WooCommerce – PHP fatal error when ‘astra_enable_woocommerce_integration’ filter is used to disable Astra and WooCommerce extended integration. ( https://wpastra.com/docs/remove-astra-customization-for-woocommerce/ )
WooCommerce – Single Product – alt tag absent while rendering images for the WooCommerce payments.
WooCommerce – Cart button color setting is not working when a product is added to the cart.
WooCommerce – Default customizer layout setting not applied correctly for Single Product.
Customizer – Gradient picker breaking from responsive background control in WordPress 6.3.
Customizer – UI design tweak for the widget block editor.
Customizer – Widget Editor – Unable to scroll down to add blocks in the widget when header/footer builder area is active.
Block – Calendar widget block appearing with accent background color due to which date is not readable.
Block – List block widget showing list style type none instead of disc.
Block editor – Quote block text color does not match the set from the customizer.
Block editor – Group container inner blocks option is not disabled in the editor.
Block Editor – Query Loop Block – Tag ‘article’ inside ‘article’ getting extra spacing with Boxed layout.
Block Editor – Title visibility eye meta option not appearing in Firefox browser.
Appearing sub arrows under themes.php page for admin pages of other BSF plugins like Sidebar Manager, Adobe Typekit Fonts etc.
Default layout should be Fullwidth (formerly Full-width Stretched) when creating a new Elementor Page.
We are pleased to announce that we are introducing new color option for your site logo under Header Builder – Site Identity – Design. Similarly you can also update the Header Logo color for Transparent header.
Improvement:
Header Footer Builder – Added new social profile “Threads”.
Values in customizer spacing controls should be unlinked if provided values are different.
Guillemet symbol “>>” from “Post Comment” removed for better UI.
New dashboard CTA banner for Starter Template installation.
Synced comments-area border color with customizer border color setting.
Accessibility improvements for WooCommerce pages.
Fix:
“Post Comment” button & Search button does not inherit customizer global button stylings.
On home page & front page there is h1 tag assigned for site title.
Footer Builder – Menu – Zero ‘0’ value not accepting in Menu Space.
Customizer – Typography font variation select dropdown gets cropped in font settings.
Related Posts – Meta’s author link is incorrect for other than admin created posts.
Customizer – Typography – Font weight select dropdown gets blank after selecting font-family & font-weight “inherit”.
Spectra – Table of Content’s anchor links jerks when “Smooth Scroll to ID” option enabled from customizer.
Blog: Pagination – Next Page and Previous Page pagination links jumps on mobile view on focus.
Editor – Theme preview starter-content button not aligned properly in the editor.
WooCommerce – Widget title size and color issue on all WooCommerce pages.
Block editor – Applying font-extras customizer settings to paragraph block (Line-height, Text Transform, Text Decoration, Letter Spacing).
Earlier, we offered five different layouts, namely: Fullwidth Contained, Fullwidth Stretched, Boxed Layout, Content Boxed, and Narrow Layout.
Now, with the latest release, we have simplified them to only three: Normal, Narrow, and Fullwidth Layouts. The new layouts are intuitive to use, avoid complexity, and provide users with more clarity while managing the Container Layouts.
Introducing new Container Style Options: ‘Boxed’, ‘Unboxed’. (Learn More )
We have a brand new option called the Container Style, which will provide the users the ability to customize the look and feel of the containers.
It comes in two modes: Boxed and Unboxed. The Boxed Option applies a “Boxed” background and boundary to the container, whereas, on the contrary, the Unboxed Option provides a clean “Unboxed” look without any background or boundaries.
The Container Style is fully flexible and can be combined with the layouts and the Sidebar Style Option.
Introducing new Sidebar Style Options: ‘Boxed’, ‘Unboxed’. (Learn More)
We also have another new option called the Sidebar Style. It provides the users the capability to customize the look and feel of the sidebar.
The Boxed Option applies a “Boxed” background and boundary to the sidebar, whereas, on the contrary, the Unboxed Option provides a clean “Unboxed” look without any background or boundaries.
The Sidebar Style is fully flexible and can be combined with the layouts and the Container Style Option. Unboxed:
Fix:
Title enable/disable option not appearing in block editor in few edge cases with WordPress-6.3.
Earlier, we offered five different layouts, namely: Fullwidth Contained, Fullwidth Stretched, Boxed Layout, Content Boxed, and Narrow Layout.
Now, with the latest release, we have simplified them to only three: Normal, Narrow, and Fullwidth Layouts. The new layouts are intuitive to use, avoid complexity, and provide users with more clarity while managing the Container Layouts.
Introducing new Container Style Options: ‘Boxed’, ‘Unboxed’. (Learn More )
We have a brand new option called the Container Style, which will provide the users the ability to customize the look and feel of the containers.
It comes in two modes: Boxed and Unboxed. The Boxed Option applies a “Boxed” background and boundary to the container, whereas, on the contrary, the Unboxed Option provides a clean “Unboxed” look without any background or boundaries.
The Container Style is fully flexible and can be combined with the layouts and the Sidebar Style Option.
Introducing new Sidebar Style Options: ‘Boxed’, ‘Unboxed’. (Learn More)
We also have another new option called the Sidebar Style. It provides the users the capability to customize the look and feel of the sidebar.
The Boxed Option applies a “Boxed” background and boundary to the sidebar, whereas, on the contrary, the Unboxed Option provides a clean “Unboxed” look without any background or boundaries.
The Sidebar Style is fully flexible and can be combined with the layouts and the Container Style Option. Unboxed:
Improvement:
Migrating container & sidebar layouts to new revamped settings for better user experience. (Learn More)
After updating to the newly released Beta Version, Astra will automatically update the existing container layouts and migrate to the new options based on your existing site’s customizations. Please also note that going forward, we have provided backward compatibility for the sidebar with the Fullwidth Layout. Meaning, for the existing users upgrading to the latest version, the sidebar will remain intact with the Full-Width (Earlier called Full-Width Stretch) Layout but will not be supported anymore for the new users of Astra.
Container – Content Boxed layout removes Spectra column or container left padding.
Offcanvas – Due to clickable hidden area toggle buttons don’t work in RTL mode.
Header Builder – Cart – On adding product to cart, quantity plus & minus buttons gets disappear.
Topic tags div visible multiple times and goes into infinite loop in case of BBPress.
Offcanvas – Builder component popup overlaps on customizer controls section.
WooCommerce – Widget’s dropdown arrow is moving to top corner.
Header Builder – Cart – Slide cart goes blank when Elementor Pro is active with latest version.
get_the_excerpt() callback breaks the functionality of external plugins like BuddyPress Registration, Five Star Restaurant Reservations, Formidable Form.
Filter ‘astra_single_banner_post_meta’ for single post meta markup has been deprecated instead use ‘astra_single_post_meta’.
Fix:
get_option database call increase page loads for fetching theme options.
exclude_from_search query parameter removed from get_post_types list to get CPTs under Customizer > Custom Post Types section, case of CartFlows Step custom post type.
Archive – Title area 2 – Archive type title gets added as prefix on archive pages.
Text transformed to ‘capitalize’ for single post titles & archive titles after 4.0.0.
Single Post – “Read Time” option missing from metadata.
Comment form fields should be stack on responsive devices.
iframe breaks out of parent container on responsive devices.
UI glitch typography input box control on Firefox browser.
Multiple times fetching custom post types list callback executes for dynamic customizer.
Theme preview showing title area on the banner section for the homepage.
Importing wp-starter-content template on fresh setup overriding the existing site title.
Dynamic customizer – Single-archive section titles and taxonomy meta names getting by its slug name instead of title.
Admin dashboard’s Site Identity quick setting link redirecting to Header Builder > Logo section instead of redirecting to Site Identity section.
WooCommerce – Admin bar’s customize link updated on WooCommerce pages for quick landing to it’s respected customizer section.
WooCommerce – Added WPML translation support for cart dynamic input, proceed to checkout input & free-shipping text input through wpml-config.xml file. (Props – OnTheGoSystems)
WooCommerce – Shop – Shop skin layout design 3 option moved from addon to theme.
WooCommerce – Shop – Product card alignment option moved from addon to theme.
WooCommerce Cart – Hide cart total when cart is empty option.
WooCommerce – Single Product – Moved sticky add to cart from addon to theme.
WooCommerce – Moved Add to cart quantity button to cart from addon to theme.
WooCommerce – Single Product – Moved structure options from pro to free theme.
Earth (default) icon for selected color improved for better visibility on brighter & dim colors.
Redesigned the Astra Meta Settings layout control similar to customizer layout selection options.
Fix:
WooCommerce – Single Product – Alignment issue with content added by plugin near add to cart section.
WooCommerce – Dropdown icon cart link does not redirect to cart page.
WooCommerce – Cart element is adding primary header height on below and above header section.
WooCommerce – Cross sell grid products showing with 50% width when modern cart layout is enabled on cart page.
WooCommerce – Single Product – Flex CSS conflicting with third party plugins which adds custom functionality aside add-to-cart button.
WooCommerce – Checkout – Misalignment for order products quantity in order summary box.
WooCommerce – Show password eye icon is not visible on My Account page.
Block Editor – 2em Block gap spacing appearing in container blocks.
Customizer range slider control not accepting decimal values for ’em’ unit.
Padding being added to the Full Width/Stretched Layout when using Brizy Page Builder.
Search element not clickable on above header, moving old to new header builder.
Showing deprecated function warning on frontend after installing Elementor with theme.
The Menu gets disappeared on the Android mobile device when you select Header Type is set as Dropdown.
Footer – Footer global background color and padding is not working in the frontend.
Spectra plugin settings page link redirect to old ‘uag’ admin page.
Font variant customizer control’s HTML markup was loading from PHP, which is now moved to React JS for the better and optimized customizer performance.
Fix:
Customizer’s typography section loading slowly.
Block editor – Layout settings are not visible for Group block.
Elementor Pro – WooCommerce Checkout Form’s shipping details not look appropriate in editor mode as it looks on the frontend.
Search element not displaying in Mobile Offcanvas.
Offcanvas Shopping cart closes automatically on mobile when scrolled.
Introduced Global Color Palette Feature – It’s a new dynamic color system. It lets user create custom color palettes and control colors across the website from one place.
Introduced Typograhpy Presets Feature – Choose from beautiful and effective typography combination and apply it to the entire website with a single control.
Introduced Button Presets Feature – Pre-built button designs to style up your website buttons quickly and easily.
Added Heading Typograhpy options for H4-H6 also
Content background color option
Fix:
Heading color option not working for Sidebar, Footer widget title
Heading color option not working for Archive page title
Live preview for content background option not working
Content background image not working for related posts section
With every update in our Astra 3.0 series, we’ve pushed the envelope a step further when it comes to performance and speed. The latest Astra 3.5 update is no different.
We’ve taken it a notch higher!
We constantly strive to get Astra better at speed and performance in every possible way to help our users experience the fastest websites on the web.
Astra 3.5 brings significant CSS optimization for faster frontend loading. It also comes with advanced options for the recently released related posts and responsive visibility for the site title and site tagline.
This version also brings significant updates for accessibility, thereby dropping a major hint that your favorite Astra is getting ready for Core Web Vitals. With these improvements, Astra now becomes a 100% (jumping from 98%) accessible theme with a default layout.
Astra 3.5 is available in the beta version, where you could try out all exciting features and experience performance improvements. We invite you to test the new Astra 3.5 out.
Together we can make it better and would like to hear from you with your feedback.
Before using the beta version, we strongly recommend using the theme and plugin in a test environment and not on a live site. This way, you can confidently play around and try out the latest features without worrying about anything going wrong on the live site.
Let’s check out all the latest and exciting new updates.
Faster Speed on Frontend With Optimized CSS
We all love designing our websites with different colors, typography, layouts, and so on. However, with more styling comes even more code. And with more code, there’s more CSS.
With Astra 3.5 onwards, no matter how many styling options you use, all the code will be served by more optimized CSS files. This gives you the fastest loading speed in the front end. And adds wings to your creativity!
This update focuses on the optimization of CSS that loads with Astra on your page.
Here is what we did to improve CSS loading:
Conditionally Loading of CSS: What this means is that Astra will now load CSS only if the particular style is applied to the website or if an element is used on the website. The corresponding CSS will be generated based on the design options you choose in the Astra customizer. This also includes elements you use in the header footer builder and will prevent loading any extra CSS for styling that is not applied on your website.
With page builders, load only relevant CSS: Astra will first detect the page builder on your website and then load the respective and required CSS code.
Wiped off some CSS: We examined every CSS applied for both the desktop and responsive views. We’ve optimized and reduced the CSS to the best possible extent.
This covers all the CSS that is applied by Astra, giving you the much-improved loading time.
Here is a result of a test that we ran using Astra’s previous and upcoming version.
Before Astra 3.5: The main CSS had a file size of 56.89 KB, and the page took 725ms to load completely.
With Astra 3.5: The CSS file size was reduced to 41.09 KB and took 666ms to load completely.
That means with Astra 3.5, your web page loads 59ms faster than before.
What to test with the beta version?
Keep your website design as it is.
Install and activate the beta version for the Astra theme. If you are an Astra Pro user, activate the beta version for the plugin as well.
Check for any website design changes with Astra 3.5 beta version. As this version brings new ways of optimizing CSS code, you must test any design changes it causes on the website.
If you observe any change, report it to our team with a supportive explanation and screenshot.
New Controls in Related Posts
Related posts feature was introduced with Astra 3.4. Using this feature, you can display related posts on your posts and pages from the Astra customizer.
This option now has additional controls.
1. Custom Title and Alignment for Related Posts Section
You can set a custom string as a title to the related posts section and manage its alignment.
What to test with the beta version?
Add a title and set alignment to this section. Check if it appears appropriately in the customizer preview as well as in the frontend
Check if it works well with the responsive view
Check if it works well with the RTL website
2. Responsive Support to Posts Grid Column Layout
You can now manage the column numbers across all devices.
What to test with the beta version?
Check if it appears appropriately in the customizer preview as well as in the frontend.
Check if it works well with the responsive view
Check if it works well with the RTL website
Responsive Visibility Option for Site Title and Site Tagline
This adds the new responsive option for the toggle button for the site title and site tagline for desktop, tablet, and mobile devices.
What to test with the beta version?
No change is expected on your website if you use this option. The site title and tagline should appear as they did before and after the update.
Test the new option ‘Display Site Title’ on responsive mode. The site title should be visible only on the selected device.
Test for the visibility of dependent controls on ‘Display Site Title.’ They should be displayed conditionally, just as they did before.
Test the new option for ‘Display Site Tagline’ on responsive mode. The site tagline should be visible only on the selected device.
Test the visibility of dependent controls on ‘Display Site Tagline.’ They should be displayed conditionally, just as they did before.
All the above cases should also be tested with old header options (before Astra 3.0) and the new Astra header builder.
Site Title Color Option Moved to Theme From Astra Pro
The site title color option was available only with the Astra Pro addon. It is now moved to the Astra theme.
You can find it in the logo element under the design tab.
What to test with the beta version?
If you have Astra Pro, try to deactivate it and then test this option with the Astra theme
Check if it works fine in the customizer preview as well as in the frontend.
With new header builder’s logo element.
If you are already using this option from Astra Pro, check if it works with the Astra theme.
Enhancements for Accessibility
Astra is already an accessibility-ready theme. Improving it further, Astra 3.5 now has the following updates:
Background and foreground colors will now have an increased contrast ratio.
The search button of the search form is now made fully accessible.
Always show aria-label attributes on builder social icons for accessibility.
With these improvements, Astra is now a 100% accessible theme with a default layout.
What to test with the beta version?
Run any accessibility test you wish. You can use any tool you like to test accessibility.
Time to Test Astra 3.5!
We would really appreciate your help in testing this update.
As mentioned in the beginning, you can download the Astra 3.5 beta version for the theme.
The Astra Pro users can visit your store account or refer to the article on beta updates for Astra.
Again, we strongly recommend that you try out the beta version of the theme and plugin in a test environment only and not on a live site.
If you think you’ve found a bug, please do let us know through our support portal.
Here are other improvement and fixes that Astra 3.5 brings –
Introducing a new visual Footer Builder that gives the ability to design unique footers for your website.
Design different layers of footer with – Above Footer, Primary Footer, and Below Footer.
Use different essential footer elements like Copyright, Button, HTML, Widget, Social Icon, Search, Footer Menu, etc. So that you can add all the required information easily with few clicks.
Simply drag-n-drop elements in different sections of the footer. It gives you the freedom to place elements at any location in the footer quickly.
It provides a flexible columns-based structure where you can select column count and column layouts.
Manage responsive layouts for the footer easily.
Spacing and alignment options for each element in the footer.
With Astra 3.0 experience faster loading customizer as well as faster website loading time in the frontend.
Astra customizer will load faster than before so that you can design a website in less time. While Astra website will load faster in the frontend delivering a great experience for your users.
Here are detailed improvements –
Load CSS only when their respective options are enabled – Frontend optimization.
Removed old CSS that is already supported by browsers.
Removed unused grid layout related CSS.
Overall HTML Structure improvement which includes removing blank spaces and removing unwanted HTML Tags.
Conditionally loaded Elementor, EDD, Comment and Pagination related CSS only when they are used.
Replaced flex related CSS with theme predefined CSS classes.
Main JS code optimization.
Other Improvements and Fixes:
Improvement: Removed old CSS that is already supported by browsers.
Improvement: Removed unused grid layout related CSS.
Improvement: Overall HTML Structure improvement which includes removing blank spaces and removing unwanted HTML Tags.
Improvement: Conditionally loaded Elementor, EDD, Comment and Pagination related CSS only when they are used.
Improvement: Replaced flex related CSS with theme predefined CSS classes.
Improvement: Main JS code optimization.
Improvement: Added customizer partial refresh support in a few options.
Improvement: Added Stack and Inline option for Footer.
Improvement: Builder – Menu – Added Submenu container width option.
Improvement: Builder – Menu – Added Submenu container radius option.
Improvement: Builder – Menu – Added Submenu container top offset.
Improvement: Builder – Menu – Added menu hover animation styles.
Introducing a new visual Header Builder that gives a flexible and advanced header designing experience.
It offers different layers for header – Above Header, Primary Header, and Below Header.
You can drag-n-drop elements in different sections of the header. It gives you the freedom to place elements at any location in the header quickly.
It offers different essential header elements like Button, HTML, Widget, Social Icon, Search, Menu, etc. So that you can add all the required information easily with few clicks.
Get background and height options for Above, Below, and Primary header.
Spacing options for each element in the header.
You can design a completely different header for responsive devices with handy mobile header options.
Introducing a new visual Footer Builder that gives the ability to design unique footers for your website.
It offers different layers for the footer – Above Footer, Primary Footer, and Below Footer.
You can drag-n-drop elements in different sections of the footer. It gives you the freedom to place elements at any location in the footer quickly.
It offers different essential footer elements like Copyright, Button, HTML, Widget, Social Icon, Search, Footer Menu, etc. So that you can add all the required information easily with few clicks.
It provides a flexible columns-based structure where you can select column count and column layouts. This lets you manage the footer look easily.
Create responsive layouts for the footer.
Spacing and alignment options for each element in the footer.
All custom controls HTML markup was loading from PHP, which is now moved to React JS for the better and optimized Customizer performance. ( https://wpastra.com/astra-2-6/ )
Use “customize_controls_enqueue_scripts” action for enqueueing Customizer script to avoid loading on all admin pages. ( Props – https://github.com/westonruter )
Align Full and Align Wide option not working correctly for Gallery and Table GB blocks in case of full width stretched and full width contained layout.
Added support for Gutenberg Group block, which will be introduced in WordPress 5.3 version.
Compatibility with WordPress 5.3.
Gutenberg editor block mover controls not visible in case of full width stretched layout.
Primary menu padding bug on the closing of the menu on mobile devices.
Hide last menu item not working on the mobile device when Above or Below header menu is merged.
Improved logic that is used to save the values of options inside the new popups, Earlier all the values of options inside the popup were combined and stored in JSON objects now all the values inside the popup are stored separately similar to Astra Version 1.X.X. This simplifies the upgrade process when users update to Version 2.x.x.
Changed the images used in the customizer options such as Header Layouts etc. to new lightweight SVGs.
Updated minor UI tweaks for all the customizer controls to unify the design across all the options.
Gutenberg Compatibility with WP 5.0-Beta.1. A few class names are changed after Gutenberg is merged to WordPress Core, This version takes these changes into account for the Gutenberg compatibility CSS.
Submenu CSS not correctly applied for the default menu when no navigation menu is assigned to primary menu location.
Submenu opens below the header instead of cropping the header. This fix introduces a padding difference of ~5px in the header hence for existing sites updating to this version this change will be disabled by default. You can enable this by adding a filter `add_filter( ‘astra_submenu_below_header_fix’, ‘__return_true’ );` in your child theme’s functions’php file. For all the new installations this option will be enabled by default and don’t need any snippet.
Before adding filter:
After adding filter:
Improvement: If the content in the header is larger the navigation menu will drop on a new line.
Improvement: Add correct license information for the images used in the screenshot.
Improvement: Add correct license information for wp-color-picker-alpha JS Library.
Fix:
Search from the Last Item in Menu is not align vertically center.
Introduced Mobile Headers support from Astra Theme and Mobile Headers addon in Astra Pro. Check out changelogs of 1.4.0 beta versions for list of complete changes.
Improvement:
Remove `-` and `–` from submenus and replace it with an icon `>`
Fixed:
LifterLMS RTL layout not working because of missing RTL variant of the stylesheet.
Filter `astra_site_title_tag` to change the HTML tag of the site title.
Improvement:
Improve RTL support for customizer controls.
Fix:
Correct template part not being loaded for plugins that change the default WordPress template hierarchy. This fixes compatibility with plugins bbPress, LearnPress, PeepSo Core etc.
Background param color does not save then value when it is empty.
Learndash – Added the same icon of the LearnDash course status to the Course Navigation widget.
Learndash – Use theme color instead of link color for table’s heading, icons, progress bar.
Added Elementor pro 2.0 Support. This also fixes the problem some users were facing related to unusual margins below header when trying out Elementor Pro 2.0 Beta versions. Read the blog post here.
Introduced new actions and filters for Blog Archive / Single Post template.
Improvement:
Modify the read more tag style which added from content editor.
Fixed:
Few of the Google fonts were not rendered correctly.
Product search widget button text having more padding and causing the text to fall on two lines.
WooCommerce composite products plugin conflict on Single Product Page.
Footer current year does not render correctly for a few languages.
Improvement: Load the full size of the post thumbnail by default, Pass the value through a new filter astra_post_thumbnail_default_size.
Improvement: Introduces filter ofastra_allowed_fullwidth_oembed_providers providers to be made full width.
Improvement: Don’t display post navigation on the LifterLMS Quizzes. (Props: thomasplevy)
Improvement: Add support for Course Builder for LifterLMS. Now Astra layout settings will be available for Quizzes in Course builder. (Props: thomasplevy)
Improvement: Added support for Content Layout option on LifterLMS quizzes via the builder.
Improvement: Load WooCommerce compatibility on WordPress action wp instead of init to improve compatibility with some third party plugins.
Fixed: Make the LifterLMS course videos full width.
Fixed: Black bars appearing when the video is made full width in the LearnDash course/lesson.
Fixed: Fatal error while editing the Elementor with Astra shortcode for the mini cart is used on a page.
Added option to display the Custom Menu Item outside the menu – Layout -> Primary Header. This changes the behavior of how the last menu item is handled on mobile devices and desktop mode.
Fixed:
Moved Cart in Menu option moved to Layout -> Primary Header -> Custom Menu Item. Those who have enabled this option in the last beta version will need to enable this option from the new setting. This allows us to organize the settings more correctly.
Added new filters `astra_post_read_more` and `astra_post_read_more_class` to change the custom text and custom class to the read more text for blog posts
Fix:
Site SVG logo only visible if site title is enabled in some cases.
Astra meta box support added to BB Themer for single, 404 and archive page.
Improvement:
Renamed filter `astra_sigle_post_navigation_enabled` to `astra_single_post_navigation_enabled`. The older filter will keep working but it is recommended to change to the new filter.
Fix:
Two primary menu navigation drop-down icon visible for responsive devices.
Remove empty div for responsive devices if primary menu and custom menu item is disabled
New: When using page builders Beaver Builder or Elementor on a new page – Page layout will be changed to “Full width / Stretched” and for Visual Composer the page layout will be changed to “Full width / Contained” Also the title bar will be disabled hence reducing the number of clicks needed to get full-width pages.
Enhancements
Improvement: Added new filter astra_post_link_enabled to Enable or Disable read more links on archive pages.
Improvement: Renamed the layout option Plain with Full Width / Contained
Improvement: Renamed the layout option Page Builder with Full Width / Stretched
Bug Fixes
Fixed: Extra space at above with Full Width / Stretched Layout on the page.
Fixed: Updated the TinyMCE editor’s width to be 100%
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