We are excited to announce the release of Website Update 7.5! The main goal of this update was to enhance the user experience when working with the website on mobile devices, adding some quality-of-life features, and of course, regular bug fixes!
Shop page mobile categories
It is well known that one of the most important factors for the successful development of a store is its accessibility and ease of navigation from mobile devices. That’s why in this update, we have added another option for navigating shop page product categories, which serves as an alternative to the accordion and visually replicates the navigation of the mobile menu, enhancing the store page with a more cohesive design.
Refactored popups
Pop-up windows serve as an important means of alerting website visitors and providing quick access to specific functionality. In version 7.5, we focused on improving the functionality of pop-up windows based on feedback from our clients. For easier detection, now the close button on all pop-up windows has been moved closer to the window itself. Additionally, mobile scrolling has been enhanced to prevent situations where the entire site is accessible for scrolling after opening a pop-up window despite the site being dimmed and inaccessible for touch. Finally, it’s worth noting that the entire code related to the Magnific Popup library, which our pop-up windows are based on, has been refactored. This has significantly reduced the CSS associated with its operation.
Backdrop-filter header row background
The development of web technologies and the gradual transition of most users to newer versions of web browsers enable us to add options to the WoodMart theme that were not available until recently. Among these options is the “backdrop-filter”, which we have added to the background options of the header builder. The backdrop-filter property allows you to apply graphical effects such as blurring or color shifting to the area behind an element. It’s worth mentioning that because it applies to everything behind the element, to see the effect, the element or its background needs to be transparent or partially transparent. The simplest, but not the only, example of using such an option is the ability to create a frosted glass effect, which will look particularly nice when scrolling through the site with a sticky header enabled.
“Hidden sidebar” layout for “Product tabs” on single product layout builder
We have added a product tab layout called “Hidden Sidebar,” which allows for the creation of compact single product pages where content appears from the edge of the screen. This layout also includes options to customize the width, color scheme, and position of appearing content.
“Accordion on mobile” option for “Product tabs” on single product layout builder
One of the reasons that hindered our clients from fully utilizing the single product layout builder was the inability to simultaneously use product tabs on the desktop and an accordion on mobile. In this update, we have added this capability for the product tab element as well, which can be enabled with the additional option “Accordion on mobile” in case the “Tabs” layout is selected for the element.
Boost Loading Times
Website version 7.5 introduces a new caching feature. Internal performance tests show dramatic differences when comparing the same website with and without the new caching feature; memory usage decreases from 3MB to 8KB, and the Time To First Byte (TTFB) metric improves by 33%-70%. These significant performance improvements are achieved by storing the widget’s output on servers after they are fully rendered for the first time. This allows subsequent visitors to load them without needing to fully render the widget code again.
Replacing JS Libraries with Native JS
This version continues the effort to clean up your website’s code by replacing external JavaScript libraries with native JS-based solutions that achieve better results with more modern code. The first library that has been replaced is `waypoint.js`, which executes JavaScript functions related to user scrolling. Replacing this JavaScript library reduces memory use by 18KB, improving frontend performance and SEO scores.
