Site Builder 1.0.3 is out now
This week saw the release of Site Builder version 1.0.3. We've packed a lot into this version, which you can see in the product changelog, but below are some of the highlights.
Quick links
Features
Background Colors Options
We've added a great deal more flexibility to background color options on the following components:
— Subpage Listing
— Pods (Text/Image Pod and Related Content Pod)
Until now content editors could only set the background color of items within the above components when using the 'Overlay' style option. Now we've included a switch that allows users to set the background color, if they want, to any of the layout options for items.
Random Order Options
Editors can now keep their content fresh for each time a visitor hits a page on their site by setting random ordering on the following components:
— Subpage Listing
— Pods
— Gallery
— Banner
— Windows
Google Prefetch
If you are using Google Analytics and/or Google Tag Manager, we've added some additional code that will be output at the start of the opening <head> tag. This will create a DNS Prefetch for Google services.
New Script field
In addition to the above Google Prefetch, we've included a new Script field that allows you to enter your own "preconnect", "dns-prefretch" or "preload" references to be output at the start of the opening <head> tag. You can do this on both a global level and on a page by page basis.
This new field will come in handy when you are using any third-party scripts on your site as you can now either "preconnect", "dns-prefretch" or "preload" in order to boost performance and page speed scores.
Not sure what "preconnect", "dns-prefretch" or "preload" are? Read this handy post on CSS Tricks.
More New Features
Plus lots more features are listed on the changelog.
Performance
Bootstrap
We've now updated the version of Bootstrap we use as the backbone of our frontend. We've jumped from 4.3.1 to 4.5.3.
JQuery
You may have spotted a warning on Google Page Speed Insight results that mentions "Does not use passive listeners to improve scrolling performance". We've fixed this by upgrading JQuery from 3.5.1 to 3.6.0 and included some additional code that will boost your test results.
Modernizr
We've removed any dependency for Modernizr. Instead we have included a mere 12 lines of JS to replace any feature of Modernizr that we were making use of.
More Performance Improvements
Read about the other performance updates in the changelog.
Enhancements
279 NEW Google Fonts!
We've rolled an update to our Google Fonts integration that now includes almost 300 new fonts. Site Builder 1.0.3 now has 1,284 font families, so designing your website just got even more awesome.
Google ReCaptcha v3
Thanks to a number of requests from users we've now added support for Google ReCaptcha V3. You can now choose whether your site will use ReCaptcha V2 or V3.
New Header Layouts
You can now choose from two additional header layouts for large screens when designing your site via the CMS or the Visual Designer.
Images
Improved support for Retina-ready images, with a fallback image for non-retina users.
We've even included explicit widths and heights to all images now to boost Page Speed scores.
More Product Ehancements
Plus lots more enhancements to read about on the changelog.
Fixes
Read all about the awesome fixes available in Site Builder 1.0.3 on the changelog.
How can I get the latest version?
New Customers
Head over to our pricing page and choose the best plan for you.
Existing Customers
If you are already using Site Builder then login to the uSkinned Members Portal now to download the full package or update package.
We hope you enjoy the new features, performance improvements, enhancements and bug fixes available in Site Builder 1.0.3 as much as we do.
Be sure to sign up to our mailing list to be the first to hear about version 1.0.4 when it is released!
#h5yr
About the author
Paul Daly
I am a co-founder and the Creative Lead at uSkinned. It's my responsibility to lead the design and frontend coding efforts for all of our products as well as across each team, including Marketing, Branding, Content and Support.
