All Sparkle 5 new features?

Question
1

Hi around,
please, is there an overview/list with short descriptions of all the new features of Sparkle 5 ?

2

Hello :wave:t2:

Unfortunately, no, not that Iā€™m aware ofā€¦

3

Hi.

Here it is:

Donā€™t know if it really ā€œallā€.

Mr. F.

4

ā€¦ hmm, merci bien Allan

5

Well, a ā€˜How to useā€™ would be nice.
There is only minor enhancement in ver 5, so Iā€™m a bit disappointed.
The AI site creation - well for new comers only.

1 Like
6

Maybe a new YouTube video for the new features?

What do the developers say?

Mr. F.

2 Likes
7

Those are all the new features yes.

8

Hello.

Itā€™s no secret that the Layout Blocks and I are not the best of friends. However, Sparkle 5 introduced a lot of new features for these elements.

So I would really appreciate if someone (@Duncan maybe) could say a few words. Or even better would make a video tutorial just for Layout Blocks.

  • How do you use them for a header with menu fixed at the top of the browser?
  • Or useful as a footer element?
  • How do you achieve the fold out and fold in e.g. for a FAQ page?
  • What else is possible, especially with the layout for the smartphone?

I think I am not speaking for myself alone.

Mr. F.

9

Sure we will make video tutorials.

In Sparkle 4 you couldnā€™t effectively use a layout block as a header due to the connection of layer position and depth, something we had hoped to fix in the Sparkle 4 release cycle but didnā€™t manage (too big of a change due to internal structure). This is fixed in Sparkle 5, so you can have a header layout block stick to top, and move it to the top of the layer list independently of its position.

I am not quite sure about what issues remain with its use as footer, happy to look into anything that comes up.

The FAQ style is quite straightforward, you set a layout block to be initially hidden, then a button in the page can be set to toggle the visibility of any layout block on the page. @dpamping showed this with relation to the Sparkle 5 page: Sparkle 5 website: How we did it - #4 by dpamping

Thereā€™s one minor issue with the FAQ style, there is a ā€œClose other layout blocksā€ option, but this currently closes all layout blocks in the page, so if you want the FAQ style right now your only layout blocks need to be the FAQ ones. This is something weā€™re addressing as soon as the dust settles on the v5 issues weā€™re seeing.

Iā€™m not sure what you mean with layout for smartphone.

4 Likes
10

This is from a post (Reiner, Distance between content and footer in subpages):
After I had fixed my website in a rough structure, I wanted to adapt it to mobile devices. The footer from a layout block gave me a completely unusable result. After a few attempts to correct this, I gave up.

I donā€™t know what he did that caused his trouble. Maybe he can describe it here.

Mr. F.

11

Thereā€™s too many combinations of setups. As mentioned we will look at any issue and work on finding a fix. Also lots of emotional overloaded terms without much substance.

I donā€™t doubt thereā€™s bugs, but itā€™s just software, and weā€™re here to fix it.

Best way to solve a problem is:

  • have a test project, saved as a starting point
  • have very clear/small/details steps that lead to the problem
  • maybe also have a video recording of going from no problem to problem
  • email us everything

This virtually guarantees an instant fix.

12

@Mr_Fozzie I was also frustrated with layout blocks as they were not practical for my use case. But this update has really changed things, and I have already started incorporating them into my websites :blush:

I already have an FAQ on my site that I plan to redo using the new layout blocks once the remaining bugs have been fixed. In the meantime, I did a test that you can check out and download here if it interests anyone: F.A.Q.

@duncan I would love to see a grouping system for layout blocks, similar to the grouping feature in popups, so that we can collapse/expand blocks within the same group :crossed_fingers:t2:

1 Like
13

Thereā€™s a summary and descriptions on the Sparle Tab of the website? Sparkle 5 ā€” Sparkle

14

Hi @MDEyre, welcome. Not quite sure if thatā€™s a question. But yes the tabs are achieved using popups. Thereā€™s a description of that use in the documentation:

https://sparkleapp.com/docs/popups.html

15

Hi Allan,

would you mind to duplicate your FAQ page and also publish it to see if you get the same issue as I did?
I get the issue, that I cannot show up two accordions on two different pages. Although I tried to copy just the accordion elements and also duplicate the complete page.

Thanks in advance and Kind Regards,
Uwe

16

Hi Uwe.

1st: You can download the project by yourself and start testing.
2nd: It seems that you have enabled ā€œclose other layout blocksā€, Alan hasnā€™t. And Duncan mentioned that this feature is not 100 % perfect by now.

Maybe you disable that and try your pages again.

Mr. F.

17

Yes, I can download and publish, but I want to know, if only I have this publish issue.
And I have the accordion working perfect on one page, copied the complete page and the accordion on the second - duplicated page does not work - with the same settings, of course.
I had this issue yesterday with a blank page, created an accordion, created a second page, copied the accordion from the first page - same issue.
Like I say, works fine in preview - denies working on ftp. On my side.

Kind Regards,
Uwe