I wanted to write a post and give some insight into the work we are doing behind the scenes, and what this work means for the future of Elegant Themes. For all those wondering what’s next, and why Extra is taking so long, this post is for you!
Over a year ago we released Divi, and the result has been a complete transformation in the way we build products and the way our customers build websites. Observing the success of Divi has lead to a new development philosophy at Elegant Themes that hinges on the tried-and-true value of “quality over quantity.” This new development philosophy has resulted in a dramatic decrease in the amount of products being developed, but a dramatic increase in the quality of those products. We believe this philosophy will best serve our customers, and this belief has been validated in the way our themes are currently being used. Almost all of our customers are using Divi, and that’s because we spent the time to make it revolutionary.
Several months ago we gave a sneak peek of Extra, and the delay in its release (stemming from these new quality goals) has lead to a lot of frustration. There are a lot of questions about why Extra is taking so long, and I am here to tell you about the work we have been doing and what it means for the future of our product line.
Put simply, Extra is taking so long because the work we are doing represents progress on a broader set of goals that involve not only Extra, but Divi and our future themes and plugins as well.
In the development of Extra, we began to expand on the builder functionality that currently serves as the core of Divi. As we continued to work on Extra, it became obvious that having two themes with two different builders was impractical. In turn we laid out a new vision for a universal builder that could power a new breed of themes. This builder would need to be able to power anything, work anywhere, and be constructed in a modular fashion that allowed for easy integration and manipulation of its core module set. So what does this all mean?
A Universal Divi Builder
We are turning the Divi Builder into a new foundation, and work on Extra directly involves improvements made towards this goal. Instead of reinventing a whole new builder for Extra, we are taking what we know our customers love, and improving the Divi Builder to work anywhere, even on posts, and even in Extra. Doing this requires a few improvements: making its grid fully responsive, making every module fully fluid, and adding bigger and better display options for improved theme compatibility and even more design possibilities. Imagine a builder that can be used anywhere, and can be expanded to do anything.
A New Fluid Grid
Before we can make the Divi Builder work anywhere, we first need to re-invent the grid that serves as its foundation. While working on Extra and the Divi Builder, we have been building a new fluid grid that will house completely fluid modules. This will allow the Divi Builder to work anywhere, whether it be on posts, on pages, in Extra, or in any other theme for that matter.
The Divi Builder Plugin
Finally, this work represents progress towards a broader goal, which is to turn the Divi Builder into a plugin. If you love Divi as much as we do, you want the option to take it with you everywhere you go, and soon you will be able to. We are turning the Divi Builder into a plugin that will let you retain the full integrity of your Divi and/or Extra built content and migrate it to any other theme. In addition, you will also have access to all of the builder’s functionality—you can edit your existing content and even build new pages and posts from scratch. We are going to set the Divi Builder free.
Why is this so important? Because if you have built thousands of posts in Extra or Divi using the builder, we don’t want you to feel trapped inside the theme. This builder plugin will allow you to change themes and still keep your beautifully built content. Furthermore, it will allow you to use the advanced builder elements in any theme, whether it be an Elegant Theme or not.
What This Means For Extra
This means that Extra will have all the power of Extra plus the power of the Divi Builder, and improvements made to the Divi Builder will become part of Divi too, and even part of the Divi Builder plugin. There will be no compatibility issues or redundancies, but instead a single builder framework extended by the themes it powers and/or module extensions.
What Does This Mean For The Future?
First of all, it means that much of the work we are doing for Extra will actually manifest itself first within Divi. Even though Extra isn’t released yet, the work we are doing is still being put to use. The future of Divi, Extra and many of our future products have become intertwined. The Divi Builder will serve as a foundation for future themes, and the builder will also be set free in the form of a plugin that can be used anywhere. The Divi Builder (and in turn the themes it powers) will continue to be improved, expanded and maintained for the foreseeable future.
Does this mean that we will only be making themes powered by the Divi Builder and forgo the creation of simple niche themes forever? No, not necessarily, but for now it’s our main focus.
In addition to working on Divi and Extra, we have been developing other great plugins as well. In fact we want to put a new focus on expanding our plugin collection to include more great things like Monarch. You will be happy to know that we are several months into the development of a great new plugin that we will be sneak peeking next week and releasing shortly after 🙂 If you like Monarch, then you are going to love this new plugin too, and you can expect to love all of the great new plugins we have planned for the future.
So what can you expect in the coming weeks and months?
- A re-imagined Divi Builder that is more flexible and sits at the core of Divi, Extra and future themes.
- A Divi Builder plugin that can be used anywhere and with any theme.
- The release of Extra, including the Divi Builder and an expansion of its features.
- Continued jaw-dropping improvements to the Divi Builder, and in turn the themes it powers.
- A new focus on building amazing plugins that enhance our new breed of ultra-customizable themes.
I hope this answers the many questions that have been popping up in the comments here in the blog, including concerns about our slow release schedule and lack of information about future products. We have our heads down and we are working hard. In fact our team is bigger than ever, our community is stronger than ever, and we are working harder than ever to create amazing things. Elegant Themes will continue to be the most feature rich and affordable WordPress resource around. Thanks for being patient!
Why are there so many broken images on this web page? Why would I want to buy a web design/development product from a company that has a busted up website?
I really need some kind of update on extra, have a client whose needs seem best met by such a theme. Divi just doesn’t do it and I would really prefer not to go elsewhere for a theme, but I will if there is no news on Extra theme, appreciate you have lots to do but in fairness by promising such a great theme and then not deliver after nearly 16 months, you opened Pandoras box yourself on this one.
I would be so grateful…..
There is a big rumor the Extra theme will come on BLACK FRIDAY. If the rumor is true, that will be a realy big surprise. 🙂
Since BLACK FRIDAY is already tomorrow…..
I need an update on Extra, asap if possible….
Hey Nick, any updates on Extra?
Thanks
Complete vaporware.
I won’t be renewing my subscription when it runs out in February.
Not enough new releases for my money.
Hey Nick, any updates on Extra and when we all will be able to enjoy it?
Thanks
Second that! I need have needed Extra a couple of times in the past few months and have had to look elsewhere.
So, the latest version of Divi was released in early September and the Divi Builder plugin was released about 5 weeks later. If Extra follows the same pattern we’re looking at mid-November? Maybe?
Elizabeth,
Not really, before extra comes out ET will announce the BETA TESTING until that happens can be another 3-4 weeks from now. Then Once the BETA TESTING is OPEN add another 2-3 weeks.
After the actual BETA TESTING (when they are done with it) they will take 3-4 weeks. If we are lucky all this will happen before the Holidays so maybe by mid January (this is if ET does not decide to change gears and postpone NEXT to release a more important version of the DIVI Plugin) So my prediction is EXTRA will launch on 2016ish…
This wait for EXTRA is ridiculous now… seriously… and before every jumps up and down on me to say how amazing Divi is and starts hugging ET for being super human… where the hell is this theme that has been ‘just around the corner’, or a ‘little while after the next thing we’ve put in the way of bringing the theme out’… WHEN?
As a paying customer I don’t understand why a free builder plugin is released earlier than the Extra theme where all the paying customers are waiting for a very long time.
Fred
Hello Fred,
The DIVI Page Builder plugin will not be free : you need as for all other themes and plug-ins to have a paid suscription.
And they saidf that Extra needs this plug-in before being further released.
Hope it helps
Patrick
Hello Patrick,
Please read this post carefully, because it says:
“…. We are turning the Divi Builder into a plugin that will let you retain the full integrity of your Divi and/or Extra built content and migrate it to any other theme. In addition, you will also have access to all of the builder’s functionality—you can edit your existing content and even build new pages and posts from scratch. We are going to set the Divi Builder free. …..”
So the Divi Builder will be free of charge!
Why do we have to wait for the Divi Builder to be released? Once it will be released, there will be bugs to be fixed. So it will take even a longer time before Extra will be released…….
Fred
“…set Divi free…” is a turn of a phrase. It’s kind of like opening a corral to let a horse free. That doesn’t mean it doesn’t cost anything.
I think you are right. I mis understood the word ‘free’ indeed. Sorry for that. Englisch is not my native language. At least I have now ordered a lifetime subscribtion at ET, so all feature plugings and themes are ‘free’ for me now. 🙂
Now lets wait for Extra to be released.
Kind regards
Fred
Hello Fred,
Divi Builder was released yesterday, and you can see that the plug-in is not free, but requires a subscription to Elegant Themes…
Next to come is now Extra.
All the best
I might be (used to be) one of the biggest complainers about EXTRA not being released after being announced more than a year ago. I am impressed how people still, after a year, are asking for EXTRA.
I have interacted with Nick more than once about this topic. He has done a good job explaining why we do not have EXTRA in our hands. It is hard to understand why he cannot release EXTRA but it seems to align with his plans for the future of Elegant Themes.
I used to get frustrated just like many of you. But I would like to think that I have moved on. Once a month I visit this section just in case (miracles happen you know).
If you need a MAGAZINE theme go get one somewhere else. EXTRA might not see the light until mid 2016 maybe….
Be patient if you want to wait… many of us have waited more than a year already, you can wait too.
I have wasted soo much time waiting for extra. Now I feel like I should have gone with newspaper or something. But I am still confused. Should I wait a little more or move on.
Be they said it will be launched after a few weeks of Divi 2.5. But it has been 3 weeks and no news of Extra or the page builder plugin. 🙁
P.S Sorry for my bad English.
Kamran
This is the order Nick gave us
Divi 2.5
Divi Plugin
Extra Theme
but keep in mind the following:
Nick said that the DIVI PLUGIN would be released released shortly after DIVI 2.5. The keyword here is shortly. In my experience with ET shortly can mean from 1 – 2 months.
It has been 3 weeks and no DIVI PULGIN, it might take longer if they beside to pull a beta testing of the DIVI PLUGIN then you will have to wait 2 weeks for taking beta testers, 3 more weeks for making adjustments and then they will release. There you have your 2 months.
Then EXTRA is next. We probably won’t hear from ET for a few weeks after they release DIVI PLUGIN, then the beta testing of EXTRA, then the final adjustments of EXTRA, then the release, this can happen by February or March. This is my personal conclusion of what to expect from ET. I might be off a month or 2.
Any info on how much longer until Extra is ready, ow that the new Divi is done? (which is awesome by the way)
I really could use it in a week or two..hope it’s soon, I know it will be great!
Thanks!
I’m wondering about when Extra will be ready, too. Need a magazine theme this week!
If Extra will be ready very soon, great! Perfect!
(Otherwise, I am sad to say that I think we’ll have to bid farewell to the Elegant Themes family. It’s been great, and Divi is a real landmark, but new demands are arising for us, budgets are tight, and I’m sorry, but we’d *need* to move on.)
Fingers crossed! Any hopes of releasing Extra soon, guys?
Nick,
Here is the problem with your roadmap and why it is creating such a uproar.
There needs to be a distinction between Divi BUIDLER and Divi THEME.
While there is a lot of great things with the BUILDER tools, there are also as I am sure you will admit, many bugs and missing setting choices…which is why the leap from 2.4 to 2.5+ happened so fast. As for those related to magazine and blog design you have issues with:
– Blog Module can’t create a list of posts sorted by author (kind of important for any blog with multiple authors)
– The ability to create consistent look across desktop and mobile for Post Title Module is nearly impossible (I noticed that the link to the demo is even now gone from yuor documentation)
But then there is the Divi THEME…which seems to consist of the standard ET ePanel and the Divi Customizer. Here is where the real problems lie…you have left out so many FRONT-END ADMIN DASHBOARD customizations that other competitior themes have as basics:
– setting typography for H2-H6 tags,
– navigation menu options for creating blocks, dividers, highlighted links, etc
– managing media settings that DIVI theme overrides,
– setting hover colors for ALL body and meta links
– designing category and archive pages
– and more…
Now I have been told by your support staff that a number of these things wil be included with Extra…but here is the thing…as you say…Divi and Extra are different but also one in the same….so why not just add the functions from the list above that you have NOW into Divi THEME and BUILDER, and then you can release them as part of a shiny, new marketable “Extra” theme..if and when it ever comes to fruitiion?
That way you get to save face, sell a new Extra theme someday, and at the same time provide all of us paying customers with the fucntionality we have been promised and for which your competitors already offer?
You can’t have it both ways…you can’t promote these things as tools for designers who are non-developers and then have your support staff answer every question or request with “change this PHP file or add these 50 lines of CSS”…that is not going to work.
As your customers have been expressing loudly…your intentions may be admirable, but your execution is what we as business owners and professionals need to see improved….today.
ps..I sure hope that this comment makes it past your moderation…it would be bad form if you didn’t let all opinions..whether in support or in dissent be shown.
Question from a prospective buyer. I’m creating a niche blog for anticipated release in the next 2-3 weeks, and was drawn to ET because I liked Nexus. Looking deeper, I learned about Extra.
If i go with Elegant Themes, should I build the blog on Nexus and port it over to Extra after it comes out? Or is it significantly better to build it on Divi? What are the pros/cons of each option (Nexus first or Divi first). Thanks!
I am currently building a digital magazine and would love to build it in Extra. The magazine will debut in January 2016 and I would hate to have to build it twice since Extra is not yet available. Do you suggest I build the site in Divi and then switch to the Extra theme when it is available? Will this provide the easiest transition without having to do a lot of rebuilding?
If you want to build a site with Extra and you can afford to wait on it, you might be better off focusing on creating detailed mockups of the design you want. Figuring out the overall structure and flow of your website–stuff like that. Then, when Extra is released building what you have in mind with it.
Hello Nathan,
I am waiting since the announcement of Extra, which is June 2014 if I recall correctly.
How much longer can ET afford to get the theme released?
Thanks. I am doing that currently and can afford to wait a little while but since the magazine debuts in January I will need to start designing in a month or two. I’ll wait and see what happens.
Hi Nick,
One of my niche sites is in need of a redesign. It uses reviews as part of its core functionality.
Should I continue to hold out for Extra? I don’t mind waiting if it’s going to be another month or two, but if it’s longer than that I will need to move in another direction…
Thanks!
Hi Nick,
and all other from ET….
Over a Year you Anounce EXTRA, This Post is now 6 Month old, whats happend to EXTRA?
i need an MAGAZIN Template, like a lot other People outa there…
Fine Wesites with 6-7 Pages designed with DIVI are super, but if you get more Content in a lot of Categories, you need someting other than DIVI….
Hi Micha,
This post explains it all: why Extra has taken so long, what we are working on, and the order our upcoming products will be released:
1. Divi 2.4 (done)
2. Divi Builder Plugin (coming soon)
3. Extra
So once the builder plugin is released, we will focusing on Extra. You can following our product release and theme sneak peeks on the blog.
Nick…really, we need a new magazine template…there is a deadline for extra now?
In July 31 will be a year EXTRA was announced. As Nick mentioned ET is not interested in releasing theme after theme. they want to better the quality of these themes so DIVI took them a year, EXTRA might take them a bit longer. New slogan: Elegant Themes, one theme a year, 365 possibilities.
I am not trying to be mean I am just trying to see the positive side of things…. me too I need a MAGAZINE theme and DIVI can only go so far….
I started working with Divi 2.4 since it came out (on a local install of one of my existing sites). I get how it works, but still struggle with getting a magazine (higher content) style with Divi. There a lot of great features in Divi that aren’t in your Nexus Magazine theme, but I was temped to try Nexus anyway. But not if Extra will be out soon.
The site I need to change dates back to before 2007, so I will have- ahem- a lot of conversion to do changing to a new theme (again). I echo comments here that a ballpark estimate on when Extra and/or the Divi-Builder plugin might be released would be helpful. (For instance, sometime in the next quarter, by the end of the year, 2016, etc.) Thanks!
Do we have any updates or news on this?
I presume it’s delayed extensively.
Been waiting since may on this > http://www.elegantthemes.com/blog/theme-sneak-peeks/a-closer-look-at-extra
Hoping it will be released soon.
Nearly a year since announced.
Thanks
Hi Gab,
As this post explains, Extra has been delayed due to our new vision for a unified framework, and Extra can’t be released until we finish our work on the Divi Builder (which powers Extra).
In many ways Extra hasn’t really been delayed, it’s just that the work that we put into Extra has already been released in the form of Divi 2.4, and Divi, The Divi Builder Plugin and Extra will all benefit from this new framework.
As the timeline in the post explains, Extra will be released after we finish our work on the Divi Builder and release the Divi Builder Plugin.
Is Extra still going to happen or is it going to be rolled into Divi?
Extra is still happening, but as this post explains: Divi and Extra will be different themes powered by the same framework. Much of the work we put into Extra over the past year has already been released in Divi 2.4, and the work we put into Divi will also be shared by Extra. Once we have finished our work on the Divi Builder framework, we will continue to work on Extra to expand its “magazine” features.
While Extra has been delayed, the work we put into has not been made in vain. From an outside perspective, it seems like the Extra project has not been moving forward, but like I said, Divi and Extra are (in many ways) one in the same, and our work on Extra has currently manifested itself in the form of improvements to Divi Builder used in Divi.
Is there an updated ETA on this theme? Starting to wonder if it will ever launch….
Sam we don’t have an ETA, just a timeline for our product release schedule as outlined in the post. Extra will be released after we have completed our work on the Divi Builder Plugin.
I hope Extra will be RTL friendly.
Hello? Anyone? It’s been 3 months since last update, 1 year since announcement. Throw us a bone here! Even the comments have stopped…
Hi Nick, thank you for the great work, I have a question, will be possible in the Extra theme that we can put 5 or more modules in the same row? that would be great , thanks
Is “Extra” theme still in the works? Any updates? Aloha
So is Extra due out any day now, or something like the end of the summer?
I have a client who could really use this theme for their upcoming magazine site and they’re itching to get started. Should I wait this out or go to someone else who already has something like this?
Please update us!
Thanks – Steve
I am in the same boat. A client wishes to start work on their new site at the start of june having waited for a couple of months.
Really hope it’s released soon as i would hate to use another theme other than extra.
🙂
For any one who still wants an update here is how it works :
You will have an update in a few months with some new Ideas as to what they are working on along with some fancy screen shots.
On the Divi support pages look at the ton of questions regarding Buddypress incompatibility. As of today nothing concrete has been done.
Just some unprofessional tinkering.
Redundancy is the only word that comes to mind.
Hello Nick (and everyone),
I’m a new customer of Elegant Themes and am loving Divi page builder. This article gets me excited for what’s to come… but I have a question that I’d love confirmation on about the upcoming Divi Plugin.
Nick writes:
“We are turning the Divi Builder into a plugin that will let you retain the full integrity of your Divi and/or Extra built content and migrate it to any other theme…Why is this so important? Because if you have built thousands of posts in Extra or Divi using the builder, we don’t want you to feel trapped inside the theme. This builder plugin will allow you to change themes and still keep your beautifully built content.”
This is my main concern with Divi now — all the shortcode it leaves behind of you change themes. I’m considering choosing another page builder for a current client project that doesn’t leave this code behind, UNLESS once activated, the Divi Plugin will clean up shortcode to all existing content.
I *think* that is what Nick is saying it will do and if that’s the case, I’ll move forward using Divi with this client, knowing the content I create now can be cleaned of shortcode later, using the plugin.
Is this an accurate assessment?
Thanks for any insight anyone has!
Emily
The Divi Plugin will allow you to use your Divi Shortcodes anywhere. It does not remove them, it just ensures that any page you built with Divi can still be used when you change themes.
Hello Nick,
We are just 5 weeks away from the first anniversary of the announcement of the Extra theme.
Will the new Extra theme be ready before this date? And what about Divi-builder?
Could you give us an update?
Nothing more to add…..Nick has perfectly understood our needs.
Quality matters much more than quantity.
Before Divi, I never been using any ET for my projects, because I found better themes and framework with theme providers like StudioPress or Themeforest. But since Divi, things have drastically changed.
I was a very good supporter of the Genesis Framework, built all my businesses and made a living with it. But the Divi builder and features have definitely convinced me, saved a lot of our time.
I truly have a lot of hope for the extra theme. We run a professional publication and we’re still frustrated by the WP market offer when it’s about Magazine Themes.
Also, it should be extremely SEO friendly and fast to load, as speed matter. For the moment we only found the Genesis themes to be SEO friendly.
Thank you so much for being so avant-garde in understanding customer needs.
All of this sounds really, really great. I can’t wait to see some of this come out. I’m especially excited about the idea of a Divi builder plugin.
Somehow, I didn’t see this post until now. I think it should be put in the category of “Theme Sneak Peaks” as well as “General News.” I check that, and Theme Releases, frequently.
Also, I know it’s hard to know when all of this will be ready, but I really think a lot of your customers want some dates. We need to plan things with our businesses and having no information like that from Elegant Themes makes it hard to know if we can count on these products for our projects.
I’ve been with you from the beggining and you have always amazed your customers with wonderful products and services. Thank you!
I’ve been with you from the beggining and you have always amazed your customers with wonderful products and services. Thank you!
Nick, it’s almost 1 year that we are waiting for extra. Please, tell us how long we will wait to have it! 😀
Any news on a release date yet?
eft the team. Bye ET. You let me know when you have new thinga to.see. I
Would be great to know if there’s compatibility with Divi 2.0, so we can start working before Divi Builder or Extra release date.
Thanks in advance.
Well… Sadly, my subscription notice has just come up. This is gut wrenching because Extra was announced nearly a year ago and so technically became a desirable product within my subscription.
I cannot justify purchasing a new subscription with no real idea of a launch date or even a notice about the specific features this theme will carry. I like Divi, but it does not serve my purposes. I have tried the existing themes and, while they are okay, they are outdated or lacking in features which were tantalisingly hinted at in the Extra theme graphics.
So, with a heavy heart I will be saying goodbye to ET in the next couple of weeks. I would possibly have extended my subscription with more substantial information, but alas no.
Maybe I will return once things have moved on apace, but for now I need to spend the money on a theme design that will suit purpose, as the wait is becoming far too long.
Before anyone shouts me down about “already having what I paid for”… Indeed, and those bucks have been spent already. But with essentially 3/4 of a year where an expected release was imminent, I do feel a little cheated that the announced product never became accessible. Instead, my subscription has essentially enabled me to pick up old themes or a couple of improvements to a new theme I find doesn’t meet my needs.
Ah well…
We’re in the same boat as Tom. We have a lot of our website content done but are waiting on Extra because Extra looks like it would fit our website needs better than Divi.
Divi is beautiful and it made me sure that we want to use ET as our theme supplier, but the thought that we might have all this content sitting here for six months or more before we can even BEGIN to build our website in Extra is very deflating. At this point I’d accept someone guaranteeing me that Extra will be completed before the end of 2015. At least then I’d have some kind of answer to give the higher-ups.
I have to say I am disappointed with all of the !important tags you guys are using in your CSS. It makes it really hard to customize with a child theme. You should not do that in the future.
+1
Any new update on this?
Hi,
Nice update on what ET is busy with…. The ET subscription is one of the best values I ever purchased because of Divi and its growth.
One feature I would like to see more of is the ability to create custom content (custom fields & types & taxonomy). Maybe as an addon?
Many page builder do similar to what Divi does, but the need for creating content to customize your site for a client requires either a programmer or a product like Toolset or the Conductor page builder (http://www.wpexplorer.com/conductor-wordpress-plugin-review/
Thanks again for the Divi and its wonderful support, keep up the good work!
At this point, we don’t even want the theme. What we just want to know when it will be out. You claim to care about your customers? Give us what we want… transparency and communication.
We have asked time and again for this one simple thing that you completely have in your power to deliver. And you continue to ignore our requests.
You think that delivering a kick ass theme will make up for all the secrecy, bad project management, and poor communication? It won’t.
At the end of the day, we are telling you what kind of relationship we want with you. We want open communications and reliable release dates that will allow us to plan our projects. If you refuse to do that moving forward, this next release – no matter how great it is – will not matter, because you will do the same thing on the next release.
You have already eroded a lot of the goodwill you spent years building up. If you keep doing it, you will start eroding your customer base. You need a change in culture and policy. Secrecy and silence is not how you run a company that relies on the support of a community.
More than themes or plugins, we need you to be an open and reliable partner.
@Rob the reason your projects are so easy is because ET works so hard. Your comment makes you sound like a jagoff. We’re all excited for the new release, but if you want something specific for a client you should code it yourself, or be a good little boy and wait for it. Your threats are pathetic, and meaningless, and they will not help your cause. Of all the ways you could have framed this question, you got up on a soapbox and drooled out that disgusting excuse for a coherent thought.
Keep up the good work, ET
What’s pathetic is ET’s policy for communication and project management. What’s meaningless is their current subscription model. What’s insulting is the fact they won’t even communicate to customers when to expect things they’ve already paid for.
If you read the comments you will realize that a lot of people are asking for better communication. ET might buy some time for themselves when they release, but Extra is not the last release they will ever make. If they continue their practices for their future releases, people aren’t going to stick around to wait.
That’s not a threat, it’s common sense.
In the short term, the release of Extra will smooth things over and people will be happy. But what about the release after that? In the long run, people are telling ET they don’t want to be treated like this. We would like to be kept informed about releases.
If you really are upset at the idea of customers asking for communications about delivery dates, you are obviously not a professional at all. We all have to give our customers an idea when they can expect to get the things they pay for.
As for clients, I have been coding things by myself. And using other themes. What choice do I have? ET isn’t giving me anything to work with. The only reason I’m wasting my breath here is because I actually used to like ET and I’m hoping they will see the light.
Is Extra EVER coming out? It’s almost been a full year since the announcement and with X 4.0 and Avada 3.8 coming out, I’m starting to doubt the release of Extra is going to mean anything in the WordPress world. Divi (which has already been out for a while) hasn’t even made any decent progress since it’s release. Divi 2.0 was only a modest improvement at best.
I’m sorely disappointed in Elegant Themes and the entire team. I’ve since cancelled my subscription (and I had a legacy subscription, too) and I sorely doubt I’m ever coming back.
Terrible work, ET.
How do you know about X 4.0?
Any updates on when this might be out? Have to pull the trigger on a new project and would love to take this for a spin if its ready in time….
1th April 2015 – GREAT NEWS!
YES, there is GREAT news about the release date of the new EXTRA theme!
Check for the BIG day here: http://elegantthemes.com/preview/Divi/countdown-timer/
(wink)
Wow this is almost 6 months !!!
The end of the world will come first !
😀
When does the new Divi come out please? This post is over a month old. Anytime soon? Thank you.
any new updates about Extra?
Hi, Nick,
I was asking a question today, but can´t find it published. Anything wrong with it?
New comments must be approved before they are published to fight against spam.
Yes, I know and I saw the hint «in moderation». But the neither the hint nor the comment haven´t be there. 🙂
Hi Nick,
my magazine project can´t wait any longer. Which theme would you recommend to make a very smooth transition for the time after EXTRA has been released: Divi or Nexus? Thanks for your advice.
Hi Nick, will Extra have “Author pages”? Something to show all the author information and articles written?, Thank you in advance.
Would love an update on Extra! Thinking through a relaunch of a site to be more “magazine” focused, content curration, and a better layout for use with multiple contributors… Thinking Extra would be perfect fit!
An update would be great! (especially if it has an ETA:)
Nick, Everytime I tried to use DIVI from a tablet (In this case iOS) the editing of a content or editing the module is not that easy, it jumps from here to there, not quite fast task to do in a tablet. Is there anything in the future to improve this?
Thank you again.
Can’t wait for the new features of the Builder! 😀 Ability to create our own modules? Me likey!
My take on the “perfect builder”? To be able to put modules inside modules!! — a testimonial slider for example.
We are impatient, when will be ready?
I find it very interesting that compared to other posts, the posts about Extra have generated a combined 929 comments, at least as of the moment I’m writing this. I don’t know how anything else could so clearly display pent-up demand than that. Maybe I missed it, but I didn’t see this kind of response anywhere else. Divi excepting, of course. That said, I think that the comments on the Divi posts will pale in comparison once Extra is released.
I’d like to think that the issues that came up with Divi will be addressed in Extra, and make it very functional, problem-free product.
Which brings me to the point of this comment. When will Extra be coming out, anyway?
You guys are rocking it out hardcore. I appreciate the update on what’s going on behind the scenes. Everything about this posts makes me super excited to be a continued customer of Elegant Themes. I truly believe that the innovations you’ve brought to WordPress and especially with the Divi Builder have bridged some of the most commonly held complaints about WP as a CMS in comparison to newer entries to the market like SquareSpace. I proudly advertise to clients that I use the Divi + WP combo, because it seriously kicks butt. I can’t wait for Divi Builder to be a plugin that can be used with other folks who don’t want to change their current themes. Keep up the good work. One request I have for the next version of Divi Builder is the option to create a Fullwidth Text element!
Does Divi support revolution slider? If not, will it in the future?
Thank you for the post. Is the new version of Divi released now? I have 2.3.1. Also if we have 2.2 installed, and the Elegant Themes Updater plugin installed, we will just get a notice on the WordPress Dashboard to update? I hope the new Divi just is a normal update like other theme. I left Headway themes because every time there was an update with their builder, you had to do a manual update and remake everything!
This post was very interested and kept my attention for several minutes of reading. I know you’re doing a great job, and the lifetime subscription i paid is not much, compared to all the new features that you’re bringing us each year. I was, i am and i’ll still be a satisfied customer. It’s great to see all these changes, but better than that to see this “open minded” attitude in your work, that’s why you’re first and you’re going to stay at the top of the pyramid.
Tanks 🙂
I have a request you look at making a Divi site load faster.
I have found ET and am onto my 6th build using Nimble for one, Bold for another, 2 completed with Divi and another 2 in the build stage using Divi.
I have found that a Divi is slower loading so I have switched from shared hosting to vps and am installing WP Supercache to help. I want to stay with Divi as it is so versitile especially when you implement custom CSS
Hence my request that you see what you can do to make Divi faster loading.
I love Monarch and am looking forward to your future developments.
the Divi builder and the new plugin it is superfantastiawesome thanks ET You guys rock.
You guys are epic!
Great update, all my websites are built with Divi in the last six months, now waiting for Extra … 😉
Great to know about the upcoming upgrades!
Some clients do not like responsive feature, is it possible to create an on/off button of responsiveness on Divi/Extra?
Thank you!
I think you are going in the right direction. Ever since Divi was released, all my websites are built with Divi, including corporate websites, organization websites and ecommerce websites. More importantly, my clients love the look and feel of websites built with the Divi theme.
The best benefit of Divi theme is that we can replicate many of the functions and presentation that a client wants that they have seen from other themes.
Personally, I feel there are 2 areas that need to improve. One, I’ve been trying to put together a directory theme using Divi. It’s not where I am happy with it yet but the potential is there.
Two, using Divi with WooCommerce isn’t exactly ideal because there is not way to publish categories or to present categories as you would if you are a retailer. You need another plugin for that BUT the ecommerce module in Divi will not let you present by category on the home page.
Keep up the great work! I’m really looking forward to future developments.
I would support Adrian’s comments re woo, would be a great addition.
And this is why I will continue to always use ET themes. Excellent update…can’t wait to see whats yet to come!
Keep up the fantastic work!!
Hi Nick. I’m glad that you have decided to take this measured approach. It’s exactly the way that business software development and modifications have been done for years. It takes more careful planning and a strong long-term vision, but it will pay dividends down the track. It’s more efficient and practical to base all products on a strong and flexible core module. It’s good for you and fantastic for your users. Bravo. I’m using Nexus for now, but am excited with the prospect of what is yet to come.
Hi, I wonder what the timeline is for the introduction of the new Divi technology? How far away is it?
Sounds really cool; including some kind of A/B or multivariate content testing & display technology would be the icing on the cake!
You will be able to split-test different forms and automatically pick the winner of the test. If you haven’t done this before, I can assure you that you will learn some interesting stuff about which offers really intrigue your customers and increase signups!
What I would like to see is the ability to define unique category pages, and then unique detail pages for each category defined.
I create a lot of custom post types using Custom Press and Ninja Forms for the data input. When it comes time to display the custom post type data, I usually copy the category.php page and rename it to category-“posttype”.php. Then I edit that script to present the category cascade data in a manner that best displays the info collected.
I also create a custom single.php >> single-posttype.php and modify that page to deliver the best format for the custom information collected for the new post type.
This is incredibly flexible and easy to do with the 907 theme. With Divi, not so much… Divi theme doesn’t even come with a category.php script so I am not sure how to handle the creation of custom layouts for a category or detail page in Divi.
Could be ignorance on my part, but so far I have not found away to accomplish this in Divi….
Am I missing something?
I am so looking forward to Extra, but the news of new plugins will be a plus. I love Monarch. I wish the ET Team could develop a nice easy to use plugin such as WordPress Developer Mode to help limit access to the admin panel for your clients. Thanks for this awesome update Nick.
This was a post “for me” for sure. I check your site daily and have for years now — even during my ‘prodigal son’ stint of trying (and I emphasize, TRYING) to go into the world of non-Elegant Themes on my own. The truth is Divi is so powerful I know very little that I can’t use it for… and Extra, or WHATEVER is next, will only be one more powerful tool in the already full tool chest of excellent stuff from you [guys].
Thank you for the update!
And THANK YOU for all the time you’ve saved me and all the power you’ve given me!
I may have missed it in all the comments and responses, but will the Divi Plugin be backwards compatible with existing Divi-driven sites?
I didn’t understand If actual Divi website will be compatibile with Universal Divi Bulder.
[and with Extra as well]
These are great news, and I appreciate the direction the ET team is taking!
What updates can you share regarding future rework on and integration of the ePanel? I believe you commented before that this was something you had in mind.
Will a new ePanel be released with EXTRA, and carry over into all other ET Themes?
Any comments you can provide on what you have in mind would be appreciated. Thanks!
Thanks for the sharing this fantastic news and insights, Nick!
More power to ElegantThemes.
I totally support the FEATURE REQUEST: ability to COPY a module & all it’s content between pages would save a LOT of time, as it would carry all its customizations. Thanks.
You can actually do this now. Create a draft page with your module, save the layout and load it to whatever page you want. As long as you uncheck the option to replace existing content, you can save as many “layouts” with just one module in it and load it to any page.
Nick,
Thank you for the comprehensive update. I believe your decision to move in the direction of a new type of product instead of predeveloped themes is a good move.
That said, while I am as anxious as the rest of the ET crowd to get my hands on what you are building, I am also willing to wait for it to be perfected because I know the future rewards will be worth the wait. In that sense I’m being stoic and not epicurean!
All the best and I’m looking forward to Extra, Divi Builder, and Divi 3.0
Actually ET wil change their business model if the Divi builder will be a free of charge plug-in. If everybody can make use of the plug-in (for free), it will no longer be special. The Divi theme is only an interesting theme because the builder. So, if this is the case, why should I stay with ET? I hope I’m wrong!
DIVI should have been a plugin right from the start so all ET themes could use it.
I do not think any ET plugin will be free.
From the first post you did Nick, about Extra being focused on post instead of pages I thought, Elegant theme CAN’T miss the amazing oportunity to make the Divi Builder a Framework Module, I knew you would mix everything up and give this the important it needs.
The Divi Builder must be expanded to a full Framework and you are doing an exceptional job interpreting what is important, if you wanted to raise expectations with your post, you already did, the Divi Module Plugin will be almost a MUST have and I just can’t wait to see what you guys had done.
My desig work is now permanently attached to your products and NOT for the wrong reaons, you built the most quality oriented themes I ever used and I tried a lot, you’re the BEST !
And, this is why I continue to renew every year =) Thanks Nick and Team – I’m sure that my theme-switching will be over soon!
~ freida
Nick,
Thank you for the update. It’s nice to see an update on EXTRA and shows that ET does indeed put a lot of thought into your products. GOOD JOB!
Hi Nick,
I’m really excited about the new launch. Elegant Themes has been one of my favorite for a long time. I liked the Divi theme. It’s actually very easy to use with the drag and drop feature.
Eagerly waiting for Extra.
Am using Divi and the Elegant Builder. This new direction sounds incredible! Thanks for continuing to push the envelope and provide outstanding products to make us all look good online!
It’s and excellent plan but I’m in a bit of a quandary. I was told by someone from ET about a month and half ago that Extra would be ready in a “monthish”. I’m really interested in Extra so I’ve held off my developer for over two months.
The news suggests, though, that it’s going to take several more months for Extra to appear. That’s too long for me.
My options – if I’m going use Elegant Themes
Start using DIVI now – and then apply Extra to it when it arrives
Wait for the new iteration of DIVI and apply Extra to it when it arrives
Wait for Extra
I don’t know of the first two are feasible or how much work it would take to create a theme using DIVI and then add the features from Extra onto it…????
Thank you! This is a great update.
I have a small question.
Can I export my divi theme layouts into the new divi universal builder?
Thanks again.
This is all very well but when are we going to see the current version of Divi fixed so that we no longer have long lists of structured data errors showing in Google Webmaster Tools?
Wouldn’t it be a good idea to get the current product right before moving on to pastures new? I, and many other members, have repeatedly asked for fixes for this problem in support only to be told that this issue will be addressed in every subsequent update.
3 updates have passed and still no fixes, still riddled with errors. Many of the support team also refer members to third party plugins and code tweaks that do not work (and they take significant time to find out that they are useless).
I love what you do but this is dragging on and becoming very tedious now. Please sort it out.
Hi David,
You can add such tags using plugins. There are a lot of plugins out there that will let you add open graphic meta tags, and it’s ideal to keep these in a plugin so they stay will you from theme to theme.
Thanks for taking the time to reply Nick, I know you’re extremely busy and I’m sorry if I came across a bit ranty but this is driving me insane.
Since you posted I have tried multiple (literally double figures) alleged fixes in the form of plugins and code changes, none of which have worked. Is there a reason why Divi doesn’t support Structured Data? If you could give me a bona fide answer it might go some way to lowering my rage levels. Dropping $249.00 on something that doesn’t work is a little annoying to say the least.
It takes a lot of confidence and resolve to bet the ‘farm’ and I understand that. I appreciate your resolve and your complete disclosure as to your intentions now and into the future. I have memberships with 12 different firms. I did this for one year to see who held their commitments. You have survived our cut and now rank #1 of our internal best providers for themes. It is also making our Top Suggested Resources for a 2nd year in a row. This is well earned as you have consistently provided top advice and resources we had never expected. We truly appreciate your commitment to quality and innovation. A company of any size does themselves a favor when partnering with you.
Will the Pricing Planes be changed in future?
Now feels like you are coming up with lots of useful plugins. So i think many people would like to have access to themes and plugins but are not developer that need photoshop files.
As the focus is on divi and extra, for me the perfect plan would be access to divi and extra and the plugins 🙂
Wow! This is really exciting!!! I love Divi, but I do often wonder what would happen if I ever wanted to swap themes. Right now, I’m pretty locked in, so the idea of being able to take it with me anywhere is AMAZING!
I look forward to seeing what you create! Keep up the great work. 🙂
With Divi being a major point of development, and I use Divi for all of my websites now, are you looking into making the modules more versatile? At the moment if I create say a blurb on a web page, and I want it on more than just that page, I find I have to re-create the same blurb on those other pages too. Would you consider making some kind of object library in Divi that I can add objects into that retain the specific characteristics that I have assigned, e.g. a blub with a specific icon and url link. This is so that, if I’m half way through building a site or improving a site that’s already in place, and I create a new object, I can then add it to a set of library of objects and simply drag and drop it/them into the pages that I want to. I do use layouts to create pages from but if the page is already made then using a layout is not possible. Would really help if I could develop a gallery of objects and use them at will across the many pages of a website.
Divi is an excellent theme – don’t know now what I would do without it.
Hi Tim
My workaround for this is as follows:
Once you have built the Blurb for one page, save that page as a layout, check to make sure it saved as a layout, then clear everything off except the Blurb, then save the Blurb itself as a layout. Then reload the saved layout that is the whole page… (are you still with me?)
Then go to your new page and you can add the layout that is just the Blurb making sure to uncheck “replace everything”. The saved Blurb will be at the top of the new page. Just move it to wherever you want.
I hope this helps.
Question about Extra. I recently purchased a subscription to ET and planned on using DIVI on my main site. But seeing extra, wondering if I will be able to easily update/upgrade/switch from DIVI to extra? Or is it in my best interest to just wait for Extra to be released?
My question as well.
I have to say that every time I go back and look at all the capabilities of the DIVI theme – it just inspires me to create more websites for clients – or improve old websites! I started way back with the NOVA theme which was my “gateway” drug to FOXY and then to DIVI.
I love that the new focus for ET is to continue to focus on fewer but even better products. I can use DIVI for just about anything I can image and it is nice to know that it will continue to expand – but you are definitely onto something here with expanding and working on plugins. Not all my clients will want to transfer over to a new theme, but to have the Divi builder available as a plugin will help to alleviate that concern as well.
Thanks for the update and keep up the great work you guys do!
Good to see progress Nick. Features are great, but remember WORKFLOW.
Without some safeguards in DIVI builder
– locking finished sections, modules, etc based on role
– (X) delete/confirm (so things aren’t deleted inadvertently)
– prototyping by setting “inactive” in-progress modules and sections so prototype areas are hidden – while live parts still render.
… and because DIVI is so easy to use and make changes, those same features work against it in destroying work very quickly too when we as developers hand our work off to clients.
Save Layout isn’t enough. There needs to be another layer – of UNDO/REDO – in the editor – and also some way of locking sections for:
1) rendering and 2) editing by only some users
… to make this a truly excellent product.
This is called breaking the fallow ground and while I’m enjoying Divi, I can’t wait to see the universal Divi builder which is the most logical move.
Thank you for the much needed State of the Elegant, Nick!
Although it has been a while, we’ve had faith that you were up to something great in theme development. Keep up the good work, and stay in touch.
thank you for the update, sounds great. After working with Divi and also getting some feedback from clients who are using it for blogs, I would like to make a few suggestions 🙂 and ask a couple questions;
1. When you add page builder to posts in Divi, will the comments still show up at the bottom? I really do hope so. I used the project post type in order to use the page builder but then had to find a way to show the comments with custom content shortcode. It would also be awesome if you could show the comments on all post types using page builder without having to manually do it.
2. When using the text module, it is hard to edit the content because you have to scroll up and down to get back up to the kitchen sink; can you make it stick at the top (always visible) and make the editor window bigger… maybe even a distraction free writing mode?
3. for the video module, can you put an option to turn off related videos at end? This would be easier than using shortcode for inserting video.
4. I like having the option to use the left sidebar but when the window shrinks for mobile, the sidebar content moves to the top instead of under the main content. This is not ideal for displaying the main content and I feel users will leave the page or dislike all the scrolling. Expose by Themexpert does this nicely.
5. Footer widgets: could there be an option to use 2, 3, or 4 and have them fill the whole width regardless of how many you use? maybe add option in widget area to tell it how many blocks to fill. Themexpert does this nicely too.
6. Do you have a master list of all your shortcakes? I have searched and found other blogs helping with this but a built in page of shortcodes and how to implement the parameters would be awesome.
7. add css for hide-tablet, hide-desktop, hide-mobile (think you have this one) and also show-mobile, show-desktop, and show-tablet.
8. less important but it would be nice if you condensed the options in the modules a little. After working long hours, the amount of scrolling becomes tiresome. For instance, Text color and text orientation could be put side-by-side in addition to many of the other options.
thanks again, I am going to continue my membership, you guys are great.
I SUPPORT YOU!
There have been rumblings about Divi having an issue with SEO, and not working with a couple of popular SEO plugins – specifically WordPress SEO. Will this change that and make it more compatible, not creating a wall between search engines and site content?
Thanks, I love Divi and have used it several times. I was crushed when I heard from my online group that “the content blocks aren’t recognized when doing page analysis. Also, some templates in SEO aren’t being picked up for titles and metas too.” Just curious if this is being addressed in either Divi or Extra.
If there is a specific issues you see with WordPress SEO, please open a ticket in our support forums. We did some testing and couldn’t find any issues.
I knew you guys were busy in the lab & weren’t just going to churn out a “child theme” for us.
Thanks for staying true to the “Elegant” in ET.
Really great news!
BUT We want more more 😉
Thanks for the update Nick. I can’t wait to see what ET has done with the powerful Divi Builder in Extra. Everything sounds amazing this far and the wait will be well worth it.
I’m really excited to hear this news! Can’t wait for Extra 🙂
Totally worth the wait! Thanks
This is wonderful. I love your themes. We use them all the time for our clients. I’d like to learn more about using them.
I love the Divi theme and would love to learn how to use it better.
Great work ET. Making the builder a plugin is a logical move. Nick please don’t forget about us developer’s.
Please add hooks so we can add our own modules and extend the current ones. This to me is the biggest limitation to this builder.
Great news.. thank you ET team.
There’s room for an advanced Forms plugin.. at least 1 contact form is used in every website.
hopefully the suggestions we’ve written in forums will be taken into consideration, developing the new Universal Builder.
I am very grateful for the intellectual and creative effort put into these high-quality project , my question is, would it be possible to add more options in the headers, as types of menus and location of the logo?, I have built over 17 websites with the Divi theme and sometimes I see a certain similarity, perhaps through the options that exist in the constructor.
I would love to do many websites more with Divi theme and have more options on where to place each content and make a noticeable difference between Websites built with the same theme, I am very optimistic with the new possibilities of the update
I agree.. and the Menu is a key feature in terms of the Looks of a website,, to make Divi universal theme, styling should be considered too by the dev team.
I agree as well. I would love to have the header option that was used in the Monarch demo site.
And option for transparent header menu would also be nice.
That’s so awesome that I just can’t give up my dev subscription year over year. You rock!
Thanks!, Divi is superb. We have used for lots of our customers and recommending it. Divi Booster is really awesome.
Thanks again Nick for such detailed information.
Great job Nick! 🙂 Please take a look at the following and take the best portions of these
1) Visual Composer
2) Beaver Builder
3) Thrive Content Builder
4) Make Plus – by The Theme Foundry
All of them has their strengths and weaknesses
1) Visual Composer –
Due to their extended license, gets bundled in almost every top Theme Forest theme. Perhaps offering a Divi builder developers’ license to some of them might help. It has the best integration of the lot, but also comes with a lot of leftover code 🙁
2) Beaver Builder –
Easy to build landing pages, but lack of integration with EDD, WooCommerce and others. Leaves no code, but could use with more conversion based elements.
3) TCB –
Enables you to build full fledged landing pages, but lack the simplicity of BB. Also leaves code behind 🙁
4) Make Plus –
Uses the WordPress customiser well, though limited in layouts and design 🙁 No code.
I like #1 a lot. Not so sure it will happen.
Well, we never know 🙂 If it makes sense for Nick, why not?
I hope your new builder will more like Beaver Builder and Composer.
I like Divi but don’t like the current builder.
I use a BeaverBuilder plugin with it to make building easier, as it’s a get what you see as you go kind of builder and I find it much easier to work with. (I’m not affiliated with BeaverBuilder at all – just saying I like to build with it.)
One big problem with Divi theme is lack of typography/font settings.
Are there any plans to improve this?
It would be nice if we could control font family, font size and font weight for different sections/modules of the theme.
And please give us access to all (670+) Google fonts.
Thanks for the update Nick – this is the sort of information we’ve all been waiting for – just to know what path you guys are on and how you foresee it all going forward.
More posts about your progress please!
Just upgraded to Lifetime Membership on the strength of the promises of what’s to come – please deliver! 🙂
Also, are there any plans to enable us to see the actual shortcodes for the builder elements in the text edit view?
I only ask as we use the Toolset plugin (www.wp-types.com) regularly, and making custom view templates using a theme’s inbuilt features using shortcodes is something we have to do with other themes due to Divi’s inability to display the builder layouts as shortcodes without the switching the theme off workaround mentioned elsewhere in the comments above.
Any thoughts on this?
i second this… and for the same reasons… love toolset , love et… i would love my loved ones play nice toghether….
easer for et and toolset than my mother and my wife… 🙂
Wow this is FANTASTIC news! Just this week I have been playing about with the Nexus theme to create a magazine type blog for my site which i wanted to link across to my current site which is built in Divi. Being used to the flexibility and ease of customisation that Divi offers I’ve been getting somewhat frustrated with Nexus as I learn how that works too. So have you been reading my mind? Can’t wait till this comes out and hope it’s going to be really really soon as I plan to launch my blog at the end of March! 🙂
This is very exciting, I have just finished building my first Divi website for an online creative writing course and it has made a massive improvement to the look of the site and appeal of the site.
Cant wait for the next set of improvements.
Will I just be able to upgrade my current Divi site theme when the new builder is available?
Great news and of course good move to keep ET users updated and avoid frustration. Pity there are still some important ‘fixes’ missing in Divi despite having been pointed out by users, hope you’re going to investigate on what’s being underlined in the support forum and act accordingly. Just a few examples: too little control over the vertical space between elements, some navigation issues on landscape mode in iOS mobile devices, the damned empty rows appearing before text in modules.
From my side, I’ll be always promoting Elegant Themes in my books, ebooks and articles, as you know.
Keep up with the good work, and don’t forget to add some ‘web magazine’ elements/widgets in the buider! 😉
Bonaventura
These are very exciting news =)
Will Universal Divi Builder be compatible with the actual one?
I mean, can I start working on Divi and then upgrade to Extra in the future?
Thank you!
So with creating plugins, have you guys considered building a contact form plugin like ninja forms ect, that will allow us to build more advanced contact forms?
Will you be releasing another preview of Extra in it’s current progress anytime soon?
Fantastic to see where ET is heading over the next few months, and super excited for it all. I upgraded to developer not because I am one, I just build sites for fun, but it was my small way of giving back to the team for all their amazing work. Lifetime membership is on the cards for me this year, it’s been great to have ET with me on my web adventures. Raising a glass to all the team and looking forward to all the great stuff to come 🙂
A W E S O M E !
cheers for all ET team members…
I see a great future for those who develop on WP & DIVI (extra + …)
thanks!
Thank you for your broad explanation about the Goals of Elegant Themes… keep up the good work!
Just about making the modules fluid… why not simply use the bootstrap framework as a start? It is fluid… already developed…. can easily be implemented etc…
Looking forward seeing all the changes… !
Great sounds!
With each fresh news from Elegant Themes I’m more surprised. The truth is that they’re revolutionizing the WordPress development and this is an invaluable help both developers and users.
Surely I will return to surprise with their next theme, plugin or news on his blog, but take the opportunity to have in mind to face the future a theme and/or plugin for bookings, in order to vacation rentals, hotels or rental cars.
There’re some plugins and themes out there but in all I found difficulties. With Elegant Themes I’m sure it would solution to all my problems.
Keep it up, I’m excited to know what’s coming!
PLEASE UPDATE THE CONTACT MODULE
There are various requests to improve various modules and I support them all but if you think about it there are only THREE Modules that will be used is nearly every site build.
1.Text Module
2. Image Module
3. CONTACT MODULE
The contact module is a lightening fast way to add a contact form to a site, which nearly every website requires and yet, sadly, I can never use it as there is no scope to request a TELEPHONE NUMBER. And nearly ALL clients (in the small business world) want to collect a telephone number.
I have seen so many ET subscribers request this feature!
PLEASE!!!
I 2nd these requests contact forms are so often overlooked.
Hi Nick, totally agree with you here. We are developing current projects with Divi as it offers us a solid framework on which to build websites for different needs. This has also improved the way we plan and organize or work.
I’m looking forward to Extra, just take your time to make it awesome.
This is fantastic news Nick. Would it have any bearing on your older design builder? I did a very intense website with Fusion a while ago and it’s a beast to edit. Would there be any way to transfer that to the new Divi plugin when it comes out?
I hope this will be the case.. I’ve built many websites already using different themes, other than Divi.
I respect what people like Dan (above) are saying. They’ve stuck with ET for so long and want to continue seeing those regular themes come through. but how sustainable is that to ET? Some of their themes are so dated that surely they have to retire them soon.
Since Divi came along I have not used one single theme apart from it. And I’ve built a diverse range of sites. I still wish for more flexibility in the slider and the builder to reach the posts, but we all have a wish list.
To me, this ‘framework’ is enough. I look around at other sites that inspire me and with DIVI (and a bit of CSS) I can create the site I want.
I don’t know what Extra is going to be really (we’ve got DIVI!). And I’m not even sure why you need DIVI to be a plugin unless you want to apply it to an existing site. But I’m only 3 years into this journey and still learning.
I think you should spin Divi off to a new company. When I first signed up for Elegant Themes as a developer, it was because I had access to a bunch of different themes that I could configure as I like.
Divi has become it’s own animal, and if you aren’t a Divi user, you basically haven’t seen a new Elegant Themes Theme in over a year. When I first signed up there was a new theme every month!
I suggest getting back into the themes business and spin Divi off to the people that want that kind functionality.
I agree with the others on here, it isn’t a theme, it’s a framework. And if you aren’t into that framework, your choices aren’t growing within Elegant Themes.
Excellent news! You guys rock! Thanks for making my foray into web design an amazing experience:D
Thanks for the update and the stuff you’re working on sounds great. Since you got Divi and Monarch to back you up I know it’s going to be!
Love the future of Elegant Themes, you guys are doing great. Keep it up!
Divi was something out of the box from the beginning. Really excited to see these new Plugins and enhancement in Divi.
interesting and exciting times ahead!!
I love ET! you should sit besides Jesus and Matt Mullenweg…
Keep the good work!
Lol! So amazing!
AWESOME NEWS!! I’ve only been using DIVI for a couple months and wasn’t even aware that releases have been lacking or complaints from the community, etc… But I have had moments of regret after realizing that everything in DIVI is set in fixed pixel dimensions and there is no standard 12-column grid and the existing grid is not fluid so not truly responsive… Been hacking away at the 10,000+ lines of CSS to try and slim the sucker down and make it fluid… Very excited to hear about the move to a fluid grid. And including the builder for posts is a no-brainier but will be great to have that.
All in all very much support the direction you’ve decided to pursue and excited about what’s to come!
Hi Nick, Thanks for the well written and well thought out update post. Thanks for all that you and your teams do. Will any of the new modules address linking description text to each individual image on an image slider. It would be really nice and informative for the website viewer to be able to scroll thru the image with a specific text tied to it – and follows the image-thus describing each image. This would be very helpful for artists websites. Thanks and keep up the great vision. -M
This is all interesting news and bodes well for the future.
I do hope, however, that it won’t distract you from the less exciting but equally important work of keeping all the existing themes up to date and fully responsive…
Great news Nick!
One year with ET for me. Result: satisfied.
But in 2014 there were few new releases (excluding very useful Divi and Monarch!). In addition, most of the ET themes are not responsive and then, for me, no longer usable. I don’t want use Divi for everything.
I’m very happy to read the direction you have chosen to follow. I hope you can also release some new theme in this 2015 and… i hope in a year full of good news and releases!
Thank you for your work.
Nick –
It appears that this addresses the primary reason that I’ve rarely used Divi: I didn’t want to deal with the nightmare of switching themes someday. Sounds like now I will be able to take content created in Divi and import the whole deal into any theme. Am I understanding correctly?
That would be a game-changer. Glad I recently upgraded to the lifetime plan; I was kinda kicking myself for that earlier when I got to thinking about how awful it would be to switch out of Divi to something else in the distant future.
When all this is done, can you go back over the other themes and get rid of some of the very annoying odd behavior that some of them have – the techs have canned answers ready to go on how to hack the CSS to fix all the common issues. You could just go in and make those fixes part of the core.
Yep, that’s the idea. With the plugin enabled, all of your content built with the Divi Builder will be portable.
Well this is great news I have been hoping there would be a update for Divi, as I had to change themes because the builder does not allow for categories in woocommerce, and yet woocommerce pages are all based on categories which I thought was abit thoughtless of elegant themes to miss. I ended up going over to themeforest to bought theme with a builder that is aimed at a shopping site.
Maybe Elegant themes can keep that in mind that there is a lot of shopping sites so a theme and the builder to aim at shopping sites, so you can even build your own log in page for customers, design your own customers admin area etc.
I loved the divi builder it was great to use and the page builders over at themeforest suck they are so cumbersome to use compared to divi’s builder.
So great news its coming as a plugin, but please include the module for categories for woocommerce otherwise it is usless to use with woocommerce.
I’m glad to see this announcement. It is amazing how fast time flies. I can understand the team must be working around the clock to achieve this enormous task.
It sounds worth the wait!
Best wishes, always.
Tom.
Divi Builder plugin is a great idea, but making it free to the public may not.
You may expect lot of support request from non member which doesn’t mean these people will be ET member, but these people will certainly increase your work load, and it’s not fair to your subscribed members.
Nick, make it free to all your members only 🙂
Excellent work, Nick. I’ve switched almost entirely to Divi myself and foresaw that the page builder might become a plugin. I like the quality over quantity philosophy. It’s serving my needs well as a small-time web designer.
Hi Nick,
Does this mean I can start the development of my website using Divi, and then switch over to Extra when it’s released? Or would it be a better idea to wait for Extra’s release? Considering both themes are going to be using the new Divi page builder.
Yes Nick, I have the same question as Catigbe. Just wanting to reduce the work when changing over to Extra.
I’d love to be able to COPY/PASTE or SAVE/LOAD just a module or section of the page builder. I don’t always want to save/load the entire page. Is this possible now? or will it be in the future?
It’s great that you guys are trying to do it right and looking ahead.
Thanks for the great tools!
Good to see things are progressing.
A query/suggestion:
The maximum number of columns in a Divi layout at the moment is 4 unless we use shortcodes which, from most of my clients’ points of view, is too complicated and sort of negates the benefits of a page builder.
To have the option to have narrower/more columns in a row would be useful.
At the moment it seems “fashionable” to have lots of BIG TYPE and stuff which the Divi theme caters for well – but this isn’t suitable for everything.
So would this be a consideration for future releases? It’d make the theme quite a bit more flexible.
Cheers.
how to elegant builder plugin? whether to be replaced?
Great to hear from you again 🙂 The wait is understandable as it doesn’t make sense to go back to creating themes in the way you used to pre-Divi.
Looking forward to all the great stuff in store!
I was a diehard Catalyst user and recently decided to give Elegant Themes a try. When I first looked at Divi I thought the learning curve was going to be steep, but I was pleasantly surprised to find it wasn’t. I easily found answers to questions I had by searching the support forum and I really like the flexibility of the theme. The improvements you’re currently working on are icing on the cake for me because I’m still a new user. The fact that you’re discussing the improvements and looking toward the future is reassuring to me because it means the themes will be supported for a long time to come. I really hate it when I get attached to platform and then the developer decides to abandon it somewhere down the road. Looks like I don’t have to worry about that here, so I’m really looking forward to building all of my websites with Elegant Themes.
I totally support the FEATURE REQUEST: ability to COPY a module & all it’s content between pages would save a LOT of time, as it would carry all its customizations. Thanks.
Sounds fantastic to me! And in a world that seems increasingly more about quantity over quality, I appreciate a company that wants to do more quality. That’s the kind of thinking and approach that will definitely foster my customer loyalty as well.
I look forward to seeing the expanding Divi and other themes that come from its foundations.
One question: are you considering changing the way the Divi header works? Many times I have wanted to recommend Divi to a client, but ended up not doing it because their round or tall-sized logo will not fit in that rectangular space (not without them having to do a lot of code changing that could damage the integrity of the original theme). In trying to tweak the theme a little in order to force a non-rectangular logo into the space, it ends up messing with the structure of the nav bar, ruining its alignment with the logo within the header space. I love the Divi theme and all its modules and capabilities, so to have to skip it as a possibility because of its lack of responsive structure for more sizes and shapes of logo is such a bummer.
Any chance (I hope, I hope) that you’ll be considering changes to the Divi header in these future upgrades?
Thanks for letting us know what’s going on and what you have planned! It really does sound terrific.
With you there Sherry. How to accommodate a portrait shaped, or even square shape logo in Divi is a headache. It’s OK if you use the vertical navigation layout – bit it’s not very often most of us will want to lay out a site that way.
If anyone has some good examples of a Divi website with a tall logo do please show us.
Finally!!! U have made my year!!!
I’m one of those that has been pushing u guys a lot about Divi and Extra and I want to personally thank u, not only for writting this complete post, but also for the hard work you’re putting into this, I had no idea u were going to change so much your philosophy!!!
I have to say that before Divi came out, I new your site but didn’t liked much the lack of flexibility of the themes u had, so I never ended up buying them, but since Divi, even though I thought was missing some functionality, has been the only one I’ve been using.
With lots of CSS tweeks, Divi can take any shape and form. I’ve been checking out what people has been doing with Divi and I think they haven’t meet the real potencial, which is huge just by writting some custom CSS classes. And after reading this post I know u’re going to blow our minds in future releases.
Sorry if I’ve been a bit hard on u guys, as u said in the post, after months in the dark without any updates on Extra I was getting very frustrated because lots of us were planning on using Extra long ago, but couldn’t.
I’m extremely glad u’re so determined to go for quality over quantity, it’s the right thing to do and very smart move to create a one unique builder for the upcomming themes and even smarter to have the builder plugin version as well!!!
Keep up the good work and thanks to the whole team!!!
Exellent news 😀
I love Elegant Themes work, quality stuff. I look forward to your next releases. I use them for my clients (who think they can write stuff and don’t want to pay a web designer). And I have been impressed many times with your themes. But I truly wish you would make your own simpler CMS and bypass bloat-ware WordPress.
Yes I love & hate WordPress! I love how allows Jo Bloggs to publish stuff, DIY things and relieve me of boring content updates. But I hate the way it works, it’s slow, cumbersome editing and especially multiple image creation. I hate how we got to this bloated juggernaut of a CMS that often is only used to crack a nut! Thousands of files and hundreds of features that most people don’t use or understand just to make a few web pages. Millions of man hours on blog posts & pages that get neglected or never read all clogging up the servers and networks of the world… sorting, storage, access, electricity, security issues and more.
It shouldn’t be free, then we wouldn’t have to stumble on million out-of-date blogs, porn, gossip and other dubious stupid content because someone thinks the world needs another badly composed website and they can do it for free.
I find it utterly scary how many redundant/dormant WordPress blogs might be out there on 1000’s of servers. Reminds me how Microsoft Word got so big when all 99% people wanted to do was write a letter or quick report. What a waste!
At least Elegant make it better and prettier!
Nick,
Thanks for the update. I appreciate your explanation and the fact that you guys ALWAYS focus on quality. That’s the main reason I’ve been a customer for as long as I have been.
Just curious though… for those of us who have the themes only (personal, not developer or lifetime) membership, by you switching my new favorite platform to a plugin, does this mean I now have to upgrade my plan to enjoy the new versions coming up?
Upgrading would be worth it with this new move from theme to plugin… but I also feel like I don’t have much of a choice. Will there happen to be any sort of one time special upgrade price for us Divi lovers who have no choice but to switch over? Also, for those of us who are using it as a theme… what happens when it’s now a plugin? Does that mean that we would NEVER update the theme anymore and that we would now just simply update the plugin?
Thanks again. You guys are awesome… can’t wait for more!
ET is not switching from a theme to a plugin, they are talking about having themes with the Divi Builder plugin integrated (eg. Divi and Extra themes) and in other hand having the hability to install Divi Builder plugin in any other ET theme or any other brand 🙂
So your subscription will remain the same with the Divi Theme + Divi Builder Plugin integrated.
Hope this helps 🙂
Thanks for the information Nick. I am currently in the process of building a website using your Divi theme for the first time and have to say it’s a great product, and overall I’m pretty impressed with it’s quality and functionality. It does have some limitations that I’ve come across which can be a bit frustrating, but your awesome (and I don’t use that word lightly) technical support staff replies to my questions almost immediately with CSS workarounds that solve any problems I come across. I am looking forward to using your products for all my future projects and can’t wait to see Extra!
Nick thank you for all the job your team already done ! And for what is coming.
Simple question : may it possible for ET to make a lot of website example to show us what is possible to do with Extra ?
Because you have truly a talent for the design and every example can inspire all the ET customers 🙂
Thank you ! Good luck with Extra.
From Paris. 🙂
We have some lofty goals to expand our Divi Builder demo. Something like 50 niche websites built with Divi, and blog post tutorials to accompany each one with an explanation on how we built them 🙂 It’s just an idea though!
Yes! Yes! Yes!
Great idea NICK I believe this has been missing from WORDPRESS theme development (themes look great but no one really shows how or explains how it was done).
Thank you Nick 🙂 Impatient to see the result !!
I’d like to build a custom theme for a niche audience and then offer that to users in that niche – but I’d also like to offer it in a video based do it yourself educational module that folks could pay for so they can set up their own website from start to finish. Is it possible to customize that execution of DIVI and then have it available through ET (or better yet just have you guys do the design of it) – or would I have to set that up myself and then deliver it to each client individually?
That will be a great help for new designers like me. Thanks a lot for your efforts in this direction.
Yes Nick, this is the real game changer going by what you just revealed! Hope there will be a nich site for modern school portal?
Cool idea
Love it – love it – love it …..can’t wait very excited to see what you come up with. I have every confidence in the Elegant Themes team to continue to set the lead in developing amazing themes and tools.
Thanks for the update. I am looking forward to Extra, even more now that I know it will have the magic of Divi built it.
Keep up the good work
Thanks for providing us the ET roadmap. Lookin’ forward to all the news you presented!
Regards,
Han
Thank you for the great products that you continue to build and support in a most reputable way. Divi is exceptional! I’m excited about your continued success.
Great Suff!
Thanks for the update! I often read the helpful articles on the ET blog and think, “What if they just added a module to Divi for that function?” Looks like that may be coming true, at least some of it.
I’m glad to a WP template company develop into something more. This is good news for both site designers and regular WP users who are looking to move to the next level. Divi has made such an improvement in the look and functionality of my website. Hopefully I can finish all the changes by the time Extra debuts and I can start my secondary project.
Love the update but the thing I think all your costumer service awnsers more is litlle CSS (or large) modifications like:
» Changing colors,
» Paddings an margins
» Positioning and things like that
» Image sizes
Hope this big update gets some awnsers in the costumization and reduces (or eliminates) the use of other plugins like CSS hero.
This is sounding really great!
I am absolutely thrilled with the prospect of a universal builder! Looking forward to all the upcoming products and features!
Very happy to hear the current builder plugin will be replaced by the DIVI version!
Mind you, all of my websites since the introduction of DIVI have been DIVI!
Like several others in this thread, I have upgraded to a lifetime membership based on a certain article of faith that all the good stuff mentioned here is going to happen, ah….sometime soon. Several have asked, “When?”, and there has been no response to those questions. Quality is job #1, but timing is also critical. And a company’s accountability includes making and meeting deadlines. Our customers expect that from us, and we have a right to expect that from Elegant Themes, too.
So, I’ll add my question to the heap: “When can we expect releases to occur?”
Very exciting news. Keep up the good work!
Are you going to invite suggestions from your client base?
For instance, I now have a basic CSS customisation for Divi which I start by putting in so that it produces the results I need.
😉
Excellent news! More quality and less quantity is exactly the reason I re-joined Elegant Themes and got a lifetime subscription when the original Divi came out because I could see the potential and quality. That promise was confirmed by Divi 2 and this news makes it the best decision I’ve made. Great work – look forward to seeing the results.
Great to know! These are excellent news!
Hope to hear from you soon and yes, I’m also upgrading my membership in the near future.
Sounds lovely. Good luck. 🙂
Great to hear, Nick…really looking forward to all of this. Your work has transformed mine!
Hi Nick, thanks!
please not only work on functionality but also on style and look!
Work hard on menu style and personalization of it! easily change color texture position dimension shape….
my idea is….
different menu style –> different site!
thanks 4 all! good work
LOVE IT – LOVE IT – LOVE IT ! ! !! Thank you Elegant Themes support staff & Nick! You guys have made my business look so professional these past few years!!
These themes have me feeling like I have been watching a young child grow up right before my eyes.
Bryan Ring (aka – RingahDing)
Also glad for the update, but still disappointed about the additional delays in the Extra release. Still, knowing is better than not knowing, and I look forward to all these improvements.
Guess I’m just impatient!
I only have one request, PLEASE make a point to make your future updates retina-ready! Every single competing theme offers true retina-compatability. I understand the icons in Divi are font icons, but the logo isn’t retina ready and some of the larger icons aren’t. Please make this a priority! It’s not very future proof if the themes don’t fully support high res monitors. Thanks!
Fantastic news, needed as well.
We all know Visual Composer. But this year is also bringing us the developments like the new Qards from Designmodo and Upfront from Wpmudev.
Can you compare the direction you are heading with Divi / Extra to these mentioned above?
One thing is for sure page builders are not going away and that in itself causes more and more generic websites to be created.
Upfront is very interesting and I liked playing with the free demo, but it still needs some improvements before it fully ready for prime time.
Divi has saved my business…I have used it for four sites and have four more in the works. What has happened is I am able to empower clients to edit their own sites with minimal tutoring. The builder is really clear to them – so they learn fast – no matter how non-tech they are. I spend less time making minute changes and more time doing the things I love. Thank you from the bottom of my heart. And many thanks to your support team, which has seen me through the tall grasses.
As a user who has built my own site this is a great point. I’d be more willing to hire some help if I know someone was going to use divi and that I could tweak things myself.
Nick – how about a listing of developers who use elegant themes?
Hi Philippa.
We use use ET exclusively.
http://www.signum.digital
😉
All of this sounds awesome!
This is excellent news.
Hello, good news from ET, very very very very lovable news.
But, what is the expected timing for the release of all these news?
We have to wait for July, September, or is there something in anticipation for March?
Sneek peep of a new plugin coming into view 🙂
the spirit is revved up with Divi builder breaking bounds.
Don’t dismiss the comparison to X Nick, as it has its validity. The themes at the Forest always aspired to the level of ET’s themes. But as time moves on, ET is now playing catchup. The difference of course isn’t in the themes themselves, but in the integrity of ET. Unquestionably I can do more with several of the top themes at the Forest than I can with Divi. But he real question is – for how long. As with the others here, in the long-term, I put my faith in you and my sites in your hands.
Can’t wait to see those updates. I am totally satisfied by Divi but The Extra also look interesting, can’t wait to get those things in my hand.
Thanks Nick For these updates.
Thanks for your update. Lots of folks waiting on this. As a lifetime member, I am anxious to see the new improvements.
I love the direction this is going!! It’s very clear now why Extra is taking so long. I remember a response from an old comment about Extra and Divi not being compatible. So I guess you guys had a change of heart and went back to the drawing board!
This is fantastic news and I’ll be sure to get my lifetime membership in March when my current membership expires.
Thanks Nick and ET Team! Looking forward to growing my business with your themes!
Thanks for the update. My lifetime membership with ET is one of my most prized business tools.
Good news to hear that we will have the Divi Builder functioning all over, including posts. I have been using the ET Layout Builder plugin towards that purpose but find it clunky in comparison to the Divi Builder.
A quick question. In Kriesi’s Enfold Theme one is able to add the “builder elements” as shortcodes through an addition to the visual editor interface – allowing you to place certain elements within other elements. Any possibility/plans of adding some Divi Builder modules to the ET shortcodes plugin?
So with new Divi and Extra I will finally be able to build post layout like medium.com have?
What about comment style like medium.com have?
Yep you will be able to build some beautiful medium-like posts once the Divi Builder is made to work on Posts. In face, Kenny has already been building some amazing posts for the Extra demo that are going to blow you away 🙂
Awesome! I second the release date question. I need a website theme for my new brand/enterprise that will start with blog and then add author page ans services like workshop sales pages after that (Im a Visual thinker – sketchnoter, graphic recorder, and coach/trainer of these skills).
I wanted to get Literati theme as it has medium style posts and main page is also great and focused on pictures/videos.
So im wondering if I should wait and not loose additional money but at the same time if release is more than 1-2 months away, then…
Nick, any idea when we will have the chance to have a version 1 of extra? Thanx! greetings from Argentina
I’ve actually snatched parts of Divi to use in my Fable child theme. I considered changing themes but did not relish the effort. With the new Builder plugin, I should be able to get the best of both worlds.
Way to go!
Can I please request that the modules have less padding. I like divi but I’m finding it hard to keep my content above the fold because of all the padding. If the content modules lack the padding it can be provided via the dividers.
Also, people add so many comments and requests to these posts, it seems to me it would be good to have some kind of forum where people can put up ideas and others vote.
That would be a great idea of having a public kanban board like this one: https://trello.com/b/nC8QJJoZ/trello-development
It is free, keeps us entertained….
We know what is up next…
And we can vote….
And here more info regarding this and also what other companies are up to and how they use Trello: http://blog.trello.com/going-public-roadmapping-with-a-public-trello-board/
One of the updates we are adding is giving users complete control over the CSS attributes of each module 🙂
Yea CSS availability I hope for forms too.
Nick, that would be great. We are doing it now through custom CSS. In every build we reduce the padding between sections and rows for a starter so an ability to do that sort of thing would be helpful
Fantastic. Thank you. More user friendly padding/spacing customization would be huge.
That’s helpful – although some of us “users” are a bit scared of css. I need to get my kids to help me 🙂
Thank you for the update! This sounds great. Like a lot of the community I really loved the sound of Extra but was slightly worried about the thought of leaving the Divi Builder. Great to think that I will be able to get the best of both worlds. Can’t wait to see more plugins too. Will keep fingers-crossed for a plugin that creates unique opt-in forms!
Aw.. Now that’s a good news after long time. Keep it up.
Continue excellent word guys !!! Can’t wait !!!
thanks for the update nIck. i have been a member here since very nearly the beginning and am looking forward to seeing elegant themes continue to grow.
So, when we should expect the release of Extra theme?
Hi Nick, thanks for the nice news. I have read some articles about live composing of websites directly in the front end of WordPress. This would be a nice way to make designing for newbies easy and some solutiions are already out. Website builders like Wix or all the others are getting a lot of attention because of simplicity. Are there any plans to get the Divi Builder into this direction? Thanks for reading and the nice update on whats going on.
Thanks Nick, my question is already answered above. 🙂 Someone was quicker…
Nick,
Just want to say Divi rules! I hope you are a millionaire many times over for your work. It is truly beautiful and fun to work with.
MH
Thank you so much for this update. I cannot wait to see what 2015 holds for ET!
Prediction: The next plugin to be released in a week or so will be the super sweet email catcher you guys have been using on your website. 🙂
Will the new theme include a better audio player? A robust and customizable audio player is sorely lacking. The one in Divi is extremely limited (no jukebox options and limited visual customization) and third party options are typically visually unattractive and limited in their capabilities.
I’m really excited to work with all these upgrades…especially the ability to use the builder in posts!
Nick,
I made the suggestion in the support area, but if it helps here:
Some great features are already existing in some great divi specific plugins: Divi booster and Divi4u. the page builder in posts (cleanly), Sidebar options in the customize panel, and footer customization are only a few. Examining the code behind these may help with getting additional features Incorporated faster.
Also does the change over to a plugin reduce the interference with alot of the other plugins out there. The inability to use a lot of shortcode based plugins is the only really painful drawback to me.
Lastly, Please consider a footer column editor. since it will be a fluid grid base, have the column divisions like in the divi page builder would be sweet.
Thanks and sorry for the rant.
Great news! Thanks for all the info and work. I think that Divi Builder as plugin for use with any theme is a great way to go. One thing that I think you could improve on the modules of the builder is the way that images are treated inside the Sliders module. We have to have the option to adjust how the image will fit, cause this is a primary point on site design. For programmers, CSS can help, in fact, thanks Gino Quiroz, for all your help on these topics, I take a lot of your blog info to help me adjust my site. And a lot of basic things like for example put transparency on call to actions, choose Font Colors inside modules, choose what text you want to display in some modules like the newsletter opt in for example. Anyway, I think all of your work is really great, but I found that we could have more control over little essential items. For the Monarch for example, I think we could have a better internal counter for data analysis so we can adjust better what and how to achieve our readers. I really want to thank you guys for all the great work and keep going with this good work! It’s all great overall, the details that I’m suggesting it’s just my 2 cents. Best
agree, and shure that all the images “management” from divi will be improved. the full width porfolio module for example…
Hats off to you guys for staying true to quality over quantity! It really makes a tremendous difference in the end result for us and our clients.
Ahh Wow! I am so happy to hear some news. I treat Elegant themes like a religion, I admit – but for good reason. Keep it up.
I too have not used any other theme for over a year now. and I do worry that I might not be able to change if I keep on using this for much longer.
I do miss new themes that are niche orientated, for example I have just done a nest of about 5 review themes and they were all Divi, but now you are saying I can go and install the plugin into your old review theme and it will be like Divi? Oh man – that will be so cool
Thanks for the update. What is stated above is probably not entirely clear for someone outside of what you’re doing, but it’s a good step. Would have been better if it had been posted months ago, as you probably know.
Meanwhile, TBH, although Divi was a big leap forward for WordPress themes, you’ve fallen behind.
Way behind.
My clients are now asking for two things: 1. That we move over to more flexible themes, where anything/everything is controlled via a complete theme options page; or 2. That everything on the back end be way, way simplified (removing wordpress options to just fit the basics they need, which we do through a range of plugins and functions.php adjustments, argh).
I’m unsure if the new DIvi or Extra or this new plugin version of Divi will accomplish either of those two goals. Redesigning WordPress is a lofty goal — too lofty — and unnecessary. Further, fancier pages are something many *designers* want, but not many clients. They want simplicity, and I realize you’re trying to make “fancy” simple, but that’s still a layer of complexity that AFAIK, no one is asking for.
Further, the subscription model ET uses is based upon the notion that value will be added continually, which the company has simply failed to do.
My subscription updated automatically a few months ago, as I’m sure others have too, and I have supposed that (in addition to the plugin I’m unsure anyone was asking for) you all have been off enjoying your millions one way or another. Meanwhile, the world is moving on.
Communication isn’t part of the relationship, it IS the relationship. If you don’t communicate, people will assume the worst.
So, glad to see you’re back in the office now, and hope to see an “elegant theme,” of some value, offered to your long-time subscribers soon.
Reading this over, it sounds harsher than I meant it to, but I hope the points come across okay, despite that. I do love an appreciate all you and yours have done. Thank you.
You might take a look at what the X-theme guys are doing. I think, having used both X and Divi that, at the moment they are ahead in this respect. Also, they have made it easy to add specific CSS to style almost every type of module very easily at the ‘object’ level. I hope you can catch up with these developments as I think you have the better community and support!
I agree with Joel’s remarks in this thread in that It seems ET has fallen well behind in the last year. There’s no doubt there are more powerful and flexible themes available and ones which have better implementations of the sort of functionality discussed here (Divi for example).
Don’t wait too long to release either a beta or at least a delivery date otherwise you will bleed customers who will move to the competition if you are too slow. If that happens it won’t matter how good your next version is, because no one will trust you.
I agree, Zagatov12. I suspect many of the themes out there copied the Divi concept, but in many cases, they’ve surpassed it in some respects, if not all.
Hoping this post signals greater engagement from ET staff.
I’m with you here. Divi is great, and I definitely want to see the improvements that have been stated.
However, I have to wonder how many potentially great themes we’ve missed because of development on Divi. I have new clients in waiting that I’m turning to Theme Forest to serve because it’s simply a faster starting point than starting from scratch with Divi.
When Divi is needed, it’s magic. When it’s not needed… well, I have to look elsewhere to serve development needs.
I’m with you here. Divi is great, and I definitely want to see the improvements that have been stated.
However, I have to wonder how many potentially great themes we’ve missed because of development on Divi. I have new clients in waiting that I’m turning to Theme Forest to serve because it’s simply a faster starting point than starting from scratch with Divi.
When Divi is needed, it’s magic. When it’s not needed… well, I have to look elsewhere to serve development needs.
I find the prebuilt page layouts will usually accommodate any start up need so that you don’t have to start from scratch each time.
Thanks, Lynda, Glenn, and Jacob.
I agree, Divi is great, the blog is helpful, and I appreciate access to support, etc…
Just wish we had more “great,” you know?
Honestly. The subscription model of ET is a trivial cost just to maintain the existing library with compatibility and security updates if and as needed. I’m not saying it’s “like” or “almost” trivial. It is trivial. At least to anyone moderately serious about building and maintaining strong web sites.
Nick Roach is a rock star in my WordPress world and I’m only using one theme on one site. I’ve lived with the no-revenue model themes before and experienced the pain of an abandoned theme that becomes insecure or incompatible because core is updated.
The Divi builder is a wonderful place to build or play, but if that doesn’t suit, the entire rest of the library is available.
The idea that a subscription implies constant updates or new products is, in my opinion derived from my real world experience, misguided. Focus on quality and stability are the premium reasons to subscribe. If all you want is constant new themes, head on over to the repository.
I hope this isn’t too strong a reply. I intend it with good will.
I agree with Joel. I’ve been one of those people asking WHY isn’t anything new happening. It seemed like Elegant Themes world was 150% into Divi. Extra was announced but nothing happened. Monarch plugin came out but frankly if you had purchased an Elegant Themes membership because of having access to all the OLD themes plus the new themes coming out…and NOT because you were a developer. This past year has been a disappointment. Communication was non-existent. I loved the addition of the blog *but* I could have the blog without a subscription.
I now see what ET has been up to in 2014. Am very happy for all the people who are thrilled with Divi (and yes, I use it) and with the future plans. Will be looking for more posts like this. Your ET community needs theme. ~ Thanks
Correction in last sentence — Your ET community needs this (not theme).
Thanks for the update!
Really love your products and the people behind them.
This looks great. I would like to make one request. A more robust and customizable audio player is sorely lacking. The one in Divi is extremely limited (no jukebox options and limited visual customization) and third party options are typically visually unattractive and limited in their capabilities.
Thanks for the update Nick! Super appreciate it. I have been holding off moving forward with divi in for a blog that i want to design – only because there are so many things i would need to modify to make it work. Extra seemed to have a lot of what I needed baked in.
I will use something else in the interim and will look forward to future releases of divi and extra for other blogs I need to create.
ET Team – I keep sending my praises. I hope you realize how much we all appreciate your wonderful work and future visions.
Thank you so much from a small developer in Connecticut!
Wow, what a great update! Thank you guys for all the hard work you do. I am happy to hear that Divi and Extra will have a universal builder. I can imagine that it will significantly ease the lives of not-so-techy people as myself when we need to switch themes. Thank you for making site-building so easy for everyone!!
This are great news.
Hope that you are working with the developers in mind.
What I mean is that I will like to be able to extend Divi and Divi builder adding more modules made by me in an easy way.
A few months back I took Divi as a parent theme of a new theme for a website and I felt disappointed as I tried to add a new layout to the blog module and the only way to achieve that was a little hacky as Divi was not created for developers.
Part of the the re-build of the Divi Builder framework is making it more “modular,” which will make adding new modules easier for developers. I envision releasing developing documentation as well, at some point, to help people make their own modules that can be plugged in to the Divi Builder.
“I envision releasing developing documentation as well, at some point, to help people make their own modules that can be plugged in to the Divi Builder.”
I LIKE THIS!!!
Thanks
Markus, that will be great! 🙂
Very amazing move, just brooding that WP plugin developers will soon love to create plugins for Divi framework soon when I saw the Divibooster plugin released. Brilliantly cunning and intuitive steps. Thanks a billion!
I guess this answers my question from above. Thanks.
I didn’t even read the post ! 😀
I want to say “thanks” just from the title.
Now, I’m gonna read…. ^_^
This is brilliant. I am so excited to see the Divi Plugin in all of its glory. I can’t wait to see what you guys are coming up with, but I know it will all be worth the wait. I’d much rather wait longer and have high-quality AWESOME seamless products than deal with glitches and sub-par plugins and themes. I bought the lifetime membership because of Divi’s power and my faith that Elegant Themes will continue in that direction. So glad to hear that my expectations are being surpassed.
Not only great work … this is a great blog post.
It would be great if you could build in a white label option so if we multisite using divi for our clients we can white label your products to fit with our branding. Offering white labelled instructions for use of the divi builder would also be a great help for training our clients.
Thanks, keep up the great work.
I think this is a plus point here. Ive the same concern
I am looking at themes and builders right now. A few of the impressive ones have “Front-end what-you-see live editing” Will the builder have that capability or will it be … have two tabs open… make a change… update… go to second tab… hit refresh… etc.?
We are already working on something along those lines 🙂
“improving the Divi Builder to work anywhere, even on posts”
I think I love you.
If you want a sneak peek of the ability to use Divi Builder on posts, check out Divi Booster.
I’ll post here, because I need an answer from both you and from ET.
When using the PB with posts, is there/will there be an option to set a default PB layout, for posts and CPTs or will you still need to set each post up, individually?
This is important.
Will do. Thanks!
Hi,
Great news!
Question: is the new builder going to be a front-end builder or will it stay back-end? Many customers find it hard to deal with the current one.
Thanks and keep the good job, you rock guys!
A front-end builder is part of our plan, in fact we have already started working int it, but it’s something that will be built a little further down the road (Divi 3.0).
Make sure the frontend is optional. Most people like me do not like/need the front end at all. 🙂
Thanks!
Wooow!!
This front-end feature will be huge!!!
Can’t wait to see it, customers will love it. As Nizar said, some of them get a bit confused with the way is now.
Thanks!!!
Hi,
Great news!
Question: is the new builder going to be a front-end builder or will it stay back-end? Many customers find it hard to deal with the current one.
Thanks and keep the good job, you rock guys!
We are already working on moving the Divi Builder to the front end, and while we have a lot of concept finished, development on a front end builder will not happen until all this other stuff is finished first.
Nick,
Just a tip, please stay focused first on the back-end builder. We like to see the result…..
This was my question too. Glad to hear a front end editor is in the pipeline.
YEAH!!!!! Great news…. ! We believe in you!
Divi should have been a plugin to begin with.
I can’t wait!! – I’m so impressed with your work ethos and professionalism !
thanks for all that you do for us designers.
Great news about Divi builder plug…woohoo! FEATURE REQUEST: ability to COPY a module & all it’s content between pages would save a LOT of time, as it would carry all its customizations. Thanks.
Already there…. save the layout in the page module!
@Emile – I don’t think O Green wants to copy the whole page, which is what Layout saves. He wants to copy only one module on the page, which I don’t think is currently available in Divi.
**** BUT – I saw a workaround posted on another site last month that helped me take a standard page header design and copy to every page on my website in only a few minutes.
The trick is that you have to briefly switch to a different theme – NOT DIVI. Once that is done the code, content, & shortcodes of the page are shown in the normal editor.
Open the page containing the module to copy AND all the pages it will be copied to on different tabs.
Once that can be seen you can figure out the beginning & ending of the code block for the module you want to copy. Select that section including the starting & ending DIV markers and COPY.
Go to each of the pages where it will be pasted and PASTE the copied code in the appropriate location on the new page.
Content to change can be quickly and easily edited in the code (like page names, titles, paragraph content) while still looking at the code in the alternate Theme.
Save & Publish each of the edited pages.
Switch back to the DIVI theme and POOF! the module is now on the new pages.
VERY VERY QUICK … and it was cool seeing how easy it is to edit the internal content looking at the code without the Divi builder.
@O Green – hope that helps.
Guys, there is much simpler: create a new page, click use page builder, build ONLY the module you want to copy, save the layout. You can add layouts WITHOUT replacing the whole content(tickbox), meaning it will just add to the bottom of your page your layout containing a small single module. Done!
How I do this is that I open the page, delete all sections that I don’t want to copy and leave the only one I need. Then I save this layout and leave the page without saving, so the original page stays unchanged.
Then in the new page I just load the saved layout and done. Works faster than switching themes.
Andras,
Your solution is the best so far. I will try it next time.
Infinit3, the problem with your suggestion is that when we need the most to copy a module is when a page is mostly done and a client says…”Let’s move this part (the module) to the other page!”).
Awesome! Just having the ability to use the Divi builder on a post is going to be huge!
You can do that already with the use of a plugin called divi booster. It has a lot of other features too…
http://www.wpthemefaqs.com/divi-booster-the-easy-way-to-customize-divi/
Agreed. I’ve been using Divi Booster to supplement the flexibility of Divi and have found the pair very productive.
So, basically, Divi is becoming kind of the “Genesis Framework”, no? I mean, more a framework with awesome features than a theme (provided it will be the base for future projects).
Similar in a way, but we will not be using the “Child Theme” model that StudioPress uses, because it makes it very difficult for customers to create their own “grandchild themes.” It’s much better to have a framework that is shared by themes without the Child Theme relationship forced onto the customer.
I am not very much experienced using WP yet and therefore wonder about your last statement regarding child themes:
Isn´t it part of the codex to use child themes to implement own modifications and add functionality?
In other words: If ET doesn’t rely on child themes, how can I update an ET theme I bought from you that was modified by me or has added functionality?
Please advise.
why not versions of divi, (or extra… when time arises) with diferent styles…. may be just an alt version of style.css
I know ,I know, this can be easily done by ourselves…
but you are the super ninja of css…. you are “the founder and lead designer at Elegant Themes”, you write the post, we write comments, you design, we “tweak”…
nothing complicated…. just alternatives in the tipography, a bit of jquery (that could be non portable…) just option for “starting”… or for use out of the box.
hope you read this
I absolutely agree. I would love to see a lot more click a button tweaks that are built into the themes. I know nothing about .css and something that seems simple can take FOREVER to configure! I love the DIVI theme, but there are a lot of things in the demo sites that are difficult for a beginner to implement.
Great Nick, just great! I love this concept so I can create child themes and customize to archive my customers requirements.
Keep the great work!
I’m new to Elegant Themes as well as WP and building my own sites. But I’ve done 2 with Divi already and have 5 more on the boards.
But this “child themes” concept is confusing to me. I’m not sure why creating them cannot be simply a standard “submit” button.
But from what you and Darlan said, do I understand I won’t need to create them at all in future? And thus not have be bothered with learning something that takes my brain away from the design process?
Oh, I hope so. At 70, I only have so much brain storage capactiy left!
Randy-Someone on the forum suggested One Click Child – at WP plugins. It is so simple. Just make sure Divi is the current theme – as it makes a child theme of the currently theme. It could not be easier!
you have many plugins for that, as an example child theme configurator … but even you have a plugin especifically for divi…
google for divi4you
hope ir helps…
I say we are going to have Child themes for a long time.
“I hope this answers the many questions that have been popping up in the comments here in the blog, including concerns about our slow release schedule and lack of information about future products. ”
You’ve answered everything Nick…. plus a bit Extra.
I think that I’ll have to read this one a couple of times to understand it fully, but I think that lots of ET users will be doing the happy dance at the thought of a “Universal Builder”
Thanks Nick for the update. I will say, I’d like to see developments into other plugins that assist themes (much like the shortcodes plugin *gasp* maybe more shortcodes?!?!?) or just like the new builder plugin. As an user of Divi I love it, I really do, but I don’t want to use it for everything. I always look forward to more innovative themes (especially the ones powered by the divi builder) and plugins from you guys.
Thanks for the update. I agree that focusing all efforts on a few products and making them the best you can is better than churning out many products that don’t get the attention and support they need. Cheers to you guys at ET for seeing a change in the market and adapting.
This is simply awesome. It is amazing to see this community grow and I am behind the evolving ET philosophy 100%. The progress has been amazing and the things I have been able to do in Divi is endless. I have stretched the boundaries in so many ways and seen it stretched by others.
The bottom line for me, is that I have been using Divi exclusively more as a framework for every project and no two websites look the same. I was even able to create an awesome magazine site using Divi because i couldn’t wait for Extra and I love it.
So what this means for us is that we will be even more empowered. I am thankful to ET for empowering me to make a living doing what i do and to have fun doing it!
Thanks Nick and the Elegant Themes Team!!!!!
Hi Geno – I too would love to see a link to your Divi – Magazine site! Much thanks 🙂
Hi Geno, did you use custom widget areas for the web magazine site? And if so, can you suggest some effective third party widgets? Thanks!
Geno, can you please share you Divi Magazine site? Thank you
Yeah, I second what Geno says. I love the philosophy and it will so much better for everyone than two incompatible themes. I can’t wait to see it all develop. Thanks guys!
Thanks for keeping us informed. The future seems very bright for Elegant Themes and I can’t wait to see extra and the new plugins you guys are working on.
Great update Nick, I think you are taking the right steps in developing a single builder framework (Divi Builder plugin) which is able to serve multiple themes.
Since the sneek peek of Extra I have been waiting for Extra to be released. I suppose I now have to wait for the release of the Divi Builder plugin first. And next have to wait for the release of Extra?
Or is the Divi Builder plugin also great for posts, just like the Extra has been promised to be great for posts?
And what is the schedual for the Divi Builder plugin?
Thank you for sharing this info.
The order of release will likely be:
1. Updated version of Divi with the new fluid Divi Builder.
2. Release of the Divi Builder plugin.
3. Release of Extra, including the new builder framework + additional features.
Great news, Nick! This is the kind of post we have been waiting for over a year. I strongly suggest you make this a monthly feature – a kind of “Monthly ET Status”.
There was a vacuum for past year with no new themes coming. And please add a timeline for the Divi Builder and Extra releases. so that we don’t need to check daily expecting an announcement.
i agree with iZen, will be great to have more certain dates, knowing that could be changed, but that way let us prepare our business timeline too.
Thank you for your hard work.
Will there be tutorials that explain this all better to people like myself. I’d really love to be able to do a lot more with my Divi but I simply don’t know how. It seems like most of the people in this response tree are all tech savvy. What about folks like me? Thanks.
By the way, I’m a lifetime member, too.
Thanks for this update. Very helpful, and looking forward to your new products. Great work!
Great stuff as always. I appreciate the quality over quantity aspect and cannot wait for the updated Divi / Extra / Plugin and everything else. 🙂
Are you having to redesign all the builder modules also? will you be adding any new ones, like a full width projects/portfolio for videos for example? WINK WINK 😉
We will be adding more modules for sure, but right now we are focused more on the backend of the builder, and on the CSS styling of the current modules.
Nick, are there any plans to provide an API for user designed modules?
E.g. user designed rich snippet modules might be a big win or user specific data representation.
Holy crap. So much to come, super excited about the Builder Plugin!
I can’t wait for this, Nick. It looks very interesting.
Are you planning on adding any mormodules to the divi theme? Or adding any features to existing modules?
Thanks!
Yes to both. We plan to continue to improve the modules and add more. We also envision a time where module extension packs in the form of a plugin to could be installed to extend the themes into more niche areas.
Fantastic idea! Having a set of modules for niche areas….+1
Excellent idea! I’m looking forward to seeing more about these extension packs.
I’m a recent Divi “convert” and am really enjoying the flexibility combined with a fantastically simple interface. Great stuff!
Thank you, thank you and finally thank you!!
I am hoping that the Divi Builder plugin can match and compare to the Visual Composer plugin which I believe is a great product.
Nick, I hate to compare themes – but a theme I have come across is the X theme which is built on stacks. Each stack can be viewed as a different theme in it’s own right. Is there any interest in doing this in the future for Elegant Themes?
Again, thank you for this news update.
Keep up the great work.
You can basically think of Divi/Extra as being different “stacks.” We don’t see the need to combine them into a single theme, instead they will be different themes powered by the same builder framework, and expanded by their own unique theme options. X is built the way it is so that it can compete on the ThemeForest platform and differentiate itself. However, since Elegant Themes members already get access to all of our themes, there is no need to try and combine everything into one theme 🙂
Yes, I agree with you Nick! Please make various themes with the same framework. The work you guys are doing is needed in the WordPress industry.
And that’s why i’ll be upgrading to lifetime membership………can i do that at any time?
my dev subscription expires next month.
cheers for the update……. looking forward to the releases.
I am upgrading to the lifetime membership this month, too, based on 1) the beautiful, user-friendly themes (especially Divi and I can’t wait for Extra); 2) the growth, speed, and innovation of products put out by Elegant Themes; and 3) the user support community and help from ET staff, including some of the most useful blog posts around. It’s worth the lifetime membership just based on the blog entries. You guys make my life so much easier. Thank you!
Yep you can upgrade at any time.
I work with Divi ALOT my favorite so far…
But I find the lack of being able to change the font sizes and character are a pain…
any insight on that for me?
I was trying out all the major visual builders & themes. I spent 2 hours with Divi and ran to upgrade instantly! Thanks for being so communicative about all the details. LOVE that. And a big salute to quality over quantity. Divi rocks!
Just did….. thanks 🙂
I have been with you guys from the beginning and I must say that Elegant Themes is getting very good in creating amazing themes!
Keep up the good work.
Great update Nick, I think customers would appreciate these type of posts that provide insight to the ET business on a more frequent basis. Really helps to set expectations and prevent frustration. Again, good stuff and thank you.
Well said David, couldn’t agree more! and an exciting future at that!
This is awesome! LOVE Divi and this is gonna be awesome!