WordPress 5.0, Enfold 4.5.1 and our older Themes

WordPress 5.0 will arrive soon and with it comes a new “Block” based editor that replaces the previous default editor

So this is probably one of the most discussed topics in recent WordPress history. The introduction of the new WordPress Block editor (or Gutenberg editor as it was previously named). Some love it, some hate it, (and judging from the abysmal 2.5 star rating of the plugin, the later group is currently probably the bigger one), but no matter if you like or dislike it, it will affect you if you use WordPress in one way or another.

Here is how it affects our Enfold users, users of our other themes and also how it affects us :)

1.) Enfold Users

With the latest Enfold release to version 4.5.1 we have tried to incorporate the new editor in the same way as it was previously used. Which means when you create or edit a page or post you have the option to either use the WordPress Block Editor or you can switch to Enfolds very own Advanced Layout Builder. The Layout builder basically behaves the same way as always :)

Although with the introduction of a non-reloading backend some features definitely come in more handy now, like the undo/redo functionality :)

Other than that: When writing and editing non-template builder pages and posts you will need to learn to work with the new Block Editor. If you don’t want to do that there is a plugin that will disable the new Block editor and activate the old classic editor.

To sum it up: As Enfold user you either will need to upgrade to Enfold version 4.5.1 or install the Block Editor Disabling Plugin, if you want to run WordPress 5.0. Otherwise you won’t have proper access to Enfolds layout builder.

2.) Other Theme Users (Replete, Abundance, Choices etc)

Fore those themes you will need to make a choice. They all use an old template builder which is not very flexible and other than Enfolds Layout builder is probably also inferior to the new Block Editor. So you can either use the Block Editor and no longer use the old layout builder or install the “Disable Gutenberg” plugin and use the old one, along with our old template builder.

Apart from that: We used the new WordPress release to take a closer look at those themes and what we want to do next with them. We unfortunately came to the conclusion that it is no longer viable to maintain them at this point.

The reason for this is basically the sales model that Themeforest has chosen. Instead of the need for users to re-license the theme every year for new updates (which is quite common in the WordPress community) they decided to try and generate recurring revenue by selling “support add ons”. However those are never enough to cover the development costs of a theme that is no longer in its prime. And since all of our other themes are now 7 years or longer on the market they are quite old in internet terms ;)

So for the last few years Enfold basically covered the update costs for those themes. We think it’s time to deprecate them now, as long as they are still working and try to encourage existing users to move on to another theme of choice (preferably Enfold of course ;) )

We will keep supporting our older themes in the support forums for months to come but there won’t be any new releases or updates on Themeforest. In fact, within the next 1-2 weeks  we will remove them from Themeforest altogether. So if you are running one of those themes and want to grab the latest version please do so now :)

If you have purchased one of those themes within the last 6 months and don’t want to use it because of this, feel free to request a refund on Themeforest. We will grant it, no questions asked :)

Also if you want to keep them running  on your site there are a lot of third party developers out there able to help with all kind of issues and improvements. So if you need help that is beyond the scope of what our support can do we will be happy to connect you :)

3.) What it means for Kriesi Media

So since we are removing all our older themes from Themeforest and only keep Enfold we will become a “one product” company. This should free up some development (and in the far future also some support) time which our existing Enfold customer base probably appreciates :)
We have some heavy improvements planned for our very own Advanced Template Builder but for the near future our editor and the WordPress Block editor won’t merge in any significant way. So if you enjoy working with Enfold you can be assured that it will stay that way :)

 

As always, if you find any issues with the latest release feel free to open up a thread in our support forum so we can try to fix it for you and others as soon as possible :)

 

37 replies
  1. prsetiadi
    prsetiadi says:

    Hmm.. I’ll just stay on WP v4.9.8 or switch to ClassicPress perhaps.. anyway, will this theme update do anything with v4.9.8? I mean break something as it surely include gutenberg overrides?

    • Kriesi
      Kriesi says:

      No it wont break anything :)
      The theme detects if Gutenberg and WP 5.0 are active and all the new stuff is only loaded when this is true. Otherwise you will just get the other Bugfixes of this release ;)

    • rlhoward
      rlhoward says:

      Kriesi is 100% correct; I have a client whose web hosting company automatically updated without even notifying me. Fortunately I had just updated the client’s theme to 4.5.1 and everything works just fine. If you are adding a new post or page, top right of the main column you will see a button labeled “Advanced Layout Editor”. Click that to have all the options you’re used to in Enfold.

  2. Chris
    Chris says:

    Habe ich das richtig verstanden:
    ENFOLD 4.5.1 + W 5.0: damit kann ich die SEITEN wie gehabt mit dem ALB bearbeiten, die POST kann ich dann mit den Gutenberg-Editor gestalten? Also ALB + Gutenberg-Editor parallel, ersterer für SEITEN, letzterer für POSTS?

    • Oliver
      Oliver says:

      Ich habe WP-5.0 und Enfold 4.5.1, jedoch erscheint hier als Standard-Editor Gutenberg. Muss ich irgendwo eine Einstellung vornehmen, um ALB wieder zum Standard zu machen?

  3. Thomas Jarvis
    Thomas Jarvis says:

    Thank you for the clarifications Kriesi and Team.

    I have just signed in this morning to see that version 5.0 updates are available on my client’s websites. I was going to delay the update until I read this article this morning.

    Cheers,

    Tom

  4. volmering
    volmering says:

    “So since we are removing all our older themes from Themeforest and only keep Enfold we will become a “one product” company.”

    sounds great :-)

  5. Nicole Tirabassi
    Nicole Tirabassi says:

    I have Enfold v. 4.5, but I don’t get any notification on updating to 4.5.1. on the Enfold panel on my website back-end. How do I update the theme from INSIDE WordPress? I cannot just ownload it from my Envato account and reload it again: I’m afraid it would cause somethign to the website.
    Thanks

  6. LIANG
    LIANG says:

    When I click on the ALB/default editor, all the content turned to shortcode block. If possible ALB layouts as elements of Gutenberg.

  7. john
    john says:

    hello
    one of my site is breaking and the hosting support says Enfold theme is not compatible with WordPress 5/0?

  8. Martin
    Martin says:

    Same on my side. Updated to 5.0 and also updated Enfold to 4.5.1.

    Fatal error: Cannot redeclare av_countdown_events_fallback() (previously declared in …/wp-content/themes/enfold/config-templatebuilder/avia-shortcodes/events_countdown/events_countdown.php:16) in …/wp-content/themes/enfold/config-templatebuilder/avia-shortcodes/events_countdown.php on line 8

    • Kriesi
      Kriesi says:

      this sounds like an issue people had a few versions ago when we changed the folder structure of enfold. Did you update via ftp? If so I would try to do that again but instead of overwriting the enfold folder delete it completely and then upload the new one.

      the issue you are having is likely caused by your ftp client merging the old and the new folder which results in duplicate files :/

      If you need any more help with this feel free to open a support thread in our forum :)

  9. Roger C
    Roger C says:

    As a longtime user I wouldn’t mind seeing you guys transition to a yearly fee license model. Want you guys to keep doing great things for the long term.

  10. Abu
    Abu says:

    What would happen if you just installed classic editor (there is an option to do that when you upgrade to 5.0) instead of using the disable blocks plugin as you described? Is one better over the other?

  11. Rune
    Rune says:

    If i update to 5.0 and put this code in the functions.php the classic editor is in use and there is no problem using Advanced Layout Builder.

    add_filter(‘use_block_editor_for_post’, ‘__return_false’);

  12. ronald
    ronald says:

    Hallo,
    ich hatte gestern auf wordpress 5.0 umgestellt. Dann wollte ich Text-Blöcke editieren. Der Textblock war leer und es gab die Meldung, dass wenn ich mit Sonderzeichen arbeite und wenn ich fertig sei, kann ich die Vorschau wieder sehen. dem war nicht so. Ich musste ein Backup einspielen. Jetzt geht alles wieder und ich bleibe erstmal bei wp 4.x

  13. Webbmarknadsföring
    Webbmarknadsföring says:

    The WP 5.0.1 version removed the smoothness I experienced with Enfold 4.5.1 and when working on an Enfold powered website today I experienced way to many issues to continues to feel satisfied: Can not drag and drop the text module if I move the cursor to the bottom of my browser (when you want to move further down in Avia to place the module at the right spot). Edited a text module, the text is gone. Edited an Icon List, the preview include the image from the color section above. Edited another text module, no text and a strange bar accross the module in question.

    However, installing Classic Editor solved all the issues. I look forward to the continued development of Enfold and hope to be able to use it with WP5 for years to come!

  14. the_authentic
    the_authentic says:

    There is a problem with modifying pages that were written/added in WP 4.9.8 and with Enfold 4.4.1 with using Advanced Layout Builder.
    After complete update (WP 5.0.1 and Enfold 4.5.1) I can enter in an edit mode of the “old” page, but Advanced Layout Builder is frozen. Basically, I cannot edit content of the page. Simple, but arduous solution is to create whole new page and then everything is working properly.
    Guys, do you have another solution to that problem? I would rather avoid creating copies of current pages manually.

  15. Michael
    Michael says:

    Hi

    My hoster provides PHP 7.3, so I did an upgrade of my website to this PHP version (had PHP 7.2 previously).

    The result is the following error message after the backend login:
    “No input file specified.”

    I guess that Enfold (in my case v4.5.1) is not compatible with PHP 7.3 yet. Is that possible and if yes, when will that be resolved?
    (downgraded to PHP 7.2 now to make the backend available again)

    Best regards and thanks in advance
    Michael

  16. Lisa
    Lisa says:

    Hi–I’ve been asked to look at a website that broken with WP 5.0. It is using v 3.5.4 of
    Enfold. Will it break the site completely to try to update the theme from a version that is that old? Please advise. Thanks.

    • Kriesi
      Kriesi says:

      No, that should work fine, although I recommend backing up your older theme just in case :)
      If you got any problems please open a thread in our support forum :)

  17. Dirk
    Dirk says:

    Hi Enfold-Team,
    one little question.

    I have WP 4.9.8 install by my Provider, and can i Uptate Theme Enfold to 4.5.2 its work than with my WP 4.9.8?
    At the moment are running Enfold 4.5 on my Host.

    Or ist the new Enfold 4.5.1. and 4.5.2. only for the new WP 5.0.1. Version compatibel?

    Thanks for your reply.

    Brgds
    Dirk

  18. Steve
    Steve says:

    I have 7 or 8 sites running Enfold and as such have been very nervous as I also provide a managed service to look after these.

    The 19th Dec release of Enfold is running on one of my live sites, without the Classic Editor plugin installed and WP 5.0.2 – so far all the issues I’d previously found (and subsequently had to install the classic editor) seem to be resolved.

    I thought I would post this purely for people info – I’m not going to update the other to WP5 for a while as I’m sure other issues will surface – particularly as WP seems to be updating minor releases at a fairly rapid rate – but so far so good with the latest release.

  19. Lina
    Lina says:

    My website doesn’t work properly anymore since the update to WP 5.0. I can’t change any texts or add new elements. So I tried to upgrade the theme, which says version 3.8 at the moment, but it shows this message: “No Updates available. You are running the latest version!” What should I do??

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