Dev Update 10

Soooooo much potential creativity with these updates...

Well that escalated quickly! 

We implemented improved background options on 'Call To Action' sections, and then we had more ideas on how we could improve it further!

We have split backgrounds over two dropdowns: 'Background Colour' and 'Background Image'.

This is because there are similar settings such as being able to apply a mask to the background colour/gradient if you do not have an image - this also opens it up for some creative approaches which we have been experimenting with.

We have also added the background options to the following sections:

• Advanced Headings
• Call To Action Groups
• Gaps

We have also increased the number of masks that are available.

The current full list of masks are: 

• Angle (Bottom Left)
• Angle (Bottom Right)
• Angle (Left)
• Angle (Right)
• Bubbles
• Clouds
• Curve
• Curve (Reversed)
• Curve (Left)
• Curve (Right)
• Direction 1
• Direction 2
• Drop Corner (Left)
• Drop Corner (Right)
• In 'n' Out (Left)
• In 'n' Out (Right)

• Paint Brush 1
• Paint Brush 2
• Paint Brush 3
• Paint Drip
• Paper Tear 1
• Paper Tear 2
• Paper Tear 3
• Parapet
• Pixelation
• Scalloped
• Swoop 1
• Swoop 2
• Swoop 3
• Wave (Left)
• Wave (Right)
• Zig Zag

We have added a new style to the Call To Action Groups, called 'Grid'.

This works much in the same way as the the grid styles of Galleries and Blog Articles, in that the layout adjusts bases on the number of columns selected.

The image of the call to action group becomes the background image with the text over the top.

You also gain a new control called 'Grid Row Height' - this control the height of the layout and is a completely new feature that is not yet available in the grid layouts of other sections, but will be added to these in due course.

Another new additional to the Call To Action Groups is the ability to add a button, similar to it's 'bigger brother' the Call To Action section.

Buttons will only show if there is a link present and the button size has been set.

This one is a feature request that we have implemented; the ability to add a button to the foot of a text block.

There is clear rationale behind this, if you want to write something brief but then direct users to the page with more information, a button is a more UI-friendly way rather than just a text link.

So here it is...

The button is styled from the button settings in 'Look And Feel' section in the Admin Area. There has been a call, followed by internal discussions, to have an alternate button which can be used if the button colour is the same as the background colour of it's parent element.

We are looking into ways to make this viable but have yet to come up with a solid solution... but watch this space! 

One more notable change this week, we have improved all version 3 sites security out of the box.

This is done via the sites Contents Security Policy (CSP). The CSP header allows you to restrict what resources the browser loads, such as, JavaScript, CSS, Images, Media etc.

We now serve a default CSP that limits all resources to only what is necessary.

However, this is likely to have a knock-on effect with any third party scripts you may want to include. You might find that they just don't work, and that's intentional. It means you are aware, and have full control, over everything that loads on the site. To counteract this, you can now amend the sites CSP, adding in new sources.

To follow best security practices, and for the best possible rating, we have also disabled inline scripts and styling from running. You can of course allow these again, but (and it's a big one) this can negatively affect the sites security. 

By default sites security headers score are an A+ rating (previously this was a B). This can of course degrade with any options you to choose to change, like allowing inline scripts to run.

Check your sites score with securityheaders.com.

• Front End - updated the 'call to action groups' section html structure and css
• Front End - updated the 'gaps' section html structure and css
• Front End - updated the 'advanced heading' section html structure and css
• Front End - fixed a bug that prevented Route1 products from being able to be removed from the basket
• Admin Area - minor administration tweaks to improve back-end efficiency 
• Admin Area - fixed a bug that was preventing certain form options showing when their parent was selected