We’ve just released two WP Toolkit updates at the same time: v4.3.5 and v4.4.0 – for different Plesk versions. WP Toolkit 4.3.5 is a “maintenance only” fork of WP Toolkit for Plesk Onyx 17.0 and 17.5. Meanwhile WP Toolkit 4.4 is available for Plesk Onyx 17.8 and Obsidian 18.0.
WP Toolkit 4.4 is where we’re introducing the most changes to the product. The new functionality helps us spend less time supporting old Plesk versions. Thus allowing us to use newer, better technologies in order to work faster and more efficiently than before.
WP Toolkit 4.4 UI and Settings Redesign
We had to make sure WP Toolkit GUI is not using any Plesk-specific frontend code, so it can work as a product separate from Plesk (spoiler alert!). Plugins, Themes, and Sets tabs are now using the Plesk UI Library, as well as the WP Toolkit Settings screen.
The changes are relatively minor and don’t introduce new features or possibilities. However, they do make our interface faster, more responsive, and more consistent. This gives us a great base for doing the actual redesign of old WP Toolkit screens. Which is something we’re planning to do next year.
We’ve also modified the presentation of WP Toolkit Settings. Previously, they appeared as a form on a separate navigation tab, which was inconsistent with the rest of the interface. To address this, we moved the Settings tab contents to a separate screen, which you open by clicking the Settings button next to the WP Toolkit title.
Installing Sets on Existing Sites
Plugin/Theme Sets should be addressing new WordPress sites pre-populating with a bunch of out-the-box plugins and themes. However, some time ago hosters have flagged another important case. When a user migrates their existing site, their new hoster wants to enrich it with their own plugins and themes.
Hosters told us that they mostly wanted this ability for the server administrator, because in 80-90% of cases, they are the one doing this. So now Sets addresses this request via the Install Set button on the drop-down for each set on the tab.
Clicking the button next to the corresponding set opens a dialog window. There, you can select one or several sites for the set to be installed on. Installing the set takes some time, especially for multiple sites. So the installation task launches in the background asynchronously to avoid blocking admins from doing other stuff in the panel.
Action Notifications Behavior Change
Remember the floating thingies notifying you of the results of your actions? We decided to change the way these notifications behave if the action was successful. While working in WP Toolkit, you don’t want to see these notifications cluttering your screen.
So, we decided notifications of successful actions (the “green” ones) should automatically close after three seconds. All other notifications displaying errors or warnings will continue to behave as usual. This is because we believe it’s important that users notice them and explicitly acknowledge them by clicking close.
WP Toolkit 4.5 and Other Plans
As Plesk Obsidian marches through servers, we’re planning to create another “maintenance only” fork, this time for Plesk Onyx 17.8, sometime next year. Since this Plesk version still uses an outdated Plesk UI library, it prevents us from providing you with quality interface improvements. This release means only Plesk Obsidian will get all the new WP Toolkit features and changes. Both “maintenance only” forks will only receive critical security updates, so you should really update to Plesk Obsidian.
The team has also cleaned up several translations and a number of nagging customer bugs and issues – See our Changelog. Our next major release will be WP Toolkit 4.5 – out in January 2020. While it will obviously include customer features and bugfixes, we’re also planning to spend a lot of time on WP Toolkit for cPanel, working closely with the cPanel team. Stay tuned for the announcement next year!
There will even be more features our current WP Toolkit users should look out for. In the meantime, let’s give a big thanks to the team for all the WP Toolkit versions released this year. Six versions since the last major 4.3 release. We hope to stay as productive in 2020, and wish the same to you all!
We’d love to get your feedback on this latest release. Let us know what you like, or if you encounter any frustrations below!