Bootscore 6.5.0

Bootscore 6.5 brings WooCommerce 11.2 templates, Font Awesome 7.3.1, a new built-in updater, and a first look at what’s coming in Bootscore 7 with Bootstrap 6.

WooCommerce 11.2

If you use WooCommerce, this release requires WooCommerce 11.2 or newer.

The WooCommerce templates have been updated for WooCommerce 11.2. These changes are not backward compatible, so please update WooCommerce before you update the theme.

Along with the new templates, the mini cart now respects the Store API quantity validation introduced in WooCommerce 11.2, and the pagination template override has been replaced with an action.

Font Awesome 7.3.1

Font Awesome has been updated to 7.3.1, and the preload script has been improved.

We also added the fa-width-auto class to the body. It removes the extra left and right padding around icons, which makes buttons with icons slightly narrower. A small change, but it looks a lot cleaner. If you prefer the old behavior, you can disable it with a filter.

A new updater

Bootscore now ships its own update system: class-update-checker.php. It is shared by the theme and can also be used by plugins. In the long term, it will fully replace the PUC (Plugin Update Checker) library.

Why we built it

Some of our plugins are hosted in private GitHub repositories and used a private token to receive updates. GitHub revoked this token for security reasons, which cut these plugins off from updates. The affected plugins are:

• bs Dark Mode
• bs Isotope
• bs TOC

These three plugins now use the new updater. Everything else, including the theme and all other plugins, keeps updating as usual, because the new updater runs alongside the existing PUC.

What you need to do

If you use one of these plugins, download the latest version from your dashboard and install it manually once. After that, updates will arrive automatically again. The plugins’ core functionality has not changed, only the way they receive updates.

Other improvements and fixes

• The sidebar’s hardcoded is_active_sidebar() check has been replaced with a filterable hook
• Added a function_exists check for bootscore_breadcrumb_shortcode()
• The submit handler is now namespaced, and the wp_loaded removal is scoped to AJAX requests
• Removed a stray semicolon

See the full changelog on GitHub for all details.

Looking ahead: Bootstrap 6 and Bootscore 7

You may have noticed that Bootstrap has released the first alpha of version 6. It is a big step away from v5: it requires a migration and a new way for Bootscore to handle Bootstrap. That’s why it will become Bootscore 7, a new major version with many new features and improvements.

We have been preparing for Bootstrap 6 for a while. Some hidden features are already in the theme, so we were able to develop plugins before the migration started. The migration is already underway, so Bootscore will be ready once Bootstrap 6 is stable, or ideally during its beta phase.

It’s too early to share anything publicly, but here is what you can expect:

• New SCSS compiler. Ported from picostrap, it can compile Bootstrap’s new Sass module system. scssphp is gone.
• TypeScript bundler. Compiles Bootstrap’s JavaScript the same way the SCSS compiler handles styles, so you can remove what you don’t need.
• Font Awesome removed, while you still have full access to Font Awesome icons.
• No more PUC. The new updater takes over completely.
• jQuery-free base theme. The WooCommerce scripts stay on jQuery, since WooCommerce loads it anyway and they only load when WooCommerce is active. If you’re just building a website, enjoy a theme without jQuery.
• Multilevel dropdown menus in the navbar.
• Full RTL support.
• Deep plugin integration. Features live inside the theme, and plugins simply switch them on.
• Smaller footprint. The theme .zip shrinks from 1.1 MB to about 600 KB.
• 100% scores for Performance, Accessibility and Best Practices in PageSpeed Insights, on all devices.
• And much more…

Have a great day!