Latest update has broken several items

  • Resolved Lee Collings

    (@leecollings)


    1 month ago

    So, I’ve suddenly discovered there has been a MAJOR update to OceanWP (which I wasn’t aware of at all, and considering the risk of this – find seriously unreasonable. You could have done A LOT more to announce this update ahead of time.)

    Here are my issues (and opportunity to vent at OceanWP for handling this update so badly):

    Google Fonts

    I use Google Fonts on all of my websites with OceanWP. Upon updating, it seems that Google Fonts is disabled by default. Why is this? Why are they disabled by default?

    Even on a website that had them enabled before, shouldn’t you be checking that and then enable them if they’re in use?

    I see that Google Fonts seem to be the subject of quite a few support issues listed here, with evidence showing that there have been changes to how Google Fonts are being loaded. So putting this together with the fact they’re now disabled by default (for some reason, but I believe I know why)… is likely because you knew the issue of massive loading times, and so have tried to hide this by disabling it by default.

    I also want to draw your attention to this statement by yourself:

    By default, we do not expect any visual changes or other settings to have an impact on existing websites. However, there might be typography, color and custom CSS options affected, simply because some features did not exist before.

    https://oceanwp.org/blog/customize-wordpress-new-core-update/

    This is simply not true. If this were true, you would have Google Fonts enabled by default (so that people already using it wouldn’t be affected). What you’ve done is the complete opposite. You’ve disabled it to hide the fact that people’s websites speed will suffer dramatically (which you were aware of), and you were also aware that disabling Google Fonts by default would mean that the large majority of websites wouldn’t show correctly because they would be using Google Fonts (which is no longer available).

    To be clear, the Google Fonts feature existed before, so your claim above saying ‘There might be typography, color and custom CSS options affected…’ isn’t actually valid in this sense. This was a conscious change made by your team, one that you knew would affect many websites.

    So what is the suggested solution here? By enabling Google Fonts, my page load times are absolutely stupidly high. I can’t advertise my web hosting services with this… it’s ridiculous.

    Customiser

    You’ve made a massive change to how the Customiser is laid out now, which is to be honest, clunky, difficult to navigate and changed considerably from the old version.

    It took me about 5 minutes to figure out where the styling settings were for ‘Page Title’, which leads me onto my next issue.

    Page Title

    On the front end of my pages, the colour of Page Title is no longer showing up when inspecting. They’re using the base style colour (which is white).

    In Customiser, the colour is set, but this is not working on the front end. All other text colours seem to be.

    Lack of Announcement

    So essentially, this has now broken one of my clients websites (without any warning, and I now have to spend time on this to remedy).

    As mentioned before, you’ve made some drastic changes, some of which are complete gamechangers. You’ve essentially broken the OceanWP theme, and it needs to be resolved. I would recommend you seriously consider rolling back to how it was before, because it worked perfectly. Why did you change it?

    Secondly, if you do intend to release major platform changes in future… for God’s sake, announce them! You’ve even admitted the fact that this is a serious upgrade:

    Though we have been performing tests, after tests, after tests, we’ll never be able to replicate all the hundreds of thousands of combinations of all website settings out there – this is a huge upgrade.

    https://oceanwp.org/blog/customize-wordpress-new-core-update/

    I had absolutely NO IDEA this update was coming, and I use your theme on several sites (and think quite highly of it).

    Just bear in mind, only a small percentage of your users are following you on social media, or sign up to your newsletter.

    But EVERYONE who uses your theme, logs into WP Admin!

    It wouldn’t have hurt to have placed a small notice in WP Admin for one of your updates, just to remind people of the upcoming plan to release a new major version, that you clearly knew was going to break a lot of websites.

    Do not try and cover things up by ‘disabling by default’. On the majority, you absolutely knew that pretty much every use case of OceanWP is going to be using Google Fonts.

    I trust you are working very hard to resolve these issues, but perhaps the first thing you can do, is roll everything back to how it was before. Clearly, this update wasn’t ready, it was rushed, and you’re trying to sweep things under the rug.

    • This topic was modified 1 month ago by Lee Collings. Reason: Adding quote from upgrade announcement

    The page I need help with: [log in to see the link]

Viewing 14 replies - 1 through 14 (of 14 total)
  • Thread Starter Lee Collings

    (@leecollings)

    Also an extra point I’d like to make. The option you provide ‘Load Google Fonts Locally’. Can you actually explain what this is doing?

    You claim ‘Host Google Fonts directly on your site for faster loading and improved privacy.’, but you don’t offer any detail as to how these are hosted on our site.

    Are you downloading the Google Fonts and storing them locally on the website to use?

    Having this option enabled has no effect on the loading time of the site, it is still incredibly slow, whether this be on or off.

    pk385

    (@pk385)

    Hi Lee, I’m the author of that thread about Google Fonts and the performance issues in the latest update.

    Hosting Google Fonts locally means they are downloaded on the server side and saved to the uploads folder, then served to the client(browser) directly from the WordPress instance, your server. This download happens during the request lifecycle, before any response(the main document) is served to the client(browser) and if actually working, would only need to be downloaded from Google once.

    This is one part of the performance issues, as the server spends a lot of time trying and retrying to download non-existent font variations from Google’s servers before giving up and serving the document with links to Google fonts that your server doesn’t have because it couldn’t download them. It will also continue doing this on each request because the font files are never actually, successfully, downloaded and saved to the server.

    If this was working, the main document would link to font files saved in your WordPress upload directory, and the client(browser) would download those files from your server after receiving the main document.

    The alternate option is to link directly to the font files stored on Google’s servers in the main document. This means the client(browser) has to reach out to Google’s servers instead of yours to download them after the main document has been received. This is still subject to the same font variation issue that prevents fonts from downloading, but since the fonts aren’t downloading on the server side it won’t be stuck in a loop retrying the download and the main document will be served without the performance issues.

    So depending on your server speed and geographic location/latency to Google’s servers, the locally hosted option could be marginally faster.

    Thread Starter Lee Collings

    (@leecollings)

    Hi @pk385 , thanks for providing that, appreciate it.

    Well I’m not really expecting much, being a major release, they’ll stick with this now.

    However, the fact a child theme is able to be used is potentially the lifeline here, because I can turn off google Font loading within Customiser, and then make use of the child theme, and simply request Google Font usage from a standard enqueue_style within there.

    Benefit of this, being my own code to call the fonts, I know what it’s going to be doing!

    The other points are very valid though (lack of awareness this was coming, and the fact to try and hide it by disabling by default). Clearly that’s an admission that it’s not right.

    pk385

    (@pk385)

    I just ended up rolling back to 3.6.1, have no interest in being their beta tester lol.

    You can download the previous version here: https://docs.oceanwp.org/article/797-oceanwp-rollback-versions

    Then just upload the zip from the theme selector under Appearance -> Themes -> “Add New Theme” button at the top.

    This will gracefully overwrite the 4.0.0 update. I think I had to go back into the customizer and reenable google fonts afterwards but can’t remember if I had it turned off beforehand.

    If you want to stick with 4.0.0, check out the latest post in the thread I made. It has info on what file to edit to restore 3.6.1’s font handling. Have not tested it, but I don’t see any conflict with the rest of the changes to that module, as it’s just removing the short-circuit that overrides the previous handling.

    You might also be able to override the file with the child theme, but not exactly something I would want persisted between updates, especially since it SHOULD be fixed in the next update.

    I’ve been using OWP for 2? years now and I’ve learned my lesson with X.0.0 updates. They are always heinously broken is some regard. The theme itself it mostly developed by 1 guy if you look at the repo on GitHub, so I’ve also tailored my expectations in this regard. Also, I think the support staff and maintainers are located in India so don’t expect a response within normal US hours.

    Edit: Don’t forget to turn off auto updates for this theme!!!

    • This reply was modified 1 month ago by pk385.
    rene-michaels

    (@rene-michaels)

    FYI …you will need to roll back Ocean Extra if you want the old customizer back.

    Shahin

    (@skalanter)

    Hello @leecollings,

    Thank you for taking the time to share your feedback and for your ongoing patience and support.

    Indeed, we have been announcing this upgrade since August and also included notifications for all plugins, but it seems that no matter how hard we try, the information never reaches all users.

    Really unsure what you mean by “trying to hide the function or sweep things under the rug”. We didn’t simply reorganize the settings, we redid all Customizer options from PHP into ReactJS, and no matter how it appears, nothing was rushed. Sadly, like with all developers, either WordPress, android or iOS, Windows or Mac, some things will happen no matter how hard we try.

    The issue with Google Fonts is indeed there and this critique is 100% on point, Google Fonts were supposed to be disabled on new instances only, but our tests have failed. The issue is also related to the new Typography control and we’re working on that as well.

    The Page Title text color issue has also been addressed.
    The Host Google Fonts Locally feature was introduced in June 2022. What this option does is that it stores all your fonts selection from the Customizer as CSS on your website. The same option can be applied to all Google Fonts you work with in Elementor. The font itself is not being downloaded. However, due to the current problems with Google Fonts, this feature is also causing issues on some instances, which is also something we’re working on:
    https://docs.oceanwp.org/article/808-host-google-fonts-locally
    https://docs.oceanwp.org/article/835-host-elementor-google-fonts-locally-with-oceanwp

    The new customizer is a lot different, but it was rebuilt with feedback from all our users since the beginning of OceanWP and we strongly believe it will make things easier for you, but a little bit of time getting used to new settings will be needed. To make things easier, you can also use the Customizer Search feature: https://docs.oceanwp.org/article/806-customizer-search
    In the meantime, until the new version is stable and we have covered all reported problems, we do recommend you rollback the versions on your websites to previous ones: https://docs.oceanwp.org/article/805-oceanwp-theme-and-ocean-extensions-rollback-versions

    If you happen to catch any other issue during the testing phase, we would truly appreciate your input.

    Of course, we will also do our best to keep everyone here on the forum in the loop on the progress.

    Best Regards

    Manu

    (@manuxx34)

    “The Page Title text color issue has also been addressed” where? Cause this is incredibly annoying and it broke 3 of our sites.

    What you guys did with Google Fonts is absolute nonsense and crazy sorry, you just killed the customization of hundreds (thousands of sites). So now we all have the same font? Come on Geez, fix this please.

    Hi @leecollings,

    It’s ok if you have the need to vent, we all have our good and our bad days.

    In fact, it is on one of those bad days when I exchanged words with a user on this forum who was misrepresenting facts and pulling other facts out of context to fit the narrative under the pretense of being an OceanWP user with constructive feedback, that I was rather unwilling to handle things in a more or less diplomatic way as I would normally do, that has landed me a currently ongoing required manual approval of my comments, therefore I do not know when you’re going to see this. But, I understand you entirely.

    Some things you’re right 100% about, some things I can’t agree with.

    There’s no need to read anything in between the lines because there’s a risk of drawing the wrong conclusions.

    Google Fonts was NOT supposed to be disabled for everyone, the new version did not inherit old Customizer settings correctly. This was not present during our tests, and also not experienced by all users who updated to the latest version.

    Other problems with Google Fonts (http API calls and slow page generation delay) also not present during tests, also not experienced by all users who updated.

    Page Title heading color, also not present during tests, also not experienced by all users who updated.

    Given the fact this was not purely a cosmetic change, of course we always draw everyone’s attention to potential changes, especially since we added new typography and color options for which users have asked a CSS solution the most (like blog posts meta data, links in blog posts, etc).

    Regarding lack of awareness, with all notification options we have in place, even if we went door to door, there would always be someone would not be home, wouldn’t wanna open, or simply say we should have come back the 10th time as well.

    I realize the first update version did not go well in your case (including other users who reported the same problem as you did), but I hope once you check the latest release of OceanWP 4.0.1 and Ocean Extra 2.4.1, you will actually start enjoying the changes.

    Remember, as an active and a veteran OceanWP user, you can always contribute with your ideas and suggestions by filling out the features request form on our website (link in the footer, unsure I can share it here on the forum, and also a shortcut in OceanWP Panel > Home, see the bottom section).

    Thank you for your patience and for taking the time to share feedback

    Hi @pk385,

    I understand you were the first person to report the problem on the forum and I would like to thank you for that. Even though your proposed solution on the thread is not actually a solution (it “fixes” a functionality by breaking it completely), even the wrong questions / suggestions can push things into the right direction so I appreciate your efforts and taking the time to share whatever information and details you noticed at that point.

    The US has 6 main time zones as far as I’m aware, 9 in total, so normal US hours is quite subjective ??

    As for OceanWP, it’s a US company with a registered trademark. Our team is international (US, Canada, Europe, India, etc). With the majority of the team being from Europe (myself included), our “normal hours” are Central European Time (or UTC+1 if you wish).

    As for our GH workflow, all developers have adopted a flow that works best for them. In our case, we find Amit (that “one guy on GitHub”) maintaining public repos works best for us for multiple reasons, and the main reason being he has been with OceanWP the longest and is familiar the most with everything. But we handle private repos as well ??

    Thank you once again for reporting the problem the moment you recognized it. In case you notice anything else, your input is highly appreciated

    Hi @rene-michaels,

    Actually, if you want to stick to the old version for the time being, I recommend rolling back OceanWP and Ocean Extra both, including all other OceanWP plugins.

    However, I do encourage you to test the latest changes on your test / staging / localhost environment, and see how things are working out for you.

    We don’t have any plans going back to the old Customizer. The new one is utilizing one of WordPress’ default libraries, ReactJS, which makes it much faster and of course more stable.

    The entire new Customizer is covered by documentation which can help you get to know the features: https://docs.oceanwp.org/category/894-oceanwp-customizer
    In the beginning, since like all of us you may be used to old settings, using the Customizer Search option can help you navigate through all the options faster: https://docs.oceanwp.org/article/812-customizer-oceanwp-panel

    Once you’re used to the new Customizer, I do hope you’ll enjoy using it ??

    Thread Starter Lee Collings

    (@leecollings)

    Hi @wpfleek ,

    Thanks for your reply. I actually noticed you had a 4.0.1 update before you posted the reply on here. So I immediately went to check that out.

    You’ve fixed every issue I had, so thank you for doing that so quickly, and your reply. Having this communication has indeed restored my faith in OceanWP, and I will happily embrace the new features and check them all out.

    I’ve learnt some things myself too, particularly to make very good use of the staging environment I have set up on my web hosting – which sometimes I admit – I bypass just to get things done quickly.

    So again, thank you for allowing my rant, and listening to my concerns, and acting quickly.

    Hi @manuxx34,

    Long time no see ?? hope you’ve been keeping well.

    I may be misreading what you wrote, and I do apologize upfront, but Google Fonts were not removed. The option did not inherit old Customizer settings on some sites (including yours, obviously) and that’s a fact. Reenabling the option on affected sites fixes the issue.

    However, that has already been addressed with OceanWP 4.0.1 version automatically, so you should not experience any more problems. But, if you do notice anything else, we would really appreciate your feedback as always.

    And thank you for your continuous support, I know you have been an OceanWP user for many years, that truly means something

    Hi @leecollings,

    You’re most welcome. ??

    If you ever feel the need to vent / rant, feel free to file a support ticket if you’re a premium user, or use the prepurchase ticket option if you don’t have a premium license, which you can address to me, and we can have a discussion about anything / everything you feel is an issue.

    Thank you for giving the new versions a go, I am truly happy all problems have been resolved (and really, relieved lol).

    Being a developer for yourself, you are probably aware that even if all OceanWP users used nothing but our products, we will never be able to replicate all setting combos, so some things can always go wrong. In a similar way, you know that troubleshooting a potential problem you’re not able to replicate on your end or don’t have access to is the hardest.

    Likewise, given the amount of changes done, some would probably consider it a major success with only a few problems being reported and those few not affecting all updated websites, but trust me, we won’t get to really enjoy this new version until we’re 100% sure everything is in its place.

    Though, I have to admit, we are satisfied with how fast we handled all problems reported during the first 96h since the major release and credits also go to all of you who acted immediately. Sadly, you’ve earned the credits by your sites being affected and that’s something we can’t change, but luckily you decided to report right away.

    I honestly thank you for testing the latest versions, for reading my reply, and for taking the time to follow up on the thread by sharing additional feedback. I wish we could have “met” under better circumstances, but it was a pleasure getting to know you. Thank you for using OceanWP for your projects and I sincerely hope we’ll remain your reliable partner in the future as well

    Manu

    (@manuxx34)

    Hi Marko hope you are good and sorry for the Drama Queen post, thanks for resolving all so fast. We wen’t into panic mode when Google Fonts were not loading in any of our sites.

    Glad is all solved, thanks!

Viewing 14 replies - 1 through 14 (of 14 total)
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