# Beta test the next version of the Beaver Builder Theme! **URL:** \ **Category:** BB Theme\ **Created:** [December 26, 2014, 12:18pm UTC](https://community.wpbeaverbuilder.com/t/beta-test-the-next-version-of-the-beaver-builder-theme/2147 "2014-12-26T12:18:28Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![justin](https://community.wpbeaverbuilder.com/user_avatar/community.wpbeaverbuilder.com/justin/32/16_2.png) [@justin](https://community.wpbeaverbuilder.com/u/justin)\ **Post date:** [December 26, 2014, 12:18pm UTC](https://community.wpbeaverbuilder.com/t/beta-test-the-next-version-of-the-beaver-builder-theme/2147/1 "2014-12-26T12:18:28Z")
As many of you may know, we’ve been working on the next version of the Beaver Builder Theme with the most significant enhancement being the switch to the customizer for editing settings. We’re excited to announce that development has been done and we’re ready to test! If you’re interested in getting in on the action, read on… **How To Test** Members with access to the theme will now see a “Beta Testing Downloads” section on their account page. After downloading the beta, you can test in one of two ways. 1. Install the beta on a fresh install of WordPress. 2. Delete the old theme and upload the new theme on a development site. Your existing settings should be migrated to the customizer. Let us know if they are not. **PLEASE NOTE:** This is a beta release and should NOT be tested on production sites. **What We’re Looking For** At this stage we’re looking for feedback regarding the user experience and any bugs you may run into. We’re putting a hold on feature requests until we get this out the door, so if you see something that you want added, please add that to our feedback forum. **What Has Been Added** Here’s a list of the settings that have been added to the customizer in this version: - Body Font Size - Layout Spacing - Layout Shadow Size - Layout Shadow Color - Heading Font Format - Heading Font Sizes - Header Padding - Nav Font Family - Nav Font Weight - Nav Font Format - Nav Font Size - Blog Sidebar Display - Woo Sidebar Display - Post Featured Image - Logo Retina - Apple Touch Icon - Header Code - Footer Code Additionally, we’ve made these changes to the theme: - The ability to completely hide the header or footer. - The ability to override files in the includes folder such as nav-bottom.php and fixed-header.php - Dropdown support to the top bar’s menus - New layouts for the top bar to combine icons, menus or text - Updated Google fonts - Fixed HTML validation issues **Leaving Feedback and Reporting Bugs** Depending on how much involvement we see, this thread could get a little cluttered. As such, please only post general questions about the beta here. Please start a new thread if you find a bug or have feedback on the beta. **Launch Plans** We’re going to continue testing on our end and if everything goes smoothly, are hoping to launch in a couple of weeks. In the meantime, we would love to hear your feedback, so head on over to your account page and download the beta today! Thanks, Justin ---
**Author:** ![colcar](https://community.wpbeaverbuilder.com/user_avatar/community.wpbeaverbuilder.com/colcar/32/93_2.png) [@colcar](https://community.wpbeaverbuilder.com/u/colcar)\ **Post date:** [December 28, 2014, 9:12am UTC](https://community.wpbeaverbuilder.com/t/beta-test-the-next-version-of-the-beaver-builder-theme/2147/2 "2014-12-28T09:12:03Z")
Hey Justin, I just installed the new beta theme on my DEV server and it looks like things are going smoothly on the transition to using the Customizer for the new Beaver Builder theme settings. No bugs so far, but a couple things I think will make a difference: ```
    ``` - Header Options: Is it possible to add an option to choose an image for the header background as opposed to just choosing the color? - Headings: Any chance of selecting a custom color for each Heading Size instead of one color for all? Sometimes it's nice to be able to make the H2 and H3 elements the same size, but make them different colors. Being able to choose a different color for the heading elements would bring a bit more versatility to the theme. You might well have those options planned, so apologies if I’m jumping the gun a little. I’m going to play with the new theme some more and will probably add to this in the next day or two. ---
    **Author:** ![justin](https://community.wpbeaverbuilder.com/user_avatar/community.wpbeaverbuilder.com/justin/32/16_2.png) [@justin](https://community.wpbeaverbuilder.com/u/justin)\ **Post date:** [December 29, 2014, 9:53am UTC](https://community.wpbeaverbuilder.com/t/beta-test-the-next-version-of-the-beaver-builder-theme/2147/3 "2014-12-29T09:53:28Z")
    Hey Colin, Thanks for the feedback and testing out the theme! > You might well have those options planned, so apologies if I’m jumping the gun a little. I’m going to play with the new theme some more and will probably add to this in the next day or two. We don’t have any additional options planned at the moment. We’re still trying to keep it simple, but we’re open to suggestions. I’ll add yours to our internal list that we will be reviewing. Keep them coming! 🙂 Justin ---
    **Author:** ![riderworks](https://community.wpbeaverbuilder.com/user_avatar/community.wpbeaverbuilder.com/riderworks/32/57_2.png) [@riderworks](https://community.wpbeaverbuilder.com/u/riderworks)\ **Post date:** [December 29, 2014, 10:22pm UTC](https://community.wpbeaverbuilder.com/t/beta-test-the-next-version-of-the-beaver-builder-theme/2147/4 "2014-12-29T22:22:41Z")
    I’m also really liking the Customizer and settling into where everything is located. Thank you for the many additions, especially the Typography and Blog settings. I did have some anomalies when selecting different Google fonts in the Customizer. I"m currently using “Open Sans” for Body and Nav, and “Open Sans Condensed” for Headings. Sometimes changing the Heading font to a different Google font wouldn’t visually change and would show in the default Helvetica font. Though some Google font Heading changes did work. I’ll second Colin’s #1 suggestion. Having a header background image that could extend the width of the window along with the Site Title (text format) and Menu Nav (if set to the right) in front would be a great addition. FYI. In Customizer, Footer - Footer Widgets Background and Footer Background are misspelled. ---
    **Author:** ![waumsley](https://community.wpbeaverbuilder.com/user_avatar/community.wpbeaverbuilder.com/waumsley/32/987_2.png) [@waumsley](https://community.wpbeaverbuilder.com/u/waumsley)\ **Post date:** [December 30, 2014, 12:35am UTC](https://community.wpbeaverbuilder.com/t/beta-test-the-next-version-of-the-beaver-builder-theme/2147/5 "2014-12-30T00:35:09Z")
    I love it. I did not spot any bugs. If it was possible to reveal the Customizer sub categories on hover before clicking I think I would navigate more quickly. But maybe that’s just my imagination. Also as this felt like real front-end editing when I exited the customiser I was surprised to find myself in the admin side. ---
    **Author:** ![webtrooper](https://community.wpbeaverbuilder.com/user_avatar/community.wpbeaverbuilder.com/webtrooper/32/128_2.png) [@webtrooper](https://community.wpbeaverbuilder.com/u/webtrooper)\ **Post date:** [December 30, 2014, 9:18am UTC](https://community.wpbeaverbuilder.com/t/beta-test-the-next-version-of-the-beaver-builder-theme/2147/6 "2014-12-30T09:18:36Z")
    I’m having fun playing with the customizer. Everything seems to work well with a couple of small exceptions. - ![Logo Image Squished](http://bubcity.com/diyguy/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2014/12/logo-img-squished.jpg) - ![Navigation Font](http://bubcity.com/diyguy/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2014/12/navigation-text.jpg) ---
    **Author:** ![webtrooper](https://community.wpbeaverbuilder.com/user_avatar/community.wpbeaverbuilder.com/webtrooper/32/128_2.png) [@webtrooper](https://community.wpbeaverbuilder.com/u/webtrooper)\ **Post date:** [December 30, 2014, 9:29am UTC](https://community.wpbeaverbuilder.com/t/beta-test-the-next-version-of-the-beaver-builder-theme/2147/7 "2014-12-30T09:29:15Z")
    David, if you opened the customizer from the back end, exiting will return you to the back end. I believe that’s what you are experiencing. Opening customizer from the front end (through the admin bar) should return you to the front end upon exiting. ---
    **Author:** ![justin](https://community.wpbeaverbuilder.com/user_avatar/community.wpbeaverbuilder.com/justin/32/16_2.png) [@justin](https://community.wpbeaverbuilder.com/u/justin)\ **Post date:** [December 30, 2014, 10:04am UTC](https://community.wpbeaverbuilder.com/t/beta-test-the-next-version-of-the-beaver-builder-theme/2147/8 "2014-12-30T10:04:40Z")
    Thanks for the feedback everyone! I’m glad you are all liking it so far. > I did have some anomalies when selecting different Google fonts in the Customizer. I”m currently using “Open Sans” for Body and Nav, and “Open Sans Condensed” for Headings. Sometimes changing the Heading font to a different Google font wouldn’t visually change and would show in the default Helvetica font. Though some Google font Heading changes did work. We’ll look into this. Thanks for pointing it out. > I’ll second Colin’s #1 suggestion. Having a header background image that could extend the width of the window along with the Site Title (text format) and Menu Nav (if set to the right) in front would be a great addition. We’re not yet sure if we’ll be getting any new options into this release but this one is on the list to review. > FYI. In Customizer, Footer – Footer Widgets Background and Footer Background are misspelled. Oops! Thanks for pointing that out as well. > If it was possible to reveal the Customizer sub categories on hover before clicking I think I would navigate more quickly. But maybe that’s just my imagination. The bulk of the Customizer experience is built into WordPress’ core, so we can’t change things like that. If you have suggestions on that I’m sure they’d love to hear them at [make.wordpress.org](http://make.wordpress.org)! 🙂 > Also as this felt like real front-end editing when I exited the customiser I was surprised to find myself in the admin side. This is core functionality as well. Like Ted mentioned, if you enter the customizer from the backend it will take you back there when you’re done. > Logo image is squished in fixed header. If a logo image is used and header is fixed, the image does not maintain aspect ratio in the fixed header. > Navigation text does not change font. Thanks, Ted. We’ll get that fixed. Justin ---
    **Author:** ![waumsley](https://community.wpbeaverbuilder.com/user_avatar/community.wpbeaverbuilder.com/waumsley/32/987_2.png) [@waumsley](https://community.wpbeaverbuilder.com/u/waumsley)\ **Post date:** [December 30, 2014, 11:24am UTC](https://community.wpbeaverbuilder.com/t/beta-test-the-next-version-of-the-beaver-builder-theme/2147/9 "2014-12-30T11:24:27Z")
    Thanks Ted and Justin, It just shows how little I’ve used the customizer until now. ---
    **Author:** ![webtrooper](https://community.wpbeaverbuilder.com/user_avatar/community.wpbeaverbuilder.com/webtrooper/32/128_2.png) [@webtrooper](https://community.wpbeaverbuilder.com/u/webtrooper)\ **Post date:** [December 30, 2014, 7:21pm UTC](https://community.wpbeaverbuilder.com/t/beta-test-the-next-version-of-the-beaver-builder-theme/2147/10 "2014-12-30T19:21:54Z")
    Are customizer settings using transport =\> postMessage? I’m going to finally take a look at the code soon as I finish writing this, but if it is using postMessage it’s not working… most of the settings reload the entire page. ---
    **Author:** ![justin](https://community.wpbeaverbuilder.com/user_avatar/community.wpbeaverbuilder.com/justin/32/16_2.png) [@justin](https://community.wpbeaverbuilder.com/u/justin)\ **Post date:** [December 30, 2014, 11:57pm UTC](https://community.wpbeaverbuilder.com/t/beta-test-the-next-version-of-the-beaver-builder-theme/2147/11 "2014-12-30T23:57:23Z")
    Hey Ted, Some of the settings use postMessage but not all of them. To see that in the code, you can have a look at js/customizer-preview.js. There are a few reasons more controls don’t use that. The biggest reason is that we’re doing a lot of automated design logic using LESS. The other is that some elements might not exist, such as the top bar, header, and footer. We’re all ears so if you see something that we’re missing there, let us know! Thanks, Justin ---
    **Author:** ![riderworks](https://community.wpbeaverbuilder.com/user_avatar/community.wpbeaverbuilder.com/riderworks/32/57_2.png) [@riderworks](https://community.wpbeaverbuilder.com/u/riderworks)\ **Post date:** [January 1, 2015, 12:44am UTC](https://community.wpbeaverbuilder.com/t/beta-test-the-next-version-of-the-beaver-builder-theme/2147/12 "2015-01-01T00:44:53Z")
    Just finished checking 10 sites for the Copyright Year (always a fun thing to do). The only sites I had to manually change were using the Beaver Builder theme. It would be helpful to have a way to automate that in the footer text. I tried the jonradio plugins, but they didn’t work. No big rush 🙂 Doug ---
    **Author:** ![riderworks](https://community.wpbeaverbuilder.com/user_avatar/community.wpbeaverbuilder.com/riderworks/32/57_2.png) [@riderworks](https://community.wpbeaverbuilder.com/u/riderworks)\ **Post date:** [January 2, 2015, 12:05pm UTC](https://community.wpbeaverbuilder.com/t/beta-test-the-next-version-of-the-beaver-builder-theme/2147/13 "2015-01-02T12:05:34Z")
    The Blog Post Featured Image when clicked in the Blog page will take you to the Single Blog Post, which is expected. But the Blog Post Featured Image can also be clicked on in the Single Blog Post and just links back to the same post. Shouldn’t you remove that redirect link to the same post from the Single Blog Post? I don’t think it provides any real value. ---
    **Author:** ![riderworks](https://community.wpbeaverbuilder.com/user_avatar/community.wpbeaverbuilder.com/riderworks/32/57_2.png) [@riderworks](https://community.wpbeaverbuilder.com/u/riderworks)\ **Post date:** [January 2, 2015, 12:38pm UTC](https://community.wpbeaverbuilder.com/t/beta-test-the-next-version-of-the-beaver-builder-theme/2147/14 "2015-01-02T12:38:01Z")
    The comments at the bottom of a Post… 1. Change “Mail (will not be published)” to “Email (will not be published)” 2. the Comment field should be Required. ---
    **Author:** ![justin](https://community.wpbeaverbuilder.com/user_avatar/community.wpbeaverbuilder.com/justin/32/16_2.png) [@justin](https://community.wpbeaverbuilder.com/u/justin)\ **Post date:** [January 2, 2015, 12:48pm UTC](https://community.wpbeaverbuilder.com/t/beta-test-the-next-version-of-the-beaver-builder-theme/2147/15 "2015-01-02T12:48:26Z")
    Thanks for the additional feedback, Doug! The single post featured image should not be linked so we’ll get that fixed. We’ll look into your other suggestions as well. Justin ---
    **Author:** ![justin](https://community.wpbeaverbuilder.com/user_avatar/community.wpbeaverbuilder.com/justin/32/16_2.png) [@justin](https://community.wpbeaverbuilder.com/u/justin)\ **Post date:** [January 4, 2015, 8:10pm UTC](https://community.wpbeaverbuilder.com/t/beta-test-the-next-version-of-the-beaver-builder-theme/2147/16 "2015-01-04T20:10:21Z")
    Hi Doug, Thanks again for the feedback! > Just finished checking 10 sites for the Copyright Year (always a fun thing to do). The only sites I had to manually change were using the Beaver Builder theme. It would be helpful to have a way to automate that in the footer text. I tried the jonradio plugins, but they didn’t work. No big rush :) The jonradio plugins should work in the next release as we’re now parsing shortcodes in the theme’s top bar, header and footer text. Additionally, you can use this JavaScript if you don’t want to use a plugin… `© My Company` > Shouldn’t you remove that redirect link to the same post from the Single Blog Post That has been fixed in the next release. > Change “Mail (will not be published)” to “Email (will not be published)” Fixed as well in the next release! > the Comment field should be Required. I tested and the comment field is required. Are you not seeing that if you try to submit an empty comment? Thanks, Justin ---
    **Author:** ![riderworks](https://community.wpbeaverbuilder.com/user_avatar/community.wpbeaverbuilder.com/riderworks/32/57_2.png) [@riderworks](https://community.wpbeaverbuilder.com/u/riderworks)\ **Post date:** [January 4, 2015, 8:55pm UTC](https://community.wpbeaverbuilder.com/t/beta-test-the-next-version-of-the-beaver-builder-theme/2147/17 "2015-01-04T20:55:04Z")
    Justin, That’s great. RE: Comment field, I was just missing the text “(required)” in the Message label. Doug ---
    **Author:** ![justin](https://community.wpbeaverbuilder.com/user_avatar/community.wpbeaverbuilder.com/justin/32/16_2.png) [@justin](https://community.wpbeaverbuilder.com/u/justin)\ **Post date:** [January 5, 2015, 3:56pm UTC](https://community.wpbeaverbuilder.com/t/beta-test-the-next-version-of-the-beaver-builder-theme/2147/18 "2015-01-05T15:56:16Z")
    Hey Doug, Do you think the “(required)” text is necessary for the comment field since it should be implied that that field is required? We do feel it looks nicer without it and that’s how it’s done on a number of themes (e.g. 2015). Justin ---
    **Author:** ![webtrooper](https://community.wpbeaverbuilder.com/user_avatar/community.wpbeaverbuilder.com/webtrooper/32/128_2.png) [@webtrooper](https://community.wpbeaverbuilder.com/u/webtrooper)\ **Post date:** [January 5, 2015, 4:26pm UTC](https://community.wpbeaverbuilder.com/t/beta-test-the-next-version-of-the-beaver-builder-theme/2147/19 "2015-01-05T16:26:48Z")
    I have to agree it would be stating the obvious. Focus your effort on functionality. It’s a simple matter for us end users to add the little details like this, if we feel the need to. ---
    **Author:** ![webtrooper](https://community.wpbeaverbuilder.com/user_avatar/community.wpbeaverbuilder.com/webtrooper/32/128_2.png) [@webtrooper](https://community.wpbeaverbuilder.com/u/webtrooper)\ **Post date:** [January 7, 2015, 7:12pm UTC](https://community.wpbeaverbuilder.com/t/beta-test-the-next-version-of-the-beaver-builder-theme/2147/20 "2015-01-07T19:12:19Z")
    Justin, is there any status on a release date? I’m not trying to rush anything… just curious. Thanks [Next page](https://community.wpbeaverbuilder.com/t/beta-test-the-next-version-of-the-beaver-builder-theme/2147.md?page=2)