LayerSlider - Kreatura Slider Plugin for WordPress 7.14.0

This is a massive update that is intended to maximize compatibility with the latest version of WordPress and other popular plugins. It also includes important security patches, new features, bug fixes, and a whole lot of important changes under the hood. Updating to this version is a MUST for everybody.

• This release includes important security patches.

GUTENBERG BLOCK IMPROVEMENTS

• Added new override option for the slider layout mode.
• It now automatically updates to reflect changes made in sliders.
• You can now quick edit embedded sliders right from the Gutenberg editor.
• Added block preview, various UI improvements, etc.
• Updated LayerSlider Gutenberg tutorial video

LAYERSLIDER ELEMENTOR WIDGET

• LayerSlider now comes with a dedicated Elementor widget, which includes every feature that the Gutenberg block has.
• It also comes with full real-time editing with live sliders.
• You can access the full-featured Slider Builder to quick edit embedded sliders without ever leaving Elementor. Changes will be reflected in real-time.
• Using LayerSlider with Elementor tutorial video

OTHER

• Improvements for the native WordPress LayerSlider Widget that is now also more compatible with Elementor if you need a fallback from the dedicated Elementor Widget.
• Added a new LayerSlider menu to the WordPress top toolbar. It provides an easy way to navigate to LayerSlider, create a new slider, or quickly open your last edited or published sliders.
• This release also comes with a suite of optimizations. To reduce the plugin install file size, the Image Editor is now an external component that's downloaded automatically and then served locally when you first try to access it.
• LayerSlider now supports the <picture> HTML element, which is often used with the WebP image format.
• You can now replay the whole Popup from the beginning after reopening it by choosing the "Reset slider" option for the "Reset on close" setting.
• You can now open a Popup with a specific slide using the data-ls-popup-slide attribute.
• Various fixes when using "Hide under", "Hide over", or "Hide on mobile" options under the Slider Settings → Mobile section. This especially affected Popups, Hero sliders, and parallax animations triggered by page scroll.
• Improvements for LayerSlider → Options → System Status.
• Fixed a potential deactivation issue for The7 theme users.
• User interface fixes and improvements.
• Under the hood optimizations and performance improvements.
• Lots of other minor improvements and bug fixes.

TECHNICAL CHANGES

• Slider IDs are now always randomized in the generated markup to avoid collisions in various cases.
• Introduced _initLayerSlider() function as a shortcut to safely and more elegantly initialize sliders.
• This update will enable the LayerSlider → Options → Advanced → "Use GreenSock (GSAP) sandboxing" option to maximize compatibility.
• Using wp_redirect() & admin_url() at all places, so security plugins and similar solutions that might override URLs could work properly with LayerSlider.
• Fixed a PHP error that affected some servers using PHP 5.4 and below.
• Fixed PHP undefined debug messages and silenced some deprecation notices.

FOR DEVELOPERS

• This release includes VERY important fixes to maximize compatibility with the TGMPA class that is used to bundle plugins in themes. Mainly, it addresses an issue that could prevent users receiving LayerSlider updates from theme authors.
• Added deprecation warnings when using the lsSliderById() and lsSliders() functions.

Fixed an issue that was accidentally introduced in the latest release (v6.10.1), which caused the slider to stuck at the loading screen when there was an HTML5 self-hosted video/audio embedded.
LayerSlider now attempts to automatically find the YouTube preview image with the best quality available, making the Slider Settings → Video / Audio → YouTube Preview option deprecated.
Minor bug fixes regarding media playback.
Fixed an issue that caused a slightly inaccurate text layer position in the Slider Builder in case of using a Google Fonts font.
Under the hood improvements to better detect and handle unsupported PHP versions and duplicate copies of LayerSlider. See more in the developer documentation.

This release further improves compatibility with WordPress 5.3 and is strongly recommended for everyone using the latest version of WordPress.

• Improved timezone support and compatibility with WP 5.3 changes, so handling and displaying Date/Time should be improved throughout the plugin.
• Added [time-published] and [time–modified] dynamic post placeholders.
• Fixed the "Enter from URL" option of media poster images.
• Lots of improvements for the "Export slider as HTML" option.
• Improved lazy loading.
• Fixed certain issues with embedded media layers.
• Fixed a layout issue when using multiple hero sliders with hideUnder / hideOver settings.
• Minor UI improvements.