The new Qala 3.0 and accompanying theme is released!

With version 3.0 of Qala, a real milestone has been reached for Angry Creative’s WooCommerce productised platform. Qala has the most common features we’ve seen you need in an ecommerce platform, along with a modern basic design. Qala 3.0 brings the product to the world of Gutenberg and the block editor. Hail the blocks!

What’s new in 3.0?

Qala 3.0.0 is a small update in terms of the amount of changes, but still a big one. Namely, this version introduces the long-awaited implementation of the Gutenberg block editor.

Qala 3.0.0 abandons our old (but solid) method of building pages with what we call ACF modules. Instead, we introduce full Gutenberg support for all post types (except PDP) and start our own block library.

Gutenberg

The headline really says it all: Qala is finally going “all in” with Gutenberg. With a primary focus on e-commerce, it has made more sense to prioritise other areas of improvement before tackling the so-called block editor. There have also been other challenges that have affected our work: a global pandemic that created a remote work culture and the merger of two companies into one. At the same time, we’ve let Gutenberg stabilise and mature to a point where it’s a pleasure to use!

Qala Blocks

Now we’re making the block editor an essential part of Qala with the introduction of Qala Blocks. Our very own add-on library to provide a modular and growing library of blocks! Qala Blocks is customised for Qala and allows our customers to make amazing landing pages, campaign pages and more.

However, this is just the beginning. We’ve built this in a very modular way, allowing us to easily add new blocks, remove unwanted ones and create new customised blocks for clients, all while using the structure of Qala Blocks and never having to install more add-ons that interfere or slow down your website. As we create new blocks, they will be a few clicks away with easy updates for those who want them.

Initially Qala Blocks will have a limited number of blocks but this library will grow rapidly over the summer and by the autumn we expect to have somewhere between 10-20 blocks ready to use.

Qala 3.0.0 is a groundbreaking release which means that it is not easily updated to from a 2.x release (though it is possible with some manual work). This is because the whole page experience has been switched from using ACF to Gutenberg, two very different ways of building content. Content previously built with ACF can’t be directly converted to Gutenberg without manual work.

Are you ready for the next step in development?

Want to know more about Qala and what we can do for you? Contact us and we’ll help you on your journey to a more sustainable and efficient e-commerce!