At the beginning of this year, we released our most ambitious update – Astra 2.0. Setting new standards for WordPress themes, Astra 2.0 gave an even more refined performance, a reinvented customizer, and even more blazing-fast speeds.
From then, we were committed to the process of continuously evolving Astra.
With your love, Astra crossed 1+ Million active installs in July 2020. This is the biggest milestone on our journey. Your support always encourages us to push our limits further.
Astra has been famous for its lightning-fast speed in the WordPress community. Astra now offers speedy customizer, new color controls, and much more to keep up the top-notch performance.
Let’s dive in and see what exciting features this update offers.
Customizer Load Time Cut Down by Half!
Astra customizer now loads faster than ever before!
Version 2.6.0 brings down customizer loading time straight from 2.87 Seconds to 1 Second – more than 50% reduction.
That means you can now have customizer loading at 2x speed.
Astra customizer now uses an improved page load technique that helps load options that need to be configured.
Wish to see it in action? Here are some stats –
Before
Now
Improved Looks with Gutenberg Blocks
Gutenberg editor is being used creatively that opens up new design possibilities every day. Astra works flawlessly with all Gutenberg blocks.
With this update, we have taken a step further and enhanced the look of Gutenberg pages with Astra.
You can now see more beautiful and well managed Gutenberg pages with Astra without taking any extra efforts.
Astra will manage spacing and style for Gutenberg blocks by default. You just need to use Gutenberg blocks on the page, add content and go live. It’s that easy!
Existing Astra users can enable this feature with a filter mentioned here.
Presenting New & Sleeker Color Controls
Picking up the shade of the exact color for various parts of a website is essential. Astra customizer gives you powerful control over setting up nice colors and gives your website an ideal look.
Astra customizer now offers refined color picker with sleek options. You might have used this color picker with Gutenberg blocks. You can now enjoy working with it from Astra customizer too.
The new color picker is now powered with:
- Hash, RGBA & HSLA color values
- Improved UI and Color Palettes
- Reset and clear button for all the color options
Advanced Background Controls
Finely used backgrounds can create a great impact on website design and user experience. Astra offers full control over website backgrounds.
You can now see improved options for setting up the background –
- New Color Picker
- Advanced Gradient Setting
- Flexible Image Options
- Improved UI
The Gradient is a new edition of background options that open up new possibilities in designing.
Experience More Speed Now!
Update your Astra theme to version 2.6.0 and Astra Pro plugin to version 2.7.0 now to be among the first to experience this new update. Our best version ever!
And if you run into any hiccups, we’re here to help you out. Drop our support team a message here.
Well, as always, we are not stopping here! Our incredible users inspire us every day to seek better innovations and improvise.
What’s Next? ?
Astra is getting ready for the next big update!
It’s not just another feature, it’s going to be a massive shift that will expand Astra’s potential even further.
We are as excited as our users and can’t wait to hand over the most powerful header footer designing controls ever.
Get ready for the all-new – Astra Header Footer Builder! ?
Aside from this, there is a lot more to look forward to with the upcoming update, but if you’re read this far, you can enjoy this early sneak peek:
Stay tuned for more amazing surprises!
We hope you enjoy the new Astra 2.6.0 release. Do let us know how you like it in comments below.
Until next time, Stay safe!
Sujay Pawar is the co-founder and CEO of Brainstorm Force. He brings a one-of-a-kind fusion of tech brilliance, business savvy and marketing mojo to the table. Sujay has consistently spearheaded the development of innovative products like Astra, CartFlows, ZipWP and many others that have become market leaders in their respective niches.
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Finally! Yeah… So glad to hear about the improved Customizer speed and look with these controls. ?
Hello Anthony,
Glad to hear that you are enjoying the latest update! 🙂
Awesome! Thank you. About your header builder. Do you implement also some widgets for user login and cart for woocommerce?
You’re most welcome, Petr!
Adding login widgets in the header would require a plugin which provides a shortcode that can be added in the Last Menu item in Astra.
And for the Cart yes, we do have an option in the Last Menu in Item to display WooCommerce Cart in the Header. You can refer our demos here and article.
Updated to the latest version last night and the customizer looks refreshing and fast! Great job, guys…
Looking forward to the header footer builder.
Hello Daniella,
Glad to hear that you are loving it! 🙂
The gradient color option opens so many colorful possibilities! I need to get my thinking cap on.
And the Customizer speed just looks very promising, I can complete projects more faster now.
Hello Brandon,
Thank you! And so glad to hear about your upcoming plans. Cheers! 🙂
AWESOME update! Nice to have the customizer working really well and faster. Bravo Astra team!
Hello Tina,
Glad to hear that you loved the latest update! 🙂
Love the gradient color option. Are you thinking of adding it for Buttons too?
Hello Diana,
Glad that you liked the Gradient option! And thank you for the suggestions, we checked this with the concerned team and we will soon be adding this for the Buttons too. And a lot more improvements are coming up. Stay tuned!
Also, feel free to reach out to us for any queries or concerns or drop us an email at [email protected]. 🙂
Hello!
Will the next update allow for vertical headers?
Hi, we use elementor with astra and noticed the speed is slow and slower. We have built over 600 sites with elementor and hello them and a few with astra to see an improvement on the speed. Do you have a guide how can we speed up the sites when using elementor and astra?
Hello Claudio,
There could be various factors which could cause slow speed. Anyways, here’s an article which can help you out. https://wpastra.com/speed-up-wordpress/ 🙂
If you have any queries or concerns, feel free to reach out to us through our Support Portal or email us at [email protected].
Loving Astra more! So glad to hear that.
Hello Henry,
Thank you so much! 🙂
Do you know when Header Footer will drop?
Hello Michael,
We are planning for a beta release early next month! 🙂
Can’t wait guys! This is huge…
You guys are just unstoppable…… glad to see faster customizer!!!
Thank you for the update guys. Good work!!!
Hello John,
Thank you very much! 🙂
Hello Sujay,
Looking forward to more child theme for Gutenberg. Its still pretty limited.
Keep up the good work.
Hello Shamim,
Yes, we have lots of Gutenberg templates coming up soon. Stay tuned! 🙂
Hi when is exactly the footer and header updates come out?
I hope you do this quickly as I really needed something like this.
With the Start of this feature, i’ll buy Astra Business Toolkit ???
Yes, we are really close and soon early next month you can expect a beta release. 🙂
Hello Noor,
The final release is not too far. We are planning a beta release early next month. Stay tuned on our Facebook group! 🙂
I hope you people are working on a major WooCommerce update for Astra.
If done right, Astra with several enhancements for WooCommerce stores could be a game-changer.
For instance – The need for a floating bar for desktop and mobile, with buy now/add to cart and Cart button with cart total.
A side slide in cart box for desktop browser, similar to Amazon.
The header with three sections, instead of just two.
A built-in instant search box.
Option to add content on category pages for better category page SEO.
Slide up sales notification
Trust badges
Improved menu bar notification for mobile devices.
I hope you will consider them in your future update.
Thanks
I am encouraged by the direction. I love the new customizer color controls. I do not love that I have to add a functions snippet to every theme to set ‘Global Default Colors’.
Please add a section to add default ‘global’ colors which expand on the current offering of 6 to include 12.
https://wpastra.com/docs/new-color-controls-in-astra/
Please be sure to add all the header footer builder options included in Kadence Pro specifically.
Please consider the hook feature in Kadence.
Please consider the custom block / section available in Kadence to add content to hooks.
Continue to make performance the highest priority and refactor to only load features on the pages where they are used rather than globally enqued into the header.
To be clear I love you theme, but I am no longer using it. If these updates are not made to compete with the best themes on the market I will move on.
Thanks for mail. And soon I will use Astra pro for my website.
You’re most welcome, Tonmoy!
We will look forward to seeing you around. 🙂
Thanks guys! I enjoy working with Astra so much! Best theme ever!
You’re most welcome, Gordana!
Glad to hear that you are enjoying the theme! 🙂
Hey guys,
Good job on the update!
Regarding the upcoming header builder, do you have any release date estimate? Furthermore, in the YT video you mention a sticky header and mega menu, are those coming to the free Astra theme or we would need Pro (as is the case now for sticky header)
Thanks and keep up the good work!
Regards!
Joshua
You’re most welcome, Joshua!
Glad that you liked it.
For the Sticky Header and Mega Menu, you would still require Astra Pro. And we are planning for the beta release early next month. Stay tuned on our Facebook group! 🙂
Let me join the masses. I love the new speed. And, all the other new options also. Can’t wait to try them all out. Astra rox!
Hello Jon,
Glad to hear that you enjoying the latest update! 🙂
Hello everyone,
I’ve tried to find the Astra theme on my WP. com but it doesn’t in. the theme list. There is a reason for that? Is it working only on WP.org?
Thank you!
🙂
Awesome update for the Astra theme.
Hello Luke,
Glad to hear that you liked it! 🙂
Astra Header Footer Builder – video looks super amazing!
when is it coming? so excited to use this feature…
Hello Leslie,
Glad to see your excitement!
We are planning for a beta release early next month. 🙂
Thanks guys. Do these new features require Astra Pro? Or are they built in to the free version?
You’re most welcome, Matt!
Yes, they are available in the free version too. 🙂
awesome, but please also plan to implement advanced woocomerce filters.
thanks 😉
Hello Luca,
Thanks for the Suggestion! We shall add this in our to-do list. 🙂