Introducing Kadence Blocks 3.1

The Kadence team is proud to announce the release of Kadence Blocks 3.1. This latest update includes our new Advanced Form Block, which will transform how you can use and edit custom forms in WordPress. This release also includes another new block, some minor features, and bug fixes. This update complements a new update to Kadence Blocks Pro 2.0, which includes structural updates, performance improvements, and new features. Let’s dive in!

What’s New?

The Advanced Form Block

Kadence Blocks has had a basic form block through the years, and this clean and simple form was perfectly adequate for basic contact forms or newsletter subscription forms. However, many Kadence users have wanted a more robust form solution. The release of Kadence Blocks 3.1 marks phase one of a much more advanced form builder with the new Kadence Advanced Form Block. Unlike the previous basic form block, this new block is stored as a custom post type, so it can be edited from within a page or within an easy-to-find forms area in the WordPress administrative dashboard. The new Kadence Advanced Form Block has been designed to be dynamic and extendable with many commonly requested features. These include:

• Basic wizard when creating new forms with preset styles.
• Inline and Float label styles.
• New input fields like file upload, date, etc.
• Advanced styling options for Checkboxes and Radio button inputs.
• Support for dark backgrounds.
• reCAPTCHA, hCapcha, Turnstile support to prevent bot and spam form submissions.
• A much requested ConvertKit integration (Pro feature).

This new Advanced Form Block has our whole team excited! It’s a rock-solid foundation to start building really advanced form features that open a new opportunity for data-driven WordPress sites development that requires no coding experience for site owners. With an editor built directly into the WordPress block editor, the Kadence Advanced Form block has been designed for the new era of WordPress.

We have a lot in store for the Advanced Form Block. Look out for new features in future versions, including conditional fields!

The Progress Bar Block

Data visualization is an important element of site design, and we now offer the Kadence Progress Bar Block to give WordPress site owners a new tool for showing complex data relationships in an easy to understand visual representation. The new Kadence Progress Bar block has three specific shapes that can be used to represent progress through a process as well as other completion oriented values. The initial launch includes three styles with tons of settings and really engaging animations.

New Editing Settings

Renaming Blocks in List View

When working with large pages in the WordPress block editor, it can be difficult to quickly find content requiring a quick edit. It can be challenging to navigate content in the list view to find precisely the right section to edit. With 3.1 you can now edit the name of the block in the list view, making it easier to organize your content and quickly get to the section or block you need to edit.

Other Notables Updates

• Updated Framework to use sitewide Unique ID to prevent any conflicts with styles.
• Added dynamic block labels in the list view for Advanced Text and Advanced Button blocks.
• Added Flex Basis settings to section block.
• Updated Block names for easier searching. Moved Advanced to (adv).
• Added no follow & sponsored options to links in the icon list block.
• Added an option for local Google Fonts if not using the Kadence Theme (option already exists in the Kadence Theme).

What’s New in Kadence Blocks Pro 2.0?

Code rewritten, modernized, and improved.

Like all the work we did with Kadence Blocks 3.0, the Pro version of Kadence Blocks required an update to refactor Kadence Blocks Pro to get its core structure current with WordPress. This refactoring means better stability and better performance. Plus we are now in a much better place to innovate further with new advanced blocks and AI integrations. Here are the notable highlights:

• Updated build structure completely and now use component libraries.
• Updated React structure of blocks to be functional and use API v2.
• Rebuilt how we compile and output frontend CSS for block customizations.
• Rebuilt our front-end Javascript to not use any jQuery sliders.

Along with the code structure, we also updated the block settings across all Kadence Pro blocks. Now you will see tabbed settings, more uniform components like the padding and margin with visual changes as well as the use of variables in sizes instead of static sizes.

What’s Next for Kadence Blocks?

We are actively working on quite a few projects to continue innovating the way WordPress users build fast and effective sites. While we don’t have timelines solidified, the Kadence team is working hard to get these into our user’s hands as quickly as we can. We will be publishing more information about each project as we near completion of the following initiatives:

• Kadence AI
• Kadence Pexels Integration
• Kadence Repeater Block for ACF and Meta repeater fields
• Conditional Fields in the Advanced Form Block
• Multistep in Advanced Form Block
• Global Styles
• Advanced Navigation Block
• Advanced Header Block
• Advanced Query Block with Advanced Filtering

Go Pro

If you’re not already up and running with Kadence Blocks Pro, now is such an exciting time to start! There are so many wonderful benefits to going pro including custom pro blocks and pro add-ons, dynamic content, custom icons and fonts, and premium design libraries. Plus there’s so much more coming down the pipe. Don’t miss out!