Here comes Helix Ultimate alpha! - JoomShaper

Here comes Helix Ultimate alpha!

10 January 2018
Hits 19,889
5 min read
Here comes Helix Ultimate alpha!

It’s 2018 already and the countdown has begun for the biggest release of the year, Helix Ultimate. The product you loved so much, the tool you awaited so long, is here. Our developers were on a marathon to bring amazing features to your beloved Helix framework. The wait is now over and today we are going to release the alpha version of Helix Ultimate.

Enjoy the ultimate development experience with Helix Ultimate!

In Helix Ultimate, new technologies dictate everything. It’s time to embrace the new track of Joomla template development with Helix Ultimate. The box of helix ultimate is filled with lots of excitements and surprises. We have introduced a whole new system in Helix with this release. From the super functional layout building system to every new tool in the latest admin interface, you will enjoy the touch of smart and elegant web development. The experience with Helix Ultimate will be a supreme one.

Now let’s shed some light on the core features of Helix Ultimate.

  • Developed with Bootstrap 4
  • New admin interface
  • Mega menu builder
  • New layout builder
  • SVG logo options
  • New preset style options
  • Simple media manager

Developed with Bootstrap 4

Helix Ultimate is developed using Bootstrap 4. The incredibly powerful version of Bootstrap now has the most advanced functionalities. Along with Bootstrap 4, Helix Ultimate offers amazingly fast performance. To be exact, it is 2x faster than the previous helix frameworks.

New admin interface

We have introduced a totally new admin interface with Helix Ultimate. The new admin interface has more UX friendly functionalities and accesses. The interface is designed using the modern and trendy flat design concept. Its hub of admin panel will let you have quick accesses to various development features of Helix Ultimate. The admin interface is now totally frontend based. While developing your site you can see the modifications and changes live.

Mega menu builder

Many of the professional sites today require a mega menu. To equip you with this, we are going to introduce a powerful mega menu builder with Helix Ultimate. You can add row and column based menu, also drag and drop the modules to the menu positions from the modules list. The mega menu builder offers you numerous layouts to start developing the mega menu of your site.

New layout builder

The layout builder of Helix Ultimate is completely different from that of the previous versions. The frontend based layout builder lets you develop your site structure in the shortest possible time. While adding rows you will be offered lots of complex layout structures to assemble your contents in your desired way.

SVG logo option

An SVG logo is everyone’s choice nowadays for faster loading. Many of you wanted SVG logo option in Helix Ultimate. Here you go, we have added the option for you. Now you can add SVG logos to your sites using Helix Ultimate.

New preset style option

We have enhanced the functionalities of preset styling in Helix Ultimate. Now you can modify every section’s preset color individually. This gives you more flexibility in developing your site exactly according to your design requirements.

Simple media manager

This is one of the cool features that we have added to Helix Ultimate. Forget the traditional way to media management. We have added a brand new media manager to Helix ultimate to manage your media files smarter.

More features on the way

Blog options

We promised to provide more blog options with Helix Ultimate that would empower you to present contents in the most attractive way. We have prepared them and now testing. These features will be live in the beta version.

Header variations

You will be able to enjoy the header variation feature in the coming versions of Helix Ultimate. The feature is in QA testing right now.

N.B. This is the alpha release. It can be buggy and some promised features are missing at this moment. But all will be fixed before the final release and all the features will be added.

So, this is Helix Ultimate alpha version. We are working hard to improve it more and finally release an amazing product. We welcome you all to test Helix Ultimate and send us the feedback. Don't worry about the issues, all will be fixed before the final release. Together we will make Helix Ultimate a product we all will be proud of. Meanwhile stay with us and enjoy Helix Ultimate.

System requirements

  • Joomla 3.8
  • PHP 5.6 or more
  • Fresh Joomla installation

Installation tips

After installing Helix Ultimate, You have to make it your default template. Then go to Template Options > Save. 

Helix Ultimate Installation Tips

Don't use Helix Ultimate alpha in any of your live sites. Install it only with a fresh Joomla instance.

Take Helix ultimate to a test drive now

Release timeline

  • Release of Alpha version--> January 10, 2018
  • Release of Beta version--> January 16, 2018
  • Release of RC version--> January 25, 2018
  • Release of Stable version--> February 15, 2018
H
Hjalte
6 years ago
awesome, looking forward to this
Arafat Bin Sultan
Arafat Bin Sultan
6 years ago
Thank you! Same here :)
WS
Wolfgang Schmidleitner
6 years ago
Great news, thx.
Update Helix 2 to Helix 4 possible?
Alex Fedorin
Alex Fedorin
6 years ago
As i understand even update Helix3 to Ultimate is impossible, because it is build on Bootstrap4. :(
Paul Frankowski
Paul Frankowski
6 years ago
Nope. Too many changes has been made in engines.
WS
Wolfgang Schmidleitner
6 years ago
can you run helix2 and helix4 in parallel in a joomla installation?
SC
Shari Chambers
6 years ago
Curious also if we will be able to upgrade Helix 3 to Helix 4?
Alex Fedorin
Alex Fedorin
6 years ago
its Helix Ultimate! Hope it is possible somehow, but it is build on Bootstrap4 so im not sure. Waiting for the officials!
SC
Shari Chambers
6 years ago
Ugh. just did a bunch of sites with Helix 3...:(
John Roy
John Roy
6 years ago
"Don't use Helix Ultimate alpha in any of your live sites. Install it only with a fresh Joomla instance." hmmmm what do you think?
SC
Shari Chambers
6 years ago
Don't be a dick.. and I think it legit to ask if they will be compatible, Joomla is making a huge effort to ensure backward compatibility, and I think Joomshaper should as well. I also think that it is in Alpha and therefore needs to be run on new installations. One would hope it can be installed on a working site in the future. My question wasn't asking to use it on a live site. It was asking about compatibility on the release product.
Christos Kovousoglou
Christos Kovousoglou
6 years ago
Speechless...
Arafat Bin Sultan
Arafat Bin Sultan
6 years ago
Why! Please let us know your feelings regarding Helix Ultimate :)
Shayan Davoodi
Shayan Davoodi
6 years ago
Good job :)
Will the current templates work with Helix ultimate or will you develop new templates with it?
Paul Frankowski
Paul Frankowski
6 years ago
Thanks, it will be mostly for new ones.
Alex Fedorin
Alex Fedorin
6 years ago
Love what you do guys! Thanks a lot!
Arafat Bin Sultan
Arafat Bin Sultan
6 years ago
We also love our community! Thanks so much, Alex :)
Schipperijn
Schipperijn
6 years ago
1 word: Super!
Arafat Bin Sultan
Arafat Bin Sultan
6 years ago
Thank you Schipperijn! Very inspiring :)
P
Paulo
6 years ago
Hi,

I'm assuming this is the same media manager of the page builder pro, Can you guys make it so the media manager is optional?
The way pagebuilder pro works reminds me of WordPress default way of handling media, not just exactly the friendlier way.

Or make it so that we can use the Joomla images folder instead of your media manager creating its own folders?

That said, great work.
Kawshar Ahmed
Kawshar Ahmed
6 years ago
No, this is not Page Builder media manager. This is just a very simple file browser that supports SVG image upload.

Thanks
M
MF
6 years ago
Any chances to implement multilingual menus? This is weakest point of Helix imo by now (after failing to support svg logos)
John Roy
John Roy
6 years ago
Yes it is...
M
Mark
6 years ago
So we can use one template style for multiple languages where before we needed one style for each language?

That is great. :)
M
MF
6 years ago
Also - how it's going to work along with Page builder? Which versions would it support?
Paul Frankowski
Paul Frankowski
6 years ago
Guess. Stable one.
JG
Julius Gashumba
6 years ago
I am getting an error after I install and activate the template.

[img]https://onedrive.live.com/?cid=5B2CB20557F82546&id=5B2CB20557F82546%21167175&parId=5B2CB20557F82546%21167174&o=OneUp[/img]
JG
Julius Gashumba
6 years ago
Oops! I thought my ink would bring up the error screenshot.
Paul Frankowski
Paul Frankowski
6 years ago
yes, link is wrong, upload image somewhere else.
Rob
Rob
6 years ago
Super, thats my favorite template!!

Anything about Istore II? Or do you have planed a new template for virtuemart?
Francois Barnard
Francois Barnard
6 years ago
So I cannot load this over my existing Helix 2.3? Because I need a clean Joomla Install?

That's not nice... :(
R
Rimset
6 years ago
Admin interface is worse than in helix 3. Too much page scrolling too little information... now I have to do more clicks and scroll to change something.

No consequences at the switches, once red is means on, once off... this is confused. One is switch, once radio button..... Sticky header is disabled (switch is red) but is yes, now its enabled or disabled? ;)

Where is "custom columns" in layout builder? Nice features will be nested column/row! In helix 3 settings columns was more readable

R
Rimset
6 years ago
We can save layout? In helix 3 we could.
Marc Dechèvre
Marc Dechèvre
6 years ago
WIth Helix3, front-end editing does still not work with Custom Fields (tab of Custom Fields is not shown. I have already spent much time explaining that in the forum and elsewhere).
1. Would you please fix that with Helix3
2. and have it right from day 1 for Helix Ultimate ?
Txs !
Marc Dechèvre
Marc Dechèvre
6 years ago
Just checked : Custom Fields do appear in front-end edition with Helix Ultimate :
[img]https://screenpresso.com/=66USf[/img]

Perfect ! So you just have to fix it in Helix3 ;)
M
MitchNorth
6 years ago
To be clear, we cannot use this for existing websites? We manage several sites that have over 100 pages. Are we supposed to scrap those sites all together and rebuild them from scratch?

How are we supposed to deal with situations like that?
SC
Shari Chambers
6 years ago
I agree. I hope we can install this on existing sites that use Helix 3.
Paul Frankowski
Paul Frankowski
6 years ago
Oh, you write faster than think...
with stable version, yes it will possible.
Now this is TEST version only.
AR
Artur Ro
6 years ago
Hi, to be clear: Are we in the stable version able to install the Ultimate side by side with Helix 3, or are we able to migrate FROM Helix 3 to Ultimate?
Paul Frankowski
Paul Frankowski
6 years ago
Helix3 and Helix Ultimate are two different products, so we do not see possibility to upgrade. This same as was with Helix II and Helix3.
---
Probably should be possible to have both, and use them for selected sub-pages.
AR
Artur Ro
6 years ago
Ok, thanks!
alexhovan
alexhovan
6 years ago
1) Now the location of the settings is not convenient. The remaining settings leave as it was Helix 3. Now work only with the edge of the screen. Uncomfortable .. Perhaps this is good with live editing. But for this you need to make a separate button for live editing. -Redicate online / live editing-
2)
Make in Helix Ultimate To not display a block of all social icons if they do not have a link. Add a switch to enable / disable each social link. Enable or disable social icons. Now, in Helix 3, the entire block is displayed even or not a link to the social network. Why display icons if there is no link. The user clicks on these empty icons and there are no links to social networks. For example, 2-3 social networks are used more often, and the block is displayed in all icons without a link. The same thing should be implemented in Helix 3
alexhovan
alexhovan
6 years ago
Now the location of the settings is not convenient. Settings in Helix 3 were better. Make settings as in Helix 3. Now work only with the edge of the screen. This is inconvenient .. Perhaps this is good with live editing. But for this you need to make a separate button for live editing. - Online Editor -
alexhovan
alexhovan
6 years ago
Make in Helix Ultimate To not show all social icons if they do not have a link. Or add a switch to enable / disable each social link. Enable or disable social icons. Helix 3 displays the entire block of icons, even if there is no link to the social network. Why display icons if there is no link. The user clicks on these empty icons, and there are no links to social networks. Usually we use 2-3 social networks, but the social block is displayed with all the icons that are without a link. Problems in Helix 3 now migrated to Helix Ultimate...
A
Andrea
6 years ago
I agree with you @alekshavan !
porscha
porscha
6 years ago
Hello,

on a new [b]Joomla 3.8.3[/b] installation, once the template is enabled, the frontend throws the following error:

[b]0 - expecting color: line: 170[/b]

In order to make the template work, I need to open the template settings, make any type of change and then save.

One more thing - when you open the Advanced tab in the template settings, in the [b]SCSS[/b] tab it says: [b]Compile LESS to CSS[/b] and it should be [b]Compile SCSS to CSS[/b], because the compiler is SCSS already.
Paul Frankowski
Paul Frankowski
6 years ago
ad 1) I had this same issue, during my first tests ;)

ad 2) Good eye, thanks
porscha
porscha
6 years ago
So I'm guessing this will be fixed - the 170 line error?

One more thing - at the moment Helix Ultimate is not compatible with Joomla 4 at all. Of course both Joomla 4 and Helix U are in alpha versions, but still it should work out of the box with Joomla 4.
M
michael
6 years ago
you have to push the "save" button ... see the picture above (with the red arrow)
ZP
zelda p
6 years ago
Hi,
PHP 7.2.0 stable has been out for several weeks. There has been some "backward incompatible changes",
for joomla the most current being a warning when counting non-countable types, eg:
Warning: count(): Parameter must be an array or an object that implements Countable
Joomla core developers are working on it,
Helix Ultimate gets this warning when opening the template backend admin.
On plugins/system/helixultimate/core/helixultimate.php on line 661, for example.
At any rate, many extensions get this warning.
Paul Frankowski
Paul Frankowski
6 years ago
In upcoming versions we will try to add PHP 7.2 compatibility
RK
Rene Kreijveld
6 years ago
Wow, very excited about the new possibilities. I just have two questions:

1. Bootstrap 4 is still in beta. Do you expect to have Helix Ultimate to go stable with Bootstrap 4 still in beta?
2. Helix 3 and Page Builder integrate really well now. How will that be with Helix Ultimate as that is based on Bootstrap 4 and PageBuilder is based in Bootstrap3?

Looking forward to further updates and improvements!
Paul Frankowski
Paul Frankowski
6 years ago
ad 1) of course, we will update.
ad 2) it's obvious, it will be similar here
Isabella_David's
Isabella_David's
6 years ago
:D Great work guys..i think Joomshap ideas is being gotten from the sky.

On the other hand when will Joomshaper introduce/ Create an Animated Typewriter Typing Effect [b]Add-on[/b]
[b]eg[/b] Rif http://logichunt.com/product/joomla-parallax-typed/

thanks..


Paul Frankowski
Paul Frankowski
6 years ago
We can consider it in future.
---
Hopefully almost any any can use this effect, ready scripts are for free on many sites.
M
Mark
6 years ago
Great work! :)

You guys have a tight release scedule. When you released Page Builder 3 you also let us know the release dates in advance and you kept every one. That is not the way most of other companies work. That also makes you special. And it makes us happy customers. Many thanks for that too.

For the features: Will there be separate font settings for different screen sizes? You have a lot of setting options for different screen sizes in Page Builder 3 which is great. If you do this here too you may also want to include line hight options too, not only font size and thickness.
Paul Frankowski
Paul Frankowski
6 years ago
Thanks.
---
I have to ask developers, and check our dashboard, we will let you know.
Paul Frankowski
Paul Frankowski
6 years ago
I added request on our dashboard, sorry no respond yet,
You know Friday.
M
michael
6 years ago
hmmm ... can't get the HELIX ultimaterunning ...

This site cannot be displayed .... Error: [b]"0 - expecting color: line: 170"[/b]

when I switch to an other template it works

(PHP 7.0, newest Joomla)

M
michael
6 years ago
ok - got it ... I forgot to hit the "save" button ....
epson950
epson950
6 years ago
after save on the website of change are visible, and in the helix settings the white screen!
Pavel
Pavel
6 years ago
The user experience in the Custom Code and Typography tabs became worse due to the sidebar layout of the settings. This sidebar should at least be able to unfold on the full screen. The sidebar as a whole is not comfortable, it takes more clicks, it's hard to read.
Implementation of the visual mode should not destroy all the good things that were in Helix 3. But in practice it turns out that you have sacrificed a lot for the sake of this function. It is sad.
porscha
porscha
6 years ago
I agree! Also the Layout tab should be able to unfold to full screen. The best solution will be to unfold the whole thing when the user needs it.
Paul Frankowski
Paul Frankowski
6 years ago
Hopefully it's Alpha version, so there is time and willingness to make improvement. Thanks.
A
Anil
6 years ago
Dear friends,

To test the long awaited Helix4, I have installed Joomla 3.8.3 on my local server wampserver. Then I installed Helix 4 Ultimate. I have found error, the link of Print Screen is given as under
"https://www.dropbox.com/s/l0pd6ldn63hrytq/h4.jpg?dl=0"

My system details are also as under..

System Information
Setting Value

PHP Built On Windows NT ANIL-PC 10.0 build 10586 (Windows 10) AMD64
Database Version 5.7.19
Database Collation utf8_general_ci
Database Connection Collation utf8mb4_general_ci
PHP Version 7.1.9
Web Server Apache/2.4.27 (Win64) PHP/7.1.9
WebServer to PHP Interface apache2handler
Joomla! Version Joomla! 3.8.3 Stable [ Amani ] 12-December-2017 15:00 GMT
Joomla! Platform Version Joomla Platform 13.1.0 Stable [ Curiosity ] 24-Apr-2013 00:00 GMT
User Agent Mozilla/5.0 (Windows NT 10.0; Win64; x64) AppleWebKit/537.36 (KHTML, like Gecko) Chrome/63.0.3239.132 Safari/537.36

Kindly Do the needful.

Your
Anil V. Chaudhary
Isabella_David's
Isabella_David's
6 years ago
fellow this link so solve the issue

https://drive.google.com/open?id=105qwKvRuhYKYSnFXmCkhwF0C21v_tDLC
M
Mackie
6 years ago
Hello, Joomshaper! Please add "Google Analytics" and "Яндекс.Метрика" (Yandex.Metrics) to Helix Ultimate.
alexhovan
alexhovan
6 years ago
Poor scaling of fonts. Unable to customize. The headings of materials are very large font. Headings of materials in only 2 lines. In the settings of the template, you set the h1 header to 14px, but in the browser, the developer tools see the 56px font.
Information about the material in 2 lines
Small menu font
:(

[img]http://f4.s.qip.ru/gbw3dJdp.png[/img]
epson950
epson950
6 years ago
When will you already add transparency to color picker? 21st century outside!
P
posmtime
6 years ago
I'd say it's cool! I will wait for January 25, stable version and then go to this framework. Of course and Alpha look-)
AA
Asfaque Ali
6 years ago
Hi,

First I want to say its awesome guy's great work.

Secondly, i found some issues

1). After installing and activating helix ultimate in new Joomla 3.8.3, frontend throws the following error:
[code]0 - expecting color: line: 170[/code]
To make the template work, I had to open the template settings, make changes in template builder and click on save.

2) And in Advanced tab in the template settings, Under SCSS tab it says Compile LESS to CSS instead of Compile SCSS to CSS.

And Last one feature request,
In Layout builder, if I change something and later we want to restore to default we can't do that right now.
That will be great if you could add a restore to default button there.

Thanks
Y
yo_ray
6 years ago
Nice work
Thanks a lot
1) on Menu settings it would be nice to set the style off canvas also
2) an instagram icon for social
3) Hope there will come a few settings for set/design menu lines, fadein and so on
Paul Frankowski
Paul Frankowski
6 years ago
Check tomorrow BETA version and put your suggestion there. thanks.
J
jpberry
6 years ago
Sounds promising!
If I start using Helix Ultimate on my off line construction site, wil I be able to update to future beta- und final releases? Or doI have to reinstalle HU when final is out?
Paul Frankowski
Paul Frankowski
6 years ago
Do not do that. Wait for at least RC version, thanks.
M
Mackie
6 years ago
1. Will the stable version be compatible with Joomla 4?

2. Can you add "Google Analytics" and "Yandex.Metrics" to Helix Ultimate?
Paul Frankowski
Paul Frankowski
6 years ago
Ad 1) Yes, but with stable version of Joomla 4.0
ad 2) You can add now any tracking code in less than 15 sec. Using this same method as it is in Helix3.

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