I thought it would be fun to share some of what I’m currently working on for the next version of Foundry. Much of this is in the early to middle stages of development, but I’m pretty excited about some of the new tools and features I’m working on right now.
I won’t be able to cover everything, as there is a lot that will be included, but I’d like to take some time to scratch the surface of some of the things I’m working on. Some will be completely new tools in the Foundry lineup, while others will be improvements or added new features to existing tools. So let’s dive in and talk about one of the new tools first:
Image gallery
Over the last year since Foundry 3 was released many users have requested an image gallery tool. Currently you can build modular galleries using the toolset within Foundry, which gives you a lot of control over the layout and design of the gallery on your page. But many people wanted a singular tool to do the job.
While this approach gives up some of the modularity and customization of the current way of doing things, it does also have its benefits, including being able to navigate through your images from the gallery’s popup lightbox. It also lets you to easily customize the number of images per row in the grid at each of the 6 breakpoints, as well as it generates your thumbnails for you using the built-in Stacks resizing functionality within its API.
It will also feature the ability to choose that an image thumbnail in the Gallery can be used as a link instead of a lightbox popup. This allows you to make galleries that link off to other pages, which might even be galleries of their own!
I think this will be a great tool for building quick, really nice looking galleries that work with an integrated lightbox, while leaving the modular approach using the Zoom and Columns / Grid tools for those that want a more advanced design for their page.
Spacing tool presets
I’ve had a great deal of positive feedback about the Spacing tool since Foundry 3’s release. Many people really like the fact there are a series of presets included in the Spacing tool to help make their site design consistent and to speed up page layout.
Building upon these presets for Padding and Margins I decided to add in the ability to define 5 custom presets of your own within the Foundry Control Center. These presets will then be accessible from any Spacing tool on your page. This means that within the Spacing tool you can choose to use the Foundry Presets, your own Custom Presets, or the Advanced settings allowing you to set separate values for each side of the tool.
I think these new presets will allow even more customization for your projects, as well as help save you time in building your pages.
QR Code tool
While it might be a little more niche I felt that this was a tool that would be quite useful for customers who are building sites for businesses or side-hustles. Nowadays it is very common to find QR Codes everywhere. They really do make life much easier, especially as most mobile devices have QR Code readers built right into their devices now.
You can use this new tool to place a QR Code on your page that will either act as a VCard (think digital business card) or as a link of some type.
The tool also provides you the ability to customize the size and color of the QR Code so that it fits in with your site design.
New Navigation
There’s always room for improvement when it comes to site navigation. Currently I feel the Navigation Bar that comes with Foundry is quite powerful, but also pretty easy to use considering the vast number of features and customization settings that it provides.
I wanted to offer something more modular though. Something that allows you even greater control over the content and setup of your navigation. This one is not complete as of yet, it is still in the early stages of design, but the goal is to build a more advanced version of the Navigation Bar that takes a modular approach to its configuration.
More
These are just a few of the many things I’m working on. Currently I have over 40 new features and 5 completely new tools, and still have a growing todo list. This new update is going to be significant.
And best of all this update will not require reworking of your pages or sites. Just upgrade from your current version of Foundry and you’re good to go.
Since we’re keeping the same underlying Foundry 3 engine, which is based around Bootstrap 5, we’re going to keep the Foundry 3 version numbering, but this new update will gain a code name, becoming Foundry 3 - Beskar.
I’ll try to offer more insight here on the forum about Foundry’s new development as I go along through the design and coding stages.
Questions?
Have questions about Foundry? I’d love to answer them, as long as they don’t give away any surprises I might have in store. Ask below.
Feature Requests? New tools you’d like to see?
Have a feature you’ve been dying to see in Foundry? A new tool that you’d like me to add? Feel free to let me know. But please use the Feature Request method outlined in this post:
Follow the instructions on the forum post and submit your requests and ideas! This system lets me keep track of things better for developmental purposes.
