Beaver Builder

Ask Us Anything (AMA) — An Update Post

Robby McCullough - March 15, 2018

Hey all! We’ve got an exciting update on tap today. A few weeks ago, Billy, Justin, and I went out to Austin, TX to visit with Brent. While we were there, we tried a little experiment. We made a Facebook post asking for folks to send us questions, then we set up a video camera and filmed ourselves going through and answering them!

It was really fun. We’re making an effort to do more with video this year and this ended up being a solid first attempt as a team. For our update post, I wanted to share the video here and also share a few plugs and updates.

Beaver Builder Team AMA

Without further ado, here is our AMA. I’d encourage actually heading over to the YouTube version linked here as you can see the list of questions we answer and have a link to the specific time in the video. Feel free to hit that subscribe button, too! 🙂

Ask Us Anything Part 1

Ask Us Anything Part 2

Despite having Brent on the team and his extensive background in photography, I am afraid our legs seem to steal the show and the lighting. They’re very well exposed.

Facebook Algorithm Change

You may have heard or you may have been affected, Facebook has been experimenting with their content algorithm. They’re giving greater priority to posts from your friends and family and less priority to posts from brands, like us.

I think it’s a good move on Facebook’s part, but since we use Facebook—and particularly the Beaver Builders Facebook group—to share a lot of our news and updates, we’ve noticed a slight dip in traction with our posts.

If you’re the type that wants to keep up with every detail, we’d encourage you to like our Facebook page and follow us on Twitter.

We’re also considering starting up another newsletter list with more frequent mailings. If that’s something you might be interested in, let us know in the comments!

Beaver Builder 2.1 Alpha

Beaver Builder 2.1 is currently in Alpha. We’re planning to release a blog post with all the upcoming features of the release which you can read about in our last update post.

If you can, please give 2.1 a test run on your staging sites. Due to the FB change mentioned above, the alpha isn’t getting quite as many installs as it normally would. You can download the alpha version from your account page.

We hinted a bit in our AMA video, but we’re starting to discuss and explore other problems in the web design space. If you’re a Javascript guru and interested in solving problems in that space, you may want to check out our latest job post.

WordCamp Miami

Whenever I am writing on an airplane, I feel like it’s important to mention that I am writing on an airplane 😂 And, yes, I am currently on route to Miami for WordCamp Miami which is this weekend. One of my favorite things about Miami (considering I haven’t been there yet) is the extensive selection of quality memes and GIFs….

I know this is late notice, but if you’re going to be at the camp, let me know! I’d love to link up.

Footnotes and Plugs

Gutentag Panel Discussion

Last week, I had the opportunity to take part in a virtual live event about Gutenberg. The event was organized and hosted by HumanMade. David Lockie and I had a really great discussion about Gutenberg and how it might affect web agencies. The other 3 sessions of the event were really informative as well. You can see my talk here, or visit this link and trade your email for access to all 4 sessions.

Wallace Inline 1.0

Our friend Bradley Kirby released the 1.0 version of Wallace Inline. I wrote about the slightly embarrassing situation a few months ago where I told Bradley we likely wouldn’t be pursuing inline editing. Not long after—thanks to a TinyMCE update—we realized implementing it from the development perspective would be a lot easier than we originally expected. Bradley evolved the idea from just inline editing to creating a tool that gives greater control for restricting client access and it looks awesome!

WP Builds Podcast

I got the opportunity to chat with Nathan Wrigley from the WP Builds Podcast. It was a good chat with lots of discussion around Gutenberg and our plans there.

Start with Beaver Builder Course

Davinder, the man behind ProBeaver, recently released a getting started course on Beaver Builder.

Leadership Notes from Chris Lema

Our friend and mentor, Chris Lema, is back at daily blogging on his new site/domain, Leadership Notes. Chris packs great tips and insights into easily digestible and entertaining posts. We’re big fans!

Beaver Builder Workflows

In our 2018 video push, I’ve been learning how to use a new piece of software recently, Adobe Premiere. It’s extremely helpful to watch other people’s workflows when trying to work out the best process for working with new software.

With that in mind, I want to share two videos from our community that highlight how folks use Beaver Builder. Nate Houstman created a video series about creating a business website with WordPress using Beaver Builder.

Paul Lacey also created and shared a video in the Facebook group about his Beaver Builder workflow and how it fits with some of his other go-to tools.

Update: A late add here from our friend and OG Beaver Builder user, Athlone—How to Create an eCommerce Website with WordPress.

Hooked on Products Podcast

I got to join my friends Phil Derksen and John Turner on their somewhat new podcast, Hooked on Product. Good times.

Gutenberg Live Q&A

In the off chance you’re not totally bored of us talking Gutenberg, just a few hours ago I joined Zac Gordon and Joe Casabona for a live question and answer session on the topic.

In Closing

Alright! I think that about does it. We’d really love to know what you think about the AMA video approach. Let us know in the comments. As always, thanks a ton for your support and we’ll see you next time.

13 Comments

Mary-Ann on March 15, 2018 at 5:21 pm

Awesome AMA y’all! It was really great to hear your insights about some of the major topics being discussed in the WP realm right now, and to be able to put names to faces (…err, legs? :P).

As someone that hasn’t had a chance to play with Gutenberg quite yet (but has been hearing about a lot of fear/trepidation), it was refreshing to hear an optimistic perspective. The discussion about business lifespans and how Squarespace/Wix + Wordpress all fit in to the ecosystem was also really great and provided some awesome, eloquent talking points to bring up when fielding questions about it from leads/clients/friends.

Thanks for sharing your insights!
- Robby McCullough on March 15, 2018 at 8:51 pm
  
  Thanks, Mary-Ann! We really appreciate your comment. I think we were all a bit leery about doing the video, but it ended up being really fun and I feel like we got an opportunity to drift into some interesting territory that wouldn’t have come up in text or audio.
Davinder Singh Kainth on March 15, 2018 at 8:24 pm

I like AMA series, keep that going 😉

And… thanks for answering my question. I never meant on Themer pricing to be high or low. Just more clarity on pricing page about hidden gem called themer would help. How about creating another plan “Agency Plus” with themer in it and factor inn existing themer price in that plan?

Anyways, I love the fact Beaver team focus on functionality, stability and usability of the product as against… shinny (and super shiny) features. Keep rocking guys and thanks for the course plug!
- Robby McCullough on March 15, 2018 at 8:50 pm
  
  Hey Davinder! Sure thing. Thanks for asking.
  
  Yes! We are working on better highlighting Themer on our pricing page and throughout our entire website.
David Waumsley on March 15, 2018 at 10:42 pm

Apart from being the leaders in some significant advances this is exactly why I like you guys! Honest and open chat aimed at adults. More!

Also nice to see Billy.
- Robby McCullough on March 22, 2018 at 9:38 am
  
  Thanks, David! We really appreciate all the support!
diane on March 16, 2018 at 7:36 am

Thanks so much for doing this guys, I really enjoyed it. It’s especially appreciated as you all seemed very much out of your comfort zones at the start (mind out for that fox over your shoulder Justin!).

Just a point about the BB theme. It was mentioned that you don’t really know what a theme should do/be anymore. I think that if you look at the popularity of Astra and GP this should give you some ideas about what people want from a theme. They’re not vastly different from BB but the small differences make a big overall improvement. Plus Astra and GP both feel as though they are constantly trying to improve and have a clear path, which I have to say I think has been lacking in the BB theme (sorry guys). My renewal is due this month and I’m in two minds about renewing the theme. The jury is still out on it, although I’m thinking about maybe giving it another year to see where it heads, after watching the video.

I hope that you do more of these. What a lovely, talented bunch of guys you are 🙂
- Robby McCullough on March 19, 2018 at 9:59 am
  
  Hey Diane! Thanks so much for watching and leaving a comment. We appreciate the kind words and support. It did take us a bit of time to get into a groove and get comfortable, but we had a blast once we did.
  
  The feedback about themes is very helpful.
Jason Usher on March 17, 2018 at 8:13 am

Damn good point on on the WIX question Robby. I get asked all the time how I compete with those DIY options….and the shortest answer is that I don’t. They don’t offer what I do- which isn’t a website. It’s an end result that goes beyond putting pictures and words on a website.
- Robby McCullough on March 19, 2018 at 9:57 am
  
  Thanks, Jason! Don’t you mean “dam” good point, lol 😂
Matt on March 19, 2018 at 8:48 am

Version 2.1 sounds exciting. You guys continue to impress. 😎

When Elementor v2 launches this month, it will bring with it features that are currently offered by the paid Themer add-on. However, Elementor Pro will not sell this functionality separately but bundle it in for no extra charge.

Will this now change how Themer is sold going forward?
- Robby McCullough on March 19, 2018 at 9:56 am
  
  Thanks, Matt. No, no plans to change our pricing structure. We talk about why at this point in the video:
  
  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aO32LEYJHYU&t=984s
  - Oliver / WebMatros.com on May 3, 2018 at 12:58 pm
    
    Ha! Cool! I’d totally missed those AUA/AMA vids! Good to see you guys! 🙂
    
    A little more lighting in the room next time. Besides that it’s two great videos!
    
    =)
    Oliver