Using old unsupported brics?

Several times I have gone to grab certain brics and one being card designer which I think is one of my most used brics for my live events as was great for profiles, images to link to pages and was fast to build with.

This bric was and still is simply brilliant.

With Whitfield moving on and not using Blocs hardly (and wish him all the best in whatever he is doing) would you be comfortable using this bric moving forward for long term websites?

I grab it…set it up and then think hard…then remove it as was worried on the next few updates that will throw it all out again !

The new range of brics coming out are very well supported as the developers are very active on the forum which gives huge confidence and looking forward to the line up of brics coming out !

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Great post Adie.
This is very concerning to me as well.
What happens when the next Blocs upgrade or upgrades to Bootstrap, breaks unsupported Brics?

I guess we are screwed Adie.

Rich the Weather Guy

I think an somewhat easy fix would be for @norm to add a “built for” tag in the Brics Builder that helps validate the Brics upon export. This tag would also get updated with Bric updates.

If a bric is built using the Brics Builder in Blocs 4 for example, it get the “validated for Blocs 4”. Then Norm could also add in an additional check in Blocs that verifies if your Bric is meant to be used with your Blocs version. That way, one could know in advance if there are Brics that aren’t meant to be used with your current version of Blocs.

It would also make outdated Brics even more visible, urging the developers to update their Bric or actively see their sales reduced.

At least, that’s my 2 cents :wink:

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When you install a custom Bric, the developer has already indicated whether it is compatible with the Bootstrap version you are using.

I don’t remember any instances where a Bric suddenly ceased functioning due to a Blocs update and has never been resolved.

Disclaimer: I don’t own all custom Brics available in the Blocs Store.

Furthermore, if such a situation were to arise, it raises the question of whether the Blocs developer should notify third-party developers about any significant forthcoming changes within Blocs.

Just my 2 cents as well.

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You and Brecht bring up some great points.
I think the problems arises if you don’t know if an update will cause a bric to break BEFORE you install that update.
Whether it is bootstrap or Blocs itself that is breaking the functionality, I would like to know before I install an update whether it is going to break a Bric or not.
Then I can proceed to find another solution while not compromising the site using the bad Bric.
Yeah, I realize that there are methods on my end that I could use, like installing the latest update on another machine, not a production Mac and try it out first. I do that with a laptop, but others may not have that luxury or the ability to purchase additional copies of Blocs.

I hope that makes sense, and I have no idea if any of that is possible?

Rich the Weather Guy

I would like to know if my stocks go up as well the upcoming months. :grinning::chart_with_downwards_trend:

Unfortunately I will only know afterwards. Welcome to life bro.

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Got any lotto numbers? :grin: :wink:

Then why not perform a backup of your installed custom brics before you perform an update.

Why not not update?

The concern regarding custom Brics potentially malfunctioning with future updates primarily falls under user responsibility, not that of the developer or third-party developers. Users are not compelled to update their software; like any software enhancement, each update is optional.

There is no problem, and there’s most likely never going to be a problem but we need to create a problem just in case the user runs updates before verifying if his third-party software is ready for this update.
Developer and third-party developers can’t be held liable for this.

It really depends on the bric to its usefulness in old age and without support.

What does it do and use?

For example when Bootstrap moved from 4 to 5, there were a lot of significant changes that could break a bric that relied on Bootstrap 4 attributes. So any major changes with future Bootstrap versions may prevent you updating to the latest framework.

If a bric uses a third party library it may end up obsolete and with bugs left unresolved. A library can also be abandoned. Like what happened with Owl Carousel, not the bric, but the library itself was abandoned by the developer. Which was a shame, as I had used it in many sites, some are still online today as the client hasn’t wanted to update their site for years :joy: (non Blocs sites).

Major release versions do become obsolete. For example you wouldn’t make a website these days in Blocs 2, even if you didn’t want to use the latest features the framework it supports is widely out of date now.

Support can’t be there for your lifetime, it’s really the reasonable lifecycle of the product. And support usually follows the current version.

I was probably over generous in major revisions I have given free to existing users. Offcanvas Helper 2, would be an example. I’ve used native Bootstrap 5 and pure JavaScript, with no additional libraries, OH2 is very flexible and unless Bootstrap has changes around core offcanvas features, it will work for years to come.
But one day it will not work, either when updating Blocs or Bootstrap.

So end of the story, even though there is more to say, is that nothing will last forever. A lot of the variables are outside the developers and or users hands.

I remember having to make websites in Adobe Illustrator, slice them up and rebuild them in tables with notepad or dreamweaver. :joy:. Then do it all again for a mobile version and dealing with IE hacks. Heck I remember making BBS’ in the early 90s and created graphics with text :joy:. We had no idea what the future of the internet was going to look like then. I spent hundreds of hours creating and maintaining my BBS.

Love what you create, but don’t get emotionally attached to it is all I can say, because eventually it’s trash. :grin:

PS. I’m sitting at a service centre waiting for our car, I have nothing to do but make long rambling posts on my phone. You’re welcome :smiling_face:

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I do this now Jannis… :+1:

Jerry, Jerry, Jerry…NOT trying to hold anyone liable! Hell, I won’t come to your house when your stuff stops working (Though I would like to sample some of your food :avocado: :kiwi_fruit: :shrimp: :squid:)

Adie can speak for himself, I agree with his concerns about bric support for 3rd parties. Does anything last forever? Nope, me included.

I guess when stuff breaks, and no one supports it any longer, we move on.

Rich the Weather Guy

That is because you develop your own custom brics. :grinning:

Please read carefully. I did not say this. :grin:

I actually have brought brics off most other developers over the years.

Why reinvent the wheel, also compared to the time it takes to make stuff from scratch. It’s a no brainer price wise.