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Migrating from Unyson

Unyson+ is a modernized continuation of the original Unyson framework. If you've built with Unyson before, almost everything you know carries over, the framework API, the options system, and the extension model are the same. This page covers what's identical, what's new, and the few things to watch when moving a project across.

What's the same​

Your Unyson knowledge transfers directly:

  • The options system. Options are still PHP arrays with a type; the same option types you know (text, select, switch, color-picker, typography, upload, …) work the same way. See Option types.
  • framework-customizations/. Theme settings, customizer, post, and taxonomy options still live in framework-customizations/theme/options/*.php.
  • The read/write API. fw_get_db_settings_option(), fw_get_db_post_option(), fw_get_db_customizer_option(), and friends are unchanged.
  • Extensions. Still a folder with a manifest.php extending FW_Extension, discovered and activated the same way. See The extension system.
  • Hooks. The fw_* actions and filters you used (fw_init, fw_settings_options, fw_post_options, …) are still here. See Hooks & Filters.
  • The page builder model. Section → row → column → element, stored as builder JSON.

What's new and improved​

  • Modern PHP & WordPress. Requires PHP 7.4+ and current WordPress; the codebase was modernized throughout.
  • GitHub auto-updates. The plugin, theme, and every extension update straight from GitHub (the UnysonPlus org), no marketplace or license server. See Updates & auto-updates.
  • A Bootstrap 5 theme with a clean, flexbox grid and a single generated stylesheet, the front end ships no inline-style soup. See Performance.
  • Dynamic Content — Elementor-style {{token}} dynamic tags. See Dynamic Content.
  • Theme Builder — Divi-style global headers, bodies, and footers with conditional assignment. See Theme Builder.
  • Live Page Editor, Snippets / Global Templates, Asset Optimizer, Site Converter, Custom Fields, Post Types, Mega Menu, all bundled or one-click installable.
  • Modernized option types — background-pro, spacing (with per-device overrides), typography-v2, gradient-v2, icon-v2, unit-input, box-shadow, multi-picker, and more.

What to watch when migrating​

Bootstrap 3 → Bootstrap 5​

The theme and grid moved to Bootstrap 5 (flexbox). Most content just works, but if a page relied on the old Bootstrap-3 column-wrapping behavior, enable Bootstrap 3 Legacy Mode in the Page Builder settings, it restores the legacy auto-split wrapping and loads the legacy grid CSS. See Column widths & the grid.

Updates come from GitHub​

Updates are delivered from the GitHub repos under the UnysonPlus org, not the original Unyson update channel. They're version-driven (an update appears when the repo version is higher), so just keep the plugin/theme current from the dashboard.

Not every original extension ships​

Some extensions from the original Unyson (Backups, Events, Feedback, Learning, SEO, Sliders, Social, Translation) are not bundled in Unyson+. Use a dedicated WordPress plugin for those needs (e.g. a backup plugin, an SEO plugin). The extensions that are included are listed in the Extensions overview.

Header/footer presets are now the Theme Builder​

The old per-page header/footer preset idea is generalized into the Theme Builder, build header/footer/body parts and assign them with conditional rules. Your Theme Settings slot-based header/footer remains the always-present fallback.

Getting started​

  1. Install the Unyson+ plugin and the Unyson+ Theme (parent) from the UnysonPlus org on GitHub. See Installation.
  2. Activate the extensions you need from Unyson+ → Extensions.
  3. Ship your work as a child theme.

New to the terminology Unyson+ uses? The Concepts & glossary is a quick orientation.