⚠️ Please Watch This Video!
There is another major Divi Variables and Dynamic Content update that is going to affect ALL products 😩!
Watch the video here on Youtube https://youtu.be/Kbjhp0n6tCc
WOW - you're right... it looks to be a great new DIVI5 development, but so sorry it is now a lot of new work for you!
I saw ETs video about this and have watched this one and think I understand the concept well. What I am having trouble understanding is why one (and KrafterPro) has to change to this use of variable math rather than leaving the design model as is with multiple hardcoded values. If the variable values and presets in the current KPro are working correctly, why switch? I'm probably missing something and welcome a correction.
Mickey Diener I agree.
The most importan thing for me is. what happens to the current built pages. What will happen to them?
Achim Good question, What happens to my existing pages, and why the change?
Your current pages are safe. Nothing in your existing pages is renamed or removed. Pages and presets refer to tokens by ID, and those IDs stay the same, so what you’ve built keeps resolving. The update is opt-in. It arrives as a notice, shows you a preview of what will change, takes a protected snapshot first, and only runs when you confirm. You can restore from the snapshot afterwards. In my tests the one visible difference is that button corners go from 3px to 4px. Cards, sections, spacing and the design audit results were identical.
My advice by situation:
- Live client sites or heavily customised kits: keep them on the current design system. Nothing changes unless you choose it.
- New projects, or if you’d like to try it safely: start a fresh site on Divi 5.18 or newer with the new kit.
If you’ve edited KrafterPRO’s own tokens or presets, Replace will reset those to the new values. That is why the preview and snapshot exist.
Why the relational (linked) system is better
Until now, every token was a separate number. The sizes were consistent because we set them that way, but nothing connected them. In the new kit, tokens are related to each other, using the nested variables Divi added in 5.18.
- Change one value and the rest follow. Most scales are now built from a few root values. Heading sizes come from the body size, and
radius-sisradius-xs × 2. Adjust the root and the whole scale moves together, instead of editing dozens of values by hand. - Presets point at tokens, not raw numbers. Before, many presets hard-coded values like
3pxor24px, so changing the radius scale never reached a button. Now buttons, cards and corners point at named roles (button-radius,card-padding,radius-control). Restyling every button or card is one change. - Fewer hand-set values to drift. Fewer independent numbers means fewer chances for a site to slowly become inconsistent.
- The AI tools see real values. Even though a linked token is stored as a formula, the AI tools get the resolved value, so assistants don’t read half a formula.
- No loss of existing behaviour. On my test site, Design Audit and Design Assist gave the same results with flat and linked tokens.
This is awesome. I'm interested in seeing how you'll be incorporating this into KrafterPro. But I'm sure it's going to be amazing. Can't wait to see it. Thanks, Gary
It seems that the Divi 5 final release a year or so ago, was far from finished. Since then they have incorporated multiple major new features. You have done a great job in making Divi usable with your own products, so I feel sorry for you that they keep introducing things that breaks what you've already done. We can only hope that Divi 5 is truly now "finished" so that developers like you can build with a bit more security and peace of mind.