Right in time before Christmas, we are happy to announce the availability of Maps Marker Pro v4.15 🙂
This release fixes some backend compatibility issues with WordPress 5.6, includes improvements for map creation and loading process to minimize CLS, better map layout CSS, better error reporting and more.
For details and highlights about this release please see below. An updated to the latest version is – as always – highly recommended.
“I was about to click on the element – why did it move?”
A layout shift occurs when a visible element on your page changes position or size, affecting the position of content around it. Sometimes the shift is intended, such as when a container expands as a result of a user action. However, the dynamic nature of ads can lead to unexpected layout shifts, which have a negative effect on the user experience and can cause serious usability problems.
CLS is also considers as a Core Web Vitals metric by Google that you can use to quantify the impact of layout shifts on your site. Furthermore, CLS will be becoming a ranking factor for Google in 2021 (details).
With Maps Marker Pro v4.15 we addressed this issue and completely redesigned the way maps are created. The optimized loading process for maps now minimizes the CLS for maps embedded in your site. In order to achieve this, first a wireframe of the map (plus optionally list of markers) is loaded, including a loading animation:
The text before and after the map will in most cases remain on the same position, even if the map has not finished loading yet.
See live example at https://demo.mapsmarker.com/
If you added shapes like circles, squares or polylines to your map, those are now also included when the map data is exported via GeoJSON or KML.
We also improved the error reporting for geocoding and the importer, allowing you to e.g. better identify issues with single lines in the import file for example.
Thanks to 210+ translators this release also includes some update translations, see full changelog for details.
If you want to contribute to translations (in exchange for free licenses), please visit https://www.mapsmarker.com/glotpress/projects/mmp/ for more information.
Changelog for version 4.15 - released on 19.12.2020 (release notes)
 | export shapes when exporting map to GeoJSON and KML | |
| add detailed error message to map loading process | |
| add live preview for marker list position, width and breakpoint | |
 | improve map creation and loading process to prevent CLS (Cumulative Layout Shift) | |
| optimize map layout CSS | |
| optimize maps/markers selection dropdowns for better performance | |
| improve error reporting when using the import feature | |
| improve geocoding error reporting | |
| updated chart.js for GPX elevation charts to v2.9.4 | |
| update ESRI to 2.5.1 | |
| update Leaflet.GestureHandling to 1.2.1 | |
| update Algolia autocomplete.js to 0.38.0 | |
| update Google Mutant to 0.11.3 | |
| update Leaflet-Geoman to 2.8.0 | |
| remove Photon@MapsMarker geocoding integration | |
 | fix backend not working correctly in some areas with WordPress 5.6 | |
| add workaround to prevent issues with native lazy loading | |
| fix cutting tool in draw function | |
| correctly apply icon settings when adding/editing marker | |
| fix filter icons not saving correctly in some cases | |
| fix GPX download not working when using WPML | |
| update database to support all multibyte unicode characters | |
 | updated Chinese translation thanks to John Shen and ck | → contribute |
| updated Dutch translation thanks to Ronald Smeets, Marijke Metz, Patrick Ruers, Fokko van der Leest and Hans Temming | → contribute |
| updated Finnish translation thanks to Jessi Björk | → contribute |
| updated French translation thanks to Vincèn Pujol, Rodolphe Quiedeville, Fx Benard, Cazal Cédric, Fabian Hurelle and Thomas Guignard | → contribute |
| updated German translation by Maps Marker Pro team and Daniel Luttermann | → contribute |
| updated Italian translation thanks to Luca Barbetti and Angelo Giammarresi | → contribute |
| updated Japanese translations thanks to Shu Higash and Taisuke Shimamoto | → contribute |
| updated Lithuanian translation thanks to Donatas Liaudaitis and Donatas Liaudaitis | → contribute |
| updated Russian translation thanks to Ekaterina Golubina (supported by Teplitsa of Social Technologies - http://te-st.ru) and Vyacheslav Strenadko, http://slavblog.ru | → contribute |
| updated Slovenian translation thanks to Igor Čabrian | → contribute |
| updated Swedish translation thanks to Olof Odier, Tedy Warsitha, Dan Paulsson, Elger Lindgren, Anton Andreasson and Tony Lygnersjö | → contribute |
If you experience any issues, please search our knowledge base or submit a helpdesk ticket.
Happy mapping!
The recommended way to update is to use the WordPress update process: login with an user who has admin privileges, navigate to Dashboard / Updates, select plugins to update and press the button “Update Plugins”. The pro plugin checks every 24 hours if a new version is available. You can also manually trigger the update check by going to Plugins and clicking on the link “Check for updates” next to “Maps Marker Pro”.
If there is an update available, please start the update by clicking the link “update now”.
If you try to update from v3.1.1 or lower, please see this user guide in our knowledge base for installation instruction and a migration tutorial.
No additional changes needed (as there was no beta release for this release).
No additional actions are required for Database API users when updating to this version.
For directly downloading and installing the Maps Marker Pro as zip file, please click here.
For the SHA-256 hash value and the number of files for this release please check the following file: https://www.mapsmarker.com/SHA256SUMS.txt
This file is digitally signed with our PGP key, key signature file available at https://www.mapsmarker.com/SHA256SUMS.txt.sig
Click here for a tutorial on how to verify the integrity of the plugin package (recommended if the plugin package for a new installation was not downloaded from https://www.mapsmarker.com – verification is not needed though if the automatic update process is used).
Let us know what you think about this new release by submitting a review or leaving a comment below!
If you want to keep up to date with the latest Maps Marker Pro development, please follow @MapsMarker on twitter (= most current updates) or on Facebook, subscribe to news via RSS or via RSS/email.
We would also like to invite you to join our affiliate program which offers commissions up to 50%. If you are interested in becoming a reseller, please visit https://www.mapsmarker.com/reseller